All Business Customers Can Be Reached by Social Channels

Five years ago, the question whether a business should use social media was met with healthy skepticism. But today businesses — including professional services firms — not using social are falling behind.

According to Forrester’s latest research:

In a business-to-business setting, all B2B customers can be reached via social media and social networking channels. In fact, 98% of business decision-makers read blogs, watch peer videos, and listen to podcasts. Using the legal vertical as an example, 74% of in-house counsel say they use social media in listen-mode only.

Every B2B customer is using social media for business, but how they use it depends on their particular situation.  —Barry Levine

That’s the key takeaway from the Forrester Research according Barry in his CMS Wire post. So, take the time to understand the habits of your B2B customers.

Barry also culls from the Forrester report something else that I think is important:

The most popular social communities tend to be niche ones focused on specific objectives such as IT Central Station, Cisco Communities or SAP Community Network and similar vendor-support forums or brand-related communities.

LexBlog’s version of a niche branded community/forum is LXBN.  This content network in the legal space is comprised of content generated by over 8,000 authors. These law bloggers seek to raise their profile by demonstrating their passion and authority.

The value to an individual author or firm lies LXBN’s ability to showcase curated content in ways that encourage frictionless exchange, sharing and syndication across broader social platforms. Broad exposure like that also creates an opportunity for content to go viral.

How are you getting social? How do you learn about the habits of your B2B customers? How are you reaching those customers?

In my next post, I’ll focus on tips for developing a solid B2B content marketing strategy.