Companies find business-to-business relevance in social media

TAMPA — Restaurant owners and retailers are familiar with using social media to reach consumer audiences. For companies targeting a business-to-business audience, social media use is more nuanced, but still effective.

People relate to strong content and brands, said Ryan Sammy, director of Web promotion for Tampa digital marketing agency BlueGlass.
A company decision maker is likely to use social media to find out what content a business is posting and to determine if that business is a “thought leader.”

“A lot of people don’t think social [media] is good for business-to-business,” Sammy said. “But it’s always going to be a human being who makes the decision, and a lot of times they will be on social media.”
Reaching a specific audience

Lancet Indemnity, a doctor-owned medical malpractice risk retention group in Tampa, has found a channel to its audience of doctors, insurance professionals and medical administrators through social media.

“There’s no doubt you can reach a broader audience with social media than by just doing an individual marketing campaign,” said Vice President of Business Development Brian Menendez. “Your bang for your buck with social media is so much more than with an old-fashioned ad in a magazine.”

The firm has hired Uhsome Media and Marketing, a Tampa search engine optimization and digital media company, to handle social media.
Uhsome uses Yahoo, Google Plus, Google Places, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MerchantCircle and Foursquare, among other social media channels to promote Lancet.

“These are free tools to use,” said Chris Arnoldi, Uhsome founder and CEO. “It comes down to time and intellectual property.”