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Are there differences between B2B and B2C marketing strategies? Sure. However, regardless of industry, there is always something to learn from a company that has developed and executed a marketing campaign successfully. Today, we are going to look at some B2C social media marketing efforts and determine what lessons can be applied to B2B organizations.

Lesson 1: Leverage traditional media to support social media marketing activities.

Vitamin Water, the popular consumer beverage brand, has for many months now used its traditional advertising budget to help drive engagement on the brand’s Facebook page. As you can see in the ad below, now they have even begun running spots dedicated to promoting their new flavor creator Facebook applications.

While I know that most B2B companies don’t run paid media on TV, most have some type of paid media budget for trade publications and online advertising. The lesson from Vitamin Water is simply that if you are trying to support online engagement, whether on a blog, Facebook page, or something else, then make sure all of your communications drive customers there.

Lesson 2: Anything can be interesting when you focus away from the product and toward how customers use it.

If the folks at King Arthur Flour can make flour interesting and compelling I would argue that any B2B company out there can do the same with their product or service. For years now King Arthur has brought flour to life on its corporate blog, and developing a community of supporters who regularly leave comments and feedback. They did this not by telling people how great their flour was, instead they showcased all the great thing flour can make and through that process built trust. Too often, B2B organizations focus on the product and what makes it so great, but on the social web it is how the product makes customers great that it is the defining success factor.

Lesson 3: Bridging online and offline communications generates successful engagement

Believe it or not beer and B2B marketing are related, maybe just not in the way you are thinking. One of my favorite marketing campaigns recently was from Molson, The Canadian Beer producer whose Association of Party Pros campaign connected real-word partying with online contests and rewards.

Sure it is a cool idea, but the overall theme here is that B2B social media marketing isn’t about building a Facebook or Twitter page. It is about connecting customers with your brand online and offline by giving them authentic engagement. How can you create this for your customers?

What else do you think that B2B could learn from B2C?

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It’s becoming more and more important for small business owners to “own” their Google results. In a world where you are what Google says you are, when someone searches for your name they need to be able to find you. The real you. Not a lookalike, another company with the same name or that social profile you thought you had taken care of it. Business owners must protect their brand, and sometimes that means doing just a touch of proactive online reputation management to secure your Google 10.

Your Google 10 is the top ten results that appear when someone does a Google search for your name. How do you go about ensuring you own all ten spots? Surprisingly, it’s not that hard. Here are some of the sites and profiles you’ll want to grab and pay attention to.

great ideas for small businesses! to see the article, please click on the smallbiztrends link above

b2b marketing has always been more about relationships than promotion, so it is not surprising that b2b marketing works so well in a social context. the learning curve is on the tools, not the concept.

By embracing the most popular tools available, the industry has also been embracing the best of what social media culture has to offer, and smaller, community banks seem to be leading the charge when it comes to social media innovation.

the benefits of using social media marketing cross all industry boundaries, but resonate particularly in sectors with a retail focus...

to read the original article, click on the mashable.com link above

[MARCH 2009] MINNEAPOLIS – It’s a typical sight at local Dairy Queen® locations where people are sharing smiles and stories over delicious food and cravable treats. For nearly 70 years, the all-American favorite and treat category leader has been a trendsetter, such as with the often imitated but never duplicated signature Blizzard® Treat. Now, after more than 200,000 mentions of the brand in the blogosphere, the DQ® system is joining the conversation by initiating the official Dairy Queen blog, which makes sense for a brand that is social by nature.

...

To kick off the blog, Dairy Queen offered bloggers a deal they couldn’t refuse. The first 250 bloggers who answered the question “What deal would you make with us to try our new Sweet Deals value menu?” received a Sweet Deals gift card. The most creative answer won Sweet Deals every week for a year. Sweet Deals offers more than 20,000 combinations of food, beverages and treats at value prices where the more you eat, the more you save.

dq recognized that getting attention from other bloggers was the fastest way to gain traction for their own blog...part of an effective, grass-rootsy SM presence

beth kanter (@kanter on twitter) is well known in the web 2.0 community as a leader in helping nonprofits leverage the growing collection of social media tools - for development, volunteer recruitment, and increasing communications with both supporters and others. this presentation explains in clear terms why nonprofits should be using social media channels with examples of eers who are doing so successfully.

Welcoming landing pages "make friendly introductions that lead to comfortable conversations."

Diverse landing pages lead visitors "to the spaces that most closely align with their intent."

Focused landing pages match your visitor's intent more closely with your site content, thus boosting "the alignment of your goals and theirs." And that, Talerico concludes, is the very definition of "conversion."

literally the missing link in too many social media strategies

Brands, too, can take advantage of Facebook's knack for spoon-feeding relationships into users' laps. If you're into e-commerce, or have a site that invites users to engage with it in some way (such as YouTube), registering for free with Facebook Connect means friends can see what users are buying, uploading or otherwise doing on your site.

this level of information sharing is what burned facebook a few years ago, but the concept is dead on. handled correctly, the ability to show _prospective_ buyers/clients the names and ideally testimonials of friends and/or business associates is an incredibly powerful sales incentive