Comments on: Can B2B Products be “Social Objects”?

By: Jijesh Devan

Jijesh Devan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:26:45 +0000

Hi April, this is an interesting post.
I think it is far easier to create a buzz around a B2B solution (= product + service) rather than a product. That said, Google’s B2B products have created an adequate buzz and following. Another product that I believe has significant following is Red Hat’s products.
As a B2B marketer I have been looking for examples of companies that are able to create WOW effect leading to WOMM. So I appreciate Stephanie’s
Here are few companies (they are not pure B2B players) that I think do a good job of creating adequate buzz around their B2B offerings Rackspace, Google, Animoto, and Freshbooks.
The reason, I think, solutions are more likely to have a “social following” is because it is possible thru the service component to provide a WOW experience.

By: Community Roundtable

Community Roundtable — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:08:57 +0000

RT @LilianMahoukou: Can B2B Products be "Social Objects"? http://ow.ly/AtU2

By: Lilian Mahoukou

Lilian Mahoukou — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:51:15 +0000

Can B2B Products be "Social Objects"? http://ow.ly/AtU2

By: AlexBewley

AlexBewley — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:58:11 +0000

Can B2B Products be "Social Objects?" from @aprildunford. Can Systems Management be made exciting and passion inspiring? http://bit.ly/QuhbK

By: Adam Bullied

Adam Bullied — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:15 +0000

Great post from @aprildunford – Can B2B Products be "Social Objects"? http://bit.ly/tAYQv

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:51:06 +0000

Hi Andreas,
Thanks for your comment. You’ve hit the nail on the head when you say that advertising is becoming more irrelevant and what other people have to say is very important. I’m interested in examples of products where there are things built-in that are designed to get people talking or to facilitate conversations.
Thanks again,
April

By: Andreas Rudolph

Andreas Rudolph — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:01:55 +0000

Hi April
I think that “social” is more of an indirect thing. Like the first commenter said, social techniques are perfect for crowdsouring. With participation in place, you create better products than without – so “social products” are better.
Many B2B Solutions require the folks to learn. Often you need to learn a lot about a technology before you can judge. Here “social” can help as well, because nobody looks into an advertising ad, but everybody is keen to hear about the experiences of a neighbour.
A third dimension might be that all of us judge products in a social / “ethical” way. For instance if you were offering the perfect product with perfect marketing, but if this product were unethical, not all would buy it, because not “social”.
Yes, they can (be social objects).
BR, Andreas

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:32:57 +0000

Hi Stephanie – thanks so much for the comment and the great example!
April

By: Stephanie Tilton

Stephanie Tilton — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:50:36 +0000

April,
While more akin to an open-source offering, the Spiceworks (www.spiceworks.com) model is worth studying. The company offers an ad-supported IT management application for SMBs (i.e., it’s free to users). And it seems to have quickly built up a passionate community of 700,000 users.
Even companies that charge for their products can learn from one interesting Spiceworks’ element: its latest version “integrates with Twitter and allows users to turn Windows events into social media alerts for collaborative problem-solving and to share real-time SMB IT trends with the world’s largest network of IT professionals.” Let’s face it – IT professionals value their peers’ perspectives and insights. But visiting an online forum is not always practical. Why not embed functionality directly within your product that facilitates community interaction?
Thanks for another thought-provoking post!
Best,
Stephanie

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:29:33 +0000

Blog post: on @gapingvoid's #meshmarketing talk on social objects and how B2B products fail http://bit.ly/YgaTe #prodmgmt