The Social Media Age
Social media has forever changed the business arena. There are many who see it as a trend or fad that will slowly (or quickly) fade. I am of a different opinion. I believe that as the world becomes ever more connected, social media will continue to grow and evolve. It will change, of course, much like Myspace is almost a thing of the past and Facebook and even more recently Twitter have taken the stage, with LinkedIn and others dominating niche markets, such as business and professional world.
In the near future any business that has not built itself a social presence will be at a severe disadvantage. It may sound silly, but already most businesses exerting any significant marketing efforts have at least a presence, if not a developed network and system of Social Media Marketing. Even many B2B companies and service companies have begun using social media to build a presence and awareness. No longer is Social media limited to popular consumer products such as Soft Drinks and Car companies, which have exhibited the ability to garner a significant and loyal following.
Now companies that most people have never heard of, or that provide specialized, niche, Business to business services are building social media empires, where intuition tells you they would be unlikely to gain much. In reality they are doing very well.
The wonderful thing about social media marketing for B2B is that certain demographics and interest groups tend to congregate and associate in very tight-knit and interconnected groups in social media. Like stumbling upon a beehive, once you are bound to find many more. And like with a beehive, they can be worked into frenzy if properly provoked, thus creating a social media buzz.
For example, even companies such as freight brokers have built extensive networks of both shippers and truck drivers, which makes the broker’s job just that much easier to connect the two. The social network supplements the business network and solidifies business relations and transactions. It’s a win-win-win situation and makes everyone happy as well as keeping them connected, helping to retain customers and clients longer with higher satisfaction rates.
