Savvy B2B Marketing

Jamie

Answer Questions

If social is all about the conversation, make sure you're talking about a topic that matters to your audience. Helping them solve their day-to-day problems is a sure crowd-pleaser. Invite your audience to hit you with their best shot and then over-deliver on your response. 

Ask Questions

Next to having their questions answered, many B2B customers love answering questions for others. Give them a chance to share their knowledge, opinion, expertise and they'll be all over it. (Note: the question doesn't always have to be related to your business. This is social networking - have some fun with it! Ask about favorite movies, opinions on pop culture, etc.)

Cultivate the Culture

Every audience has the potential to develop its own culture around shared language, experiences, opinions, etc. Get to know the cultural markers of your community and use them to create content that really resonates with your "tribe."  

Kate

Be a good host

Think of your social media efforts as the client appreciation party. Invite everyone and make sure they know how to get there. When they arrive, hit them with a cocktail (or an inviting, well-designed SM space) and some interesting conversation about things you have in common (links to relevant industry articles, for example). Like the client party, do not start the conversation with 'Hi, buy stuff from me." Get to know your customers, let them get to know you. Make sure they leave with your contact info, and you can be pretty sure they'll come find you at the office when they are in need of your services. (And no photocopies of your butt cheeks, please!)

Michele

Wendy

There are a few things I do on Twitter:

• Retweet – it's the crack of Twitter – don't know anyone who doesn't like their tweet sent on to the universe.
• Value – I try to stay away from “At home, drinking a margarita – bored as hell” tweets. Unless I'm replying directly to a person (“Hey, What are you doing right now?”), these types of tweets don't leave my account, instead I focus on value, what great information can I pass on?
• Respond – if you respond to me, I'll respond to you. That's how it works in the playground.
• Headlines, baby – there is a reason why good headline writers are worth their weight in gold. A snazzy caption gets noticed and if you can incorporate humor, all the better.

Stephanie

Deliver value: Don't expect your prospects & customers to drool over your latest product feature or opening of a new office location. Populate your social media channels with information that will somehow benefit them.

Guide the way: Remind prospects & customers at every turn where you maintain a presence in the social media landscape. Then invite them to subscribe, follow, comment, like, etc.

Shine the spotlight on them: Nothing gets someone engaged as fast as  including them in what you're doing. Invite your customers to contribute a blog post or be featured in a video you plan to put on YouTube. Share their story on your Facebook page or a relevant LinkedIn group. Tweet about your customer's success.