Are weak tie networks killing your B2B sales?

Over the last month there's been a pretty good spat over Malcolm Gladwell's recent article in the New Yorker. In it, he talks about social media and how he believes that it is a poor vehicle for people taking action. This despite all the hype around social media activism – whether Iranian election protests, the Moldovian "Twitter revolution" or beating Simon Cowell's pick for the Christmas number one for that matter.

The weak tie problem

To paraphrase his broad argument, Gladwell believes that online social networks are typically formed of a large number of weak ties. That is to say, large groups of people who are connected only circumstantially. They happen to share the same digital space for some of the time. They may also share similar interests. But they are not 'friends' in the true sense – simply acquaintances.

He goes on to talk about the fact that these networks give the impression of activism without the active bit ever actually happening. Essentially they do what is easy but not what takes any real form of commitment. He gives the example of the Facebook page for the Save Darfur Coalition. The group has 1,282,339 members. Members who have donated an average of nine cents apiece (or just under 6p in real money).

Many, in social media do not agree of course. Chris Lake put up a detailed rebuttal on Econsultancy which thoughtful though it is, IMHO doesn't make a dent in Gladwell's argument.

While this is all very interesting from a sociological perspective, it is also of critical importance to today's marketers.

A lost cause for marketing?

Social networks give us the opportunity to join conversations that are happening between customers and prospects and competitors and a whole bunch of other stakeholders. They offer the chance to influence a groundswell of opinion.

But, if Gladwell is right, are we fighting a losing battle if we expect to use these networks to create tangible action (ie sales)? Sure, it is feasible that weak ties could influence someone to try a low ticket FMCG item but what about a B2B product costing tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds? Are we simply kidding ourselves?

Not necessarily.

Creating action

For my money, in a B2B context, social media can be used to affect tangible action in a number of ways:

• It can help create all important advocates who will champion a B2B purchase throughout the sales cycle
• In the same vein, it can help provide insulation against the naysayers you get in every complex sale
• It can help foster relationships which, though weak, are better than no relationships at all (and remember, people buy people)
• In this sense it can help potential customers test-drive the relationship they can expect to have with a vendor

The challenge for today's B2B brands is to be neither overly optimistic or unduly pessimistic about what social media can deliver. They must look to use it for what it's good for – forging large numbers of weak tie connections. And then, critically, they must find ways to turn those weak ties into strong ties and those strong ties into sales.