LinkedIn: Building Your B2B Social Capital
As B2B marketers, we all know we should be constantly engaging with social media outlets like LinkedIn, but many of us just don’t do it; and since we’ve all read numerous reasons why social media is an important part of any B2B marketing strategy, I’m not going to discuss another one in an attempt to get you to start. Instead, with this week’s blog I’d like to take a look at social media – specifically LinkedIn – and show how utilizing this outlet can help in a way that is rarely mentioned: by building your B2B social capital.
The definition of social capital is one that has garnered much theoretical debate in the academic arena, but the definition as it applies to B2B marketing is simple: Social capital is an intangible resource that can lead to tangible resources. To explain, social capital bridges social ties in order to provide opportunities for people to access information, resources, etc. But in order to build this social capital, you must first have a social network; and this is where LinkedIn comes in.
Through LinkedIn, you have the ability to connect with multiple people with whom you may not have otherwise been able; this in turn grows your network, and as these people connect with other people, the opportunity for you to connect to them grows as well. This gives you the ability to connect to people and access information you would never have had before. As you can see, the intangible concept of social capital becomes tangible as you are able to use this information and/or any other actual resources (employee prospect, company information, etc.) you may acquire from the connection.
So use LinkedIn, and engage with it often. Take part in discussions – offer up answers, or start your own. Build your network and use it to your advantage. I am a member of several B2B groups on LinkedIn, and we are all constantly asking questions (e.g. Do you have any metrics related to social media? What have you found that works in your email newsletters?) and exchanging information. It is a valuable resource I would never have had without LinkedIn. So begin utilizing this powerful outlet; it can help build your social capital and give you access to various B2B perspectives and information you may have never thought about before.
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Vann Morris is the Director of Buying Behavior Studies with the Atlanta B2B advertising agency, MLT Creative. She is a Social and Behavioral Scientist who is currently working on her PhD in Communications, and uses her strong theoretical background in order to show how scientific theory should be used to develop strategy and effective B2B marketing campaigns.
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