The Return Commercial Service Companies can expect is ROR = Return on Relationships.
Social media should help your company manage all of your important business relationships – your “business friends.” Business friends are people you do business with, those you’d like to do business with, referral partners, and those who are advocates for your company.
Anyone can run an online advertising campaign that brings new followers your way. But those ads can’t earn you more trust or nurture client relationships and that’s exactly the type of behavior commercial service businesses rely on if they want to stay competitive and grow.
If you don’t have great relationships with the people who pay your invoices, you could lose that business. If you don’t establish good relationships with those you want to do business with, you will unlikely get that business.
Good B2B social media managers spend a great deal of time “socializing” online with business friends because they know those relationships bring the best opportunities.
Socializing vs. Marketing
When asked why people “unliked” a business page, 43% said, “It didn’t fit in with what I like to see in my newsfeed.” When companies spend all their time focused on website traffic and paid ad campaigns, they often lose the best opportunities.
Making time to pay attention to what your business friends post online is one of the best ways to get to know them. And the better you know them, the easier it is to come up with posts they’d enjoy and information they might want to share.
Just like personal relationships, business relationships require ongoing support. Routinely making the effort to “like” and/or comment on something your business friends have posted on their social networks is how you “socialize” with them online.
Since relationships cannot be measured in numbers, a numerical return on investment is not a viable method to measure B2B social media results.
The Role of Business Development
B2B social media management is a business development effort. Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from clients, markets, and relationships.
When you put someone with no business or relationship sales experience in charge of your company’s social media, you risk losing your business friends, AND all of their referral friends. And once you lose trust, it’s very difficult to earn it back.
10 ROR Actions That Pay Off
1. Schedule 1-2 hours each week to research clients and prospects
2. See who you know that also knows a prospect – Give them a reason to introduce you
3. Find an event a client is attending and RSVP to go and support them
4. Email useful articles or helpful advice to at least one business friend each week
5. Share a photo of a business friend expressing gratitude for something they bring to your life. Make sure you tag them or their company or they may not ever see it!
6. Try to meet with a different business friend each week, or invite them to an event you are attending where they might find new business
7. Check to see if your business friends have posted anything online you can “like” or comment on
8. Buy a set of paper note cards to send handwritten notes thanking people for any time they spend helping you accomplish something
9. Do everything you can to find business opportunities for clients
10. Always be “validating” with random acts of kindness
About ThinkViral
Social Media Experts Professionals
WHO We Work With…
- Associations
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