Many people view social media as a platform predominantly for mass/consumer brands. However, it should be seen as a platform for all organisations be they consumer or business focused. Some of the most effective use of social media we have seen has been in the in the business-to-business sector – where we have observed it being used alongside traditional means to help delivery of their organisation and business objectives.
Furthermore, the impact of social media is also seen at the more specialist end of business-to-business i.e. in the traditional professional service firms (such as management consultancies, the big 4 accounting/audit firms, legal practices, investment, wealth & brokerage houses, etc). Many professional service firms use digital and social media for a variety of purposes such as: research, identifying specific target audiences, developing conversations, building thought leadership and generating sales leads.
The real-time and ‘conversive’ nature of social media lends itself well to management consultancies. For instance, McKinsey & Co do a great job of spreading relevant and engaging content through social media and creating conversations that help to build its market ‘thought leadership’ while supporting lead generation. However, given social media is built on immediacy and openness, some of the traditional professional service firms who are risk averse are wary and are more concerned with control as opposed to potential influence. Clearly, the challenge for them is to take advantage of social media and its benefits whilst managing the associated risks. This can be achieved through simple common-sense policies, adoption of best practice and having digital champions in the business to help build capability, confidence and comfort in using social media tools to aid business objectives.
There is challenge in that many professionals working in these firms (regardless of function) do not endear digital and social media to their Boards; they do not show the value of it against core business objectives. For instance, my company was engaged by a major professional services firm to help it understand digital and social media. We were able to deliver a series of workshops covering a broad range of digital and social media tools to assist with their core business drivers (articulated from the Partners in the firm) which we summarised in three words which resonated with all stakeholders and senior personnel: sustainability, pipeline and innovation.
Under the umbrella of these three words (drivers), we were able to show how our ’10 Elements of Digital and Social Media’ framework could assist with: providing thought leadership; identifying and targeting decision makers; generating real-time research and insight, deepening business relationships; maximising lifetime value of contracts; supporting and differentiating in bids; and assisting with innovative proposition build. And so whenever a marketing lead, Director or a Partner talks about digital and social media they now have an appreciation of its relevance and impact on core business objectives.
Indeed many professionals (be they marketers or other functional executives in all organisations) used to wrongly see digital and social media as being on the periphery to support marketing/PR or as project work for junior members. Many organisations now recognise that digital and social media is far more important and see it supporting and driving some of the core objectives that flow down from the Board. And so, increasingly digital and social media is giving them faster and more poignant insights into the vertical markets in which they operate helping with growth outside of just the traditional business building methods.
Furthermore, with another client of ours in the business-to-business technology distribution sector we have seen how they have used digital and social media to aid both business growth and enhance customer service. Here, the distributors are rewarded by their suppliers on their delivery of outstanding customer service. For them, we used our simple ’4Cs of Content’ framework to show how content Creation, in the correct Context with appropriate and essential Conversation can support and lead to their eventual required Conversion (be that a customer self-service or cross-sell). Ultimately, what senior personnel in these organisations wanted to see was business impact, prospects talking about them and clients advocating them.
It is clear that digital and social media cuts across all functions be they client, supplier, media, internal or investor facing – providing pertinent and timely insights, helping to target specific audiences and generate customer advocacy – all driving profitable growth, customer lifetime value and service for any organisation.
And so, let’s ditch the cliché bandwagon of “it’s all about Facebook, Twitter and now Pinterest” and take a step back, apply a ‘digital and social media lens’ to see how the different elements of digital and social media support core business drivers at a Board level and then set the strategy across the organisation as opposed to social media being an add-on or ‘being the perfect project for junior members’.
Written by Dowshan Humzah
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