- by Alena Hitzemann, Associate Web Editor
Today, Twitter posted "A Special Guide" to using Twitter for business. This is interesting for a variety of reasons: is it prefacing a change in Twitter's business model? Does it mean they are directly targeting businesses, and how will that affect Twitter's use? Will this information increase Twitter's adoption by businesses? Are they just trying to be helpful?
I'm not sure. But reading the article reminded me of my early days in "professional" social media (ie, not just facebooking for fun.) When I joined BMC's Web Strategy team last summer, I wanted to get up to speed as quickly as possible. I spent significant amounts of time Googling around for resources on social media for B2B, and surprisingly, didn't find all that much. The variety of information has grown quite a bit since then, but I find that compared to B2C, the less-sexy B2B still frequently gets the short end of the stick.
So, for this week's Friday Round-Up, I decided to pull together some of the resources that I did find. This list specifically addresses B2B case studies, which I think are particularly interesting and helpful. They're out there... it just took some digging to find them.
Big, comprehensive lists:
MarketingProfs list of Social Media Case Studies – these are largely B2C, but some good B2B examples are thrown in as well.
A List of Social Media Marketing Examples – Peter Kim’s extensive list of companies using social media (includes some B2B.)
Case studies from Social Media B2B (great general resource for, well, Social Media B2B):
B2B Social Media Example: Siemens
B2B Social Media Example: ArcelorMittal
B2B Social Media Example: Boeing
B2B Social Media Newsroom Example: Scania
Additional specific case studies:
Business.com Case Study – first-person account of how Business.com implemented social media tactics.
B2B Case Study: ShipServ – concise account of ShipServ’s goals, challenges, strategy and tactics.
SAP: A Company Transforms Itself Through Social Media – in-depth, detailed look at SAP’s social media program.
Case Study: CME Group – links to Allan Schoenberg’s experience with social media in the financial services sector of B2B.
B2B Social Media Marketing Benefits in the Eye of the Beholder – first-hand look at social media efforts by a small business, Winning Workplaces.
Social Media for B2B – includes high level look at HP’s use of social media.
Lured in by Social Media: An Unofficial B2B Case Study – Beth Harte recounts her experience with HubSpot; an interesting perspective for a social media case study.
Inside the Grasshopper Invasion: Social Media Lessons from a Bug – look at Grasshopper’s successful social media campaign.
How to use social media for lead generation – Brian Carroll’s B@B Lead Generation blog; effective summary of Marketing Sherpa case study only
available to members.
B2B’s Social Media Superstars – top five B2B companies making a splash in social media (and for good measure, check out the five worst B2B social media screw-ups.)
Twitter for Business Case Study Series:
What did I miss? Any other B2B examples of successful social media programs? Please share!
