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Did Google screw up big time; or did they just transform B2B Social Media into a MUST-DO-NOW?

Guest post by: Todd Youngblood

Article Overview: When your customers and prospects start their research in anticipation of buying something, they go right to Google, right? Do they find you? Unfortunately, probably not. They only find you or your company when they specifically include you in their search. Do you want to rely on them to do that? Are you crazy???!!!

Did Google screw up big time; or did they just transform B2B Social Media into a MUST-DO-NOW?

I could suggest that since Google keeps hitting home runs, you ought to brush up on the newly announced Google Social Search. That wouldn't be bad advice given that quite a few, pretty obscure early adopters of their past technologies have become famous and made a fortune. I won't, though. I will, however, assert that social search, and therefore social media and web 2.0 just became absolutely essential for effective B2B sales. (Notice I said, "sales," as opposed to, "marketing.") To begin to understand why, consider the all-so-familiar exercise of "googling." Your customer searches for "X" trusting in Google to sort through the gazillion pages out on the internet to deliver the most relevant results. That's what they do all the time. (That's what you do all time! That's what we all do all the time!)

What are the odds your stuff will be listed on the first page of the search results? Second page? An "early enough" page?

Now consider the fact that any searcher will have more trust and confidence in information from a known source. The better I know the source, the more I trust the information.

In this case, the searcher decides to "toggle the social search switch." Good ole' Google then takes the first set of results and passes them through another filter. If the result did not come from a web page, blog post, tweet, or some other social media "share" thingy specifically connected by the searcher to one of his or her contacts, it doesn't show up.

Did you get that last sentence? Did it sink in? Here's the key point: If the searcher has not voluntarily "connected" to you, your content does not show up.

OK, the negative spin there was to get your attention... The real question is how to harness this new set of tools to enhance your visibility, credibility and profitability. There are three key pieces to the puzzle. The first takes lots of real effort, sustained indefinitely. And it's not traditional sales work. It is, however, what will become the guts of the selling process in our brave new world. The second takes a good bit of continuing work, but entails just a minor wrinkle on something most reps are already pretty good at doing. The third is quick and easy.

Puzzle Piece 1: Your Content

Everything you'd talk about to a customer needs to be embedded into internet-based media. Everything. (I told you it requires a lot of real effort!) It can (& should) be text and/or images and/or audio and/or video. It can (& must) be on a mix of your web site, blog, LinkedIn?, Twitter, etc., along with whatever other new technology becomes available.

Content creation is NOT something an individual rep or sales manager can afford to avoid or delegate. You can only depend on the marketing department and others on your sales team for some of it. They can handle the general, overview stuff; the overall value proposition. Only you can provide the nuances and unique intelligence required by your specific prospects and customers. (WARNING: "In-your-face" comment coming here... If you disagree with this paragraph, think again. I'll blog more on this topic. I'm pretty certain you'll agree eventually.)

One last note on content; and it's really, really important... The content you develop must be of interest and value to the key decision makers in your territory. This is much easier said than done, and is the true test of your sales skills. What do you have to communicate that will resonate instantly with the customer?

Puzzle Piece 2: Your Connections

Think in terms of LinkedIn to get the basic concept. Establish LinkedIn? connections to all the decision-makers and key influencers in your territory. Do it! It's not all that difficult. It's where all those traditional selling skills come in. And remember, without the connection, they'll never see your content! (Maybe connect up via Plaxo too.)

Puzzle Piece 3: Your Google Profile

Create one and keep it current. There's a subtle message in the "Add custom links to my profile" section. It allows for multiple links to places you post. How many places on your list? Mine has 11.

Have a sneaking feeling Google just invented something that's about to hurl you out of your comfort zone? If you don't, you should.

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Article Tags: b2b sales, bad advice, confidence, credibility, customer searches, early adopters, exercise, fortune, google, hitting home, key point, media share, odds, profitability, puzzle, relevant results, searcher, social search, tweet, visibility



Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Social Media & Digg, Google, MySpace, and YouTube - Conversation about Google and their search engine dominance, creating websites to their standards, ranking high, SEO, AdSense, keyword optimization, Google WebmasterTools, Checkout, and anything related to helping develop social content-media-networks-etc. Social bookmarking and network creation with Digg and Ning. Anything related to developing communities of people with similar interests. Share websites that work well with these companies, ideas on the Webs future, and your Social Media related profiles with Digg, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Ning, YouTube etc.
Re: Social Media & Digg, Google, MySpace, and YouTube - Like so many others, I use Google as my primary way of getting through to the worth. The other sites like You Tube and Social Media sites are secondary in my day.
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!


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