B2B Social Media: Start From the Inside Out

As I stated in my previous post, B2B social media is still looked upon with some apprehension. How do you know where to start. My personal opinion? Start from inside the walls of your organization.

You want to get others excited about your brand? Start with the ones who represent it day in and day out. How can you expect to build a community around your brand if you can't even get your own people behind it? This is an easier said than done concept, with many offices having social media bans within their internal networks due to network security reasons or other. It's hard to get your workers to start participating online with the company outside of their normal time working. However, your most successful social media programs will start behind an initial wave of support of your employees.

Southwest Airlines isn't necessarily a B2B company but they prove to be a good example of social media success spawning from internal enthusiasm. Where did Southwest's blog, Nuts About Southwest, start from? It was a direct result of their employees. No real push from a higher corporate authority. Instead of lecturing those employees on using Southwest in a semi-unauthorized way, the company built upon that internal enthusiasm, adding a whole new department dedicated to social media marketing. As a result, Southwest has probably one of the more successful social media fronts of most any business.

When you ban social media in the workplace, it dampens your ability to further build your digital brand. If you're really serious about moving into the web 2.0 world, be sure to bring the rest of your company along with you.

What businesses do you all see as good examples of B2B social media?