POLL: Does social media marketing work for B2B lead generation? (y/n)

Yes, the social media "work" for lead generation! The quotations around "work" for two reasons:

If "work" means function, then yes, the social media function beatifully. The bits and bytes all operate and we can receive and send messages. But this meaning of "work" does not supplant the wisdom or creativity that inform and animate the messages.

If "work" means providing a tool that humans can willfully use within a customer acquisition strategy, then yes again. But this meaning of "work" does not allow us to bypass due diligence or patience, in the expectation that the social media themselves cause people to buy from us.

As a BtoB guy, I like and respect the social media. They are valuable and fun and have helped us generate some new business.

Great comments so far and I'd like to add in my insights from a B2B perspective. Generating leads through social media needs to be a part of the overall marketing efforts. Many companies try to do this separately from their general marketing campaigns and it creates a big disconnect. I think these companies are not convinced or afraid to build "social" into their marketing ad want to test the waters so to speak.

Social media does work in B2B marketing lead generation and can also help through out an entire sales cycle. The focus from marketing people needs to be having a GREAT view into the places online that customers and prospects are congregating, be it Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other forums. The term "content is king" goes a long way into building a successful lead generation effort.

Without giving any hard numbers, we have been able to grow lead generation upwards of 10-15% above what traditional marketing and ad buys have yielded. The benefit to social marketing is that all of the conversations are held in public places where people can come across your content, conversations and profiles without any active "marketing" by the vendor.

This means that even though an initial lead may be generated by identifying a prospect or answering questions online, the ability for that interaction to grow into additional leads without any new activity on that conversation is very possible.

A prime example would be our presence on SlideShare. We attend events and have speaking engagements all over and though leads are generated from these active events, by sharing the content online for people unable to attend or just people looking for information on your topic, new leads have been generated months after the actual event.

ROI is measured based on the number of leads, opportunities and other sales metrics but also the entire life of the content in social media. Infographics we published a year ago still get thousands of new views a week and we can see that a small number of the people come from that infographic to our website and even sign up for our free product.

Love this question and love all the comments I have read on the question.

Yes, social works nicely with B2B and it's pretty straight-forward:
1. Know your customer and know their watering holes, when they go there, what they are looking for and why. A watering hole is any social place - twitter, communities, blogs, etc. When they go there correlates to their phase in their buying process such as Awareness or Solution Discovery. What are they looking for at this phase correlates to opinions or content that you can make available. If I go to a blog and ask my peers to give me an opinion on the value of marketing automation, I am early phase and probably need to see a thought leadership piece. If I go to that same blog and ask for a comparison between Marketo and Oracle OnDemand Marketing, I am deep in the buy cycle and need to see a comparison.
2. Once you have mapped this out, then put in place your content strategy. Imagine all of this in a grid
3. Create your interaction strategy and execute

Here is a practical example. I am on a 14-city speaking tour with Marketo's Revenue Rockstar Roadshow. I collect cards at the event through meeting and a give away and I invite all these people to LinkIn with me before my head hits the pillow that night. I have about an 85% connect rate. These folks also get a follow up email from me the next day so I can see how they react in Marketo. I look at LinkedIn every day to see who has looked at my profile in the last 24 hours. I invite to connect or in-mail these people if they were at the event and looked at my profile. I also call them. So far, I have created 3 net new opps in the last 60 days with this approach. I have also created a great group of marketers with which I can share ideas, get feedback and generally network. If they move, I don't worry about their email changing because I have them in LinkedIn. It also seems to create a trusted environment. I just got some great answers to research I'm doing on CMOs and metrics. I also closed 2 significant deals earlier this year through LinkedIn relationships.

What an amazing thread! My opinion on this topic has evolved over time.

When you first start leveraging social media, you just don't see the "bang for your buck" that you do in old-school, traditional means such as email or content syndication for instance. I am not even sure you do today.

So, if I had to answer: Is social media the top producing channel for lead generation? the answer is "no", on it's own, it does not generate registrations, downloads, etc like other sources.

BUT: the question was "does social media work for b2b lead generation"? The answer to that is: YES. Social media in b2b when done correctly allows you to build up (albeit gradually) a fan-base over time of fans of your content. You will get potential leads, influencers (very important as part of the overall web marketing strategy), and competitors (whatever, that's how it is) who will follow your content. That's exciting but not instant.

Here are some things to think about:

1. Time -- social media benefits are realized over time. If you do content marketing the right way, you will gradually generate a following. That following will eventually buy and by doing social media, you will have built trust and thought leadership that will lead your organization to be considered by the buyer. That said, a good lead.
2. Influencers -- I mentioned them above. If done correctly, influencers will follow your content. When they retweet you, you get more audience of potentail prospects who (see above) respect you more than they would blind.
3. Trust -- I just mentioned this, but the web has created this threshold that vendors have to live up to with regards to trust. You are judged 24/7 and this will ultimately will bring you loyal followers, real opportunities (eventually), and then revenue.
4. Street cred -- I know Thomas is asking for the right reasons either for content or to explain to a backwards C-level type who doesn't get it, but the fact is, you can get leads without social media but I wonder if you can get deals with social media. I ALWAYS look at their Twitter account. Sound crazy? If I am buying, I look up vendors early in the process. If they don't have social, I just don't believe they are up-to-date but as importantly, I need to stay in touch with them and I am not "signing up for their newsletter" I will follow your twitter account.
5. Sales Nurturing -- Carlos mentioned this, but you need social to keep me warm. This means social can help with revenue but Thomas didn't ask about this so I won't keep going.

Hi Thomas, I'm in the business services industry (specifically strategic consulting and coaching) and we have generated sales leads from social media.

Frankly, I don't know why everyone gets so worked up about social media. There's really little difference between online and offline networking. Its still about building relationships. In the case of social media, the medium is different.

I think it is different because the folks you need to connect with online in a B2B engagement interact differently with social media at work than they do at home. I agree the bottom line is about creating relationships; in the B2B realm that starts with providing value to people irrespective of a product/service. Looking to use social media as an advertising channel is the wrong approach. At harmon.ie (www.harmon.ie), we have been successful in generating relationships online with SharePoint people trying to improve their SharePoint adoption rate, because we have a lot of experience to share. Some of these relationships have led to sales; others have led to meaningful relationships that have not involved a financial transaction.

Hello all,
Thank you for all your great comments! I agree with those who say social media is about relationships. I work for a B2B company. Bar Code Integrators Inc. and we provide automated data collection solutions related to bar code and RFID technologies. Our main market is manufacturing companies, warehousing/distribution, and healthcare.

I started using social media for our company in Feb of this year. Mainly FB and twitter. We have yet to generate an actual lead from these mediums, however it is still early. The way I look at it is that its not about selling our products or services. My message if you will, is not "hire us and give us your money" but more of a "we are here, we care, and we are engaging in the industry". For me Social media is more about branding the company and building awareness, eventually I feel that this will lead to potential business opportunities through FB or twitter and other social media, but I know it will take time and effort.

Great discussion so far - thanks to all the contributors!

Something to think about: Looking at "Social Media Marketing" as a function is potentially as outdated (already) as thinking about "Online Marketing (or eMarketing)" as a separate function from overall marketing programs on your demand gen team. At its core, demand generation is about reaching, enticing and nurturing the relationship with potential buyers. The channels and effectiveness of said channels have proliferated from Face to Face to Direct Mail to Email to Online and now to Social.

Social Media is a channel to reach your customers with your messages and entice them to interact with you and develop a relationship and (hopefully) buy. And, yes, there are people who understand this channel better than others. Much like the early days of "Online Marketing", you want someone with the skills to take advantage of the channel, but they better understand the basics of content marketing and how to generate interest through thought leadership and education. A good Demand Generation person doesn't think in terms of "Social Media Marketing" or "Online Marketing" or "Outbound Marketing" but in terms of developing a mix of channels and content to drive results.

The numbers clearly indicate that B2B buyers are engaging through Social Media channels. As always, the hard part is having compelling content in appropriate formats (multiple, as different channels, social or otherwise, may lean towards a preference for different formats) to capture buyers' attention and drive the relationship.

I agree entirely. Developing new business relationships is simply done now using additional tools than we had at our disposal a few years ago. The same basic rules apply: ask lots of questions; offer something of value; engage and try to help people / companies with their pain points; keep it genuine.

If you are serious about B2B lead gen then the answer is yes. But only if you have a strategy.

You should always be searching for new channels and methods to reach your core audience. If you know your audience then you can entice them with the right message.
If the message is actionable then the target will respond.

The same reason snail mail only works when properly executed, social media result in quality leads. Both require attention to detail and usually a long-term approach to closing the sale.

I think we have to look at Social Media as an entirely different marketing discipline and one that does not line up nicely with our other traditional marketing "tools". Social Media clearly has fantastic potential to increase demand generation but it is not a demand generation tool in and of itself.

If used correctly, social media can very effectively broaden and deepen relationships with existing customers and prospects. As long as those relationships are cultivated over time and without obvious demand generation agendas clouding up the water, you (or your company) will enter a different area of your customer/prospect's mind. If you do this patiently and tactfully, you will start to occupy a middle ground on the continuum between the extreme poles of a warm personal friendship and cold, anonymous interaction between buyer and seller. The better and longer you cultivate your social networking relationships the more you will inch towards the personal/friendship end of the spectrum. As you make your move towards that end of the spectrum you will see natural demand generation occur, as those customers/prospects would much rather come to you than a cold/anonymous vendor, when they are in the market for whatever you are selling.

Social Networking is a much more than a demand generation tool. If done correctly it can make your other demand generation tools almost irrelevant over time.

We're an ERP software and consulting company focused on the manufacturing industry. I admit I was skeptical at first. We started off using traditional methods such as e-mail blasts. Then our marketing director suggested I read a book called "the zen of social media marketing" and I was converted.

Our biggest benefit from social media so far has been getting our brand out there and producing content that can be consumed quickly. We're joining up with groups and connecting with individuals on LinkedIn. Twitter looks real promising too...we're active there. We're even starting to blog on a regular basis.

I really like several of Ken's comments. Certainly social media is not a replacement for other lead generation efforts in B2B - but it's an important part of strategy. Content is king, and that doesn't happen overnight. We see kind of a void out there for good content, at least in the ERP market. That's an opportunity for us!

No. It does not work.

Now all the B2B companies should stop using social media as part of their inbound marketing, so I can have the whole social-sphere to myself!

Yes it does but B2B businesses seem to think otherwise. As Jackie mentioned above, it's all about developing relationships.

If your intent is to go out into the world of Social Media and shout how great your business is or put down competitors, you will find little success. However, if you take the same approach you would to a networking event or an association and try to develop relationships, you'll find social media works for B2B as much as it does for B2C.

Hi Thomas, I work in the Telecom industry for eZuce Inc. an open source communications solution provider.
I have to agree that there is tremendous benefits for leveraging social media marketing for reaching consumers.
B2B is no different than B2C, what we need to remember is all the Bs in B2B or B2C are people (as stated above) and we like to be engaged and connect with others who are inquisitive about our same interests. B2B sales are about relationships and the long sales cycle. In order to stay connected to this audience we create content like whitepapers, product demo videos, downloadable product spec sheets, case studies and video archives of live presentations. Our delivery channels get this content in front of our targeted audience so when they decide it's time for a new solution our solution is the one they think of contacting first. (remember the 'old adage' a lead needs 7 contact points before they will react positively to being contacted by you, these delivery channels provide those points) A blog article I wrote on this may be of some interest, Social Media for B2B Leads- http://bit.ly/gMDA5s
Thanks for posting a great question!

Hello Thomas,

I am the Marketing Manager and Web Administrator for my company (floral imports). I agree with everyone's statements here thus far and especially with Mike's statement "Yes it does but B2B businesses seem to think otherwise". Convincing older crowds of the advantages of social media can be difficult, but let's evaluate some aspects of social media.

First off, it's free. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc...... all free ways of putting yourself out there, gaining exposure, and letting your customers and potential buyers know more about you and your products/services.

Second, there are numerous tools used to track the effectiveness of online campaigning. Take Google Analytics for example. I'm able to track how many users come to our site through our social media pages/accounts. (*side note - we receive more visits to our site through social media than we do through paid online advertising).

Thirdly, social media incorporates technology into your marketing campaign. It lets your customers know your company is tech savvy and up-to-date on the latest online trends.

I could really go on for hours about this topic. Simply put... YES, it works.

I have a very different perspective than most people. I've been active in a number of groups on LinkedIn, and am starting to pick up possible work. This is in spite of not having a "real" website, yet. I haven't even gotten to the point of launching my business, since I'm trying to raise the money to do so. (I'm on SS Disability for a number of physical problems.)
In spite of having almost every possible business handicap, I'm seeing the effects of Social Media involvement. I've always been a believer in being part of a community. It doesn't matter whether it's e-mail lists, newsgroups, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. that you belong to. As Larry the Cable Guy, would say. "It's all good." :-)

Yes, with a caveat. It needs to be done properly which is rarely executed. Like all of the tools in the sales and marketing toolbox, it is vital that social media be integrated into a coherent strategy with the proper mechanisms and communication plans in place in order to effectively capture those leads and then process them to either a sale or as a closed file.

I generally agree with everyone's input, except for Jo Ann's point that BtoB is no different than BtoC. I think there are some key differences that actually make BtoB *better* suited for social media than BtoC. Because of the focus on building and maintaining more integrated relationships over time, rather than the short-term, transactional approach that characterizes BtoC operations, BtoB enterprises can leverage 2.0 technologies in a host of ways that serve their business development and revenue objectives. These options go beyond the public platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter and beyond specific activities like marketing and sales. It's also important to remember that using social media to *listen* can be far more powerful than using it to talk.

I wrote a white paper last fall that expands on these ideas and provides a conceptual model that can serve as a useful guide for engagement. It's called "Trickle-Up Socialnomics: Leveraging Social Media in the BtoB Context" and can be accessed via http://tiny.cc/TUSpaper.

Courtney Hunt
Founder, Social Media in Organizations (SMinOrgs) Community

No.I dont think so, at least if you have few "followers" it will not work.
You must have a lot of followers and friends and also keep updating your messages daily.

Yes, absolutely! Whether you're B2C or B2B, you still need to connect with *people*, and social media is an ideal venue for doing just that. Check out what Cisco and Oracle are doing on Facebook and YouTube; both companies have a strong social presence and are getting impressive results.

Hello Thomas,
I agree with many of the other responses and certainly as a marketing and social media consultant I know that there is real value in social media for B2B if done properly.
What you really need to understand is that their is a subtle difference between B2C and B2B.
With B2C the emphasis is largely social and it's the business trying to find ways of positioning itself within the discussion thread.
With B2B the emphasis is not social. It's overtly business, improving the current situation and ultimately profitability. Everybody knows it and no one pretends that its anything else.
So for this latter group the key is gaining insight and providing creative solutions to peoples business needs, not just connecting and engaging as is the case with B2C.
The real aim is for practical, cost effective and effective solutions that deliver desired business outcomes.
So in summary the value is there, but the focus is different. Hope this helps.

I reckon it's all about contributing & helping others. Digital coach and Chairman of ecademy, Thomas Power puts it very simply and says in todays economy you need to be a networker.
We have gone from a Closed-Selective-Controling way of doing business to an Open-Random-Supportive one. So as we go out and network we need to be Open to everyone and all new ideas, random as info, people & opportunities come our way and supportive by helping people.

@Courtney- you might want to reread my comment, I think you may have misunderstood it or *listened* to it incorrectly. I did not say that there was not a difference from B2B or B2C ... I stated the "Bs" (meaning individuals) are no different in that in both scenarios the Bs meaning people like to engage and form relationships. However, in the B2B relationship, there exists a long sales cycle and using social media (like linkedin Groups, Q&A platforms, niche sites, twitter, facebook pages) to broadcast our created content or to engage in dialogue helps to keep you connected with your Bs to further your efforts, be they sales, PR, customer service or marketing.

I am the Sales Manager for Electronic Salvage Industries and I say most certainly social media marketing has paid off! I am a prolific Tweeter. Twitter has generated several successful leads. Our results are quantified through Manta as our views have tripled since opening our twitter account.

It's just another way to be where your potential customers are, though the investment is more about time and sharing knowledge (working with the community to move everyone ahead). If you don't have the time to plan what you're going to do, and then execute it will not work just like any other medium.

Some organizations are in circumstances that naturally lend themselves to social media (high levels if in-house expertise, celebrity, highly regarded in the industry, large customer bases). Do you have a small team of marketers? Is it just you, and are you already spread thin? Ask yourself if what you have to work with lends itself to success in this area, don’t just ride a wave of hype.

I’ve no doubt social media can work, but the return on investment (particularly time spent) is where I am less optimistic. I know there are success stories, but I still feel a bit like I’m going to see the commercial disclaimer at the end of the case study “*results not typical”.

If you’ve got the other basics of your marketing nailed down and highly optimized, sit down, plan it out and give it serious attention. If you don’t, I would suggest you get your other ducks in a row first (I think you see better returns on time spent), if you just dabble not much will come of it.

I would say yes and take it a step further in that social media applies to far more than lead generation but spans every stage of the funnel.

While vendors do not have quite the tight controls of social content as they do their own internally generated content, social does allow them to engage in dialogue with their buyers and help shape the conversation at all stages of the buying cycle.

Just like any other content channel, organizations should look to develop social as part of their overall content strategy and mapping plan what will be sent out, by whom and what responses should be to others talking about them in the socialsphere.

Carlos Hidalgo
The Annuitas Group
@cahidalgo

@Thomas - How will ROI be measured?
A CFO wants to understand the return of an investment that is as significant as a real social media engagement. If a hand full of people tweet and build a fan page to create a social facade, no ROI is needed. Why? Simply because there is neither any significant financial impact on the cost side nor on the result side.

In contrast, bringing a whole organization to the next level of doing businesses in a hyper competitive global economy, a fan page won't make a difference - but 1,200 sales people who socially engage with all customers like only executives did in the golf and country club in the past - is nothing you do overnight.

SMACAD developed an ROI calculation model that not only helped to justify a major investment but also helped to distil some important KPIs of a social business engagement. http://bit.ly/ROI-SMACAD

Marita
http://xeesm.com/maritar
Social Media Academy

Yes – It works. With that being said one has to realize that it is part of lead generation and not a replacement for all else that has historically worked in the past. I was skeptical about the impact that social media marketing would have on our company. I was concerned about the effort applied vs. ROI back. It was not an overnight success but through time and effort, the creation of solid content that rings true to our core audience and socializing that content and the content of others we have seen a respectable return.

Like all things marketing it is a tool. Use it well and it will serve you well. Throw something up against the wall and hope it sticks… you will probably be answering the question asked with a big NO.

There's probably no better source of net-new top-of-funnel leads than social media, because it's difficult to suss out consumer intent from other sources.

Here's a link to a list of 7-8 B2Bs who have seen results from social lead generation.
http://barnraisersllc.com/?p=2460

Also, there's a chapter about it in my new book (PM me for an advance of this chapter):
http://www.amazon.com/Social-Customer-Acquire-Monetize-Followers/dp/007175918...

Social Media has a role in both marketing campaigns & lead management and both are different. In marketing campaigns it is about brand awareness while in lead management it is about information gathering & nurturing relationship. The problem happens when you are looking to draft this as one strategy. It needs to be looked as 2 different areas in social media use by B2B organizations.

-s
Shreesha Ramdas | linkedin.com/in/shreesharamdas
LeadFormix | www.leadformix.com

Social for B2B can be great - in the right hands. But I'm with Mike Volpe - if we advisors and our clients get it and use it well it is a huge competitive advantage.
I believe 'social' is another in a series of bell shaped adoption curves eg the majority of laggards are unlikely to ever most tools until uber-commoditised - 20 years on 90% of websites are still terrible, with emails to most sites never replied to.
So every round of new tools brings the same fascinating conversations. I was at Microsoft when we had the wild complexity of managing THREE contact details for distributor invoices; post + fax and this new thing called email. Later at IBM I had the opportunity to evangelise on 'e-Business' around the emerging economies in Asia, and there were hours of tortured discussion with senior government and business people about how to manage the potential of value-chain disintermediation. So the comments here are from wonderful, brilliant early adopters already getting results. But the majority of organisations will still struggle with this for years. And I'm OK with that natural order of things!

This question has a very simple answer = YES.

What else is there to say?

It would seem that every respondent who has answered myself included has a commercial interest in the use of Soicla media for business gain.

This question needs to be asked of those in a wider audience. For example in one industry sector organisation I am part of, the answer would be at a guesstimate that maybe 20% might use social media to generate business leads.

One of my company's has a product http:www.holodesk.biz that was launched and uses Social media exclusively to generate sales and buzz internationally and virtually zero traditional marketing media.

Very good discussion here!

My 2 cents:
Does social media marketing work for B2B lead generation? = YES!

I believe many B2B companies strugle with this question for 3 reasons:
- many of them have a limited target audience, most of the times they already know the key people in their industry, so they prefer other more traditional ways of engagement that have always worked for them (phone, meetings, lunches, events...) Many times their prospects are not very engaged in online social media as well, so they feel their activities produce no results.
- Most B2B companies find hard to develop frequent and interesting content to share on social media. They tend to run a campaign, get some leads, schedule some meetings and then stop.
- Expectations: when we say "social media MARKETING", people usually think the traditional marketing way, i.e., I´ll invest some money, run a campaign, customers start calling me, the end. As many of you have said, it doesn´t work that way, it takes time and is an ongoing process. Once you get into it, there´s no exit!

Sure it can- social media can work for b2b lead generation. But let's be real and understand a definition of a lead. A lead is not a blog subscriber nor a follower. A lead is not one who downloads a white paper. A lead is what happens after you "qualify" those names as actual prospects worthy of CRM entry.

Companies first need to understand the roles of social media in their organizations. Marketing and Sales both have stake in customer relationships. Marketing may provide initial engagement by promoting content and thought leadership, but at the end of the day, Sales has to foster those relationships once the leads have been nurtured properly and are close to making a purchase solution.

There are no real rules with social media; it's all on how you utilize the tools.
a. YouTube can generate leads with a compelling video and call to action
b. Twitter and LinkedIn can generate leads if you target prospects to follow and share "downloadable" content by linking to a landing page that houses that content.
c. Social media discussions are indexed by Google and thus can help your SEO. Higher ranking means more visibility and thus higher potential of organic clicks.

Hope this helps.

Paul Mosenson
President
NuSpark Marketing
www.nusparkmarketing.com

Definitely. And I would say Twitter trumps the others. Try direct messages and @Mentions to make your recipients feel extra special. Provide a relevant link and let their curiosity lead them back to you.

Yes, certain ones. LinkedIn is best for B2B both as a tool and for marketing. Second choice would be YouTube for marketing anyway. Google+ has a lot of promise, but it is new so still in beta for my B2B applications. We'll see on on the +1. :)

Let's look at some real data and marketing facts to dispel the myths and fantasies.
- People now spend more time in social media than email
- 63% of companies say social media has increased their marketing effectiveness
- 57% of SMBs says social media is beneficial to their business
- Social media improves your SEO (Google / search rankings)
- 61% of B2B companies who use LinkedIN have gotten a customer from it
- 55% of B2B companies who use a company blog have gotten a customer from it
- 41% of B2B companies who use Facebook have gotten a customer from it
- 39% of B2B companies who use Twitter have gotten a customer from it

I think the last 4 pretty specifically answer you question. Those stats are on slide #60 of this presentation (which has 100 different marketing stats): http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/marketing-charts-graphsdataapril2010slideshare

You can download the whole ebook of charts and graphs here:
http://www.hubspot.com/Charts/

I'm in the outsourcing business and you may think of my niche as the least to benefit from social media marketing, especially with B2B. But, social media has helped me establish that credibility/authority, other than giving my business the visibility it needs on social networks online. So, my answer is a big: YES.

yes.

Yes as the exposure gets you recognized.

Yes it does provided the business has open arena .

From a lead generation perspective, participating in social media is a complete waste of time and money. I own a B2B telemarketing company that experimented with social media marketing (using third party vendors) for some of our clients, and we found that the cost-per-qualified-lead using B2B telemarketing was at least 80% less than social media marketing, if you could even generate a lead with it.

To analyze the value of any marketing program, you first have to define what you mean by a "lead." To our clients, a lead (what professionals call a "qualified" lead) is where we get them into a conversation with a decision maker who has a need for their product or service, and who wants to talk with a salesperson about how they can help. Nothing else matters to clients. Anything else is not worth paying for.

We also recently did a study on SEO/SEM where we examined the client lists of several SEO firms, and found that they had NO impact at all on their own clients' search engine ranking - and these were reference accounts!

You can cite individual examples of how many companies got "a" customer from this social media or that blog; but clients want regular, scalable, cost-effective production of new business opportunities from a leaden firm, and social media fails miserably in that capacity.

Social media is for people who are afraid to make cold calls.

Yes, Let me link you to a whitepaper which will help you a lot on this subject. If you have any more questions feel free to contact me.

http://www.siliconcloud.com/lead-generation-to-sale--bridge-the-gap/

http://www.siliconcloud.com/contact/