MaestroJ - digital strategy & new media

When you think about online communities what are some of the first things that come to mind? A facebook page with lots of interaction? A Twitter profile with many followers? A blog post with many comments? Even the initial metric for success would probably be seen as “a lot of individual friends/followers/fans/comments”. Individual consumers who you’re seeking to build relationships with.

But what about if you’re a B2B? Are your business customers really spending that much time on social networks? Many would probably not even have access to them during business hours when they conduct the purchase considerations, research and decisions that affect your business.

Is it worth distinguishing? A decision maker, even one that represents a business is also an individual are they not? And “business” need not refer to large corporates either, what about the large percentage of SoHos and SMBs?

I think it’s worth recognising the difference. Below are a few distinctions between B2C and B2B:

• Value of purchase; a chocolate bar can cost all of $3, versus a business purchase for new enterprise software costing tens of thousands of dollars
• Complexity of product; the considerations for chocolate could include, calorie content, eye-catching packaging, familiarity (I personally go for whatever strikes me at the time) versus enterprise software with relatively complex technical specifications, education of product, training and support considerations, relationship with supplier, effectiveness of their salespeople, deals offered, system capability to name but a few
• Stakeholders involved; chocolate often satisfies an individual craving, or maybe your partner’s also, maybe some friends’; enterprise software would need to go through a few stakeholders, proposals, procurement, business units
• Sales cycle; all the factors above mean a much longer and more involved sales cycle on a business versus a consumer purchase

Despite the differences, what social media allows both B2C and B2B is the opportunity to develop relationships with your customers.

To address an earlier point, Forrester Research found that many B2B decision makers are actually participating actively in online communities:

Social profile of technology business decision makers

The line between social media usage as an individual and as a representative of a business may be beginning to blur, business buyers, like consumers, also exchange information in these networks for their own purposes.

If the most important consideration is the customer, and if your customers have high social participation, then it would be wise for your company to be there also.