For B2B high tech and industrial marketers, Infographics represent an engaging and often viral element of the B2B marcom mix.

Recent Marketing Charts data fom Infegy found that infographics are especially viral on Twitter. So for B2B integrated marcom professionals, infographics can represent an opportunity to convey product benefits in an engaging and easy-to-read way, particularly when integrated within a content marketing plan or campaign.

In the B2B high tech and industrial space, infographics can illustrate complex technical concepts in a more concrete way.  For example, the benefits of cloud computing can be challenging to describe to the lay person.  ReadWriteWeb’s ReadWriteCloud group assembled a collection of cloud computing infographics.  Each infographic illustrates a different message such as what cloud computing is and statistics on cloud computing. And if you really want to get sophisticated and have the resources, then animate your infographic to make it even more engaging like this YouTube infographic by JESS3.

How can B2B marketers benefit from infographics?

Brand reinforcement – when you consider the viral nature of a well done infographic, that alone can be reason enough to develop an infographic as part of your content plan.

Prospect engagement – again, the viral nature of infographics, when purposefully placed in the hands of your prospects, and customers can give your brand and message greater reach thanks to your prospects and customers.

Extended influence – carefully placed infographics on sites including Flickr, SlideShare and YouTube  where others are free to embed your infographic in their blogs and online content, can leverage your infographic investment much further.

So think about your products and services and the benefits your clients will recognize. Then consider any data that you’ve already gathered to support your benefits.  Just ask your engineering team.  I’m sure they have dozens of spreadsheets and data that would make great fodder for an infographic.  Then have your creative team develop an infographic that explains the data in a fun and engaging way.

Getting a handle on Twitter handles early on in the decision to add Twitter to the B2B marcom mix, can avoid potential pitfalls later.

If you’re a B2B marcom pro considering extending your social presence to the Twittersphere, you need to think about how to set up your Twitter handles—the @name—to avoid future issues. I advise clients against using colleague names for two reasons. One, you need to consider what happens to that person’s handle when they leave the company and use their personal name to continue tweeting; and two, the handle offers a branding opportunity for the company.

Consider the following when setting up your Twitter handle:

• Remember that social media is about people and not brands or companies, try to work the person’s name into the Twitter handle when it’s not awkward to do so, i.e., @companymike or @mikeatcompany
• Some associates may prefer to keep their personal names for their personal Twitter use. It’s better to allow them to separate their personal Twitter profiles from your company profile. If you allow associates to post on the company’s behalf using their personal Twitter profiles, then your social media policy should instruct associates to include a disclaimer in their Twitter profiles.  i.e., “I am [an employee of] [a Contingent Worker for] Company Name. The statements or opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Company Name.”  I like @anetah‘s disclaimer:  “(btw: thoughts expressed here are solely mine)” @anetah is the social media strategist for Pitney Bowes (see below).
• If you plan to extend Twitter activity beyond marketing and PR, then you may wish to have a handle that describes the functional area represented, such as @companytechsupport or @techsupportcompany. This method allows you the most flexibility should someone leave the company. However, you may also add a person’s name. Such as @companytechsupportmike or @mikeatcompanytechsupport. The downside is that at 25 characters, nearly 20% of your 140 characters is taken up by your handle. This is o.k. if you can offer simple answers or if you can redirect customers to a help file or other resource that will solve their problem in 140 characters or less.
• Channel partners’ Twitter handles can also provide B2B companies with extended branding opportunities. If your channel partners represent multiple lines and prefer to use their own brand, then at least have them add your company name in their Twitter profiles.

When it comes to images, my personal preference is to see a person; after all, social media is about people. However, when people are tweeting on behalf of a company or brand, it can be effective to use the company logo to help customers better identify with the brand. A good experience in the Twittersphere, can support and even elevate brand image.

Finally, if you have a number of people tweeting on behalf of your company, leverage the Twitter profile to describe the role of each Twitter account. Use keywords too. It’s another opportunity to brand your company and associate it with keywords on which your company wants to rank.

Here are examples of how several B2B companies handle Twitter handles:

• Dell uses its logo, but it also leverages the profile to promote other handles. i.e., the @Dell handle represents the official Dell communications team; however, their profile lets you know the handles for Dell support and Direct2Dell.
• Indium Corporation @IndiumCorp is operated by Rick Short, who also has his own personal handle, @rickshort21, that he uses for his music business.
• B2B agency, MLT Creative, @MLTCreative, uses its company logo; and the company’s associates tweet using their first and last names as a Twitter handle. In the Twitter profile, each associate includes the company name and his or her role in the company. Such as @gtaylor57, @billymitchell1 and @martinehunter Note that each handle includes unique content… social media good practice. MLT Creative also tweets “all things B2B” under a unique handle @B2BLaunchPad using targeted keywords and hashtags. The avatar has the MLT Creative branded look, but attracts a generalist audience.
• Pitney Bowes took an interesting approach by linking their @PitneyBowes account to a Twitter list of “Pitney Bowes Tweeps” who use their own names but reference Pitney Bowes in their Twitter profiles with a disclaimer, of course.

Additional Advice on Twitter Handles:

Twitter Handles Do’s and Don’ts  - This is a good primer from @HubSpot.

Twitter help explains how user names are used in conjunction with your handle. This explains what people will see in your Twitter profile. Good advice when you set up or change your Twitter account.

Tell us how you handle Twitter handles.

Thanks!
Joan
@copywriter4u

I attended an interesting Business Development Institute Workshop on B2B social communications. It was immediately apparent from the speakers that B2B companies are actually applying social media at a more strategic level. As little as one year ago, the idea of B2B social media was at the early adopter phase of the adoption curve, but it appears as though  social media is beginning to move into the early majority phase of the adoption curve at least among large B2B companies.

Little talk of B2B social media ROI

The presenters have accepted social media as part of the integrated marcom mix.  However what’s new is that instead of discussing ROI specifically, most of the presenters were talking about “making the business case,” which doesn’t necessarily point to revenue generation.  Instead, marketers from AECOM, Cisco Systems, and CitiCorp are looking at specific metrics such as lead generation, event attendees, and “influence” based on retweets, downloads and web traffic.   Although one speaker, Sandra Fathi of Accent, discussed monitoring revenue trends within a given period of a specific social program to loosely connect the dots to revenue generation. And isn’t that the way an integrated marcom program works?  It’s not the individual  marcom mix elements that drive the sale, but the collective influence of each element applied throughtout the buying cycle.

That’s where I saw another important distinction between early social media efforts and what’s happening today. B2B marketers are integrating social media into their marcom strategies for a specific campaign or business sector. It’s no longer a separate social media endeavor or grass roots effort, but an integral element of a marcom strategy, with a specific business objective of its own, though tied to a broader business need such as brand building or revenue generation.

Time to get off the social media sideline

Granted, most of the presenters were from Fortune 500 companies, whose “experimental” marcom budgets rival the entire marcom budgets of many small and midsized B2B technology and industrial companies.  However, they have legitimized social media as a key part of their marcom mix. For the presenters, social media is no longer optional – it’s an integral part of how they conduct business.

So B2B marketers need to prepare to enter the fray.  The good news is that the way to get into the game remains consistent with what’s been considered good practice in B2B social media planning all along.  Start by listening to the social sphere. Track what’s being said and by whom. Then, develop your plan.  What’s the opportunity cost of not participating?  You be the judge… read The Cost of Delay in Social Media is Invisible from Jeremy Victor’s B2B Expert Roundtable Series.

Additional Social Media Resources:

Executives Fail to Focus on Social Media Marketing Strategy - interesting statistics from eMarketer on the importance of a social media marketing strategy to marketing executives.

For a good primer on how to plan and staff for social media, see Jeremiah Owyang’s “Amplify” presentation.

Lone B2B industrial marcom professionals can integrate social media if they start smart and slowly.

This post is based on an excellent webinar on B2B social media for the industrial marketer hosted by GlobalSpec‘s Chris Chariton, entitled “Social Media Use in the Industrial Sector.”  What’s equally as interesting as the webinar is conversation that’s ensuing on the GlobalSpec’s LinkedIn Group, Industrial Marketing Mavens.  Some of the conversation is centered on the resource-constrained B2B industrial marketer who, in many cases, is a lone marketing or marcom person who’s doing it all and is struggling with the time commitment to integrate social media into the marcom mix.

It got me thinking…  didn’t we have this same discussion circa 1994 with growing use of the internet and websites?  We were asking if this “internet thing” is for real or just a fad, and “do I really need a B2B website?”  Turns out, the “internet thing” was real; and yes, you do need a website. 

Do B2B industrial companies really need social media?

I think social media for industrial companies will be unavoidable.  But do you need a Facebook page, a Twitter handle, etc.?  B2B social media is real and you do need to participate, but the degree to which you participate depends on your marcom objectives and your marcom resources.  When you consider the evolution of B2B industrial websites, at first marketing owned the corporate website, then it evolved to shared ownership by each of the departments represented.  I think a similar transition will occur with social media. 

B2B industrial marketers need to shift perspective from social media as a marcom tactic to a platform for doing business—one in which several functional areas within the company must collaborate and share the responsibility with marketing, though that’s future state.    Perhaps marketing can lead the charge, but you need the support of R&D, product development, sales, tech support, and customer service. 

As Chris pointed out in the webinar, marketing should be listening first to understand where, if at all, their customers and prospects are within the social sphere; and are they conducting business or personal activity.  Sure there are 500+ million people on Facebook, some of whom are our customers and prospects.  However, the reality that Chris mentioned (based on data from the GlobalSpec study) is that they’re on Facebook for personal reasons and not to conduct business. Whereas LinkedIn is shaking out to be a widely accepted business networking platform. (See Paul Gillin’s post “The Other Social Network“  )

Where should B2B industrial marketers begin with social media?

I think there’s enough data to suggest that for many industrial companies, a well-written and relevant blog, coupled with a well-maintained LinkedIn Company page and profiles for all of the company’s colleagues and partners, and a monitoring program is a good and manageable starting point.  It’s true that some B2B industrial and tech companies with a few more resources have had success with Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, but if you don’t have the resources to maintain them, a good foundation of blog, LinkedIn and monitoring can at least get you in the game. 

Another important point is that Industrial marketers don’t always leverage the content they and their partners already have, which is ideal for the social media platform. For example, you’re likely to have a plethora of PowerPoint presentations from sales meetings, training seminars, and industry association conferences that could be repurposed on SlideShare and added to your LinkedIn profiles for added exposure and SEO.  You may also produce industrial training videos for sales and technical support.  They can be edited and made suitable to upload to YouTube, which can again lead to added exposure and SEO.

B2B Social media is about connecting the “digital dots”…

It’s not about doing more, although there is more work associated with social media; however, it’s about re-thinking how you’re working within the social sphere and leveraging your colleagues and partners, content, and the social platforms. 

Think of it this way… years ago we only thought of the telephone system as a two way device, but then we shifted our thinking to leverage that two-way conversation into a teleconference shared by more than one, then taken a step further VoIP enabled internet-based calling and video conferencing.  Was it just a phone system? No… it was a communications platform for conducting business.

It is clear that sooner or later B2B industrial marketers will have to adopt social media whether by plan or by default.  My advice is to start small; think in terms of keywords when you post, upload or comment; and leverage existing content from you or your partners within the social platform wherever possible.

Many B2B industrial companies are invisible on the internet because they haven't optimized their sites.

So often I hear B2B industrial marketers say that their customers/prospects just aren’t online.  “Yeah, they have websites, but they’re not using social media and other online marketing techniques.”  The fact is, if you’re a B2B industrial marketer and you think you know all the players in your market because it’s a small niche community, then think again.  Industrial companies are definitely using search, and without an online presence (that’s presence and not just a website or company page), which now includes social media, you may be invisible on the internet.  Worse yet, your competitors may be visible, which makes your absence even more conspicuous. 

B2B industrial marketing case in point… United Linen and Uniform Services is one of the more traditional industries—uniform, linen rental and related services—and they won a B2B Twitterer of the Year (TOTY) Award.  Did I mention that they won the innaugural award back in 2008 when Twitter was beginning to gain traction? 

I’m not suggesting you jump in to social media–get a Twitter handle, a Facebook Page and a LinkedIn company page–and start social media marketing.    On the contrary, I’m suggesting that you start small and gradually integrate social media into your marcom mix based on achieving your marcom objectives.  Mark Ivey from his Marketing Profs post writes that it takes a change in the “corporate DNA” to socialize the company’s communications.  Ivey suggests we “dream big, but think small.” 

Here are three small steps B2B industrial marcom managers can take to improve online visibility:

1. Start with your website.  There’s no point driving traffic to a poor website. Optimize your website so that is shows up in search for the keywords your clients and prospects are using to find you.
2. Add a thought leadership blog that addresses the issues your customers and prospects face–keep it fresh and relevant.
3. Integrate your website and blog with other elements of your B2B marcom mix such as trade shows, white papers, and industry association meeting presentations.

These three steps can help you form a strong foundation for future social media activity and increase your company’s visibility.  Remember, a web presence is more than having a website or company page.  It’s about being present where your customers and prospects are on the web, and being present with relevant, timely information.  

Share what your B2B industrial company is doing to increase visibility.

Content curation can be an effective way to leverage channel partner content.

No time to write original content?  Then become a content curator and aggregate existing content that’s relevant to your audience.  It may even inspire you to write content of your own.  Paper.li is an interesting free tool that aggregates Twitter tweets into a newspaper daily format.

So for B2B marcom pros, Paper.li offers an easy way for you to aggregate and customize content relevant to your customers and prospects.  They can subscribe to your daily as well as pass the link along to other colleagues, giving you more visibility.

My copywriting colleague, George Passwater, features “content marketing” in his George’s Content Marketing Daily. George says it takes about 10 or 15 minutes to prepare the daily.

Paul Dunay, co-author, Facebook Marketing for Dummies, produces his Paul Dunay Daily, which covers B2B topics on social media, technology and business.

Lee Odden, founder of online marketing firm TopRankMarketing.com, has a daily featuring PR news  

How can the B2B marcom mix benefit from content aggregators?

If you’re a B2B marketer who works through channel partners, content aggregation can help you leverage your channel partners’ content.   It’s a win-win for you and your prospects/customers, and it can boost your search ranking.

Find out if you’re channel partners have Twitter handles.  If they do, then you can create a daily featuring their content.  For channel partners who are marketing via Facebook, PostPost (not to be confused with social search engine, PostPo.st) lets you aggregate Facebook feeds.

Some B2B marketers are often concerned that their channel partners have adopted social media faster than the principle company.  Content curation could help principles work effectively with channel partners.  What do you think… is content curation a viable means to bring your channel partners’ content into your B2B marcom mix?

If there’s one thing B2B companies have no shortage of, it’s PowerPoint presentations.  Why not include them in your B2B marcom mix via SlideShare and help boost brand awareness, search optimization and lead generation. 

SlideShare not only provides an effective way to repurpose your PowerPoint presentations, it also includes social networking links for commenting and sharing with other social networks including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  In addition, SlideShare provides code so that others can embed your presentations in their blogs or websites.  Perhaps one of the most valuable benefits to B2B marketers is the SlideShare “LeadShare” app, which turns your presentation into a lead generator.   There’s also a Slide2Lead app that synchronizes leads from LeadShare into SalesForce.

So B2B marcom managers, take an inventory of PowerPoint presentations that are relevant to your target markets.  Good sources of B2B marketing presentations include:  webinars, industry conferences and events, sales meetings, etc.  Remember to contact your sales channels for additional presentations. After you’ve categorized your presentations take the following steps to optimize your presence on SlideShare:

1. Sign up for your branded SlideShare channel so the url should read www.slideshare.net/your_company_name.
2. Give your presentation a keyword-rich title.
3. Write a keyword-rich description.
4. Use keyword-rich tags or tags relevant to a product or solution for which your prospects/customers may be searching.
5. Apply consistent brand look and feel to all the presentations you upload.

From my B2B marcom experience, most B2B industrial companies don’t have the budgets to produce video content for YouTube, however, they do have the resources to produce PowerPoint presentations.  Slideshare provides an easy, affordable alternative to online video that can effectively leverage your company’s thought leadership and engage prospects and customers in online conversation.

Think about it…  how many PowerPoint presentations do you have right now that could be generating leads?

Here’s an excellent B2B presentation on social media via SlideShare embed feature. 

Social media isn't forcing B2B marketing communications (marcom) to cede control of the brand to customers.

The reality of branding from a B2B perspective is that marketers were never really in control. The only control marcom exerts is in communicating the framework for the brand—identifying what the image should be, articulating the brand promise, etc. However, it’s the customer perception that either validates what we communicate or denies it.

B2B social media enables customers to validate or deny the brand message en masse and in a public, transparent forum. Customers don’t control the brand, the company does in its behavior throughout the buying cycle and beyond. If what marcom is communicating about the brand is consistent with the experiences of the buyer, then that should be reflected in the social sphere.

Is B2B Marcom Staying True to the Brand?

Where brands get into trouble—seemingly “lose control”—is when there’s an inconsistency between what’s being communicated and the company behavior. If you say you offer great service and you really don’t, then your customers will communicate your lack of service in social media. Does that cede control of your brand to the customer? In my opinion… no. Customers aren’t controlling the brand. They’re simply reacting to an inconsistency between what marcom is saying and the company’s behavior. eMarketer points this out in a recent study where a “majority of respondents agreed that the brand must define what a company or product is, and that message should be communicated via various PR and marketing channels, including social media, and that the most effective way to communicate about a brand was to stay true to its message.” The study also mentioned that when it comes to social media, marketers strayed from the brand message in superficial attempts to create a presence in the social sphere that was inconsistent with the true brand message.

If marcom is saying one thing and the company is behaving contrary to what’s being communicated, the gap will likely be bridged in the social sphere. I’m not talking about isolated incidents where someone wasn’t happy with the company’s service and complained on a social media site. There will always be instances where a customer wasn’t completely satisfied, but it’s how the company handles the dissatisfied customer (or not) and the overall long-term satisfaction of all customers that either supports or rejects what marcom communicates as the true brand message. Aaron Pearson (@apearson) says it best in his blog post, Integrating Social Media with Corporate Website: How Far Can We Take This?, “…ultimately your customer decides what your brand really stands for.”

Are B2B Organizational Silos Preventing Social Media Success?

Because social media impacts more than sales and marketing, organizations need to integrate the stakeholders of social media, such as customer service, tech support and R & D. As Aaron suggests, “There needs to be a better spirit of cooperation between IT, marketing, advertising, public and corporate communications, sales, and customer service.” That’s a tall order for large B2B companies where social media is often owned by different groups within the organization, each of which firmly maintains its silo.

So much of the brand image depends on the experience of the consumer and the behavior of the company beyond marcom messages. Social media quickly uncovers inconsistencies in brand image and actual behavior. That’s where strong B2B brands have an advantage–they practice what they preach.

Share what your company is doing to integrate social media stakeholders?

Here are more resources on social media-driven organizational changes

Gaura Mishra shares six “seismic shifts” in marcom that are the result of social media. http://www.gauravonomics.com/blog/360-degree-marketing-redux-how-the-social-web-is-changing-the-marketing-communications-ecosystem/

Bob Liodice explained in Advertising Age how the practice of integrated marketing communications (IMC) is impacted by social media and why marketing needs to remove functional silos or at least interconnect them. http://aaasite.org/conferences/2010/Liodice.pdf [Link opens a pdf doc]

Cisco attempted to break down its silos and became a more collaborative organization, after which, John Chambers was named CEO of the year.

Optimizing B2B landing pages for SEO can improve brand recall.

A client recently asked me why he should apply SEO copywriting techniques to a landing page when an email is driving visitors to the landing page instead of search.  Good point.  However, I think anything worth putting on the web is worth optimizing for search—particularly longtail keywords, which tend to have lower clicks, but higher conversions.  That said, I think the first priority when writing landing page content is landing page optimization—write copy that has continuity with the marcom elements that are driving visitors to the landing page.  For example, if you’re using email, then the subject line, call to action and overall message should be echoed on the landing page first and foremost.  Then as a secondary objective and where it makes sense, optimize for search. 
Why?…  message recall.  

B2B SEO Landing Page Example from the Mind of a B2B Copywriter

Let’s say you’re a B2B company specializing in network security applications.   You’re running a campaign targeting the mobile/device market. Though I recall seeing an ad in a trade journal or vaguely recall receiving an email, I can’t remember your specific name, so I turn to search.  I may search for network security for mobile devices or something similar.  If you’re landing page is optimized, chances are I’ll find you.

In the above example, the campaign keywords could serve both landing page optimization and search engine optimization.  Here’s a totally fake example to illustrate the point.  Let’s say the message is to convey to corporate IT folks that they can allow colleagues use their iPhones, smartphones and other devices besides Blackberries to connect to the corporate internet without compromising the security of the network.  The B2B copywriter writes the headline/subject line, Connect More… Worry Less.  With good targeting and wide distribution, it could make a memorable campaign-wide slogan.  But at a tactical level, the lack of keywords makes it less likely to drive search. So a good copywriter would ask whether or not there was a way to accomplish both—boost open rate and search results.  The answer lies in keywords. 

The copywriter’s next headline iteration includes the keywords “network security” More devices; less network security hassles.  It’s a better headline, but for search, typically it’s better to place keywords at the beginning of the headline.  So, if the headline still reads well, is persuasive, and encourages readers to open and click, then try an even greater search optimized version:  Network Security—more devices; less hassles.  The copywriter’s newest version headline is optimized for search, fits the 40-50 character count for an email subject line, and achieves the target message. 

The landing page should contain the same headline—enclosed in html H1 header tags, of course—and the subsequent landing page content should support the headline with keyword –rich copywriting and a strong call to action above the fold and below the fold.   Good copywriters should also consider writing a landing page url that includes campaign keywords and is memorable.  In the example above, an effective landing page URL could be www.fakecompany.com/network-security-more-devices-less-hassles. 

Optimize Landing Pages for Search without Compromising Conversion

Again I can’t emphasize enough that copywriters should always write email campaigns, PPC ads and landing pages with the objective of driving the desired outcome whether opens, clicks or conversions.  This is first and foremost when writing content.  However, good SEO copywriters are vigilant about writing content that’s relevant to the people searching for it.  That means knowing the keywords and using them persuasively and strategically.  Striking a balance between persuasive copy and optimized copy is the sweet spot for B2B copywriters.

What are your thoughts on SEO copywriting for landing pages?

PS  Any good post on landing pages should include a link to Ion Interactive, the landing page gurus.  Here’s a good  landing page technique for  B2B marketers targeting several industry verticals.

PPS And another good post by @level343 on the art of landing pages from Search Engine Journal.

Develop an effective B2B social media marketing program based on the 5 P's.

B2B Social media marketing has evolved into a pattern of five P’s based on what I’ve seen from client work and networking with other B2B marcom professionals. Remember, before embarking on the five Ps, you should have spent a significant amount of time listening to the social media sphere to gain an understanding of the types of conversations taking place, where they’re taking place and how you can participate effectively.

1. Policy
   Most B2B corporate social media policies are an extension of existing policies such as trade secrets, privacy, and codes of conduct; however most companies expand on such policies to cover social media. Kirk Maltais wrote a helpful article on government social media policies (8 Essential Elements for Crafting a Social Media Policy). The eight elements, summarized below, are found in many B2B social media policies.
   
   1. Employee Access – who will be allowed to use social media.
   2. Account Management – who will set up, manage and monitor the social media accounts.
   3. Acceptable use – how will social media be used.
   4. Employee conduct – what are acceptable social media behaviors.
   5. Content – how much editorial control will be exerted. (Usually companies require a disclaimer for employees—even former employees—who blog for personal use.)
   6. Security – password management.
   7. Legal issues – how to enforce policy without infringing on freedom of speech, etc.
   8. Citizen Conduct – more of a government requirement involving how to handle the interactions between civilian users and the public.Remember that your social media policy is only as effective as your social media education program, so offer a few training sessions.
2. Plan
   Planning your social media strategy should start with a business objective. For some B2B companies, a phase one objective is to increase their brand presence in the social sphere. While that may be enough to start in social media, it won’t satisfy the long term business requirements for such an investment… namely ROI. So your plan should have measurable objectives, such as 10% increase in web traffic within six months or 200 new LinkedIn followers within one month. Then, align the website metrics with marketing and sales metrics such as a 5% increase in qualified leads or a 5% increase in sales. More B2B social media measurement guidance.
   
   While I’m an advocate of aligning social media with revenue, it doesn’t directly correlate in lengthy B2B selling cycles. As with most B2B marketing tactics, the goal is to collaborate with sales to generate and nurture leads in order to drive sales. It’s the combination of marcom tactics and sales activity that drives sales, not a specific tactic alone such as social media. But you have to be in social media to know whether it will work for your situation. So my advice is to follow trends in leads and sales for the first six months to monitor the impact of social media. Be prepared to sacrifice. Without a concrete ROI, you may need to take marcom budget away from other marcom tactics to fund your initial B2B social media endeavor. I’ve seen clients take money from the event and print ad buckets… even the brochure bucket to fund social media endeavors. More on B2B budget trends from former Forrester Research analyst, Laura Ramos.
3. People
   From my experience, many B2B marcom departments lack adequate people resources to gain traction from their social media efforts. Here’s where B2B marcom folks need to get creative. Yes, if you’re a B2B marcom manager, you’ll likely bear the brunt of the workload when it comes to social media. However, look beyond marcom for content providers such as sales, tech support, product management and even R&D. Remember, your channel partners are a good source of content; they may have their own blogs and social media outlets that you can leverage. It’s helpful to have a content marketing plan and a conversation calendar to help you better determine your resource needs and ensure that you’re participating effectively at a level that will positively impact your business objectives.
4. Persona
   You need to decide how you/your company will appear on the various social media sites. For example when you’re signing up for Twitter what will your handle be; what will the handles be of those contributing? Will you follow the same naming convention on other social sites, your blog etc.? The goal here is to create a consistent persona across the social sphere. You’ll want to avoid what I call a “fragmented persona”—representing your company differently on different sites, e.g., LinkedIn.com/ABC Company, @bigbusinessbranding on Twitter and ABC Branding Blog. Establishing a consistent online persona is similar to establishing your brand guidelines for tone and approach of marketing communications elements such as brochures, newsletters, presentations, etc. You’ll want a unified voice across all media.
5. Patience!
   Finally, you’ll need to give your B2B social media initiative time to produce results. Remember, social media is about establishing relationships and that takes time and regular interaction. It’s not just about blasting out content, it’s about making an online connection with your clients and prospects.

Summary of B2B social media resources mentioned above (plus a few more):

• 8 Essential Elements for Crafting a Social Media Policy) by Kirk Maltais
• 5 Steps for Measuring Social Media for B2B by Kipp Bodnar, Social Media B2B
• Practical Social Media Measurement for B2B by Ksenia Coffman via B2Bbloggers
• 2010 B2B Marketing Budgets and Mix Trends Research Published by Laura Ramos
• Creating Consistent Content – A Content Marketing Plan by Russell Sparkman via Junta42
• Creating a Content Marketing Plan—Without Any Content by Mark W. Schaeffer, {grow}
• New B2B Marcom Tool: Conversation Calendar by Joan Damico