Recently, Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction, attended the iMedia Agency Summit where he tweeted a running commentary. He made sure he used the conference hashtag because he gets a lot of interaction from other conference attendees and followers. He received a message from someone who said, “I love your tweets. We’ve got to connect when I get there.”

It turned out that person was not only a great guy and a keynote speaker at the event, but also the head of digital for a giant global energy drink brand. The two met up at the conference, and two months later, Kleinberg’s agency began working on a project for him.

Although B2B companies accept social media as a valuable tool to provide customer service and find new customers, they continue to struggle to develop a strategy and see results — and the connections — that Kleinberg experienced. In the following interview, Adam Kleinberg clarifies many of the gray areas while showing what does work for B2B in social media.

Professional Services Journal: While B2Bs accept social media and make it part of their strategy, they’re struggling to define and execute the strategy. What advice do you have for B2Bs?

Adam Kleinberg: B2Bs typically make two mistakes when approaching social media strategy.

1. They start with tactics instead of strategy, as in “I need to do something on Facebook.” My advice is to start by asking why before you jump to how. What are you trying to accomplish? If you show up with a preconceived notion of how you’ll succeed before you even define your problem, you’re likely to spend a lot of time in the dark.
2. They define social media as one silo. It’s not, just like digital media is not. Social is now embedded in every part of how people connect and communicate online. It touches every part of your business. The infographic below shows how Strategy, Marketing, Customer Care, Outreach and Empowering the team are all part of the social media pie. They are very distinct activities that companies should address individually.

PSJ: Many companies struggle to see results from their social media efforts. Furthermore, not all companies have a big enough name to find people talking about them or their competitors. What does it take for B2Bs to get results from social media?

AK: Even if you’re too small to use social monitoring effectively as a tool, you can still create contextually relevant content that provides value to audiences. The “right” channels might not be what you think they are. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are big oceans to swim in.

An article you publish in an online trade journal that is sharable in those other networks might be a more effective way of getting your thought leadership in front of the right eyeballs than a build-it-and-they-will-come page on Twitter or Facebook.

PSJ: The B2B SM examples you present involve big companies with big resources. How can a small to medium B2B successfully use social media?

AK: There are plenty of ways small companies can outthink the competition rather than outspend them:

• Build out a LinkedIn Companies page and invite your customers to post recommendations for your services.
• Use Twitter to follow potential customers or reporters and engage with them to build relationships. Those relationships you build are real.
• Answer questions related to your line of business on LinkedIn Answers, Focus.com or Quora.com (a hot new social property). You can even set up a feed to have relevant questions on LinkedIn Answers sent straight to your RSS reader.

PSJ: Should B2B companies bother with LinkedIn Groups (not company pages) and Facebook pages? Why or why not?

AK: LinkedIn Groups can be valuable if focused enough. Most are a waste of time (OK, so you’re in the social media gurus group. Now what?).

However, I find some value in relevant networks I’m in like Cornell Alumni in Marketing & Advertising in the Bay Area.

LinkedIn Companies, however, has been overhauled and is very valuable. Every B2B should take advantage of it. I wrote an article on how to optimize your company’s LinkedIn profile and provided a free LinkedIn Companies Toolkit.

Facebook pages may worth having. Maybe not. Ask yourself why first. What do you want to achieve? Then figure out the resources (money and manpower) you can dedicate and ask if it makes sense. Last, ask if it’s the BEST way to achieve your goals. If the answer is yes, a Facebook page is a great idea.

PSJ: What three common denominators work for a majority of B2Bs when it comes to social media?

AK:

1. Authenticity works. Social media offers you a chance to set aside marketing speak and put a human face to your brand. People don’t come to trust brochures, but they do come to trust other people.
2. View social as an opportunity to extend or syndicate the reach of content you create so people can consume it on their terms. You can use a tool like Tumblr, so every time you write a blog post, it’s distributed to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, RSS and a dozen others.
3. Insight is out there. Just look for it. People are talking. Listen in.

Want to connect to more prospects? If you really embrace social media, it works.

In 2001, he and some friends started Traction. Traction calls itself an interactive agency, but it believes everything is interactive. It’s part advertising agency, part innovation consultancy. Traction aligns psychology and technology to create ideas that solve business problems. That’s the reason it’s been named the top interactive agency in the country. BtoB Magazine named Traction the interactive agency of the year in 2009 and has twice included Kleinberg in its “Who’s Who in B2B.” Kleinberg has written many articles for industry publications including Mashable and iMediaConnection.

We have a business-casual dress code in our organization, with casual day on Friday. However, a colleague dresses a little too casually on a daily basis. We’ve asked her to turn it up a notch, but she still wears shorts on Friday instead of jeans like most folks, short skirts or low-cut blouses that reveal too much. How can we encourage her to dress appropriately, especially since our first attempt to convince her failed? Or should we leave it alone and hope karma does its job?

— Team Lead

Doing more with less is the norm. In my opinion, employees should be thankful they have a job with decent pay. Yet, my staff continues to insist on raises even though we can’t afford them. Should I cave in and give the raises, putting my business at risk? Or should I hold firm, and let them find a better job if they want more money?

— Manager

The article reviews a survey that looks at how lead generation management (LGM) systems affect the roles of marketing and sales. In a nutshell: organizations where marketing takes an active role in the lead generation effort, technology is an enabler for marketing and helps the two work together better.

What solution, if any, is your organization using in lead generation?

[ Read original article ]

Love how Rod Sloane uses cold war as an analogy in describing sales and marketing alignment, or lack thereof. Cut the detente’ and see better results.

When was the last time you focused on aligning sales and marketing in your company?

[ Read original article ]

Often, companies cite brand awareness as the reason they use social media. Yes, it helps, but is it the most important goal? What about lead generation? Customer retention?

What’s your organization’s main goal for social media and why?

[ Read original article ]

We’re not going to tell you to just jump in. However, we know that social media is scary and overwhelming for b2bs trying to get into it for the first time. Learn how one organization helped its employees enter the social media realm.

What fears, if any, do you have about social media for business? Or how did you jump in?

[ Read original article ]

Five Challenges for Sales and Marketing

Yet another article showing the importance of aligning marketing and sales. “A brand is merely the promise of an experience.  In order to experience the brand, one must generally purchase the product or service of the brand.  In order to purchase the product or service of the brand, you need to provide a selling channel.”

Marketing is about branding. Sales is about revenue. Putting both in the same boat and paddling in the same direction will make those a reality. But of course, there are challenges in getting them in the same boat going in the same direction.

What other challenges do you see in aligning marketing and sales?

[ Read original article ]

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Download the free 20-page guide on how to create a marketing plan that incorporates personas, builds a team and uses different demand generation approaches. The guide also includes tips for building a sales and marketing machine, staffing, timeline and budgets.

What do you think of the advice given in the blueprint?

[ Read original article ]

Business and Social Media

The article reports that Forbes and Google conducted a survey of 354 executives and found that over 50 percent of the under 40 have a work-related blog, show on up Twitter and visit social networks often.

Valeria connected with experts to ask them for their thoughts on why and how B2B companies benefit from including social media in their marketing strategies.

What’s your experience with B2B social media?

[ Read original article ]

Social Media Resources

This great list sorts the resources into categories including how-to, case studies, networking and presentations. What are your favorite go to resources for B2B social media?

[ Read original article ]

Am I too strict with our Internet policy?

At our company, most employees have Internet access at their workstations. Ordinarily, I don’t mind a few minutes of web browsing here and there for a break or even a little personal business. It’s the same as a quick water cooler conversation.

Yet as social media has grown and become a business necessity, more employees have started to hang out on these sites — and not always for work. Am I going overboard in wanting to control the amount of time employees spend online for personal surfing? How can I trust them to get the work done without curtailing this personal web browsing? Or does it really save productivity since they get the mental break they need?

— Nathan

B2B Mistake

Naturally, when thinking about our target market, we think of our customers’ problems and try to solve them. But what if you changed your thinking to focusing on solving your customer’s customer’s problems? No, that’s not a typo.

Let’s say Jim sells XYZ services. Jim is your customer. Imagine the impact you have on Jim if you help him solve HIS customers’ problems. Read Liz Strauss’ article to see how this impacts social media.

What do you use social media for in your B2B business?

[ Read original article ]

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing

The best person to do social media for a business is the people who work for the business. Social media is about connecting with people and putting a face on a company. However, outsourcing some tasks can help you and your staff learn from experienced users. After all, you need a strategy for social media before getting into it.

How do you feel about outsourcing social media marketing activities?

[ Read original article ]

5 Ways to Integrate

This article touts the importance of integrating sales and marketing. Many of us agree on this, but many of us don’t know how to make that happen or we tried and failed. Author Jeff Ogden goes so far to give real-life examples and how the companies went about solving problems. Ogden closes with five tips for integrating sales and marketing.

Here are the five tips:

1. Put your most respected executives on it along with outside help like Find New Customers.
2. Give them the full and vocal support of top leadership.
3. Provide them with time to uncover existing processes and challenges.
4. Support them to implement new processes.
5. Measure and test.  Make sure the culture really changed.

How do you think applying the five tips will affect an organization?

[ Read original article ]

I Need More Time

Since it’s impossible to add another hour to the 24-hour day, I need an alternative. How can I find time to do all the things I need to complete at work? No doubt, many managers/supervisors deal with this challenge. How have you overcome the “I can’t get everything done” syndrome?

— Ed, Manager

Integrate Marketing and Sales

Mac McIntosh interviews Elizabeth Vanneste, CMO of Miller Heiman, with a focus on aligning sales and marketing. What does it mean to align sales and marketing? Vanneste clearly defines what it means to align the two and references a study that shows the effectiveness of aligning the two.

I’ve always believe in the importance of sales and marketing collaboration. What are some ways you can get the two to collaborate for the good of the company?

[ Read original article ]

Burning on the Inside

After over five years of service, I recently “retired” from a company to manage my own business full-time. I gave the standard two-week notice and started preparing to help with the transition. The company cut my two weeks short, and my manager was disrespectful to me during the process.

Since then, I’ve been furious with the manager and the situation. I did the best I could to serve the company and was loyal and honest. Having never received closure, I’ve been careful because I don’t believe in burning bridges.

The company did nothing illegal, so this doesn’t call for a lawsuit. And I might need a good recommendation from my manager someday. I think some action will help me get over this, but what? Should I talk to the director or someone else? I’m still burning inside despite trying to forget about the company. Nothing works. How do you work past these nasty feelings?

— Gone, but not forgotten

Listen to your Sales Team

Listen to your sales team
by Kipp Bodnar – Hubspot

This list of marketing lessons comes from the MarketingProfs B2B Forum. You’ll find tips for keywords, content, email marketing, social media, sales.

What’s one marketing lesson you’ve learned recently? [ Read original article ]

Profiting from Lead Generation

Combining lead generation and marketing to drive performance
by Marie Griffin – BtoB Media Business

How do you present your lead generation effort? Do you sell by convincing customers they need your product or service? Or do you find out what customers need? Several companies share their successful lead generation processes and how they balance the various mediums.

What works for you in generating leads? [ Read original article ]

Getting Execs on Board

Not engaging is riskier than diving in
by Jennifer Van Grove – Mashable

You have plenty of success stories you can use to show that social media really works for b2b. You may need more to convince the upper echelons to move into social media. The article provides suggestions from five people of varying backgrounds to help you get to “YES!”

What other ways can you get buy in from the top? [ Read original article ]

Shifts in Social Media Marketing

Capitalize on these shifts to boost sales
by Tom Pick – Webbiquity

Some marketers think using social media means simply repackaging the company’s brochure-type content as thought leadership. This won’t work. Smart marketers have taken notice of the five shifts and applied them to increase sales. They all revolve around giving the buyer more power and control. Furthermore, social media is an integrated effort. A new client that connected with you on Twitter didn’t necessarily find you on Twitter — it’s about mixing up how you engage with others.

What do you think of the five shifts? [ Read original article ]

Work Performance Evaluations

In my 20 years in the workforce, it’s surprising that performance reviews haven’t made a difference for my staff. I’m trying to turn this around, so I’ve read up on how to make the most of performance reviews. Yet, I struggle with finding an effective process that benefits the employee, employer and manager.

Do you use the performance review tool, or do you do your own thing? What’s the best way to do a constructive performance review that benefits both employees and management?

— Perplexed about performance

Blockhead Boss

We have a decent team, but we can’t make things happen smoothly. Our boss assigns irrelevant tasks to our team. We put in a lot of overtime because of his idiocy. The guy is a joke around the department, and everyone except the executive team seems to know that. Should we confront the executive director, go to the CEO (the director’s boss) or live with it in silence?

– Judy, Project Manager

B2B Social Media Digest helps its 30,000 subscribers, B2B marketing and sales executives, understand how social media can be integrated into their existing emarketing programs.

The blog encourages the audience to use social media for branding, PR, lead generation and new ways to establish and maintain conversations directly with their target market.

In addition, B2B Social Media Digest also provides insights to better manage the readers’ relationships between marketing and sales organizations. The sales team just want qualified leads generated from the marketing campaigns and may feel that marketing takes credit for increased sales. The marketing people want to control all messages that come from the company and at times believe that the sales team can’t be trusted to keep the marketing messages clean, honest and complete.

We help them find common ground.