Researching B2B Markets

Market research and social media choices for business-to-business markets
are somewhat different from business-to-consumer markets because the
sales cycle is different. Usually, B2B companies have a longer sales cycle and
high-ticket purchases and multiple people who play a role in closing a sale;
consequently, B2B marketing requires a different social media presence.
In terms of social media, more B2B marketing efforts focus on branding, topof-
mind visibility, customer support, and problem-solving compared to more
sales-focused messages from B2C companies.

You can treat the interest groups in the earlier section “Affinity, or interest,
groups” as vertical market segments and take advantage of Google Insights
to discern trends over time. You might also want to assess competitor presence
on different forms of social media.

One key step in B2B marketing is to identify people who make the buying
decision. Professional social networks such as LinkedIn and Plaxo may help
you research people on your B2B customer or prospect lists.

The value of various forms of social media appears to differ by company
size, according to research by Marketing Sherpa, shown in Figure 2-6.
Marketing Sherpa also found differences in efficacy by industry type. Their

findings may reflect available budget and human resources as well as techniques. For more information, visit www.sherpastore.com/Social
MediaMkt2010.html or www.sherpastore.com/B2BMarketing
BenchmarkGuide.html to download excerpts. HubSpot, at www.hubspot.
com, also offers a range of B2B market research tools and webinars.

As always, the key is ensuring that your customers are using the type of
social media you’re considering. Use the search feature and group options
on major social networking sites to test your list of existing customers.
Chances are good that if a large number of your existing customers are using
that service, it will be a good source for future customers as well.

Segmenting Your B2C Market

If you have a business-to-consumer company, you can adapt the standard
tools of market segmentation to define various niche audiences by where
they live and how they spend their time and money. The most common
types of segmentation are

✦ Demographics
✦ Geographics
✦ Life stages
✦ Psychographics or lifestyle
✦ Affinity or interest groups

These categories affect not only your social media tactics but also your graphics,
message, content, offers, and every other aspect of your marketing.

Your messages need to be specific enough to satisfy the needs and wants of
the distinct subgroups you’re trying to reach.

Suppose that you want to sell a line of organic, herbal hair care products
using social media. If you described your target market as “everyone who
uses shampoo” on your Social Media Marketing Goals form (see Book I,
Chapter 1), segment that market into different subgroups before you select
appropriate social marketing techniques.

When you’re creating subgroups, keep these concepts in mind:
✦ Simple demographics affect your market definition. The use of fragrances,
descriptive terms, and even packaging may vary by gender.

How many shampoo commercials for men talk about silky hair? For that
matter, what’s the ratio of shampoo commercials addressed to women
versus men?

✦ Consider geography. Geography may not seem obvious, but people
who live in dry climates may be more receptive to a message about
moisturizers than people who live in humid climates. Or, perhaps your
production capacity constrains your initial product launch to a local or
regional area.

✦ Think about life stages. For instance, people who dye their hair look
for different hair care products than those who don’t, but the reason
they color their hair affects your selling message. (Teenagers and young
adults may dye their hair unusual colors in an effort to belong to a
group of their peers; older men may hide the gray with Grecian Formula;
women with kids may be interested in fashion or color their hair as a
pick-me-up.)

✦ Even lifestyles (psychographics) affect decisions. People with limited
resources who are unlikely to try new products may respond to
messages about value and satisfaction guarantees; people with more
resources or a higher status may be affected by messages related to
social grouping and self-esteem.

✦ Affinity or interest groups are an obvious segmentation parameter.
People who participate in environmental organizations or who recycle
goods may be more likely to be swayed by a “green shampoo” appeal or
shop in specific online venues.
Different niche markets are drawn to different social media activities in
general and to specific social media service providers in particular. In the
following several sections, we look in detail at different online tools you can
use to explore the parameters that seem the most appropriate for segmenting
your audience and selecting specific social media sites.

The most successful marketing campaigns are driven by your target markets,
not by techniques.

Plotting Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

Let your customers and prospects drive your selection of social media
alternatives. To see the best return on your investment in social media, you
need to try to use the same social media as they do. This principle is exactly
the same one you apply to all your other marketing and advertising efforts.
Social media is a new tactic, not a new world.

Fish where your fish are. If your potential customers aren’t on a particular
social media outlet, don’t start a campaign on that media.

In this chapter, we show how to use online market research to assess the
match between your target markets and various social media outlets. After
you do that, you’re ready to start filling out your own tactical Social Media
Marketing Plan,

Estimating costs

Estimating costs

Estimating costs from the bottom up is rather tricky, and this approach
rarely includes a cap. Consequently, costs often wildly exceed your budget.
Instead, establish first how much money you’re willing to invest in the overall
effort, including in-house labor, outside contractors, and miscellaneous
hard costs such as purchasing software or equipment. Enter those amounts
in the Cost section.

Then prioritize your social marketing efforts based on what you can afford,
allocating or reallocating funds within your budget as needed. This approach
not only keeps your total social marketing costs under control but also lets
you assess the results against expenses.

Developing a Strategic Social Media Marketing Plan

Surely you wrote an overall marketing plan when you last updated your business
plan and an online marketing plan when you first created your Web
site. If not, it’s never too late! For business planning resources, see the Small
Business Planner page at www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/
writeabusinessplan/index.html

Integrating Social Media into Your Overall Marketing Effort

Social media is only part of your online marketing. Online marketing is only
part of your overall marketing. Don’t mistake the part for the whole.

Consider each foray into social marketing as a strategic choice to supplement
your other online marketing activities, which may include creating or
managing a marketing-effective Web site, content updates, search engine
optimization (SEO), inbound link campaigns, online press releases, event
calendar postings, e-mail newsletters, testimonials and reviews, affiliate or
loyalty programs, online events or promotions, not to mention pay-per-click
ads, banners, or sponsorships.