Why are B2B Companies so Anti-Social When it Comes to Social Media?

Mike Marn | B2B Social Media | July 28th, 2008

After all, it’s really just about relationships. The kind your salespeople brag about, and the kind you desperately hope to develop with customers so that price isn’t the only consideration. Heck, the kind that make barbecues more fun. Many companies preach the value of relationships constantly.

But disguise that relationship thing as “social media’ and they don’t even recognize it. Shun it. Or fear it. And as a result, they often do one of two things:

• Let their uneasiness keep them in their comfort zone, and out of the social media environment
• Barge onto the social media scene with a blatant selling agenda—exactly the kind of thing you wouldn’t dream of in those other settings.

Simple fact: social media fuel relationships. And relationships fuel sales. But you can’t jump from A to C. You need “B” in there along the way. And while you’re pursuing those virtual relationships, don’t focus on the sales value of each contact or on-line exchange, any more than you would stop and measure ROI after every stroke in a round of client golf.

Think of your social media efforts as sowing seeds. You never know which seeds will take root. But if you don’t sow any, you can count on a pretty sparse garden.

B2B folks, it’s time to get off the fence, and into the conversation.

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