During the
past three decades football has eclipsed all other sports as the passion of the
American fan. 

It’s a game
that idolizes glamour positions such as quarterback, wide receiver and running
back.  These players typically dominate
the headlines and bask in the accolades that come with victories.

Yet, for
all of their royalty these darlings of the gridiron would fail to produce a
championship without the efforts of the men on the line.  These hulking masses repeatedly slam into
each other with the goal of gaining a mere yard or two of advantage.

Yes, the
football divas stand as stars.  However,
championships are won with blocking and tackling.

The same
can be said about business.  C-suite
executives, strategists, subject matter experts and industry thought leaders
often command the attention of journalists, analysts and other influencers.

Consider
the reporting of corporate adoption of social media marketing.  Scan the headlines of influential trade
magazines like Brandweek, BtoB, PR Week and Advertising Age and one gets the
impression that social media is the domain of corporate communications and
marketing departments.

Yet, like
in professional football, headlines and recognition can be misleading as to who
contributes the most to corporate success. 
At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we’ve established a
rather unique niche of building social media campaigns for field sales and
marketing organizations.

It’s in the
field that we have found social media marketing to be most accountable in areas
critical to a company’s growth – lead generation, cultivation of sales
prospects, deal capture and search engine optimization (SEO).  Corporate sets the plan and establishes the
guidelines, but it is the field that moves the business forward one deal at a
time.

Let’s
explore a couple of examples.

Monster:  Discretion in Data Sales

Best known
for Monster.com, the online site for job seekers, the company also has a
productive business selling proprietary job market data and trends to
educational institutions and government agencies. 

For
example, economic development offices in local municipalities need to know what
kind of training is required to get unemployed workers back on the payroll.

The
company’s “Unleash the Monster” (http://www.unleashthemonster.net)
social media marketing campaign allows the field sales team to directly engage
with targeted customers and prospects in a thought leadership environment.  By providing helpful information to federal,
state/local and educational audiences, Monster builds community while more
rapidly pushing opportunities through the sales pipeline.

British
Telecom (BT): Doing Well by Doing Good

In the US, the BT
Americas field sales and marketing division sells telephony and data
communications to Global 2000 companies. Connectivity is a commodity that
prospects typically think about only when they need more, such as when
expanding facilities.

The company
wanted to boost awareness with executive level decision-makers, so when a
prospect needed to add telecom capacity they would consider BT.  If not exclusively, then at least in addition
to market leading vendors like AT&T and Verizon.

Using
social media as its channel, BT leveraged its strong commitment to Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) to cultivate relationships with like-minded
companies on its prospect list.  BT’s CSR
Perspective (http://www.csrperspective.com)
campaign has elevated the company’s standing with top level prospects, while
enhancing its overall positioning and brand awareness in the US. 
 

Marc Hausman is president and CEO of Strategic Communications Group, a public relations and social media consultancy based in Silver Spring, Maryland.  Read more at http://www.strategicguy.blogspot.com.