Social Marketing to the Business Customer : Listen to Your B2B Market, Generate Major Account Leads, and Build Client Relationships

The first book devoted entirely to B2B social marketingB2B markets are fundamentally different from consumer markets. Decisions are made on value, not impulse. Buying cycles are complex, often with many stakeholders involved. Relationships and support are critical. Bet-the-business decisions demand discipline, knowledge, and lots of information. This hands-on guide covers topics unique to this segment, including cost justification, prospecting and lead generation, matching tools to the sales funnel, building, B2B search engine optimization, social media monitoring, social media policy development, long-term client relationships, gaining stakeholder support, building a more transparent organization, and what's coming next. * Features plentiful examples, case studies, and best practices * Focuses on the channels that are most effective for B2B marketers * Builds on the authors' more than 30 years of combined experience in the new media/social media space, as well as two previous successful books Leverage the vast business-to-business potential of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many other social media platforms today with __Social Marketing to the Business Customer__!

PRAISE FOR
SOCIAL MARKETING to theBUSINESS CUSTOMER

"This is the book I was too lazy to write. Gillin and Schwartzman have broken the code to how to approach B2B marketing with social media."
—CHRIS BROGAN, President, Human Business Works, and coauthor of Trust Agents

"Gillin and Schwartzman not only dispel the myth that social media is limited to B2C marketing, they demonstrate how business customers are redefining the boundaries for influence, decision-making, and lead generation."
—BRIAN SOLIS, author of Engage! and BrianSolis.com

"While most of the social media hoopla to date has been in the consumer space, social media will have an even larger impact on B2B companies seeking to build deep, long-term relationships with their customers.This book is extremely timely as a guide on how to do just that. If you're in the B2B space and looking to grow your business, this is the book for you."
—LARRY WEBER, Chairman, W2 Group, and founder, Weber Shandwick Worldwide

"In the old days, the B2B marketer's sole job was to generate leads and hand them over to salespeople to nurture and close. No longer. Buyers evaluate your offerings continually on the Web, and if you're not engaging through social networks, your company is at a tremendous disadvantage. Paul and Eric show you how the most successful B2B companies reach buyers via social marketing."
—DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and Real-Time Marketing & PR

"If your company is still blocking access to social networking sites or considering them as a 'productivity drain,' think twice! For many B2B companies,it is THE new way to engage with customers, communicate with suppliers, and generate leads. A solid social media presence is the only way to open and humanize your business and master crisis communication. This books shows you with very practical examples that there is no good reason not to use social media."
—MATTHIAS LÜFKENS, Social Media Architect, World Economic Forum

"If you want truly expert advice on selling the value of social media to the CFO of a B2B concern, stop everything and READ THIS BOOK."
—MARK STORY, New Media Director, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

"The social media craze has, ironically, given birth to one of the biggest booms in recent book publishing. The gaping hole in this market, however, is B2B. Nearly every social media book that's been published either targets the consumer market or treats B2B as an afterthought. If you search for "B2B social media marketing" on Amazon, the results revealed not a single relevant title. In fact, Paul's own two social media books both turn up in the top 10 results, despite the fact that neither of them directly targets this market. This is a stunning gap, given that some of the earliest adopters of social media were B2B companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and Cisco. There is also plentiful evidence that B2B marketers are hungry for information about this topic. At the recent Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, a show of hands from the audience of 350 marketers revealed that about 70% identified themselves as B2B. The authors' own consulting and speaking engagements, which were principally to consumer audiences a couple of years ago, are now almost entirely to B2B companies and trade associations. The Business Marketing Association estimates B2B marketing spending at over $80 billion annually. Among the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500, nearly all have significant B2B sales. What's more, the B2B market tends to be less price sensitive than the consumer market, meaning that readers are more likely to pay a premium price for specialized guide and to buy in quantity. How Businesses Reach Businesses will build upon our extensive experience in this space, the authors' two successful social media books, and more than a decade of collective immersion in this topic. This will be a hands-on guide with plentiful examples, case studies and best practices. It will focus on the channels that are proving most effective for B2B marketers as well as on the topics that are unique to this segment, including prospecting for clients, long selling cycles and high-ticket items, using social media for long-term client relationships, corporate transparency and policies, etc"-- Résumé de l'éditeur "The social media craze has, ironically, given birth to one of the biggest booms in recent book publishing. The gaping hole in this market, however, is B2B. Nearly every social media book that's been published either targets the consumer market or treats B2B as an afterthought. If you search for "B2B social media marketing" on Amazon, the results revealed not a single relevant title. In fact, Paul's own two social media books both turn up in the top 10 results, despite the fact that neither of them directly targets this market. This is a stunning gap, given that some of the earliest adopters of social media were B2B companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and Cisco. There is also plentiful evidence that B2B marketers are hungry for information about this topic. At the recent Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, a show of hands from the audience of 350 marketers revealed that about 70% identified themselves as B2B. The authors' own consulting and speaking engagements, which were principally to consumer audiences a couple of years ago, are now almost entirely to B2B companies and trade associations. The Business Marketing Association estimates B2B marketing spending at over $80 billion annually. Among the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500, nearly all have significant B2B sales. What's more, the B2B market tends to be less price sensitive than the consumer market, meaning that readers are more likely to pay a premium price for specialized guide and to buy in quantity. How Businesses Reach Businesses will build upon our extensive experience in this space, the authors' two successful social media books, and more than a decade of collective immersion in this topic. This will be a hands-on guide with plentiful examples, case studies and best practices. It will focus on the channels that are proving most effective for B2B marketers as well as on the topics that are unique to this segment, including prospecting for clients, long selling cycles and high-ticket items, using social media for long-term client relationships, corporate transparency and policies, etc"-- Provided by publisher

The first book devoted entirely to B2B social marketing

B2B markets are fundamentally different from consumer markets. Decisions are made on value, not impulse. Buying cycles are complex, often with many stakeholders involved. Relationships and support are critical. Bet-the-business decisions demand discipline, knowledge, and lots of information.

This hands-on guide covers topics unique to this segment, including cost justification, prospecting and lead generation, matching tools to the sales funnel, building, B2B search engine optimization, social media monitoring, social media policy development, long-term client relationships, gaining stakeholder support, building a more transparent organization, and what's coming next.

• Features plentiful examples, case studies, and best practices
• Focuses on the channels that are most effective for B2B marketers
• Builds on the authors' more than 30 years of combined experience in the new media/social media space, as well as two previous successful books

Leverage the vast business-to-business potential of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many other social media platforms today with Social Marketing to the Business Customer!

The first book devoted entirely to B2B social marketing B2B markets are fundamentally different from consumer markets. Decisions are made on value, not impulse. Buying cycles are complex, often with many stakeholders involved. Relationships and support are critical. Bet-the-business decisions demand discipline, knowledge, and lots of information. This hands-on guide covers topics unique to this segment, including cost justification, prospecting and lead generation, matching tools to the sales funnel, building, B2B search engine optimization, social media monitoring, social media policy development, long-term client relationships, gaining stakeholder support, building a more transparent organization, and what's coming next. Features plentiful examples, case studies, and best practices Focuses on the channels that are most effective for B2B marketers Builds on the authors' more than 30 years of combined experience in the new media/social media space, as well as two previous successful books Leverage the vast business-to-business potential of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many other social media platforms today with Social Marketing to the Business Customer ! Featuring case studies and best practices, a guide to leveraging social marketing strictly for the business-to-business market covers everything from social media to cost justification to search-engine optimization.