Savvy B2B Marketing

Stephanie

My big aha moment was realizing that the more generous you are in social networks, the more you get in return. Rather than adopt a greedy mentality and try to always return the focus to me, I've found that it's best to highlight resources and share information that I find valuable, even if it means pointing toward my competition. The rewards of being open far outweigh the "risks."

The most important lesson I've learned and continue to share with my clients is this: Success in social media is less about the technology and more about the mindset. 

There are so many amazing tools at our disposal these days. We've got shiny, new widgets and all manner of bells and whistles; BUT, at the end of the day, social media isn't about the tools, it's about the connections. 

I get more nitty-gritty in my "Social Media Reality Check" series, but the gist of it is that to succeed in social, you have to think like a human being, not a marketer or sales person or tech geek ... just a human being.

Kate

We marketers like to measure things. So when Social Media came along, a lot of big company marketing departments didn't want to spend any time or money on it unless they could measure the results. But Social Media is a bit of a chimera; it's all online so it's tempting to think you can measure and "ROI" the heck out of it. But at the end of the day, an effective Socia Media campaign looks more like a PR campaign than a direct mail piece or enewsletter.

So resist the urge to apply a blanket policy to your Social Media efforts. Respect each individual Social Media outlet for what it is, and create a realistic "success metric" for each one. 

Heather

Don't Create Social Media Drift Wood - @virginiamiracle

This is my mantra.  I heard Virginia speak at an event almost 2 years ago and I came home and wrote that one a large orange sticky that now fixed to the wall behind my desk where I can look at it every day.  I remind myself often that social media is only as good as the effort and consistency you put into it.  I tell clients if they aren't willing to commit to it like they would any other marketing effort with the professionalism and diligence that it deserve then they are better off not doing it until they are ready to commit. 

Social Media is not a go big or go home sort of thing.  It is more of a slow and steady wins the race.  It is less about the launch and more about where you are in month 9 or month 36.  Last time I looked Savvy_B2B had over 4000 Twitter followers.  We add anywhere from 20-100 a month.  If we stopped adding I would be concerned.  If we suddenly had twice as many I would be equally concerned unless we were doing some sort of focused campaign on Twitter.  I have consistently said in my presentations at @demandcon and posts on the blog that I care more about quality of followers than # of followers.  If we had the right 400 I would rather have that than 4000.

Michele

Adding to what a number of my Savvy Sisters said, social media is about connection. And, if you want to make those connections meaningful, it means that social media will take time.

If you are a small business with limited time, one lesson is to build out your networks one at a time. I've seen a lot of businesses set up a Twitter account, Facebook page, LinkedIn group, etc. But, you need time to continually feed all of these platforms. It looks worse to have an abandoneded presence than no presence at all. Start small and build from there.

Wendy

The most imporant thing about Social Media? It's the same thing that is the most important thing about life. 

It's all about connecting with one another and doing service to others. 

Oh yeah sure, money is great, in fact it's wonderful, but it's when someone you may or may not know comes up to you and asks you something like: can you give me some advice? or can you lend me a hand - that's when you feel that little tingle inside that lets you know you're alive and contributing to the world.

Connect and contribute through a network - it should be the second golden rule.