B2B vs B2C Marketing using Social Media

Editor's Notes

• #3: Marketers and advertisers are either trying to reach consumers or other businesses – how do you think marketing activity differs for the two groups? Do you think it is the same/different and why? Start off with 5 minute exercise
• #5: Go through each point with explanations – use examples and how these differences will affect overall marketing strategy, media buying and social media mix/activity Provide products for personal use Product driven – convert shoppers into buyers- sales focused marketing campaigns that are shorter and look to catch attention instantly Transaction Value – focused on increasing value of specific transaction – often not looking to extend relationship – how is this changing with social business? Large Target Market – there are indefinitely more consumers than businesses as many products are of mass appeal or aimed at certain demographics – not as niche as B2B Short sales cycle – you look, you think, you buy – not often do you ponder most purchases unless they are a high value product Brand Identity – common marketing mix for B2C is advertising, PR and branding Merchandising – coupons, discounts, point of sale, shop windows – all aiming to incite purchase, no focus on value Emotional Buying decision – quite often we buy products because of our emotions and often on impulse – status, desire and price
• #6: Go through each point with explanations – use examples and how these differences will affect overall marketing strategy, media buying and social media mix/activity – use Noodle as an example Provide products or services that help increase business profitability and improve business operations – as a supplier Relationship driven – sales focus is on developing relationships with key decision makers – leads need to be nurtured and attended too Value of Relationship – much better to focus on maximising order value from key contacts than applying mass market approach – B2B relationships can continue over several years Small market – most B2B companies are addressing a certain niche within a niche market sector – key players and contacts can be identified Long sales cycle – as value of transaction is usually higher than that with B2C, the sales cycle is longer – plus nature of business and business structure, decisions have to be considered and approved on many levels Brand Identity – people buy from people in the B2B world – your personal brand as attached to your business is more important than branding and advertising – the best leads will be those based on recommendations Education – as a consumer, you are not going to watch a 10 minute video on benefits of product or attend a webinar but with B2B this is a much more viable marketing strategy – content marketing really works with this kind of marketing Rational Decision – based on business value – emotion is of little value so incorporating this within your marketing strategy (such as sales, time limited discounts) would not be viable – have to focus on presenting USP’s of your product or service in a way that equates to good business values
• #7: And a nice little table to summarises that information for you
• #8: Looking at differences in marketing channels between B2B and B2C – handy diagrams and link included is stuffed full of handy insights- see difference in route to end sale
• #9: Looking at differences in marketing channels between B2B and B2C – handy diagrams and link included is stuffed full of handy insights
• #10: Email marketing is one part of the marketing mix used by both B2B and B2C marketers – on your tables, I want you to think of how the tone, customer type, layout, aims and landing pages would differ for B2B and B2C
• #13: So we’ve established that consumer focused businesses will use B2C marketing techniques and strategies but what kind of businesses will use b2b marketing strategies? Ask around the class for ideas
• #14: Some examples of B2B companies, just off the top of my head – although the list is endless really! Just really to give you a flavour
• #15: Just a small sample of the kinds of job titles that will be your primary targets for B2B marketing – these are the key decision makers- again list is endless and dependent on company and industry sector
• #18: Think about how we can apply using social media to the key challenges facing B2B marketers
• #19: Another handy infographic that combines previous table but with added content strategy and suggested social media platforms – highlights difference very nicely
• #21: Same social media strategy process – all successful B2B social media strategies follow this same routine and starting point for all strategies should be research
• #22: That old chestnut, the Forrester POST method
• #23: You can see how these differ from B2C marketing aims and objectives – there is some crossover but intentions are different and therefore approach
• #24: A few example B2B social media marketing
• #25: Great quality content is one of the key aspects of B2B marketing as it focuses on education and demonstration – think about how you could use the above forms of content to demonstrate features/benefits of your product – potential to hyper target content to focus on different industry sectors or types of prospects – suitable if your product/service applies to multiple industries and businesses – content is king in this type of marketing but context even more so – ensure all content is seeded and distributed effectively
• #26: Most common B2B social media mix – why do you think most B2B marketers select this over other social media channels? Demographic and value to be gained is much more pertinent than Facebook for example
• #27: This handy infographic shows the value of different social media platforms and content strategies for B2B and B2C
• #28: As reflected in this table
• #29: This handy little diagram looks at key metrics for each stage of sales cycle – worth a look in more detail.
• #30: This is your reading for the week and there are so many great examples here about how you can use social media for B2B marketing – favs are: Amex Open Forum HP Business Answers
• #31: So, what the hell is LinkedIn I hear you cry? Epic B2B marketing tool – one of the most valuable in the arsenal – so powerful and value focused
• #32: Yes, you all know how much I love these ‘blah, blah in plain english videos’ – well there will be no escape here!
• #33: What the hell is LinkedIn??
• #34: LinkedIn is FAR more powerful than Facebook as a networking tool or for B2B marketers
• #35: Here is my LinkedIn profile – open and explore in browser – previous/current employees, recommendations, connections, activity stream etc etc
• #36: Very important to optimise your profile as without visibility, there is no point in your profile being set up – you need it to be found and much in the same way as the newsfeed on Facebook, you need to ensure you gain visibility – social media optimisation will be the new SEO in years to come so every bit of content that you share online must be optimised if you want it to gain visibility – video tags, time of day posted, kind of content posted
• #37: LinkedIn makes it easy for you to connect your blog and Twitter – lots of other ones that can add a bit of flavour to your LinkedIn profile but remember this is NOT myspace – people want to be able to access the important and relevant information about you
• #38: What do you notice about these applications? In terms of their intent? And the business value they provide?
• #39: What do you notice about these applications? In terms of their intent? And the business value they provide?
• #40: What do you notice about these applications? In terms of their intent? And the business value they provide?
• #41: This is really powerful – the connection between Twitter and LinkedIn is a dream – follow the person on Twitter and then once you have established the relationship with them, you can send them a contact request on LinkedIn. You can also automate Twitter to automatically update your LinkedIn profile or you can set it so #in hashtag has to be included for it to be published – meaning you can create content that is only for your LinkedIn contacts – mediated stream that is suitable for LinkedIn
• #42: Important to create and optimise in the same way as a LInkedIn profile – encourage all employees to officially link themselves to this plus means visbility for company tiself, not just employees of that company
• #43: LinkedIn search is one of the most powerful features on LinkedIn – just miles ahead of Facebook and any third party Twitter client used for searching profiles
• #44: The very basic LinkedIn search
• #45: This is so powerful the way that you can segment this – imagine if you were looking for the email address or way in to a company e.g. trying to set up a meeting or something
• #46: You can see just how powerful this tool really is if you were looking to market to other businesses
• #47: LinkedIn groups – great say if you had a piece of brand related content as part of content marketing strategy such as a whitepaper or podcast or if you have an event/conference to promote
• #48: It’s all very well being able to make these connections and find the appropriate people
• #50: Definition of Social Media Brief description and examples of each.