Could it be that social media lags in B2B because marketers don't see value in it for themselves?

I've been talking to friends and colleagues about their perception of social media. To be honest, I'm typically talking to the over 35 crowd. But hey, these are the senior marketers and decision makers. The ones that approve plans and dole out the budgets. So, it has to be said that if you can't convince them, how can social media succeed in B2B, at least today.

First, the idea of Facebook or MySpace is just plain frightening to them. They can't understand the urge to put your life out on the web. This is way too risky and often frightening. Here are the barriers.

• When they consider hiring someone, they check out their pages and if their personal life doesn't conform to a respectable life, an offer is unlikely to go out.
• Anything you put up on the web stays there - FOREVER!
• Their personal life is personal.
• Social media is for teenagers and college kids.
• It is too much time and effort and they have busy lives.
• They just don't need to know every detail about you - too much information

Social media may be the latest and greatest thing. There's a thinking out there that if you aren't catching the wave, you are going to be caught in it and drown. To a point it may be true. It is certainly changing the dynamic of connecting people to people and companies to customers. As a leading edge B2B marketer just dying to jump in and leverage this new paradigm, how can you convince the powers that be?

Tip 1: Design a framework of your messaging architecture to social media venues. Executives will understand better how and why you are entering this space when you show where you are going, what you are saying, and who you are engaging with. You'll be speaking their language.
Tip 2: Don't assume you need a huge budget, or any. Re-use and re-purpose content. Shift time spent from less effective communication avenues.
Tip 3: Leverage your company or product evangelist. Utilize their expertise the same way you would if you conducted a webinar, keynote, or by-line. Re-use these assets as video and podcast content. Interview them and post the discussion of media.
Tip 4: Participate yourself in discussions and blogging.
Tip 5: Formulate ways to capture outcomes from social media interactions and report on these. As with any communication, consider a call to action. If your purpose is primarily awareness and to evangelize then incorporate tracking into your general PR watch.
Tip 6: Create a relationship between your executives and experts in your industry that have a strong online presence. Use classic PR strategy to have them evangelize for you. This builds your executive's network, yours, and your company's.

The biggest point to get across is that your company has most likely been involved in social media. Your company is already interacting with industry groups attending events, participating in discussions, speaking at events, and leveraging online discussions. Social media for B2B is not the personal world of Facebook and MySpace. It is the professional networks, industry venues, and media outlets that have evolved to expand the possibilities to interact with customers.

Do the work, show the results. Your executives will praise your successes and be gently brought into the social web not even realizing it.