Jon Gatrell - B2B Social Media Activity

"It's about improving; there is no home run, no 140 characters to riches." - Jon Gatrell

This post contains paraphrased notes from SoCon10 breakout speaker Jon Gatrell on how B2B Social Media activity needs to drive results.

Results of recent survey on the influence of Social Media on go-to-market activities was shocking. Only 9% of respondents said Social Media would be a major part of their program. 57% considered it, but not as a significant factor. 40% had no Social Media plan.

Thoughts on B2B Blogging

Company blogs are an easy way to distribute and update content. On his company blog, Jon tries to never mention the product. “Even things that might seem uninteresting about development, wow do customers love it.”

Top reasons for a B2B blog:

• Prospects have to be aware that you exist
• You have to provide a solution for these prospects.
• A blog can help set up the sale.

Blogging platform:

• Big fan of WordPress and TypePad
• Blogger is for Mommy bloggers [WOW. Did he say that? Hey, this is a Blogger blog.]

Thoughts on B2B Twitter

Businesses have channels to shout at people, but don’t have a lot of inbound channels for customers to interact with the business. On Twitter, a lot of people are posting, but not listening. Always listen and respond.

You have to be a better writer because of Twitter. Twitter is as much about emotion as writing because it's so personal. It's about your network circle. You want personality; personality requires emotion.

A recent survey found that 62% of product managers don’t use Twitter.

Should you Twitter? Hasn’t translated the business value out of it yet, but at the end of the day, it is another opportunity to practice, experiment, and get better.

But not everyone Tweets. Maybe your customers aren’t there; maybe they are somewhere else. Lots of people still use listservs. Find out where your audience is; that's where you go.

Thoughts on Evaluating Tactics

To evaluate, you need real metrics, but don’t go crazy. Keep it simple. Figure out the one thing that you want to track; know that it has to be something you can learn from. If you don’t know where you are, it’s hard to get somewhere.

Ultimately all you need are goals and objectives.

Thoughts on a B2B Social Media Approach

Be agile with what you are doing. Social Media are things that you do everyday and build upon. Have a daily work list. See how your activity drives results.

The more control you have in your Social Media efforts, the less effective they are going to be. Have many different viewpoints and voices representing your business.

Share something valuable that people other than your prospects will care about.