The B2B Case Study That Made My Day

While doing some research into B2B case studies and social media, Sandy came across this blog post and passed it along to me. As I read the post, I was thinking, “this is cool.” And then I got to the comments. And that is when I began thinking, “this is awesome!”

The blog post, written by Beth Harte, is called: Lured in by Social Media: An Unofficial B2B Case Study. In this post, she chronicles her journey of a company (whose name is revealed at the end of the post) first coming up on her radar, her use of social media tools to find out more about it, and her interaction with the company–culminating in her hiring them. Then, at the end of the post, she wrote a challenge:

And finally, because I really want to see if they are on their social media game and if they are listening, here’s the company name Hubspot. I’ll know for sure if they leave a comment.

From what I can tell from the date/time stamps, within a few hours (HOURS!) someone from the company had responded. They had been listening! Not only did one person respond, but FOUR people did including one of the founders and the VP of Marketing. They knew that Beth had been doing her due diligence. They knew she was asking questions, poking around. And they DIDN’T interrupt her! They waited til she was ready, and then they were there, present and responsive.

In the comments, one of the founders of Hubspot, Dharmesh Shah, addressed their actions and said

The idea behind social media for business is to build a relationship over time with people that might benefit from your products and services.

Building A Relationship

As a social media junky and consultant, I know that social media is about relationships. I know that it isn’t a get in and get out type deal. But it’s amazing how many people don’t get it… They want to know how a Facebook page is going to get them a sales lead - tomorrow.

So, while Beth’s experience may not be revolutionary, and the idea of building relationships is not new (at least to me), I was thrilled to read this post and know that some companies out there are getting it. Thank you Beth for sharing this with us, and thank you Hubspot for doing what you do.