1. Social Media for
B2B Companies
Should you be tweeting,
blogging and podcasting to
Sarah Sturtevant
President,
reach more customers?
Integrated Website Solutions Inc.

2. Agenda
The socially connected industrial company
Social Media: What, Why & How?
Latest Stats, Facts & Figures on Social
Media for B2B Companies & Industries
Social Media Tools

3. Outbound “Push Marketing” is Inefficient
Traditional “Push Marketing”: You are in control of the message you
push out along with how or when it is received by prospects.
But those prospects may not NEED what you sell at that moment.
Some “Pushy” Tactics:
 direct mail
 print catalogues
 cold calling
 trade shows
 print magazine ads
 static brochure-ware sites

4. It’s 2012 – times have changed!
Digital “Pull Marketing”: Your customers are in control.
They search for your products or services online at that exact
moment they HAVE a need. If they find your site, they decide
how and when to act.
Some “Pull” Tactics:
 search engine optimization
 detailed online catalogues
 interactive websites
 social media networks
Pull marketing is also know as “inbound marketing”

5. Where are your customers?
 97 % of industrial buyers use the internet to
research buying decisions
Are you spending the majority of your marketing
dollars online – where you can brand more
effectively when buyers have a need?
Source, ThomasNet Industrial Marketer

6. Social Media 101
“The social media train has already left the station.
Are you on it?”
 Web 1.0: company-centric, one-directional
communication from a website to its audience.
It shouts: “Buy our stuff … we’re the best!”
 Social Media Communication: customer-centric,
interactive information sharing, collaboration and
community-building online.
It asks: “How can we serve you better? We want to get
to know you.”
Social Media Sites Influence Customers & Help Drive Customer Retention
Flickr Photo: ragtops2000

7. “End users who previously couldn’t vote for
content via links from web pages are now able to
vote for content via their clicks, bookmarks, tags
and ratings. These are very strong signals to
search engines, and best of all, they don’t rely
on the elitism of one website owner linking to
another or the often mediocre crawl of a dumb
bot.”
-- Mike Grehan, “New Signals to Search Engines”

8. Today, social media sites allow ordinary
people to go beyond simply consuming
information; they can now produce and
publish it on multiple channels. They can
also share brand recommendations with
their social media followers using “like”
buttons or by re-tweeting (sharing) a
brand’s post.

10. … but ignoring social media networks doesn’t
prevent your customers from talking about your
company on these sites.

11. So doesn’t it make sense to find out what
social sites your customers use, listen to
them and then join the conversations so
you can influence them?

12. Reasons Why B2B Companies
Don’t Participate in Social Media
 “it’s a passing fad”
 “only kids are on these social sites”
 “we don’t have time”
 “we’re not sure how to get started”
 “if we do get started, we don’t know how to
maintain our social sites”
 “it might be a time-waster with no ROI”

13. How do growing companies market?
1950 - 2000 2000 - 2050
Source: Hubspot @rickburnes

14. Other companies have successfully
used social media to:
 drive more traffic to their company websites
 acquire new customers
 build customer loyalty and retention
 gain valuable market research for innovation
 develop a community of virtual “brand
advocates”
 increase search engine exposure from multiple
social sites
 maximize the positive public relations “buzz”
for their brands -- one conversation at a time

15. Why Is Social Media Vital to
Industrial B2B Companies?
 Social Media networked customers are
connected and have great influence.
“Connected consumers are only growing in size,
magnitude and influence. Ignoring them is a step
towards digital Darwinism.”
-- Brian Solis

16. Social Media & Business
 65% of the world’s top companies have a an active Twitter profile
 90% of marketers use social channels for business
 43% of marketers have noticed an improvement in sales due to
social media participation
 91% of experienced social marketers see improved website traffic
due to social media campaigns and 79% are generating more
quality leads
 LinkedIn is 4X better for B2B lead generation than Facebook and
Twitter
 Only 10% of marketers are actively monitoring social media ROI
Source: 99 New Social Media Stats for 2012, @carapring

17. Social Media & Small Business
 53% of small businesses are using social media
 88% believe exposure is the biggest benefit
 19% use Facebook, 15% LinkedIn and 4%
Twitter
 12% think it’s a must, 24% do it when they have
the time and 14% say they don’t know enough
about it
Source: 99 New Social Media Stats for 2012, @carapring

18. Social Media & Industrial B2B
 More than 63% of industrial buyers use social media at least once a week to
research and source suppliers
 7 out of 10 of small and mid-size suppliers (68%) are already engaging with
prospects through social media
 68% of industrial buyers want to read about new product or service
innovations
 To reach new customers, overseas and at home, nearly 9 out of 10 product
and custom manufacturers (86%) are investing in online marketing this year
and more than half are increasing these investments
 56% of industrial buyers recommend that suppliers who are interested in
doing business with them establish a social media presence
Source: Thomas Industrial Purchasing Barometer @ThomasNet

19. Don’t Jump in Without a Plan
Before you engage in social media, you
need to figure out a strategy which has
benchmarks and measurable objectives.

20. Social Media Sites Are Just Tools
… Not Silver Bullets
Once you define your
objectives,
some tools will be more
appropriate than others

21. Here are a few social media sites
worth checking out…

22. Being Social Online:
It’s not just a fad for kids anymore
 2/3 of US online adults use social networking
sites
 Percent of internet users by age using social
sites: 92 % of young adults aged between 18-29,
73% of 30 - 49 year olds, 57% of those aged
50 – 64
 Since 2009, social media use by 50- 64 year has
doubled
Source: Aaron Smith, Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project, 2012

23. Google +
 Since its launch in June 2011, Google + crossed the 90 million
users mark by January 2012 – its rival Facebook took 4 years to
reach this point. By September 2012, it attracted 200 million active
users worldwide.
 Google + content is featured on Google’s new search results page
called “Search Plus Your World” introduced in January 2012.
 Google features social data from Google + and Twitter updates. It
excludes Facebook due to privacy issues and its inability to deeply
crawl this social site.
 Search Plus Your World includes personal content from those in
your social circles which can be turned off

25. LinkedIn
 A network linking over 150 million professionals world-
wide
- LinkedIn counts executives from all Fortune 500
companies as members
- More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company
Pages
- LinkedIn members are sharing insights and knowledge
in more than 1 million LinkedIn Groups

28. Some LinkedIn Tips
 Personal branding pages should highlight
professional achievements
 Include references and work-related
content you publish (i.e. blogs,
presentations etc.)
 Company branding pages should include
a logo, pictures, videos and a link to your
company website.

29. Twitter
 A micro-blogging site that is not just for
announcing to the world what you had for
lunch!
 Definition: A “Tweet” is a post on Twitter of
140 characters or less
 Goal: Don’t just collect followers, engage
them by creating valuable, share-worthy
content!

30. “Tweets from the Chiefs”:
Some CEO’s on Twitter
Rob Howard, Telligent CEO
Twitter helps Telligent with customer feedback (positive and negative),
keeping a pulse on the industry, and it's a great way to get some buzz going
quickly.
Source: BusinessWeek

31. Jeff Booth, BuildDirect President and CEO
“Twitter helps me start relationships.
Many of those relationships that would have never started without
Twitter have already become meaningful for our business.
I have found that the best way to create relationships is to give to
others. This is the same for Twitter.
I try to engage with users rather than to sell to them. I try to add value.”
Source: BusinessWeek

34. Facebook Company Page
 As of 2012 Facebook has over 900 million active users
 The 35 + demographic represents more than 30% of the
entire user base
 There are 206.2 million internet users in the US. That
means 71.2% of the US web audience is on Facebook
 70% of the Facebook user base resides outside the US
 Facebook has become one of the most trusted
companies in America, and people spend three times
more time there than on Google!
So, should your company have a Facebook page?

36. Corporate Blogs:
Indium Corp. Case Study
 75-year electronics assembler in Clinton,
NY
 Began with one corporate blog in 2005
 Now has 10 blogs on their site written by
15 staff members
 ROI includes more engaged customers,
increased leads, reduced costs

38. Since publication, this blog has
had over 1,200 views.

40. Some Social Media Do’s and
Don’ts
 Listen - don’t pitch
 Entertain – make people laugh
 Educate - Share helpful information
 Listen some more
 Ask questions - solicit feedback/market research
 Link people to your company blog/website for special
offers or more information
Above all, be a transparent and trustworthy
community member

41. Thomas Industrial Network:
Managed Social Media Campaigns
ThomasNet.com will partner with you to position your
business as a thought-leader in your industry on key social
media channels, optimize your search engine exposure,
increase your site traffic and protect your corporate brand:
- Account set-up, monthly interviews, content creation and up to 2
weekly posts per site on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn
social media networks
- Set-up of Blog service with one monthly post
- Set-up of YouTube account with provided video

42. For more information, contact:
Sarah Sturtevant
President
Integrated Website Solutions Inc.
Phone: (519) 342-8551
Twitter: @sarahsturtevant
Google + : www.gplus.to/sarahsturtevant
Facebook: www.facebook.com/IntegratedWebsiteSolutions
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/industryonline
Email: thomasnet@sympatico.ca