Brain Vibe

Social media is just the answer to filling in where sales is exposed in the customer decision process. While many marketers think or are trying to work social media into an often linear lead management’s strategy, think again. Strategies are typically focused at the start of the marketing funnel and not throughout the buying processes.  Social media is the key, allowing for  awareness, credibility, and nurturing. It can also be a valuable tool in your competitive analysis.

The key to creating a meaningful alignment between Marketing and Sales is a relationship where when one is not directly engaged with the customer, the other fills in the gap. This could mean bringing in new opportunities, nurturing and supporting the customer decision process, or maintaining a customer relationship. The difficulty has been that traditional B2B marketing clings to the Marketing Funnel or strategies were push in nature vs. pull.

Here are 5 tips to consider when implementing or refining your social media strategy.

1. Identify how customers leverage social media in their research, purchasing, and decision process
2. Leverage customer questions and their answers to formulate or refine content strategies
3. Track where competitors are present in social media and the amount of views, comments, and traffic is generated
4. Web 2.0/3.0 your Website assets by tagging to thought leadership, solution, and product venues
5. Measure and compare social media property sourcing to websites and feed adoption

Social media is a platform to get your message out and build your value, and it is also provides a wealth of insight into the customer. Instead of relying primarily on the performance of marketing assets and communication strategy metrics, incorporate customer behavior and feedback from networking sites. Your gain a better understanding of how to connect to customers as well as get a leg up on your competition.

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The Offensive Tackle – B2B Marketing Engaged with Sales

Filed under: b2b, social media, b2b, Business, competitive analysis, customer engagement, Decision making, killer app, Lead management, marketing, Marketing and Advertising, marketing sales alignment, social media, social media marketing, social networks