I feel like a lot (or most) of the articles/websites I read on inbound marketing or just internet marketing in general are more geared towards B2C. I’m in more of a “old school” industry (manufacturing), and I find it hard to find relevant marketing resources for B2B. for example, I don’t think a B2B marketer would use Facebook the same way (if at all), a B2C marketer would.
Does anyone here have experience with B2B and if so any favorite resources or blogs you frequent to learn more?
You’re absolutely correct. To be frank, I think a lot of the social media talk we see on forums like these is a load of nonsense any way. There is no single rule for all businesses, and by at least acknowledging that you’ll be many steps ahead of your competition.
I’ve done some social media work for a B2B business, and more than anything I’ve scaled things back to stop employees from wasting their precious time on things that have no quantifiable benefit. A twitter presence can be useful in some circumstances, but only when the process is natural and not forced. Blogging can be useful if it matches the business type. It’s really all down to context. If you’re selling carpets online no one in their right mind is going to follow you on Twitter or read your carpet blog, but if you’re selling web design services people may show an interest.
A good B2B marketing blog that I would recommend is Marketo’s blog.
Personally, I feel that a lot of B2B businesses are slow on content marketing, which they could then build a targeted community on their own rather than focusing on consumer-oriented social networking platforms from the start.
Instead of starting the usual route of publishing content that is related to your product, come up with content that appeals to your target audience. If you are selling office furniture to offices, for example, you can consider publishing content about office design and culture rather than just posts about the boring desks and chairs.
Facebook is a waste of time for most B2B marketers. But there are other sites like http://Quora.com that could be of use depending on who your audience is. Go to Quora, search using keywords that are relevant to your product, then start answering questions. But make sure to leave your site url at the bottom of your post. I’ve seen lots of targeted traffic generated using this tactic. Good luck!