There has been a vigorous and tumescent surge of activity in the social media space. You’re probably aware of it. Actually, it’s probably your fault. Everyone and their uncle and the kitchen sink is now aggressively pursuing their respective B2B social media strategies. Well, I say that, but of course, they’re not. In true B2B style, they (you) are talking about it a lot but doing naff all. The sticking point, seemingly, is measurement. The sticking point is always measurement in B2B. Talk about it, think about it, talk again, do naff all. Not without cast-iron, watertight and bulletproof case studies that prove unequivocally and beyond reasonable doubt that the measurable ROI outweighs the risk to existing brand equity. When you can prove it, then we’ll think about it some more. And do naff all. We might let someone in the company have a Twitter account. But only if it’s completely non-attributable and absolutely nothing to do with us. Just in case…
Well, I for one, am bored. I’m bored telling companies that they have to actively engage with social media for their brand to remain relevant in a digital economy and I’m bored listening to agencies pretending they have measurement matrices that prove they know what the customer’s doing and what the customer’s going to do next. They don’t. They predict. We can all predict. Here’s the thing – I predict that whatever you predict, the customer’s going to make up their own mind and do the thing that you didn’t predict. See? Boring. And it all completely misses the point of social media.
The clue’s in the name. It’s ‘social media’. The B2B opportunity is for brands to engage ‘socially’ with their customers, get closer to them, bring them closer to the brand, maybe positively influence perception and that’s it. Why does there have to be any more? Why do we need tracking tools and pipeline funnels and conversion ratios and stepped process drivers and sequential interaction protocols? Why, as part of a broader brand strategy, can’t our brands just be… social? Why can’t we have a, wait for it… a brand personality? And why have we lost sight of the fact that social media became popular for the very reason that our customers were trying to escape the corporate machine?
So. Instead of a case study, with ROI and BORING things, here’s a story. Brands are, after all, stories – living, breathing, social stories. I wrote recently about my mobile parking experiences. If you missed that memo, you can find it here. It’s a reasonable blog I think. There’s a good guy, a bad guy, triumph over adversity and a happy ending. I referenced the positive and credible attributes of RingGo as a mobile parking service provider. No biggie. I posted and went back to work.
Two days later there was a letter on my desk. Not an email. A letter. You can read what it said here. The next day RingGo found me on Twitter and started following me as well as saying very nice things about me and my brand and the post I had made. I followed RingGo back. Then I received a lengthy email from RingGo’s Marketing Manager (which she was enthusiastic enough to spend her Saturday night writing). And we’ll stay connected on LinkedIn.
I don’t ‘know’ these people. I haven’t tried to ‘sell’ anything. They’re not part of any ‘process’. We’re just being social. I feel reasonably confident they’ll be saying nice things about their experience with my brand just as I really enjoy telling this story. I know for a fact that friends of mine now use the RingGo mobile parking service because I’ve told them it’s great (and I told the world). One day, the phone will ring and someone will say RingGo suggested they call me. That’s the point of social media. It’s no more complicated than that. You can talk about it some more and wait for the measurement statistics if you insist, but from now on, I just want to help the brands that are prepared to actually do it. Talk to the Facebook page ‘cos the hand ain’t listening.
Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
twitter: @ScotMcKee