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Social media has for many years been seen as a B2C tool, only useful to consumer brands. However now in 2013, you are likely to find a social media agency dedicated solely to B2B social media in almost every city. This is largely because social media for B2B has really taken off over the last 12 to 18 months. But how can you capitalise on this? This article will look at how you can pick the right agency to help get you started off on the right track.
What Methods Do They Use?
When picking an agency to work with, it’s important to ask about the methods they use to generate results. For years, social media agencies working with B2C brands have focussed too much on waiting for inbound fan and follower acquisition. Meanwhile, a social media agency experienced in B2B social media would take a more proactive approach.
How do they do this? B2B social media is a lot like business networking. As a result, to generate interest, you need to go out and attract new fans and followers by making the first contact. A good agency will use content marketing as a method of converting these points of contact into fans and followers, then to clients. When choosing which agency to work with, it’s a good idea to ask about these kinds of content strategies, and to ask for a basic overview of their strategy for building fans and followers.
Have They Been Successful In The Past
Another great way to find out what agency is right for you is to get case studies on previous campaigns. The important thing here is to know what to look for. Many companies will look at what industry the case study is in, however, this is not the most important issue here. Instead, look at what ROI was generated from the campaign.
It’s important to note that due to the changes in the social media landscape, the social media agency may have changed the way they measured the success since their older campaigns as recent as two years ago. This is because in 2010 and 2011, most businesses were concerned about metrics like how many fans or followers their page had, rather than return on investment. Now that social media is much more deeply embedded into most business, the goalposts have change, which is what we’ll look at in the next paragraph.
How Do They Measure Success?
Ask the social media agency if they measure returns through cost per impression, cost per lead, or cost per acquisition, as these metrics are easily comparable to the returns you get from other marketing methods. This allows you to decide where social media fits in to your organisation, and how much to budget towards it.
It’s important to note, however, that social media should not be seen as a soloed service. Like PR, it should encompass everything you do. This is because nowadays, a prospect is likely to make contact with your business through a range of different touch points before making a purchase. With this in mind, make sure your social media agency is set up so that they can have access to metrics across multiple digital marketing channels.
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