The B2B Guide to Social Media

Malcolm Bell (@malcolmbell), founder of www.zaggora.com, talks to us about how viral marketing has been crucial to the business. When I first launched ecommerce exercise wear company Zaggora in July 2011 with my wife Dessi and a good friend from university, our marketing strategy consisted largely of two things: we had a promising product – [...]

Facebook contests enable businesses to boost fan engagement, create new leads and collect copious amounts of market feedback. B2C companies have always used them to increase their viral marketing but is this tactic suitable for B2B firms? Here are a few guidelines that we like to follow to create a successful B2B Facebook contest.

Over the past couple of years I have managed a few social competitions, and I like to think that I’ve got a good handle on the dos and don’ts as well as the hows and whys of running them. However, my ego isn’t such that I can claim to know everything. Therefore I’ll be inviting guest contributors to submit their top tips, industry insights and case study examples so as to bring you, dear reader, a greater insight into this competitive world.

First up, a case study on FESPA.

When international IT corporation Hewlett Packard wanted to engage SMBs they came up with the following objectives: become a ‘trusted partner’ to SMBs. aid SMBs’ business growth with quality business advice and products. get to the heart of the SMB conversation.   To achieve these goals they created an integrated social media/ influencer engagement programme [...]

Remember in March when I explained everything you need to know about Twitter chat? Well tomorrow you have the opportunity to join a real live Twitter chat – get involved in a case study of how social media can be used for b2b. What? The subject is the future of renewable energy. Where? Twitter of [...]

One of my favourite things about social media is the power they give to the people. Spin has suddenly become very difficult as every Tom, Dick and Harry can make their voice heard and demand honesty and integrity from public figures. Would Clinton have dared the cigar trick if Monica had had Facebook for iPhone [...]

Who are they? The Information Technologists’ Company (ITC) is a trade association that was granted livery status (basically means responsible for the regulation and promotion of its trade in the City of London) in 1992. It has over 750 members, representing the cream of the crop in IT (e.g. Bill Gates). Who are they targeting? [...]

Who are they? Psion produces handheld computers used in industrial markets around the world. Who are they targeting? Psion’s customer / client would be the store / airport / car manufacturing plant / courier / post office (etc) that needs hand-held scanners and imagers to keep track of stock / people / parcels (etc). To [...]