Yours socially, Recruitments

The social media profiles and active connections of people has enthused one and all in the business community. The human resources fraternity is not an exception to this. Don’t we hear news here and there that the HR departments in companies have started to review the social profiles of candidates to understand the candidate’s suitability for the organization? Though the social profiles of candidates can describe and determine the candidate’s personality per se, however the fact remains that these social media profiles are created by the candidate himself. Hence, these profiles do not by any way testify their authenticity for the candidate’s background. For example, if a candidate claims to have worked in ABC Corporation for 3 years under a certain capacity, you as a recruiter can’t turn to the social profiles and ascertain this but you do try & contact ABC Corporation by yourself or employ third party agencies for the background verification process. Don’t these activities take a lot of time, money and resources?

Well, if you say, YES to the above question then I suggest that the below blog post is for you. Correct, a typical social media for businesses can help in determining the authenticity of a candidate’s career, background information and much more.

Imagine, a b2b collaboration platform or a true social media for businesses that revolutionizes the way companies collaborate externally (i.e prospects, customers, and suppliers) and internally (employees). For understanding purposes, the same b2b collaboration platform that a company uses to contact prospects, customers etc can act as a secure intranet providing collaboration space for employees.

So, this b2b collaboration platform is also an enterprise social media enabling organizations to manage & control detailed information, policies, roles, responsibilities etc pertaining to all the employees. Now, if this b2b collaboration platform can hold the profile data of each employee then companies can access the background information of the candidates within a few clicks. So, the next time a candidate walks in for an interview, you can simply cross check the information provided on his resume with that on the b2b collaboration platform.

This can also be perceived that the business community on the b2b collaboration platform can not only transact with their respective products & services but also share such authentic information.

In addition to this, companies can make use of the business apps that are tightly coupled with the secure intranet. The Jobs application on the b2b collaboration platform can help the HR departments in companies to manage job openings, internal recruitment processes, etc with ease.

Business lives catching up with our social lives, eh? Watch this YouTube video for a first hand view of the b2b collaboration platform

Similarly, community apps (like Jobs, Products, Groups, Events, Blogs, Answers etc) can be built and shared by the b2b fraternity and spectacular benefits can be realized.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience the social media for businesses!

Business apps in the social community environment

Social communities are here to stay. So why not unleash the power of social communities on the business apps too. We have ample business applications focussing on varied purposes and uses today. However, the concept of deploying these business apps on the cloud has slowly begun while I am focussing this blog post on deploying these business apps on a community that exists on a cloud based b2b social collaboration platform. In simpler terms, you can securely share your business apps with a select set of companies and professionals.

Though the concept of sharing business applications can be imagined on various apps, I would like to take the example of RFX app on the business community.

Say, there is a company “A” that has a business requirement of IT infrastructure and seeks other businesses to provide the necessary products / services. Now company “A” makes use of the RFX app on the b2b collaboration platform consisting of the active business community to post its requirement in real-time. On the flip side, the same RFX application will help marketers in other companies who can provide the required product or service to receive the same as inward RFX queries. In our case, say company “B” that is into infrastructure solutions will receive the business requirement posted by company “A” as an inward RFX inquiry.

For clarity, when you post your business requirement in the form of an RFX, you can set specific criteria including the industry from which you expect a response. When you do this, the RFX application will post the requirement to all the relevant companies that match the criteria selected by you. All this happens in real-time. So, you are not only enabled to obtain quicker response to your queries but also a response from relevant companies that could provide you the right product or service matching your requirement.

Since all this happens in the same business community, the credibility of the vendor – buyer relationship is enhanced as all the details like customers, employees, their individual profiles, testimonials etc of both buyer and vendors are readily available for verification.

In addition to this, significant cost savings can be experienced by both company “A” and company “B”. Company A need not spend time, effort, and money on seeking vendors while company B can save on its marketing costs as the RFX enquiry can be a bonus lead.

Here is a YouTube video where I have exactly depicted this with an actual example. Please do watch the same and share your thoughts.

Similarly, community apps (like Jobs, Products, Groups, Events, Blogs, Answers etc) can be built and shared by the b2b fraternity and spectacular benefits can be realized.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience a new saga in B2B social media or social media for businesses!

B2B social media: Where are they today?

As a person from the b2b space and also a normal social media user for my personal connections, I think it is worthwhile for us to evaluate the existing social media for businesses today even before we decide about the “cost-effective” social thingy for our organization. So, I take this blog post to ask a few questions that will help us with this decision for our respective companies. On the flip side, these questions below will also help us understand where the social media stand as of today with respect to a b2b use.

1. Other than just business leads, do LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter solve the typical issues of the b2b space including long sales cycle times, inability to effectively engage the users, influencers & decision makers involved in the sale etc?
2. Heard that LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter can be useful for customer support purposes. Think again. Are these existing social media helping you to post a negative customer comment as a support ticket for resolution? Or do they help in publishing a positive customer comment as testimonial to flaunt on your marketing collaterals? or do these existing social media provide you help to post a feature request as an input to your R&D team?
3. There is a lot of hype about sourcing candidates to your organization’s job requirements. Well, do existing social media networks render help in verifying the candidate’s background in any way? Isn’t the social media profiles of the candidates are a mere extension of their resume? These profiles can in no way be of help in your company’s recruitment process that includes the statutory background check of candidates.
4. Ever wondered about your employees spending a lot of time juggling around different systems like File sharing, Emails, CRM etc to accomplish their tasks and the result being the redundant tasks with reduced employee productivity. At a time when organizations are looking to reduce costs, shouldn’t you be expecting the social media for business to come to the rescue here?

What if the secure intranet or the collaboration space became the place to not only find our employees but also our business apps, our prospects, our customers, our vendors & suppliers?

Wouldn’t it be nice if all the companies of the world harp onto one cloud based b2b platform to collaborate externally (i.e prospects, customers, and suppliers) and also internally (employees)?

Yes, the ideal “social media for businesses” should be a b2b collaboration platform that allowed SMBs to connect and collaborate with companies worldwide and also allowing them to increase marketing and sales effectiveness, increase customer experience & retention and multiply employee productivity by leveraging the B2B community, secure intranet and apps marketplace.

Here is a YouTube channel where I have aired my thoughts as a plausible solution to the above questions raised by me. Please do watch all the videos in the channel and share your thoughts.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience a new saga in B2B social media or social media for businesses!

Beyond social media lead generation

Value driven decision making has been identified as one of the key differentiators of the b2b space when compared with b2c. Then isn’t it obvious that we need to look beyond the social media lead generation to seek additional value when it comes to b2b space?

So, you may still be wondering as to what “more” than b2b leads can be of your interest? To cut things short, this blog post will dwell on possible solutions to the issues of long sales cycle times, lack of knowledge on the buyer & his / her position in the buying cycle and a few other finer aspects that are typical to b2b space.

The power of social media as experienced currently by one and all in the b2b space is just the beginning to what other compelling propositions that the social media has in store.

In spite of the strategies & tactics utilized by the b2b marketing & sales fraternity to bring down the sales cycle times in a cost effective way, there is no proven way to shorten it. It is clear that there are users, influencers and decision makers that are impacting the sale that makes the sales cycle times long, yet there is little cognitive solution.

The present day social media has been specifically built for people to get connected while the companies are yet to fully reap the benefits. However, a b2b social platform that enhanced collaboration amongst companies just as Facebook did to you & your friends could be handy.

Here is how it can be handy. Say, there exists a company “ABC Limited” that provides “Advertising solutions” to other SMBs of the world. Now, ABC is in need to really seek value from its social media activities beyond just lead generation. Assuming an ideal b2b social collaboration platform for “ABC Limited” that hosts ABC’s prospects (potential customers & its employees), customers (& its employees), etc. In this case, ABC Ltd can have access to not only its prospect companies but also the employees inside it. Since, it is into “advertising solutions”, it can “follow” the marketing executive (user), product manager (influencer) and VP Business development to receive real-time updates even from their FB, LinkedIn & Twitter. These updates will help the b2b sales & marketing professionals from ABC Limited to share appropriate data i.e files, links etc to their prospects and engage them effectively in order to facilitate top of the mind brand recollection of ABC.

This could be one of the many ways to shorten the b2b sales cycle times in a big way.

Further, often sales professionals in the b2b space will be quite familiar and wondering why a prospect is not hitting the BUY button in spite of furnishing several details. This is a clear case of lack of understanding of the buyer’s position in the buying cycle. Well, only a “follow” feature that can send updates in real-time about the prospect’s groups & discussions participations can be useful to gain insights into the buying cycle of the prospect.

If you still have questions as to why you and your prospects should be on the b2b platform? Please click here

Bottom line: Connect & collaborate with companies worldwide, the social media for businesses way!

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Changing b2b buying patterns - No problemo!

In the age of internet marketing, it is noticed that the b2b buying patterns have been changing. To illustrate this, I found this illustration that helps in understanding the potential implication in the b2b scape.

Source: Tailwind strategies

Here then, an idea struck to me that why not I match these with what Wapr has in store for the b2b fraternity. Hold on, here are my thoughts to address the above.

1. The B2B sales professionals can synchronize with the buying cycle of b2b buyers by following the prospects to receive updates even from their social media channels, understand the prospects by engaging in win – win conversations with all the stakeholders who could influence the sale.(users, influencers and decision makers)
2. With the help of Wapr Live application, you can have a “Hot engagement” with your web visitors and in fact help them with appropriate content quickly. This application provides you with detailed information including the browser version, geography details, OS details, traversing path etc about the web visitors and hence you can engage with prospects effectively.
3. Let them search and if possible provide them with adequate information that would be of use to your prospective buyers. Share files, links etc with all the people involved in your sale and build the much needed credibility about your transparent approach.
4. We believe that by following your prospects and receiving their updates, you can eliminate any and every bottle neck irrespective of the position in the funnel.
5. Lead nurturing and stuff is very well handled by the “Sales app” on the Wapr business community.
6. Since all the Wapr apps are closely integrated with the b2b platform, information sharing between apps is quite possible. Say, information on a customer can be quickly retrieved while the visitor is browsing your website so that you understand and distinguish your customers from new prospects.
7. Optimization of every step can happen seamlessly with a whole gamut of campaign tools that can help appropriate information percolation to your prospective buyers.

Looking forward to all your thoughts on the above by trying out Wapr.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience a new saga in B2B marketing and sales!

Bonus b2b leads from the business community

B2B leads come at a cost. Agreed. But, will an inward RFX inquiry from a business community hurt you? Well, we know that it’s a bonus!

Read on to know how you can get inward RFX inquiries as b2b leads from the business community.

Say, there is an active business community and there is the RFX application which allows you as a marketer to post your business requirement in real-time to the business community. On the flip side, the same RFX application will help marketers like you to receive inward RFX queries posted by other marketers in the community.

Whenever, you post your business requirement in the form of an RFX, you can set specific criteria including the industry from which you expect a response. When you do this, the RFX application will post the requirement to all the relevant companies that match the criteria selected by you. All this in real-time. So, you are not only enabled to obtain quicker response to your queries but also a response from relevant companies that could provide you the right product or service matching your requirement.

Since all this happens in the same business community, the credibility of the vendor – buyer relationship is enhanced as all the details like customers, employees, their individual profiles, testimonials etc of both buyer and vendors are readily available for verification.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience a new saga in B2B marketing!

Going about the mktg & sales functions on b2b platform with business community

Marketers and Sales professionals belonging to the b2b fraternity know that b2b is a different ball game but still persist their efforts in platforms that promote people to people interactions and collaboration. Yes, I am referring to the present day popular social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the like.

In this blog post, I intend to portray some of the benefits that the b2b community can leverage and then understand the actual power of a b2b community platform

Marketing campaigns on b2b platform with a business community

1. Email & phone campaigns - Forget the issues of your emails landing up in SPAM folder and emails being deleted unread by your prospects. You no longer have to shoot emails and make phone calls to people whom you haven't built relationships with. You can simply build relationships by simply finding your prospects by applying appropriate filters, following them to receive their status updates (even updates from their FB, LinkedIn and Twitter) and finally engaging your prospects with some win-win conversations even before you actually make your pitch in the form of an email or phone call. Once you establish the relationship with your prospects, you can make them as connections on the b2b platform. Email campaigns sent to your connections or to people you follow can yield maximum responses.
2. Bonus RFX leads - A mere registration of your company on the b2b platform will make you eligible for potential RFX submission by other companies on the platform who may seek a product or service that your company specializes in.

Sales function on b2b platform with a business community

1. Overcome long sales cycle times - Long sales cycle times that are typical in a b2b setup can become the talk of the past. When you have access to the users, influencers and decision makers that could affect the sale, you follow them to receive updates from them and can engage them effectively by sharing links, case studies etc.  
2. Knowledge on prospect's position in the buying cycle - You no longer have to ask awkward questions to your prospects as to when he would exactly buy. For you never know that your prospects may themselves not know the exact answer. However, you can be a smart b2b sales professional by following your prospects and obtain their updates to know when the prospect would likely buy your product or service. 

ROI for all your marketing and sales efforts can be easily found out from the business apps that seek intelligence from the b2b platform that hosts you, your campaigns tools & campaigns, your prospects, your customers.

Bottom line: You can increase your marketing and sales effectiveness by overcoming the issue of spam, email deletion by prospects and shorten sales cycle times.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience a new saga in B2B marketing!

B2B market place and B2B contact directories – Not relevant anymore!

So, what do these business contact directories and contact list vendors provide? They just provide a mere heap of business contacts while the onus is on the b2b marketer or sales executives to build the relationships. Hence, on-demand business to business contacts alone cannot help in increasing sales as portrayed by the popular business directories / b2b market place. The business relationship that a company establishes and sustains over a period of time is what matters the most.

Building business relationships is often fraught with the business emails landing up in spam folders and the phone calls not passing through the front desk. The problem is that the existing approach tries to do business first and then tries to build business relationships. But on Wapr, engage with prospects to build relationships even before you start prospecting for a deal and overcome the issue of SPAM / unsolicited phone calls.

How do you do this?

Say, you are a graphics utility software vendor and trying to market the same. Simply search and find your prospect, say “Wolfe Corporation”. By following this company and the people working for this company, you can receive updates from their activity. Assume Bob, the marketing guy whom you think can be your prospects as marketing department produces collaterals using graphics software.

Say, Bob posts one of the product collaterals on the Wolfe Corporation’s Wapr profile. You get the same as a feed on your own dashboard. Remember, you are yet to establish contact with “Wolfe Corporation” even at this stage.

Just then, you find a genuine area of improvement on that product collateral, page 6 precisely. Just leave your comment on the same and you can be certain that “Bob” would revert back to you that he has made the change suggested by you.

Now, from your side, send an add contact request to “Bob” and he is certain to add you to his contacts as he believes that you are no more a stranger to him. This way you can build similar win-win business relationships and save the sales pitch for later interactions.

Sign up to register your company on Wapr and it takes only a few seconds.
All you need is a work email.

Best alternative to email and phone marketing

Unhappy with the response rate on your email and phone marketing campaigns? 

It’s now a fact that 88% of emails are spam and phone calls either land up in voice mail boxes or the front desks of your prospects. Should we take a step back and think through this, we understand that email & phone marketing channels only promote “Business first and business relationships next” idea.  Why should your prospects listen to your pitch even before he knows you? 

When marketers bombard the prospects with emails and phone calls time and again, the result is fewer leads and lowered productivity. 

Now’s the time to think smart and approach your prospects in a better way.

Wapr provides a b2b platform for companies to connect and collaborate so that you can find, follow and engage with your prospects in a better way. By following your relevant prospects in a specific geography, you can obtain updates from them without bothering them with unwanted / unsolicited emails & phone calls. This approach let’s you to have win-win conversations with your prospects even before you do actual business. That is “Business relationships first and actual business next”. Further, you can make your prospects as connections and would be free to contact them either through email or phone or right on the b2b platform.

How is this done? (example)

Assume you are an advertising solutions provider and you are following a prospect from Wolfe Corporation whom you think as your prospect. You are now receiving updates from his Wapr profile page and also from his facebook, twitter, linkedin etc.

 So, it is now safe to say that a mere registration of your company in Wapr can help you increase sales by overcoming the issue of SPAM / unsolicited calls.

Ready to get started? Create your company account for FREE and experience a new saga in B2B marketing!