by Terri Rylander

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by Terri Rylander

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Think you won’t reach IT decision makers with social media? Think again! UBM’s 2011 Social Media and IT Marketing research shows that 69% of IT decision makers use LinkedIn and 44% use Twitter for professional use. And, 84% visit corporate blogs for professional purposes and one-third of those contacted the technology vendor for more information after visiting.

Turns out IT decision makers are social too! The majority use social networking to stay connected to co-workers and maintain their professional relationships, which are down slightly from last year. However, one of the largest and growing reasons is around their desire to make informed technology purchasing decisions.

For B2B marketers in the high-tech/software industry, this information is key in creating a social media strategy that addresses what these IT decision makers are looking for. Unfortunately, many B2B companies are still struggling to embrace social media as a marketing and lead generation tool. Additional studies show that over 60% say they have no staff dedicated to managing social media activities.

Social media activities such as blogging and the use of Twitter require almost daily attention. B2B marketers need to incorporate them into the overall strategy including the editorial calendar, yet be flexible enough to know when to change direction when business or technical trends shift.
Most marketers and content producers have a good understanding of what the IT decision maker needs in order to make influence the purchasing decision. However, many have not fully utilized the social media channel for distributing that content.

For those that don’t yet have the content that the IT decision makers are looking for, like data sheets, case studies, and white papers, social media may take a much lower priority. The IT decision maker is out there, already engaging with vendors, both passively and actively. B2B marketers cannot wait until all of the content is complete before incorporating social media into their marketing activities. They need to start where they are and grow both their social media channel experience and marketing content at the same time. They need to be available and found when IT decision makers go looking.

These geeks have gone social and they’re looking for you. Are you there?

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