| Published: | 14-05-2008 | Author: |
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Debate: Is social networking more of a fad in B2B marketing than a viable marketing medium?
Debate: Is social networking more of a fad in B2B marketing than a viable marketing medium?
YES - It's a fad 
Ross Sturley
By Ross Sturley, principle of Chart Lane consultancy and committee member of the CIM Construction Industry Group
The similarity between online social networking and business networking is obvious. But we seem to be spending lots of time and risking brand equity experimenting because it's 'fun' and 'cool'.
There are two main ideas – using existing networks to meet customers and prospects or putting online social networking into our own websites. So far, there are few winning examples of existing networks. LinkedIn has 21 million users, but its most frequent use is recruitment consultants trying to source candidates; Facebook for Business is awful. It's like a market where hawkers shout about their products, except there are thousands of hawkers, with irrelevant products.
Some have set up branded Facebook groups – I have for CIMCIG, the construction chapter of the CIM – but it only works if I'm in there every waking hour prodding people to contribute. And Second Life has the potential to kill us all. Grant Naylor's book 'Better than Life' (published 13 years before the launch of Second Life) is about people trapped in a game because it's better than their lives. They end up wasting away.
There's potential in online networking if it's part of your own web presence, but it needs to self-sustain, and discussion boards don't work. People are too scared of looking stupid to make unsolicited contributions.
To get your online flywheel moving, you need to appeal to people's humanity. Set up an information exchange – where customers interact in a non-competitive way. This will build something that can gather momentum and sustain itself without undue and uneconomic effort. But don't expect it to be free, don't expect it to be easy, and above all, don't expect it to be fun and cool. It's work, after all.
NO - It's a viable medium 
Penny Power
By Penny Power, founder and director of Ecademy
When we founded Ecademy in 1998 we were not interested in being a fad and were not driven by the latest tools. Our interest was in building a community that shared the same intention, the same purpose, 'to help one another's business' grow'.
Communities are the foundation of the web. The top ten websites are social networks and more messages are being sent between people inside social networks than emails. Social networks provide a place for like-minded people to come together and use the appropriate tools for their needs. My daughter and I do not share the same social networking homes, she is on Facebook, I am on Ecademy. Communities need a common goal, a shared intention.
This is not a fad. As a marketing medium, it is the most powerful and inexpensive method I have used in my 20 years of sales and marketing. To be in direct control of the branding message, talking to business customers directly and hearing what their needs are, is utopia. The brave ones are the brands that do this. It is scary and takes a strong person to cope with the feedback they might get.
However, it would be worth it to know exactly what my customers are talking about and be prepared for new ways they are planning to adapt and evolve. Communities are ecosystems; they evolve together in real time. Add to that the accelerated nature of the Internet and we are talking about products and services that need to evolve at hyperspeed with a sensitivity toward the customer we have never experienced before.
The customer is definitely king now, but they also have a mouthpiece to sway massive audiences. Use this to your positive advantage and your business will survive; dismiss it and your brand will die over the next 20 years.
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