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B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip

kerryandneville How time flies – a week’s gone by since the Dell B2B Social Media Huddle that took place at Dell UK’s headquarters in Bracknell on December 7.

Well over 80 people had registered for the free event which Kerry Bridge at Dell and I had organized. More than 50 showed up – not a bad number considering the event was free, it was an early Monday start, and it was raining cats and dogs.

It meant we had a group of people who really wanted to be there.

There are some great reviews that people have written, including:

Benjamin took some terrific photos, all on Flickr, including the one you see above of Kerry and me.

Interesting views in some of those blog posts commenting on the lack of material or examples that are specifically social media from a business-to-business perspective, with much being presented as B2B actually being B2C. This suggests a couple of things to me: there is a lack of actual examples (likely) and that there’s little real difference in how you use social media in B2B and B2C (also likely).

One other thing that struck me on the day was how far we still have to go to help people in companies really see what social media can (and cannot) do for them. Educating, guiding and mentoring people on topics like social media for business is becoming ever more important.

A phrase I mentioned in my presentation at the start of the day – ghost blogging – prompted some passionate discussion away from the event including by Stuart Bruce, who was there, and Vikki Chowney. It’s a topic that undoubtedly will continue to draw passionate opinion, and on which there’s unlikely to be a clear-cut conclusion any time soon.

Overall, it was a terrific event, clearly a sentiment shared by many of the people who attended as well as many remotely via the #dellb2b Twitter chat. We’ve had some great feedback so far in the post-event survey we’ve asked participants to take (more on that in a later post).

Some of the presentation decks are available for viewing and download from Dell at Slideshare (they’re the ones that start with ‘B2B’ in their titles).

So what’s next? Well, we’re planning another one. From my point of view, working with Kerry is a real pleasure and it will be great to plan a follow-up event for later in calendar Q1 2010. Much depends on the feedback we get which, as I mentioned, is already highly encouraging for doing another one.

Stay tuned!

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28 Responses to “B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip”

  1. jangles (Neville Hobson) December 14, 2009 at 7:17 #

    Twitter Comment


    [Blog] B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip [link to post] #fb #in #dellb2b

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  2. communicateasia (communicateasia) December 14, 2009 at 7:35 #

    Twitter Comment


    Neville discusses B@B social media [link to post]

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  3. katiemoffat (katie moffat) December 14, 2009 at 7:59 #

    Twitter Comment


    Great round-up by @jangles on the recent social media meet-up at Dell, even more gutted that I wasn’t able to make it.[link to post]

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  4. johnrduffy (John Duffy) December 14, 2009 at 8:32 #

    Twitter Comment


    RT @jangles: [Blog] B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip [link to post] #fb #in #dellb2b < - well worth a read

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  5. the_meshed (meshed_conference) December 14, 2009 at 8:52 #

    Twitter Comment


    B2B Social Media – A long road but worth the trip: [link to post] via @jangles

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  6. Danny Whatmough December 14, 2009 at 9:28 #

    Funny we had the same conclusions about the b2b/b2c focus Neville. I’m not sure I agree there is little real difference. But then again, there are lots of differences between different b2c campaigns.

    A great day and looking forward to the next one!

  7. dianarailton (Diana Railton) December 14, 2009 at 9:34 #

    Twitter Comment


    RT @jangles B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip [link to post] #fb #in #dellb2b

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  8. KerryatDell (KerryatDell) December 14, 2009 at 11:02 #

    Twitter Comment


    B2B social media blog: a long road but worth the trip [link to post] #yam #in #dellb2b (by @jangles)

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  9. Cirquent (Cirquent) December 14, 2009 at 11:21 #

    Twitter Comment


    RT @the_meshed: B2B Social Media – A long road but worth the trip: [link to post] via @jangles

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  10. MarkoMinka (Marko Minka) December 14, 2009 at 11:33 #

    Twitter Comment


    RT @KerryatDell: B2B social media blog: a long road but worth the trip [link to post] #yam #in #dellb2b (by @jangles)

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  11. CoreyJSanders (Corey J Sanders) December 14, 2009 at 16:03 #

    Twitter Comment


    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip | NevilleHobson.com: How time flies – a week’s gone by since the… [link to post]

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  12. countUP (Arnold Melm) December 14, 2009 at 18:14 #

    Twitter Comment


    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip [link to post] #socialmedia #pr #journalismus Vorwiegend rund um Dell #case

    Posted using Chat Catcher

  13. Vizitki January 01, 2010 at 23:35 #

    Great round-up by @jangles on the recent social media meet-up at Dell, even more gutted that I wasn’t able to make it

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. communicateasia - December 14, 2009

    Neville discusses B@B social media http://bit.ly/5t8abF

  2. Tweets that mention B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip | NevilleHobson.com -- Topsy.com - December 14, 2009

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Neville Hobson and prblogs, communicateasia. communicateasia said: Neville discusses B@B social media http://bit.ly/5t8abF [...]

  3. Wildfire PR – Business and Consumer Technology Public Relations : Blog Archive : The B2B social media challenge #dellb2b - December 14, 2009

    [...] Neville Hobson, Neil Denny, Joining Dots and SocialOptic [...]

  4. KerryatDell - December 14, 2009

    B2B social media blog: a long road but worth the trip http://tinyurl.com/ybx7qs9 #yam #in #dellb2b (by @jangles)

  5. Marko Minka - December 14, 2009

    RT @KerryatDell: B2B social media blog: a long road but worth the trip http://tinyurl.com/ybx7qs9 #yam #in #dellb2b (by @jangles)

  6. Cirquent - December 14, 2009

    RT @the_meshed: B2B Social Media – A long road but worth the trip: http://bit.ly/8hyiKz via @jangles

  7. Corey J Sanders - December 14, 2009

    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip | NevilleHobson.com: How time flies – a week's gone by since the… http://bit.ly/6v1CHK

  8. courtney spencer - December 14, 2009

    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip http://ow.ly/LUcO #socialmedia

  9. Arnold Melm - December 14, 2009

    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip http://tr.im/HBs9 #socialmedia #pr #journalismus Vorwiegend rund um Dell #case

  10. Cool stuff – December 14, 2009 — Danny Whatmough.com - December 14, 2009

    [...] the RSS 2.0 Feed. Subscribe by RSS Or subscribe by email: My Recent LinksB2B social media: a long road but worth the trip December 14, 2009 The B2B social media challenge #dellb2b December 13, 2009 Ghost blogging: Just [...]

  11. Social M Strategist - December 14, 2009

    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip | NevilleHobson.com http://bit.ly/4B4hDS

  12. BuySellAds Social - December 15, 2009

    B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip by @jangles http://bit.ly/6fKqAv

  13. Darrin Johnson - December 15, 2009

    NevilleHobson.com: B2B social media: a long road but worth the trip http://tinyurl.com/y9hzjsm

  14. RichardatDELL - December 16, 2009

    @kerryatdell @jangles thanks for the B2B social media huddle in UK and this great recap and links. really enjoyed! http://bit.ly/6d6qHP

  15. Sign up for the second Dell B2B Social Media Huddle — NevilleHobson.com - May 10, 2010

    [...] the success of the Dell B2B Social Media Huddle last December, plans are fixed for a second edition on May 25, this time in central [...]