The B2B Inbound State of Mind: Build Relationships
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| Click to see "Inbound State of Mind" video |
Key components of B2B inbound marketing are promoting your message and building relationships through social media. In our
Twitter for B2B Marketing Results webinar,
Trey Pennington defines marketing as, “the ongoing process of engagement whereby strangers are nurtured into advocates.”
Social media engagement is an excellent forum for engaging other like-minded professionals. Using blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, a B2B marketer can boost the company brand’s exposure to not only prospects, but to advocates. These advocates, actual customers or not, can help share positive messages about your product or service and these actions help drive visitors to your website--inbound marketing in action. Consistent effort throughout the day, everyday can enhance relationship building.
7 tips to help create advocates and build relationships in the social web:
- Be honest, be yourself.
- Be active, accessible and responsive.
- Be considerate, acknowledge others.
- Listen to others.
- Persistently seek out new connections.
- Don’t just talk about yourself or your company.
- Know your connections and adjust your conversations.
To build relationships, maintain a B2B inbound marketing state of mind throughout the day:
10 minutes in the morning:
Create: Start or respond to conversations on Twitter around your industry.
Share: Retweet interesting tweets; don’t forget to add your commentary or opinion.
10 minutes around lunchtime:
Connect: Search for people in your target audience on LinkedIn and request introductions from your connections.
30-45 minutes in the afternoon/evening:
Create: Start or finish a blog post that offers tips, help or expert opinion.
Build: Join a tweet chat in your industry.
Inbound marketing for B2B is not a one-step, "set-it and forget-it" process. Building relationships that help build your business takes consistent and persistent effort.
Do you have a B2B inbound marketing state of mind? Please share how you fit social media engagement throughout your workday.
Martine Hunter is the creative director of inbound marketing with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. She holds the Inbound Marketing professional certification and serves the Atlanta chapter of the Business Marketing Association as a member of the board of directors.
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