Corporate Website Trustworthiness Down, Social Media Up for B2B Lead Generation

Posted by JasonB on February 2, 2010

An Observation: 
If you go to a Ford dealership’s website, they claim to sell the best vehicles for the money.   If you go to a Honda dealership’s website, they claim the same. 

A Question:
Who’s right?

The Problem:
Today, most corporate websites have become much like advertisements.  Digital billboards if you will, touting corporate successes, achievements, and claiming to have the answer to your business needs with confidence.   As consumers we have become deaf the “We Are the Best” message.  

The Solution for Potential Buyers: 
Today social media has allowed peers to easily connect with one another, and therefore provides a forum to ask the common question, “What company have you used for your [fill in the blank] service, and were you happy?” 

• Business people trust the opinion of a peer more than a message from a potential vendor.   Sites like LinkedIn are swarming with questions and answers from people who want to a direct answer from a real person about a topic or need.

What Should Your Business Do? 
Participate in these discussions.  Get your thoughts off of your website, and start dispensing helpful information on a peer to peer level.  Finding these discussions can be a challenge, but done correctly, you and your company will begin to appear as a resource rather than a faceless entity.  That’s what people want…real help, real answers, from real people.   Creating a blog is a start, but participating in other people’s conversations helps even more.   Just like attending a networking event and answering a few questions, social media allows your company to put real faces behind the company name…added an element of trust to your message.

Good luck, and as usual, let us know if we can help.