Business networking is a core component of B2B sales and marketing. Word of mouth, referrals and personal recommendations are more important in business to business marketing than in any other form of marketing. Business to business marketing is, after all, about making and building networks of successful and effective relationships. The key element to any business relationship is trust. It is an absolute given that you cannot generate business from people who have never heard of your business or cannot remember your business name or its key executives. But more often than not businesses fail to network with their most obvious sources of custom or procurement. Businesses spend large sums on business meetings, conferences or exhibitions, meet large numbers of potential customers but fail to convert that effort into effective longer term relationships and durable networks.

The Internet has transformed the way business networks operate. The key drivers of change have been search marketing, mobile marketing and social media. Search marketing is evolving at a rapid pace as the major search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing fight to stay ahead in the race to develop and deploy major innovations. The current battleground includes local marketing, mobile marketing and social media where new developments seem to appear almost daily.

 Social Media for Business Networking

Social Media comes in various forms and they all have a role to play in business networking. They can principally be divided into the following types:

• Social Networking Sites
• Bookmarking Sites
• Forums
• Blogs

Major Social Networking Websites

There are many global social networking websites. They vary in size and influence. For business networking, it is easier to categorize a list of priority websites.

• LinkeIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogger
• MySpace

More recently Google Buzz has joined the fray.

Business Networking in the Current Environment

Effective business networking is even more important in the current environment. With business decision makers increasingly living in a faster and communications saturated world how do they know who to trust? The personal relationship or recommendation trumps any other form of recommendation. Not everyone can spend all their time online. The formal or informal gathering is a key way to to gain introductions, secure business leads or win the opportunity to pitch for business.

How can we help?

B2B Marketing and Promotional Services is a B2B marketing agency that focuses on developing business through effective business networking and promotion. We specialise in creating integrated lead generation campaigns that incorporate search engine optimisation; web, local, map, shopping etc, pay per click advertising and social media. We have proven expertise in building brands, driving sales volumes and increasing margins through a range of online and Internet marketing programmes.

We also have specific expertise in a range of B2B markets that are related to business networking.
These include:

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