How we are innovating B2B networking and B2B e-commerce with ...

Posted by Aniekan Okono on August 13, 2012

Networking is an important factor in business, especially for B2B companies. The arrival of the internet immensely contributed to business networking but is that all there is? If the answer is yes, then the concept of innovation and that of healthy competition is defeated.
What is innovation? Wikipedia calls it ?the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments, and society?. Merriam-Webster online says, ?The introduction of something new?.
The word innovation was derived from the latin word ?innovates? which is to ?renew or change,? and let us take a look at what should be changed and why.

1. B2B companies social media participation: It goes without saying ?that targeting 10 year olds and other people outside of your audience using social media networks cannot be as successful as targeting your right audience. B2B companies ought to spend time on platforms that have high lead generation metrics. If you don?t have the right targets then you are spending time engaging on the wrong audience and that wasted time could be used to pay for search engine optimization activities.
2. Professional networks: Most professional networks do have elements of social networking and business networking but how well ?does your company engage with the right audience? Are those you engage with potential buyers? Will it take more than a year to get a purchasing decision? Have you been able to separate professionals who are looking for the next job on a professional network with a professional that has the mandate to make orders? Have you diagnosed your group participators to realize how fast it can provide sales leads? We, B2B companies, should have the ability to set up shop and sell real quick while having the same tools the professional networks offer but these tools should be designed for businesses and not professionals in mind. How good can your company, as a separate entity, engage with followers on professional networks? How much information about your company can you provide on profile pages of professional networking site? If a company is interested in your products and wants to order immediately where do you redirect the client to? Can your clients find images of your products on professional networks and on social networks?
3. B2B e-commerce: There are regional and international players already in the market. If your clients look for your products on B2B e-commerce sites , will those products be packaged good enough compared to what is possible in the age of web 2:0? Can you follow up on clients directly on these sites with today?s web 2:0 tools? Which of these B2B e-commerce sites have a balanced approach that could enable you finding a credible manufacturer in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Americas or Asia without presenting millions of Chinese buyers when you are interested in alternatives from other regions also?
4. Organizations on professional and social networks:Almost every 3 years the world gets a social network that is massively adopted by everyone including organizations. By organizations I mean Chambers of Commerce, Trade and Investment Agencies of countries, associations etc. The norm is that they share events and some news, is that all there is to their participation online? Can they do more to help their members recoup some of the investments the members make informs of dues? ?Do you believe in the need for these organizations to increase their levels of participation, the roles that they play and deliver more than training programs or networking events? If you take a look at the participation of these organizations on some professional networks you will notice that apart from a few groups they have started there is little contribution to their members and local economies.

If a true innovation is to create better or effective processes then, we believe, the aforementioned categories should have the influence of innovation. In real life, where organizations play a very important role on business networking and lead generation, they don?t make phone calls but they do contribute in their own capacities. As such, we conceptualized Ziliot business discovery network to allow them to do what they can?t do presently on professional networks. Now they can offer their businesses more value thanks to our innovative business networking platform.
Business to business companies need a different approach to business networking which is very different from what the current professional networks are offering businesses. Ziliot business discovery network allows businesses to create profiles for companies, update what they need or what they are offering not just to recruit or find employment opportunities like what professional networking profiles offer them.
Businesses should be able to earn revenue from their products the same way they would on B2B e-commerce platforms, also they should have access to the same find, follow and connect features that social networking platforms offer. Businesses should have the ability to connect with more credible business contacts in a similar way that it happens on business networking events organized by Chambers of Commerce or Trade and Investment agencies or manufacturer associations. At these events businesses connect directly with members of these organizations, exchange contacts and even close deals. Ziliot offers such possibilities as an innovation different from any business network, social network, or professional network existing online.
Ziliot business network?s innovations are in the aspect of B2B e-commerce, B2B social networking, business networking and the discovery of credible business connections. Currently, lots of businesses have signed up to the Ziliot and you can find various categories of business opportunities listed. On these opportunities list you can find various needs of other businesses that you could fill. Ziliot is free and it is growing and will keep innovating .

Image source:frankstonchamber.com.au

Source: http://blog.ziliot.com/how-we-are-innovating-b2b-networking-and-b2b-e-commerce-with-ziliot/

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