The Social Media in B2B Communications Conference | itpr

If I didn?t write a blog about our trip to the Social Media in B2B Communications Conference, you?ve probably got to question what on earth I was doing at it in the first place.

Pleasantries out the way; I thought the session was good value for money ? lots of decent speakers with strong opinions on what does and doesn?t work, and it?s certainly given us a lot to think about with regards to the direction we take the business.

It?s safe to say, we were already considering a lot of this, but the reinforcement of our views and activities was certainly welcome. It?s also interesting to note that the consensus on the value of social media platforms such as Facebook when delivering a B2B PR campaign, was by no means universal!

So where do I think we can do more in Social Media for our clients? In a lot of ways, I liked Tariq Ahmend (European Comms Manager at CA Technologies) use of social media at events ? the use of pre show videos (using a flip cam; rough and ready and immediately uploaded to YouTube), mini-polls, blogs, all ?leveraging the power of the hash tag?.

I think there is understandably quite a lot of scepticism from business owners when you start talking to them about ?hash tags? and ?Tweeting?. Let?s be honest, if someone started talking to you in a PR planning meeting (or any meeting for that matter) just a couple of years ago, you would have been gently escorted in the direction of the nearest padded cell. But the reality is, the language of the PR game is changing. Not only that, it?s changing all the time. Never before has it been so necessary to run just so you can stand still.

But of course, we have no intention of standing still!

What is most striking about the changes in the industry is how truly mobile communications (and business on the whole) really have become. It?s perhaps fitting that in the week after the sad passing of Steve Jobs, I hail the power of the Smartphone in facilitating this. Of course the iPhone wasn?t the first device of its kind ? but its status as a game changer is undisputed.

When talking about the power of apps (another one of those ?new words?!), PwC?s head of Online Nick Masters highlighted the importance of PR and comms material that can be read in three different screen formats. Is your website optimised to be viewed through a smart phone and a tablet as well as trusty laptops and PCs? How are journalists viewing the content you send them? They?re not sitting still anymore (have you tried to catch a journalist on the phone recently?!) so how do you communicate with them? And of course how do you do so with being intrusive.

Other basic things I took away from the event was the concept of a twitter bank ? pre-prepared content to fire out through twitter on a regular basis (forward planning for those quiet moments in a campaign), the importance of measuring the impact of PR activities on the bottom line. Engaged communities are one thing, sales leads are quite another. Deep linking in your SEO activity was also discussed.

What also struck a chord with me is that it is important you do not confuse popularity with influence. So what if you?ve got lots to say and lots of people are hearing it? If it?s not relevant, insightful and engaging, it?s utterly irrelevant. Content is, and always will be, king, whatever medium you push it out though.

Of course the pleasing thing is, we?re already doing most of the things that were discussed. But we?re aware there is much more we can do, and we?re excited about what social media means for our business proposition and of course our clients!

So lots to think about, and you?ll forgive me for barely scratching the surface of what was discussed in this blog, because I really must get on with putting the theory of it all into some sort of practice!

Posted by Max Deeley

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