Exploring The Challenges of B2B Social Media

Social media in a business-to-business (B2B) environment offers interesting challenges to the marketer. The incorrect assumption many make is that the business customer isn’t on Facebook or Twitter. The fact is they are, but just may not be there in a business context. Then there is the fact that if 80+ percent of Americans (and similar, high numbers in other countries) not only have a Facebook profile but regularly check it, one can assume some of those folks are B2B professionals.

While Erik Deckers and I, in our book, offered the perspective that B2B is mislabeled — you should call it P2P since the transaction is still person-to-person and you can’t actually purchase something from a logo, brand or building — there still exists different challenges and perspectives in the B2B environment that make social media marketing different.

I sat down with Jay Baer recently to talk about B2B social media. Jay’s company, Convince and Convert, handles a number of business-to-business clients and Jay has written about the challenges of them on both his incredible blog and in his book, The Now Revolution, co-authored with our friend Amber Naslund. Jay will be opening things for me at Explore Minneapolis next month. (Tickets still available. See the form below.)

You won’t want to miss the business insights Jay has to give at Explore Minneapolis. He’ll be the opening keynote there, along with an all-star lineup that includes SME Digital’s Nichole Kelly, Edison Research’s Tom Webster, Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman, Kevin Hunt from General Mills and more. Yes, I’ll also be speaking, as well as hosting. The event will also feature a number of excellent software providers and companies to help you navigate the waters of digital marketing. They’ll bring their knowledge to share as well as their products. This is a must-attend event, so register now!

The two-day event, incredible content, breakfast, lunch and a cocktail reception is $450, but if you’re a member of a professional organization (IABC, PRSA, AMA or similar), ask if they have a discount code for you and save big! Learn more about the speakers, their topics and more at the Explore Minneapolis registration page!

Or register here:

Explore is a five-city conference event series from Social Media Explorer and presented by Expion and Raven Internet Marketing Tools. Learn more and sign up for email updates for the city nearest you at GoToExplore.co.