If B2C Can Do it, Can B2B?
B2C social networking and social media have a ways to go in regards to successful targeted advertising. However, the market is making progress in determining what makes advertisements successful on these sites whether it be Facebook applications, MySpace and Facebook business pages or even internal social networking sites for businesses. However, what makes B2B social networking and social media successful? Is there enough vested interest from both parties to create an engaged community - Can one platform entice two sets of audiences?
Let’s think about this… a B2C social networking example like The Knot Inc. (a social networking success story) does two things very well – they create compelling reasons for former brides, brides and brides-to-be to congregate on their site. How? By creating an incentive for their audiences to “hang out.” Women of all races, cultures and backgrounds can rally not only together but in their separate groups (i.e. Asian Weddings) to share their stories, photos and suggestions - making their site a user-friendly, trustworthy community and at the same time creating a targeted audience for advertisers. However, to even further their success and the fundamental foundation of social networking, they engage in dialogue with their community members before advertising and launching new brand pitches for member approval and recommendations.
So, what have they done right? They gained brand success by letting go of the one sided advertising marketers are accustomed to by incorporating their members into the decision making process. Brand isn’t your logo or your color or your website anymore… Brand is the company’s level of engagement with its consumers.
Now you tell me, can B2B follow that same path? We think so…
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Social Networks, consumers, Economics, two-sided market
Abigail,
Great post! Keep writing on this topic - while I’m skeptical that B2B can deliver value to both sides of the equation, I’m interested in your insight.
Players who master this equation will solve for the key to consumer loyalty.
Thanks,
Will
Abby,
I think B2B success is a no brainer here—and one could say that B2C is a much larger challenge, given the typically high hurdles in engaging consumers vs. the business community. If one merely looks at how much B2B business is done—through word of mouth (WOM), and informal referral networks—yes, there is enough vested interest from both parties to create engaged communities.
But you raise a good point in your second question: “Can one platform entice two sets of audiences?” There is some evidence that domain-specific platforms are effective here, albeit they may not be required, so much as they just happen to be the place where B2B communities have begun to congregate. This tendency for custom platforms (rather than using broader platforms like Facebook) could simply be a function of what I would call a classic B2B ill: in-the-box thinking that’s reinforced by the industry silo mentality. Firms that provide “community” or social networking software for private enterprises are themselves in a B2B mode, and need distinct, ‘vertical-based’ communities to exist to remain viable enterprises.
However, I do believe we will see a shift to more common platform use. It’s really up to community leaders in B2B to begin establishing those spaces using the ‘critical mass infrastructure.’ If they don’t, they’ll be missing out on myriad catalyst opportunities!
-Jeff