Social Business Strategy Blog Must Reads

The web is awash with information about social media marketing, but relatively little of it explores B2B Social Business in ways that are useful to the enterprise or take into account the matrix of issues that must be considered when developing the right strategy for one's organization.  Instead of focusing on run-of-the mill advice about how to improve SEO or increase your Facebook likes, a select number of blogs linger on the approaches, insights, research and best practices for running a social business. This is undeniably a tough subject matter as it needs to be well-balanced and fueled by deep experience in customer care, metrics, law, content and influence.The sum of success is greater than the parts as there are certainly a lot of moving parts to success in social business strategy!  Below, is an annotated list of some of my favorite information sources that can help inform (inspire) B2B social business strategy (in alphabetical order):

Bloom Group write a thought-provoking blog about thought leadership marketing to help B2B companies think through the impact of their content channels.  While not dedicated to social media, the information is directly and strategically applicable. 

Customers.com blog:  Social Business pioneer Patty Seybold regularly offers insights and ideas about how to successfully bring customers into the organizational innovation cycle.  

E moderation blog:  From the UK, this blog tackles a number of hard – hitting current social media and online community topics that impact companies of all shapes and sizes – From Social Olympics to COPPA laws. It is a great resource to keep on top of current social business trends.

Enterprise Irregulars blog: This blog carnival offers insights from “a diverse group of practitioners, consultants, investors, journalists, analysts and full time bloggers who share a common passion -  enterprise technology and its application to business in the 21st century.”

Everyday Influence: Don Bulmer’s blog addresses social business influence models from his work as an experienced practitioner. As VP of Communications at Shell, one of the biggest companies in the world, Bulmer’s insights and ideas are drawn from extensive experience and can serve as inspiration. 

Paul Gillin’s column on B2B Magazine: This fairly regular column tackles hard hitting business applications of social media and its impact on the organization. 

Farland Group blog: This blog writes about all things B2B customer – related, from how to develop effective customer advisory councils to how to serve your customers better through social listening.

ID and other reflections blog: From the point of view of a social business researcher, this blog thinks through the impact of social business and online communities and addresses the nature of change that collaboration often brings into an organization. 

KD Paine’s PR Measurement blog: Metrics, measure and KPIs are the theme here as KD takes on how to create effective measure in the elusive world of social business tracking.  Going beyond likes and follows, she provides food for thought about how to measure what matters in business. 

 BNA Social Media Law blog: Because there are legal implications to social business, it is critical to know what is happening in the world in this ever-changing legal environment.  While it is likely legal counsel is on top of these matters, awareness is critical.

I hope this list is helpful on the B2B social business learning journey that we are all on.  I have purposefully not focused on online community strategy and operations blogs as that is a related but separate blog topic that is in the works.  For the sake of space, this is only a short-list but please feel free to add your B2B social business blog to this list in the hopes it can serve as an organic resource for others over time!