Social Media is in it infancy. Similar to other technology trends that many of us have experienced over the last few decades, social media will develop into a rich experience that will become part of our daily business life. People are just starting to realize that it can help them do business more effectively.

I could not agree more strongly that B2B is where Social Media should focus. For many people, “traditional” forms of communication (phone/email) are an ineffective tool to reach potential business customers or partners. People are being driven to other methods as they are quicker and can be digested in more manageable chunks.

The challenge that I have set out to address is how to facilitate networking among salespeople to uncover revenue opportunities. It is a daunting challenge as salespeople are notoriously ignorant of social media benefits and unwilling to share information via the web. We have created a unique solution to spur communication between salespeople that addresses their concerns and dramatically increases their productivity.

The bottom line is that social media will stimulate business communications for decades to come. It is going to be a contest to see who can offer a medium that is secure enough for business and user friendly enough for the masses.

It is going to be fun!

There are still fewer B2B companies in Facebook and Twitter than there should be and even in 2009 many still drag their feet as if they are waiting for Social Media to go away. My view on this is that B2B companies need to understand what aspects of social media work for them, that as long as they have clients that make up their businesses they need to build relationships, and that building relationships, rather than focusing on lead generation is where they will reap benefits from social media. They need to go out, find out where their audiences are and then join them in engagement. They need their agencies to understand the nuances of social media marketing and social media networking and then strategically help them deliver a plan for tangible outcomes – focused on their business drivers.

To your point about “secret sauce” I personally don’t know that there is a “secret” as such to making social media work. A clear strategy, objectives and measures are required and then there must be the willingness to listen, learn and experiment and then tweak. And then, they need to share case studies so that others can learn.

I’ve a few simple suggestions on how B2B companies can get started with Social Media on my blog, of which this is one of the most popular posts:

http://nickyjameson.com/2009/02/07/7-practical-tips-for-business-to-business-social-media-marketing/

I am happy to help! Please email me at work with your questions jlindsay@eastwick.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers,
Jennifer

I am a postgraduate student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and doing a research on CEO weblogs. I would like to ask if you could spend a few minutes to answer some questions which will be used solely for research purpose.

Your kind assistance is highly appreciated.

Here are the questions:

Q1. What are the main purposes of your construction of this weblog?

Q2. Is your weblog attached to your company website? And why?

Q3. Who are your anticipated bloggers?

Q4. How do you decide your topics?

Q5. Do you reply to the postings? If yes, how often? And do you reply them via your blog or other means like email (please specify).

Q6. What would you do with these postings?

Thanks in advance!

Best,
Olivine Lo
olivinelo@cuhk.edu.hk or
olivine.lo@gmail.com

That being said, social media is still a track-able initiative, so it may mean a different type of conversion should be expected – in the immediate sense and longer-term.