Basic Social Media Strategy Part 2
In the first post in this series I focused on the need to identify your audience as a key component of developing your social media strategy. In this post we focus on the next component, which is identifying what business model you fall into. By business model, I’m referring specifically if your model is business to business, business to consumer, or a mix of the two. I’ll briefly define all three models below.
Business to Business: This type of business model has businesses as their main clients. For example commercial real estate primarily deals with businesses as opposed to customers (residental real estate). Another example would be a heating and cooling that primarily services businesses.
Business to Consumer: this type of business model has consumers as their main client. The electronic stores that the latest TVs and computers would be an example of business consumer. A plumber who primarily deals with residential homes would be another example.
Mix of Business to Consumer and Business: These are businesses that can offer services to both consumers and businesses and have a mix clientele. Using the heating and cooling company as an example, they would service both commercial and residential properties. A lot of businesses will fall into this category if they offer services and/or products that could be used by both consumers and businesses.
Determining what category your business falls into is essential for determining what your social media strategy is going to be and what sites you will focus on. For example, while Facebook is an excellent site to be on for a Business to Consumer business, it doesn’t offer the same opportunities to a Business to Business business because the majority of people on Facebook are consumers. You’ll still get some leverage from Facebook, particularly if your clients are B to C businesses but you’ll also want to look at other social networking sites, which are more niched toward B to B businesses.
Assess what your business model is and then research how other businesses that have a similar model are using social media as well as what sites they are on.
