B2B Social Media Assessment: How Do Your Efforts Stack Up?

More and more B2B companies are recognizing the power of social media in terms of building community, increasing thought leadership, and generating leads. With over 800 million active users on Facebook, more than 300 million tweets sent daily, and one hour of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s easy to get carried away and let everything just pass you by. The truth is, B2B companies can’t afford to overlook a solid social media strategy (which is why we have assembled a group of biggest and brightest minds in social media including Jay Baer, Tim Washer, Ekaterina Walter, Mike Sansone, and Nate Riggs for a series on the Labs site).  In case you have missed it, here are the articles to date:

• Social Media Matters: Exploring the Future of Social Media for Your B2B Business
• How To Build a Ground Swell for Your Startup Using Twitter
• 7 Steps to Successful YouTube Marketing
• Tips for Turning Your B2B Facebook Page Into a Beacon for Your Brand
• Funny or Die? Why B2B Brands Shouldn’t Be So Scared of Comedic Content and Social Media

Part of my work at OpenView is to help our expansion stage portfolio companies develop their strategies around content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media. As a result, I am always looking for ways to help marketers within our portfolio companies and other startups execute their jobs smarter and more efficiently. A great place to start this conversation is with an quick, simple assessment.

Here are my thoughts on how to assess your progress with social media at the expansion stage:

B2B Social Media Assessment

What are your current social media activities? What channels are you currently participating on? Do you have goals for your social media strategy?  If so, what are they? What message/story are you trying to convey with social media? Do you have a content strategy? What content do you currently share? Do you have the staff to support social media engagement? Do you have a release calendar? Do you have social media guidelines? Are you tracking conversions from social media? What metrics are you currently tracking? What tools do you use to help manage or track your social media efforts?

Amanda Maksymiw
http://blog.openviewpartners.com/