Social media has become a basic requirement for marketing communications programs. While B2B marketers may feel pressured to immediately be a part of popular communities and outlets, slapping Linked In and Facebook features on a web site and getting a few enthusiastic employees to tweet, isn’t a strategic way to begin participating. Many B2B marketers have jumped into social media with me-too tactics without thinking about strategic objectives and goals.

Although the hype is impossible to ignore, many B2B marketers are still trying to determine how to use social media to aid other established B2B communication channels. Researching and monitoring is an essential first step and can yield ongoing valuable information, (Download the Social Media & the Art of Listening White Paper PDF) but it’s not something that drives business and sales.
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Being connected to customer needs and desires should be a key aspect of shaping your B2B brand. But the engine of growth needs to include creativity, something many B2B executives don't spend much time on. Others like Google stake their reputation on creativity. They walk the talk: All engineers are allotted up to 20 percent of their time to work on their own ideas. The result? Products like Gmail and Google News, seeds of which began as personal endeavors.

According to MIT Media Lab, a hotbed of creativity, the secret sauce for business creativity is developing an environment where different people from different areas and disciplines of an enterprise, work together to share ideas to innovate.

Dr.
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In the late 90s, The Cluetrain Manifesto, one of the more incendiary books on the new media, made the statement, “markets are conversations.” The truth of that observation has become apparent in the rise of social media in this decade.

Perhaps more importantly for B2B marketing strategy, B2B social media (yes, it was necessary to repeat “B2B”) are quickly becoming the medium where thought leadership is established.

There’s one important reason why social communities are displacing brochures, PR articles, and white papers as the medium of choice for B2B thought leadership messaging: as lawyers put it, you can’t cross-examine a piece of paper.

Social media give readers a chance to talk back, ask questions and start a conversation. And it is in those conversations where B2B thought leadership is now being established.

So how can a B2B marketer use B2B social media to establish thought leadership? We recommend
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Thought leadership has always been an important element of B2B marketing communications strategy. The reason is simple: most B2B products and services are considered purchases. The selling cycle is normally months or even years, and requires that the customer be educated in the technology or other issues.

Most B2B marketers we talk with understand the need and have some area where they can be thought leaders. In the past, much of the burden for presenting a B2B marketer’s thought leadership message fell on the shoulders of the sales person. However, a host of factors have changed the rules for delivering these messages. Sales reps no longer have the time they once had with customers, let alone prospects. Buying committees have sometimes separated the reps from the real decision makers. And more buyers are doing their preliminary product research online. So you’re increasingly faced with the need to deliver the message when you’re not in the room.
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Almost a year ago, I posted about how B2B marketers can use social media. Since then, 2009 social media growth has been exponential. Case studies of leading companies effectively using corporate social media, and the high adoption rates of business professionals using social media in the workplace, have helped squelch questions of whether B2B marketers should participate in social media. The challenge now is defining what their company’s social media strategy should be.
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One of the key tenants of strategy is choice. As we recover from this ugly recession, management in virtually every B2B company, large, medium and small faces BIG choices, like how they should position their company for future marketing success. Make no mistake, the consequences of these choices are BIG. They will have a much larger impact than next quarter's sales results.

What will guide decision making for such big choices? Relying on input from the sales force? Good, but not good enough all by itself for getting a true understanding of the market and audience information needed. Secondary Research? Probably some good information can be gleaned, but the information may be too general and, perhaps, not timely. Research done through publications is limiting and often lacks actionable information and insight.

Management needs solid, timely empirical information to guide informed decision making based on the reality of today's
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As social media continues to make inroads into the B2B universe, more companies are including blogs as a communications tactic. According to the Society for New Communications Research, 16 percent of Fortune 500 companies support a corporate blog while Forrester Research reports the number is closer to 29 percent. Both reports are one to two years old so I suspect the numbers are much higher today.

As acceptance of blogging continues to grow I thought it might be helpful to give some advice on how to create and maintain a company blog. This is the first of several blogs, each focusing on a specific topic.

Let’s start at the beginning. You’ve decided to create a blog but are faced with two important questions:
1.    Who should write the blog?
2.    How often should you post?

Some companies are fortunate and have an “industry expert” on staff, someone with broad industry
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When a B2B marketer is asked about measuring brand equity, they usually have a pretty good idea about what folks are trying to glean or understand. But, if you dig a little and start asking what makes up this thing we call "brand equity" you might start to get a few puzzled looks. Dig even deeper and ask how they are leveraging what they know about their B2B brand equity that will have meaningful strategic impact on their marketing decisions in 2010 and you might see a little color drain from their face.

Is your company stuck in the old paradigm of brand equity measurement that offers little more than awareness and perception? Are you ready (and is your management) to develop a deeper more meaningful understanding about brand equity measurement that can be used for more effective 2010 planning?

Research that extends beyond knowledge, but through the use of advanced analytics, modeling and simulation, provides valuable real-time insights on how to build better
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Ah, yes, the joys of summer! Warm weather has finally arrived in the Northeast. It’s hard to believe that the calendar year is almost halfway gone.

Now is a perfect time for marketers to take stock of their business-to-business programs. After all, the economy is starting to rebound and certain sectors are once again showing signs of life. But the big question is, when will we finally turn the corner? I’m placing my bets on the first quarter of 2010. (Nothing scientific here; just a “gut” feeling.)

In anticipation of a turnaround, marketers should take a step back and put their b-to-b programs under the microscope. Here’s some advice:

1. Revisit your goals and objectives. Is your b-to-b program in line with the goals and objectives of your business? If not, it’s time to make some adjustments.

2. Assess your priorities.
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Finally, we're seeing some early positive indicators among the headlines about the economic situation. They remind us that, eventually, things will turn around. When, how much and how fast are anyone's guess. And there may be more bumps in the road, depending on your industry and company health.

But as we make our way through 2009 and prepare for 2010, it's time to change our thought process from "marketing in a downturn" to "marketing in the recovery." But it isn't just about remembering what to do with a real budget.

Things have changed.

This recession coincided with other changes in the B-to-B marketing landscape. We think it has accelerated some changes and that the marketing landscape in the recovery will not be the same as the one pre-recession.

• The media have changed. Some of the changes are jarring - some storied print properties have gone out of existence.
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