Why include social media in your demand generation program?

We all know sales is a transaction oriented discipline and its focus is on targeting efforts to close more sales. Marketing on the other hand is brand oriented so everything is around building awareness, equity and persuasion. Demand generation campaigns are perfect bond to aligning these two disciplines.

Marketing collects content ideas from search engine key words from incoming traffic, blogs, point of view articles and identifies hot button issues to highlight on the demand generation outreach campaign materials. This ensures that the content created for the demand generation program is relevant and timely. Enter social media.

Social media can be a powerful tool to include in the mix of demand generation campaigns. But, one thing to remember is that social media is best to create online communities and monitor discussions, not necessarily for generating leads. It is relationship oriented not transaction oriented. Companies have to resist the temptation to cross the line. An overzealous insurance salesman friend someone brings to the party can totally suck the air out of the room…we have all been there. Social media works just like that. However, if I can be a relevant resource for you or I can make you feel good somehow, you would like to talk to me. Similarly, social media provides an outlet for you to build powerful and long lasting relationships.

Here are some reasons why you should include social media in your demand generation and lead nurturing campaigns:

1. Left brain meets right brain: Web is a big component of demand generation efforts. It requires strong analytical ability to crunch numbers and tweak levers. However, don’t forget consumer insight and persuasion psychology when you are creating content for your demand generation program. Today’s empowered, online savvy customer can smell a sales pitch a mile away. By monitoring the discussion you can determine relevant content.

2. If you don’t claim your spot on the stage, someone else will: Social media is here to stay. If you don’t claim your voice on the forum, your competition will. You can’t afford to hide under the blankets while everyone in your space is out there, perhaps making mistakes but also learning to do it better and building online relationships. If you are out there, at least you are in the game.

3. Help sales see the value of social media: Once you have an active online community your sales team will appreciate the attention it is getting and talking points social media forums can generate. Sales people are always starving for ideas to strike up a conversation with prospects. Someone can raise a question or complain about a competitor’s offering that can help the sales reach out and start a conversation.

The best part is social media gives B2B companies opportunity to engage and listen to genuine conversations with customers in a timely fashion. It is all about relationship building and being there when the customer is ready to buy.

But don’t just take my word for it. Here is a great blog on the subject that is written by a sales guru. The subsequent discussion provides great insight into how other B2B professionals are now finding value in including social media into the mix.