A B2B Case-Study of Social Media Marketing Success:

By ImpactWeather's Fred Rogers

During the summer of 2009, I started lobbying my boss, the president of the company, on the idea that we would really benefit from committing ourselves to a streamlined social media strategy.  We're a Houston-based international weather monitoring and notification company that also specializes in business continuity.  In other words, 100% B2B.  Not a stitch of consumer-targeted material leaves our office and genuinely qualified prospects are rarer than you can imagine, despite the tremendous benefits our clients reap from our services . . . so obviously a social media strategy was a crazy use of marketing hours and dollars.  Which is exactly what he thought.He was even afraid that engaging in such an endeavor might actually harm our extremely conservative and trust-based brand instead of helping it or, at the very least, yield marginal results.

So on my own time I undertook to prove him wrong (Just on this  one issue.  He’s a really great guy and the best boss I’ve ever had.  No.  Really.) The first thing I did was the first thing I always do when I start something new: I realized that I needed help in order to become an expert.

As the world of social media continues to expand in purpose, usage and content, many companies struggle to adapt to the potentials social media offers while others seek new ways to exploit it to their advantage.

Marketing companies especially are working to take advantage of the wide audience of social media, but some practices are still in an ethical gray area that has yet to find full debate on the public stage.

One instance I have come across that seems subject to debate is the creation of fake social media “users” to promote a product or organization. In the instance I have seen, a marketing company creates fictional Facebook identities and then uses the profiles as a place to peddle their wares.

Many of our clients are wondering about social media and specifically Facebook. The main question I get asked is "do we need a Facebook page and if so, how will that help our business?". In this blog I will try to answer that question, but first I want to make some things very clear:

Lately, I’ve been having some interesting conversations with friends & colleagues about Facebook.  What do I mean by interesting? Well, more than one person has indicated to me that they are disenchanted with Facebook -- and would migrate to another platform if a better one were available.

Now, I do a fair amount of social media presentations & workshops -- so I’m used to encountering questions from people who initially think social networking or Facebook specifically are “fads,”  but this is not what I’m talking about. These latest comments have come from social media savvy friends & colleagues -- people who know & understand the power of social networking online. People who understand that the internet will never not be “social” again. So where are they coming from? I think the latest product announcement by Facebook perfectly illustrates their discomfort with the site.

“Sponsored Stories” is, quite frankly - pure evil genius. Let me explain: It’s genius because it takes all this great, organic, word-of-mouth marketing that goes on between friends and it finds a way to repackage and SELL those interactions to marketers. Genius. What company wouldn't want to harness the power of these credible endorsements?

Here’s how it works: let’s say I share something like this on my wall