How to use Twitter for business is an important lesson to learn for both B2B and B2C companies. For the purposes of this article, we are going to examine how to use Twitter for B2B companies.

Ask the average technology public relations, advertising or marketing person how they’re measuring the value of their Facebook page and you’ll get a range of answers from “We have X number of Likes” to “We get X number of visits per week” to “We get X number of comments” to a lopsided grin and shrug. Truth is (as they say on Facebook) most people don’t know much more than those simple measurements.

I consider it a bonus if I learn one or two things when I attend a seminar or view a webinar. While it wasn’t focused strictly on technology public relations, here are five cool PR, social media and marketing tidbits that grabbed my attention at the most recent WORLDCOM Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Tech Image is one of 104 partners in the network.

In addition to sharing a love for Marvel superheroes (which reminds me I must connect with him to take our kids to see The Avengers) my good friend Tom Appel, Associate Publisher, Consumer Guide Automotive, and I share an interest in marketing.  Tom and I go back to the 3^rd grade.  And as long as I can remember, he has been fascinated by cars – not just how they work, but why people buy them.  Just as I always have been fascinated by words – not just putting them together, but how they persuade people

It’s tough to resist an article with a great headline such as “Top 5 Reasons SMBs Should Be Afraid of Social Media,” which I saw today on Search Engine Watch. Since social media is on the minds of most of us in technology public relations these days, I thought it might be worth a look. And I was right.

Blogging for your business may seem like a fairly easy task (assuming you can find the time). But if you can sit down regularly to write a blog for your business, there are a few things to keep in mind when you put pen to paper... er... letters to the screen.

That's a pretty broad question. How can you know Which Social Media Sites are Most Beneficial?

The answer, of course, depends on a number of factors, including:

• What line of business you are in (B2B vs. B2C)
• What results you are looking for (business development, brand awareness, sales)
• What your specific business is (restaurant, retail, public relations)

This is something which can't really be answered in one blog post (or even a well-crafted series), but I can offer some general insight into which social media sites are the best for four key categories: customer communication, brand exposure, traffic to your site, and search engine optimization (SEO).

Let's take a look at the Big 5...

Industrial manufacturers face tough challenges when extending their presence into new geographic markets, customer segments, and industrial sectors.  A recent blog post on GlobalSpec’s Marketing Maven Blog outlines some of the ways savvy industrial marketers can raise awareness and generate demand opportunities in new markets.

In a recent article on Computer Technology Review by Nancy Hammervik of CompTIA, I found myself intrigued by the straightforwardness of one of her main points. In a world where business costs are more concerning than ever, Hammervik made a great case for how, in her words, "You get out what you put in."

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report has been widely quoted as saying Wikipedia “is the truth we all agree on.” That thought came to mind today as I was reading an eMarketer report on social media. The focus seems to be more on consumer than B2B, and was definitely not on technology products or technology public relations. But it was interesting nonetheless.