Tracking Your B2B Social Media Campaign

In the words of Alice Cooper, “school’s out for summer,”which means one thing: fun in the sun. Sounds great, right? Well, if most people are like me after a school year of non-stop studying (or at least that’s what I tell my parents), I’m not quite ready to be in a bathing suit yet. So, for the past month and a half I’ve been making more visits to the local gym. I’ve noticed a greater number of middle-aged males on the weight machines this summer, and to be honest, many of them look like they’re hurting themselves more than helping themselves. They know they need to use the machines, but they don’t know how. This is the case for many B2B marketers in regard to social media.

According to BtoB Magazine’s 2013 Marketing Priorities report, 56% of B2B marketers are increasing their social media budgets this year, but are still trying to figure out which tools to use and why. Despite the increase in spending, a recent article by Wendy Marx suggests that the majority of B2B marketers fail to think holistically or strategically about implementing social engagement or listening tools, much less tracking their efficiency. “Who cares if you have 5,000 or even 25,000 followers on Twitter if you’re not doing anything with the followers?” Marx asks, describing why many B2B marketers are starting to call B.S. on social media marketing (A B.S.-related aside: A must-read book to gut-check your assumptions and call B.S. on what you’re being sold in relation to social media marketing is B.J. Mendelson’s Social Media is Bullshit!)

As a hater of B.S. with a desire to tie effort to positive results, I offer five tips to improve your social media marketing efforts.

1. Stay Relevant – With the large number of social networks, some of your social media profiles might be collecting dust. Make sure all of your profiles’ content and messaging is up to date with your company’s desired image.

2. Create & Track Objectives – Define what you want to get out of your social media (builds brand equity, improve customer retention, start discussions with leaders in your industry, distribute information or spy on others, etc.). Once you’ve defined your objectives, put a system in place to track and measure your effectiveness. When it comes to social media and B2B Marketing, you better be able to connect your social media listening and engagement efforts to an integrated marketing plan that’s tied to lead and revenue generation. Otherwise your “social media marketing” will be viewed by your boss and your sales team as people playing on Twitter, looking for jobs on LinkedIn and sharing party pix on Facebook.

3. Stop and Listen – Don’t always rush to put out content; stop and listen to what your target buyers are talking about and doing in social spaces. Use social media to hear out the target market’s thoughts, wants and needs in the industry. Once you’ve soaked up enough information, personally tailor your content to the thoughts/concerns of your potential clients

4. Get Personal – Connect with your existing and desired customers on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and regularly reach out to them. Whether it’s responding to a Tweet, congratulating awards/promotions or just posting good content,connecting with customers via social media on a personal level can make a big impact on business retention, referrals and development opportunities.

5. Set a Schedule– After you define a solid social media plan, and target the right audience, share away. Create a content sharing schedule to keep a visible presence on your networks. Keep your content interesting by using every tactic possible to provoke thought (blogs, articles, videos, infographics, white papers).

Having the fans, followers and connections isn’t enough for an effective B2B social media campaign. You have to get out there and start putting your dollars to work. Don’t be that guy/girl in the gym wearing the sleeveless shirt, not knowing what to do. Defeat the B.S. stigma surrounding B2B social media marketing by not being the doughy dude at the digital gym. Do it. Do it with a purpose and commit to doing it right … for the right reasons. And be transparent with your intentions, regardless of what they are. If you do it, you’ll see results from buffing up your B2B social media plans.