I recently saw will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas in a Google + Hangout. It was a one to many format, where he had the main camera, but fans could start talking and video-ing him and he’d answer personally to the group. It was the first time a rock group has ever done something like this. It was like being backstage with him and I’ve got to tell you he’s the ultimate cool guy.
If this is the new BIG thing in social media, it put me to thinking how cool marketing people could use it in a B2B setting. Here’s just a few quick ideas I came up with:
1.Host a “roundtable” expert discussion featuring one of your company subject matter experts, and a high level person from an OEM, inviting prospects to join the circle.
2. Host a weekly or top of month broadcast about the hottest topics in your industry segment. Right off your webcam.
3. Kick up your lead generation activity and demonstrate a new product or solution offering to prospects or customers–for a fraction of what a live event would cost.
4. Connect with remote staff and host team meetings in a lively new, and more importantly, cool format.
5. Market up and down the channel by hosting your own updates back to your OEM/ISV partners and hosting your OEM/ISV partner update sessions to customers.
That’s it for now, gotta go–I’ve got a feeling, that tonight’s gonna be a good night…
TTYS