By Chris Lee

Google’s swanky office near London’s Victoria station was the venue for Dell’s B2B (business-to-business) huddle event this month. The guest of honour was the esteemed social media analyst and author Brian Solis of the Altimeter Group, who was also signing his book “Engage”, a much-heralded reference for companies looking to address and improve their own social media practices.

Solis opened his presentation to assembled social media consultants with an alarming statistic: that nearly half (46 per cent) of B2B companies perceive that social media is “irrelevant” to their organisation. Those companies that did not engage in social media would ultimately lose out, Solis warned.

“By not saying anything in social media, we say everything,” he said. “If you’re not in the decision-making cycle, you’re not part of the ultimate decision.”

He then challenged the social media consultants present: “It’s up to each and every single one of you to put together the case for [social media] and there is no easy answer. If it was really easy, why would we be so unique? We’re hungry for knowledge.”

The path less travelled

According to Solis, global social media spend could quadruple by 2014 from 2009 levels and that 93 per cent of business buyers believe that all companies should have a social presence. He also added that business buyers want organisations to do more than just “show up”, but to also interact to “introduce value” when operating on social networks.

“All we need to succeed in social media are some B2B examples,” Solis said, although consultants would always avoid giving away their best secrets. “The case studies you read about are generic and should serve as inspiration. The answers aren’t in a book or blog post, they require some work and lie beneath the surface. It takes some research to find how you can excel in new media and the value it brings to your business.”

Solis warned against falling for what he called “shiny object syndrome”, citing an experience when he advised a company that all the social media activity around that particular organisation was happening on forums, blogs and LinkedIn, not Twitter, where the company wanted to operate. Yet the company insisted on Twitter, thus potentially missing out on huge lead generation possibilities.

“Most business-to-business referrals are made through word-of-mouth,” Solis said.

Who owns social media?

One of the largest quandaries that companies face when forming a social media programme is deciding which department should “own” – i.e. manage – social media. Solis says there is no answer to this.

“The answer today is marketing, or communications, or customer service. But the question you need to answer is who owns the customer relationship? That’s everyone in the organisation,” he said. “Word-of-mouth is undeniable, so the question is who is influencing the social consumer? Who’s influencing business to business decisions?”

Once organisations have decided who owns social media internally, they then need to justify their return on investment (ROI), another question for which Solis says there is no clear answer.

“Your job is to shape and steer that click path so that it has some value for both of you [the company and the consumer],” Solis advised. “The future of business is not created...it’s created by social consumers with or without us. The challenge is ‘how do you become that thought leader’.”

Business needs to be part of the social “ecosystem” to compete in the social media era, Solis argued.

“A lot of this is not just about social media, a lot of this is about business re-invention,” Solis concluded. “[Organisations] need to put customers at the front and centre of everything they do. Suddenly, Twitter, Facebook, blogs - everything that gives customers a voice - gives them power. We have to show why, how and to what extent, the business value and outcomes. You’re change agents and your job is to make your companies more relevant, not only to the social consumer but to everyone in general.”