Advance your B2B marketing plans with proven social media strategies Learn social media's specific application to B2B companies and how it can be leveraged to drive leads and revenue. B2B marketers are undervalued and under appreciated in many companies. Social media and online marketing provide the right mix of rich data and reduction in marketing expenses to help transform a marketer into a superstar. The B2B Social Media Book provides B2B marketers with actionable advice on leveraging blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more, combined with key strategic imperatives that serve as the backbone of effective B2B social media strategies. This book serves as the definitive reference for B2B marketers looking to master social media and take their career to the next level. Describes a methodology for generating leads using social media Details how to create content offers that increase conversion rates and drive leads from social media Offers practical advice for incorporating mobile strategies into the marketing mix Provides a step-by-step process for measuring the return on investment of B2B social media strategies The B2B Social Media Book will help readers establish a strong social media marketing strategy to generate more leads, become a marketing superstar in the eye of company leaders, and most importantly, contribute to business growth.

Social media practitioners share their combined 20 years of hands-on social media experience explaining to best leverage social media for a business.

Advance your B2B marketing plans with proven social media strategies Learn social media's specific application to B2B companies and how it can be leveraged to drive leads and revenue. B2B marketers are undervalued and under appreciated in many companies. Social media and online marketing provide the right mix of rich data and reduction in marketing expenses to help transform a marketer into a superstar. The B2B Social Media Book provides B2B marketers with actionable advice on leveraging blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more, combined with key strategic imperatives that serve as the backbone of effective B2B social media strategies. This book serves as the definitive reference for B2B marketers looking to master social media and take their career to the next level. Describes a methodology for generating leads using social media Details how to create content offers that increase conversion rates and drive leads from social media Offers practical advice for incorporating mobile strategies into the marketing mix Provides a step-by-step process for measuring the return on investment of B2B social media strategies The B2B Social Media Book will help readers establish a strong social media marketing strategy to generate more leads, become a marketing superstar in the eye of company leaders, and most importantly, contribute to business growth.

An estimated 87% of B2B marketers apply their trade on social media and consider it to be the most effective tool of all types of content marketing. And 80% of businesses plan on increasing the amount of resources allocated to social media in the future. What's most exciting about social media for B2B is the ease of entry and capacity for generating leads. What's scariest about social media for B2B is getting started and keeping things going once you launch from the starting grid; especially for businesses with little resources to devote to tweeting, pinning, and liking. This book delivers straightforward guidance on using social media to boost lead generation, customer acquisition, and client retention. You'll master: * Best practices of popular social media platforms * Managing social media content creation & posting * How to find & target the right people * Tracking & reporting performance metrics * How to manage risks & plan for future growth How This Book is Structured This book is split into four parts; the first three tackling a different aspect of my social media strategy for B2B companies and the final part showing you how the previous three parts work in a real-world environment. Part I examines why social media is important for B2B companies and investigates which popular social media platforms are most relevant and beneficial. Part II examines which social media management tools can streamline and simplify ongoing social media content development after deciding on the type of content you will create. Part III discusses how social media activity should be monitored and reported, in addition to listing the best practices of social media marketing on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Part IV then details the development of a social media strategy designed to introduce a B2B company to the online world, increase their social presence, and begin to generate targeted leads. By complementing this information with a real-life case study, this book shows you step by step exactly how to take advantage of social media with the resources you already have available. You will read how I managed to optimise the social media activity of a small Australian ad agency specialising in brand design and development based on their limited resources so that the individual responsible for managing five branded social media profiles can perform the necessary tasks in just 15 minutes a day. Special Sections Action steps conclude Chapters 1 through 9. They are designed to help you first launch your foray into social media and then make sure it continues with focussed effort. The action step checklist is not the only resource you will use in your own strategy. Other tools recommended throughout this book offer further assistance in boosting your lead generation endeavours via consistent actions. These tools are the actual ones I use when advising companies on their social media strategies and offer advice on how to create them. Wherever possible, I have also tried to highlight B2B companies doing great things on social media. Learning from other brands, including your direct competitors, is a simple but valuable exercise in taking your social media strategy performance to the next level.

Neal Schaffer helped revolutionize the way professionals utilize LinkedIn with his award-winning book Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn. He now does the same to enlighten companies how to develop business on LinkedIn with Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing. Thought Linkedin was just for job seekers? Think again. Linkedin is the most important destination for your sales and social media marketing efforts if your company is selling products and services to other businesses. When looking at Linkedin's extensive functionality from a sales and marketing perspective as presented in this book, you'll soon understand how you can create new business from your Linkedin activities. After reading this book you'll learn how to master the Linkedin platform to develop business, including how to create a sales-oriented profile and connections policy to attract more leads, become an industry thought leader by establishing your own community within the lucrative Linkedin demographic, set up your Linkedin Companies Page to improve your reputation--and drive more traffic to your website, and optimize your Linkedin presence as part of your social media optimization efforts. This practical guide, supplemented by more than 15 case studies, will teach you and your employees everything you need to know on how to successfully develop leads and business on LinkedIn.

Social media, when deployed strategically and effectively in B2B channels, offers a uniquely personal long-term networking opportunity for sales teams and business professionals. For many, this has supercharged their sales performance, with empowered teams, faster results, and higher revenues. For others, the challenges of navigating social channels for business can be daunting. Concerns over social media confidence, personal and professional conflicts of interest, and a loss of management control can lead to a lack of action or ineffective modes of engagement. B2B Social Selling Strategy provides a clear framework for identifying the right social channels, connecting with potential and existing customers and measuring success against objectives and KPIs. Featuring original research, case studies and interviews with industry professionals, the book also shows how to generate content to attract attention and gain trust, work with B2B influencers and create a social selling culture. Exploring how to build your personal brand in synergy with your business and integrate social selling with other sales and marketing channels, it is supported by online interactive tools and templates to be used to create and execute your own social selling strategy. Written by a recognized social media expert, B2B Social Selling Strategy is an indispensable guide for B2B sales, marketing and social media professionals.

The first book devoted entirely to B2B social marketing B2B markets are fundamentally different from consumer markets. Decisions are made on value, not impulse. Buying cycles are complex, often with many stakeholders involved. Relationships and support are critical. Bet-the-business decisions demand discipline, knowledge, and lots of information. This hands-on guide covers topics unique to this segment, including cost justification, prospecting and lead generation, matching tools to the sales funnel, building, B2B search engine optimization, social media monitoring, social media policy development, long-term client relationships, gaining stakeholder support, building a more transparent organization, and what's coming next. Features plentiful examples, case studies, and best practices Focuses on the channels that are most effective for B2B marketers Builds on the authors' more than 30 years of combined experience in the new media/social media space, as well as two previous successful books Leverage the vast business-to-business potential of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many other social media platforms today with Social Marketing to the Business Customer!