Best Practice GuideMOI DIGITAL

Author: Kylie West

Head of Social Marketingand Strategy. Marketing OptionsInternational

Social media marketing hasbeen responsible for afundamental shift in the waywe communicate. B2Bbrands need to stopcontrolling communicationand instead engage in aconstant dialogue with theirtarget community. Get itright and the rewards areimmense, get it wrong andthe risks are even greater.

We have created this article to focus onB2B Facebook fan sites. Facebook nowboasts more than 500 million active usersso this platform represents a hugeopportunity for B2B organisations topromote their brand and developrelationships with their target audience.

To help B2B marketers get started wehave created five top tips for usingFacebook:

1. Create a Facebook page

Start with the most obvious and create aFacebook page for your business. This iseasy to do. Simply go to any fan pageand look on the left hand side and youwill see an option to ‘create a page formy business’.

Once you have done this, you can begin to invite people in yourtarget community to ‘like’ your

fan page. This approach is far lessintrusive and users are happier showingtheir approval.

Simply put: integratefacebook intoeverything you do

2. Promote your page

Don’t wait for your fans to find you. Have your staff promote the new fanpage to their friends, add a link to yourfan page from your website, have links inyour company newsletters, on your emailsignatures, in presentations and evenprinted collateral. Simply put – integrateFacebook into everything you do.

By doing this you are showing that youare embracing social media and that yourbrand is personable and engaging. Evenif you don’t acquire many ‘likes’ you willstill improve the perception of your brand.

3. Be interesting and engaging

You want to be engaging, interesting andthought-provoking. Let your creativejuices flow! Focus your energy on creatingcontent that is relevant, topical and freelyavailable. Give people the chance todistribute your content by adding buttonsto share content on Facebook, Twitterand any other social media platformwhich you deem appropriate.

Make sure your content gives your fans something to interact with so that your brand appears in their newsfeeds. Content ideas include opinionpieces, applications, games,competitions and incentives.

5 Top Tips when using Facebook for B2B businesses

A great example we saw recently was acompetition run by the fan page ‘DaysOut Guide’, encouraged their fans tochange their Facebook status to includetheir favourite 2-4-1 promotion offered byDays Out Guide. In taking part the fanswere promoting the company to all theirfriends via the newsfeed. Take a look atthe Days Out Guide fan page. This is agreat example of how to frequentlyengage with your target audience andpost regular content. Whilst this is a B2Cexample, B2B businesses could learn alot from adopting this approach.

4. Give your fans ‘exclusives’

Think about how you can thank your fansfor their support. Maybe they can getspecial discounts, sneak previews to newproducts and special invitations tohospitality days.

5. Be patient, think long term & measure

You need to adopt a long term view onall your social media marketing. You mustdedicate resource(s) and ensure you areregularly contributing and adding freshcontent.

As with all aspects of marketing thereturn on investment (ROI) is key andyour Facebook fan page is no exception.There are no hard and fast rules of whatto measure and over time you will createyour own success metrics. That saidmake sure you use Facebook Analyticsto access intelligence on your fan page tohelp you adapt, improve and refine yourfacebook strategy.

By integrating yourfacebook fan page intoother elements of yourmarketing mix, you are far more likely todrive brand awarenessand be perceived as a key player within your market.

Here are a few things to measure to getyou started.

• Capture the number of ‘likes’ to yourpage and the number of unsubscribes

• Capture the number of posts youmake and the number of commentsyou receive

• Record the feedback your customersgive you and use this information inyour marketing strategy.

If you would like more informationon this article or further insight toget started then please don’thesitate to contact us as we would bedelighted to help.

Tel: +(44) 01932 233000Email: kylie.west@mointernational.com

Join the MOI fan page by searching for Marketing Options International on Facebook.

References:Chapman, T., 2009. Communities are not a right- they are a privilege. B2B Magazine, April 09. P43Five things your brand should ask about social media in 2009, Fresh Networks Blog, December 2008 http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2008/12/five-things-your-brand-should-ask-about-social-media-in-2009/Five ways to engage your customers in 2009, Fresh Networks Blog, December 2008 http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2008/12/five-ways-to-engage-your-customers-in-2009Fleet, D., 2008. Success Beckons the Social Media-Driven Enterprise. http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/62704Meadows-Klue, D. 2009. Getting social media marketing to deliver real business results? Technology for Marketing and Advertising Event, February 2009.http://www.seminarstreams.com/TFM&A-keynotes.aspKevin Gibbons. 2010. Ten ways to advertise your business on Facebook. Econsultancy blog. July 16th 2010. http://econsultancy.com/blog/6249-ten-ways-to-advertise-your-business-on-facebook#comments

5 Top Tips when using Facebook for B2B businesses

About Marketing Options InternationalMarketing Options International (MOI) is a fully integrated B2B technology marketing agency, offering results-focused direct, digitaland event marketing solutions.

With offices in London, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney, Marketing Options International combines global reach and localunderstanding to produce results-driven marketing campaigns that span evolving media, markets and territories.

The agency was founded in 1987 on the core belief that clients are served best when people share common values – marketing intelligence, imagination, empathy and a passion for technology and delivering exceptional marketing programmes.

To learn more about Marketing Options International, visit www.mointernational.com or call +44 (0)1932 233000

For more information, please contact: Vanessa Cheal, Marketing Options International, +44 (0)1932 233000 vanessa.cheal@mointernational.com

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