We grow social networks expecting opportunities to create meaningful business relationships. Here’s a couple of creative ways to promote yourself and your content to users on Twitter and LinkedIn.
B2B marketing and networking using Twitter and LinkedIn are different than traditional networking for a number of reasons. But the general concept should remain the same: connect with relevant professionals who share mutual admiration and a desire to grow their business through new partnerships. So what are some creative ways to do this? Consider implementing the following:
Take advantage of LinkedIn’s new LinkedIn Showcase Pages.
It’s like Facebook for B2B. Showcase Pages give you the opportunity to show off your products and services to the throngs of people and businesses already engaging on LinkedIn. What’s great about this concept is the community feel and social sharing capabilities are baked in. You’re able to create posts and communicate through the interface.
Perhaps the best part is that you can create many Showcase Pages and get very specific with the content you “showcase.” This can maximize your ability to target a specific market and glean important information about that market. This can further bolster your target market research, translating to more detailed buyer personas. It can also be a springboard to understanding what additional content can and will resonate with your specific market. You may even discover this is the perfect way to understand what improvements can be made with your product and services.
Examples:
- A website design firm could decide to showcase specific website designs and blog themes to professionals in specific industries. They could maximize visits to their on-site gallery page and promote more content to the larger LinkedIn B2B market. They could decide to promote this Showcase Page to their network already established on LinkedIn. Or they could feature it in email promotions and perhaps blog about it on their site. The feedback they receive about specific designs through their Showcase Page could be utilized to improve existing designs and create new ones.
- Furthermore, here are two additional Showcase Pages for Volusion Inc, the eCommerce software company I work with: Mozu and Volusion. In this case, we are working on additional strategies to showcase the features and benefits of both eCommerce platforms to the B2B networks already established on LI. This is important because users don’t have to leave LI to learn about our offerings. In this case we’ll be looking for additional insights to improve both products and to use these pages as sales tools.
Another important thing to understand about Showcase Pages is that whenever a user does engage with the page (leave a comment) their LinkedIn network may see that response.
Strive to build one truly meaningful and engaging relationship with another influential person or business in your industry. Then build another.
Do this by being honest and forthcoming with people and businesses. Begin by doing your homework to identify a business that has just as much to gain through a relationship with you and your business. A great tool to use to mine your Twitter followers is Followerwonk.
- Start with current followers. There’s a reason they follow you.
- Pay attention to your current and upcoming content initiatives. Who would make for a great long-term social partner? Try to be very specific with this exercise. Beyond social connections, is there a potential partner who has knowledge you want to leverage?
- You’ll probably end up with a long list, but remember you’re striving for one high-quality partnership to begin with. As you develop your strategy you’ll earn new partnerships more naturally. What are some creative ways you can get in touch with your identified partner to show them your interest in what they do?
A personal example: I’ve been building a meaningful relationship with a content marketing software company for about a year now. I depend on them and their expertise in the industry and I’d like to think they depend on me for my own knowledge. The great thing about this relationship is both businesses have been able to promote each other’s content to each other’s larger networks. This has created more branding, engagement, and selling opportunities for both companies.
Case-in-point, take my last blog post for Biznology. That post has been visited over 700 times in the last month, due primarily to this one business relationship. The post was featured through my connection’s LinkedIn group. Not only has the post gained a lot of attention, the additional discussions on LinkedIn have uncovered several opportunities for derivatives.
