Page 144 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

124 4 Business-to-Business E-Commerce

Example: Orabrush Inc.
• Use the network to advertise to large audiences and Orabrush Inc. (orabrush.com) is a startup company that
create brand awareness. makes tongue cleaners that reduce bad breath. The company
• Discover new business partners and sales prospects. created funny YouTube videos targeting Walmart employ-
• Enhance their ability to learn about new technol- ees. In a short time, the company had over 160,000 subscrib-
ogies, competitors, customers and the business ers on YouTube, and more than 39 million views. In addition,
environ ment. the company advertised on Facebook at a cost of $28, result-
• Generate sales leads via “contacts,” especially on ing in 300,000 fans. This publicity convinced some Walmart
linkedin.com and by tweeting (twitter.com), or buyers to try the product, and Orabrush landed a huge con-
engaging on facebook.com. See Templeman (2015). tract with Walmart. For details, see Neff (2011).
• Post questions and facilitate discussions on linke-
din.com by searching the “Help Center,” asking the B2B Games (Gamification)
community a question through the “Help Forum,”
or by using the posting module on your homepage Virtual games, or gamification, refer to virtual games
to ask your network a question. Post questions on designed to support B2B training and decision-making.
the question and answer forums on other social Players compete against each other and make market predic-
networks. tions. For details, see Petersen (2015).
• Improve participation in industry association activi-
ties (including lobbying).
• Create buzz about upcoming product releases. Virtual Trade Shows and Trade Fairs
• Drive traffic to their Facebook page and other social
sites and engage visitors there (e.g., provide games, Virtual trade shows and fairs are gaining popularity. They are
prizes, competitions). Word of mouth also may primarily B2B oriented.
increase traffic. Virtual trade shows are an application of virtual worlds. A
• Create social communities to encourage discus- virtual trade show, also known as a virtual trade fair, is the
sions among business partners (e.g., customers and online analogy of a physical trade show. These are temporary
suppliers) about their products. or permanent showplaces where exhibitors present their new
• Use social networks, such as facebook.com and products to potential customers. For a detailed description of
linkedin.com, to recruit new talent. virtual trade shows, see Online File W4.4.
For a large number of screen shots of virtual trade show,
conduct a Google search for “Virtual Trade Show.”

Example: MarketPlace365
MarketPlace365 (marketplace365.com) is a vendor that
For more opportunities using linkedin.com, see Tepper
gives companies tools to build virtual trade shows and attract
(2015).
More uses of B2B social networking are seen in enter- traffic to the shows. For details, see marketplace365.com
and marketplace365.com/Marketing/features.aspx.
prise social networks, which are private social networks
within enterprises (see Chapter 8). Note: Social media can be used to support exhibits even in
physical trade shows. For more on using social media at trade
shows, see Browne (2013) and download his free “Social
The Use of Web 2.0 Tools in B2B Media Tradeshow Marketing Checklist” at tradeshowguy-
blog.com/downloads/Social-Media-Tradeshow- Marketing-
Many companies are using blogs, microblogs, wikis, RSS Checklist.pdf.
feeds, video ads, podcasts, and other tools in B2B EC. For
example, Eastern Mountain Sports (ems.com) uses blogs
(blog.emsoutdoors.com), RSS feeds, and wikis to commu- Social Networking in B2B
nicate and collaborate with their suppliers and distributors.
Thousands of other companies are using (or experimenting Businesses can use B2B social networking to improve knowl-
with) these tools. For a study on using YouTube for B2B, see edge sharing, collaboration, and feedback. Furthermore,
scgpr.com/41-stories/youtube-for-b2b-marketers; and on social networking sites may also prove beneficial in aiding
using Twitter, see Tepper (2015). For comprehensive cover- troubleshooting and problem-solving efforts. Companies
age, see Bodnar and Cohen (2012). For case studies, see (especially small ones) are using social networks and Yahoo!
Ueland (2015). Answers (answers.yahoo.com) and specialized groups