Marketing executives need to meet consumers expectations when they follow companies on social sites through providing regular deals, coupons and social offers

Most companies are misunderstanding the massive opportunity that social media marketing represents.

Last month the IBM Institute of Business Value published a report entitled ‘From Social to Social CRM’. The report surveyed 1000 consumers about the reasons they interact with companies via social sites and then compared this with the results from surveying 350 business executives on why they thought consumers followed them on on social media. The results highlighted a perception gap that can only mean companies are missing out on direct revenue opportunities.

The reality is social media followers WANT to be monetized – they are after deals, promotions and discounts. Unfortunately most business executives are barking up the wrong tree by thinking that conversation with the brand is what drives people to follow them. In reality it is quite the opposite. Of course this represents a massive opportunity. If brands build up large social followings they can distribute social offers into this community and the research suggests that commercial results will be healthy. You can’t get more focused social ROI than campaigns focused on revenue. Marketing executives need to meet consumers expectations when they follow companies on social sites through providing regular deals, coupons and social offers.

How can traditional B2C tools be utilised for B2B? Twitter/Facebook for business: how to connect / SMWF Europe

Enterprise Social Media
For marketing professionals Enterprise Social Media becomes most important when used as a tool for driving employee engagement to reach business objectives.

How can internal communication be best managed to drive external messaging and customer relationship management?  What part do enterprise social media platforms play in managing internal communications to reach these goals?

As many more communications managers are being asked to take the dual role of managing both external and internal, how is social media helping and what problems does it present?
Internal communication could also be said to be key in governance of social media.  Should employees at all levels be allowed to ‘tweet’ and what mechanisms should be in place to manage this?

0930    Keynote Q&A - Building a Connected Graph of Business Professionals
            Challenging enterprise boundaries, and building social collaboration with b2b social media marketing.
            Empowering a social business – encouraging employee and client engagement with social media.

1000     Applying social media theories to business to business marketing:

             • Understanding  the cross over between B2B and B2C when planning a social media campaign
             • Selecting which platforms to use and why
             • What are social media management systems and how can the help maximise ROI?
             • How to measure social media in terms of success
             • All or nothing – how social media can enhance your existing digital marketing campaign with potential customers.
             • Which B2C ‘just don’t work’ for B2B?
             Zoe Sands, Head of Digital - EMEA, Juniper Networks

1045    Discussion Essential social media marketing tools for B2B

            • Which of the specialist B2B tools available are most valuable and how they can be used in practice.
            • How can traditional B2C tools be utilised for B2B? Twitter/Facebook for business: how to connect

1115 Networking Break

1145     Social CRM for B2B marketing
           • How does the social CRM approach change for B2B instead of B2C marketing
           • Spam sensitivities of B2B clients - building a community by communicating the right message at the right time
           • Effectively educating the sales team in social media communication
           • Getting the most out of LinkedIn

1230      B2B brand case studies: How B2B brands have successfully utilised social media

View the full agenda here.

via socialmedia-forum.com