Does your online marketing department stay in the trenches or go over the top?

During World War I there were two types of soldiers in the trenches. One type played a support role in terms of logistics, communication, developing battle plans and provisioning and those who went over the top and engaged with the enemy. If you are a business-to-business marketer, do you stay in the trenches or do you go over the top?

Online business-to-business marketing professionals who stay in the trenches are never going to derive tangible value from their participation on the social web.

If you want more leads and prospects and your marketing department is spending most of their time doing the following, it is time to revisit your B2B social media marketing strategy:

• Presenting management with reports that only reflect the number of page views and visitors to your website and blog, number of Twitter followers, Facebook Likes, LinkedIn followers, subscribers to the blog, YouTube views, etc.
• Use words such as communication, reputation management, branding, public relations, corporate identity and do not use words such as engagement, conversations, interaction.

It is no coincidence that marketing colleges and universities are rewriting their marketing management syllabus because the playing field has changed and people have to radically rethink how they do things.

For organisations who sell products, services and solutions to other companies, PR, branding, reputation management and corporate identity are still fundamentally important but do not underestimate the importance of using the social web for what it was designed for (i.e. to connect, interact, engage and build relationships).

You need to identify the people in the trenches in your marketing department and those who are prepared and willing to go over the top into no man’s land. The trench dwellers are very important but you shouldn’t use them when the whistle blows and the troops start climbing the ladders.

The soldier who goes over the top has to be brave and when he is in no man’s land he has to improvise, depending on what he encounters.

If you are planning on generating new business opportunities from your participation on the social web, one way broadcasting and reporting on page views will not cut it. Identify your soldiers, equip them with the right tools and training and you will see the results!

Do you agree or disagree? Do you have anything to add? Would you like to comment? I would love to hear from you.