Take a moment to think about, and count, the number of B2C social media success stories that pop into your head.
I’ll venture to guess that you could immediately name five to 10, if not many more. From Ford to Dell to Zappos to Best Buy, B2C social media winners – those organizations that caught on early and created a cult following of brand cheerleaders via the social web – are hard to miss.
But how about the B2B social media winners? I’m guessing these weren’t as easy to name.
And yet, there are just as many B2B organizations successfully conquering social media. While their stories might not be as well-known, we think these 5 B2B social media winners are doing a pretty doggone good job. Tell us if you agree.
1. American Express OPEN
American Express OPEN is the company’s division dedicated to helping small business owners succeed. It has based its marketing strategy around the social web, realizing that social media has become a priority for small business owners.
Since 2007, AMEX OPEN has relied on its OPEN Forum to provide business advice and insight. The social site includes a blog with frequently updated content, and a large collection of videos that users can rate and share via other social networking channels. In the site’s “Idea Hub,” forum members can network with one another and with industry experts, as well as customize topics to their specific interests.
The social site has been extremely successful, increasing unique visitors 525% over the past year – from 160,000 in December 2008 to nearly 1 million in December 2009.
2. HSBC
To target business entrepreneurs and provide them with an active forum to share and gain knowledge, HSBC has created The HSBC Business Network for both customers and non-customers.
It’s evident that the HSBC Business Network truly thrives on its members.
The site includes a network of blogs, and invites members to create their own blog to share their personal experiences with other entrepreneurs. Currently, the network is made up of 148 blogs from members.
The site’s homepage is populated with content from users: the most popular recent blog post, forum post and user profile.
3. Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising has been using social media as a vehicle to listen to, educate, support and market to their customers and potential customers since 2006. However, the past year has seen a distinct effort from Microsoft to reach customers through social web participation.
An adCenter Community site as well as blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook presence, videos, photos and social media coverage of industry events along with proactive listening and community manager participation have been instrumental for growing the adCenter community and providing customers with an opportunity to be involved with how Microsoft does business with them.
Here’s a white paper (pdf) by Mel Carson of Microsoft Advertising that documents their foray into social media as a B2B company. Great insights.
4. Archer
The social media strategy for Archer Technologies, provider of risk and compliance solutions, and a 2009 Forrester Groundswell Award winner for B2B social media, revolves around two components.
First, the Archer Community is an online social network that gives customers a forum to interact, share best practices and provide feedback to help drive Archer product development. The second component is the Archer Exchange (pictured above), an online marketplace that enables clients to download applications developed by other clients or by Archer.
The two social sites have been successful at driving website traffic and attracting new members: The Archer Community receives 20 new members, 4,000 unique visits and 400+ downloads every week, while the Archer Exchange boasts 17,000 unique visits, 90,000 page views and 1,200 downloads.
But the real benefit has been enhanced product development as a result of user feedback and sharing. Archer tells Forrester that its Archer Community directly helped form its Business Continuity Management, Mobile GRC and Data Feed Manager applications.
5. Cree
LED Manufacturer Cree is embracing social media to build awareness and promote the benefits of LED technology, rather than directly sell products.
At the center of its latest campaign, “LED Revolution,” is an interactive social website. On the site, visitors can submit their bad lighting photos (think bad 1980s office fluorescent lighting) to win LED recessed downlights. The site’s blog is posted to almost daily, and humorous videos encourage visitors to, “Break Your Fluorescent Shackles!”
Cree also leverages Facebook and Twitter in a push/pull approach for the website.
Hear from Ginny Skalski, Cree social media specialist — who happens to have a background in journalism and community management rather than marketing – in this video on the Social Media B2B blog.
Of course, these five B2B social media winners are only part of a much longer list of companies that are successfully interacting with customers, building brand awareness and driving traffic to their websites through the social web. What are your favorite B2B social media success stories?
Thanks for writing this post and gathering these examples in one place. Also, thanks for linking to our video with our friend Ginny Skalski at Cree. We were impressed with how they created a B2B campaign with a B2C approach and feel.
Jeff Cohen
http://SocialMediab2b.com
Thanks for calling our team out Michelle! Nice to see B2B social media getting some focus 😉
Small business
2) The Center for Media Research has released a study by Vertical Response that shows just where many of these ‘Main Street’ players are going with their online dollars. The big winners: e-mail and social media. With only 3.8% of small business folks NOT planning on using e-mail marketing and with social media carrying the perception of being free (which they so rudely discover it is far from free) this should make some in the banner and search crowd a little wary……….
http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com
i am not shocked when see that social media in your post are a winner cause they have a lot of point that make them worth to get that.
I think as far as B2B social strategies are concerned, these firms don't usually think of businesses on individual basis but a firm to firm basis that is the only reason why they lag behind B2C companies in this space, The examples which you have shared above are doing just that, talking to people in companies not a firm as a whole.
Thanks for sharing, the “LED Revolution” is my favorite ….
I don't know about any of these being in my top 5. Sears with their facebook promotions seems to be quite popular considering that it also provides products that are not interesting like the ones above.
I wants to say thanks to you Michelle! such type of information is rarely comes in to the focus this is a unique and meaningful article.
Small business
2) The Center for Media Research has released a study by Vertical Response that shows just where many of these ‘Main Street’ players are going with their online dollars. The big winners: e-mail and social media. With only 3.8% of small business folks NOT planning on using e-mail marketing and with social media carrying the perception of being free (which they so rudely discover it is far from free) this should make some in the banner and search crowd a little wary……….
http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com
We're so excited to be included on this list, Michelle. It has been great fun and hard work to raise awareness about energy-efficient LED lighting on social networks. Thanks for recognizing our efforts and including Cree!
These companies have done a great job of realizing the benefits social media provides! These sites are making is easier to realize the difference between consumer expectations and performance by providing a way for customers to voice their opinions.
Although social media may seem to be a fad that technology has created, it has nonetheless become a phenomenon to be a valuable source of information and accessibility to possibilities in business. And indeed its groundbreaking influence makes competition even tougher but more promising.
Nice collection, but I would not fully agree to the classification as B2B for these – of course the customers are businesses, but these customers are large in number and the company-customers are sufficiently decoupled from their main business, and hence the strategies are similar as in B2C.
I would have loved to see some B2B examples where the company-customer are tightly linked from business perpsective and there are few customers e.g. telecom equipment makers and telecom operators, product wholesalers & retailers etc.
Soumya, by commonly accepted definitions, these are indeed B2B examples. Perhaps once you find the types of examples you're looking for, you can share them with us here?
They have almost the same strategy with B2C. I am thinking that most of them think mostly about the customers as they are the life of their business. For me it is really hard to say if it is a B2C or B2B. I can see that American Express OPEN is B2B but the others are mostly for B2C.
New technologies let you object prospects with an engaged-marketing response–just beware privacy laws.
Take a moment to think about, and count, the number of social media success stories that pop into your head.
B2B Marketing Promotions are promotional marketing incentives that include affordable promotional incentives that create customer loyalty that are used in small businesses.
Very useful article, we were looking for some information and this really helped! Thanks for sharing.
Your Informative post makes me happy because It removes some confusion of me.
It is clear
B2B companies are decreasing their marketing dollars and spending more online.
Cracks me up that Marketo didn't make the list since TopRank is responsible for making recommendations about our social media program. Guess we have more work to do. Please ask Adam to come to our call next month with ideas of things we could do to make your list. I think we have a good start with our Definitive Guide to B2B Social Media http://www.marketo.com/dg2-b2b-social media and our popular online game- You Don't Know Jack about Online Marketing http://www.marketo.com/you-dont-know-jack-about… Thanks!
i am not shocked when see that social media in your post are a winner cause they have a lot of point that make them worth to get that.
i am not shocked when see that social media in your post are a winner cause they have a lot of point that make them worth to get that.