If you're a B-to-B marketer that targets everyone from butchers to bakers to candlestick makers, don't think you can just put all your prospects into one cozy social media tub.
Professionals in different vertical markets gravitate to different social sites and platforms, and that means marketers wanting to build relationships with them should do the same.
Freed Maxick & Battaglia is an example of a marketer doing just that, says Eric Majchrzak, marketing director of the Buffalo, NY-based CPA firm. "We use a combination of multiple platforms; we don’t put all our eggs into one basket."
Majchrzak notes that his department functions much like a mini agency. The company goes after vertical markets as diverse as healthcare, real estate developers and agriculture. The firm started taking baby steps into social media about five years ago, doing things like posting on Wikipedia, syndicating articles on free sites, and listening in on chat groups and forums.
Know Who's Talking Where
Today, social media is a component of every marketing campaign the firm does. "In some industry niches, it may play a bigger role than others," Majchrzak says. "We do the research and see if prospects in a particular niche are heavily into something like blogs or LinkedIn, or have Facebook pages. It all depends on the vertical."
Entrepreneurs are one example of a niche that responds well to social media, he notes. They tend to utilize these platforms not only because they can control and personalize their messages but also because social media can be relatively inexpensive.
Small business owners are particularly reachable by Twitter because they, themselves are often the voice behind their accounts. In a billion dollar entity, Majchrzak points out, you don't know who is doing the tweeting in the name of the organization. The account could be in the name of the CEO, but an intern in the marketing department could be behind the curtain.
Find Your Employees' Social Comfort Zone
"If companies are going to brand institutionally, they should be disclosing who is on Twitter," he says.
Majchrzak walks the walk on this particular point. He himself tweets, as does his emarketing specialist and several tax professionals on their subject areas. The company is working on training its staff internally on the dos and don'ts of social media, and how they can leverage it for business purposes.
"We're working on finding internal social 'champions,'" he says. "The last thing we want to do is get people on those platforms who don't feel comfortable."
Of course, social media is a great way to get people involved, he adds. "While someone might not be comfortable meeting with bankers over lunch or on a golf course or at a cocktail party, they might be a fantastic blogger.
Judging the ROI
Freed Maxick & Battaglia's social media participation is evenly balanced between listening to and talking with prospects and customers. It also helps promote the content of strategic key partners in social channels, he notes.
The firm's ROI on social media is hard to gauge because all the campaigns are so highly integrated, Majchrzak says. For example, when healthcare reform passed, the firm came up with an overview of tax implications on business. Seminars were conducted, articles were placed in business journals, and radio and print ads were bought, in addition to social chatter.
"Most of those channels had a call to action," he says. "We measure by the campaign, not necessarily by the platform."
Majchrzak notes that the firm might identify a need from a prospect—say, for tax services—it follows on Twitter, engage them and then end up doing their corporate or personal return. "The marketing department’s staff is the one doing most of the listening, so that's easily measured."
Another social benefit is "earned" media placements. These are garnered through public relations work with reporters and editors the firm connects with via social channels. While in the past a company would need to draft and send out a press release, today they follow journalists to see what they're working on and offer up resources for future stories.
