Top 10 sites besides LinkedIn for finding leads in the B2B Market

Salespeople who cater to business-to-business (B2B) prospects have many avenues beyond the typical social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to hunt for new customers.

The primary need is for a platform that allows you as a salesperson to do three things: flaunt an intriguing profile that lures prospects, forge relationships/promote contact, and disseminate marketing content, such as slideshow presentations, webinars, books, market research, authoritative articles and any other promotional multimedia. Here are 10 sites to consider.

1.       Google Maps

Google Maps collects an extensive amount of information about businesses. A seller can find potential prospects by leveraging the Map databases, which store phone numbers, addresses, photos of the business and links to additional background details on the business. By typing in a city, town or county location that a seller wants to target for prospects, the salesperson can receive a complete visual map of companies within a certain mile range that either use or might be in need of his products.  From there, she can click on the visual map or links to start investigating the company and associated executives.  The street view feature even allows one to see how big or small the prospect’s facility is.

Alternately, by including his own business in Google Maps, a seller can draw interest from business prospects.

2.       Foursquare

Salespeople who are affiliated with tourist attractions, restaurants, major business centers or shopping outlets can use Foursquare to attract B2B leads both online and offline. Make sure your business has a detailed profile included in Foursquare business searches. Encourage current customers to post reviews of your business on Foursquare and use the app to “check in” during visits so that business associates on social media become aware of how popular your company is.  Offer special deals to any new prospects as they check in.

3.       Yelp

Add the details of your business to Yelp and prompt satisfied customers to assess your services on this popular online review site. Business prospects might check Yelp to verify your company’s reputation. Another benefit is that Yelp currently ranks quite high in Google searches, helping a business gain exposure when people search for closely related terms.

4.       YouTube

Videos have major sales impact; they are colorful, animated and informative. YouTube allows salespeople to attract B2B leads by providing a platform for posting professional sales videos or slideshows with links to the seller’s website.  Beyond showcasing products, many salespeople use YouTube to provide virtual tours of the manufacturing facility where the product is made to demonstrate quality, efficiency and expertise.

5.       Instagram

Marketers promoting any product that makes a strong visual impact, such as clothing, food, electronics or any luxury good should consider establishing a strong presence on Instagram, where they can prepare a wall collection of images or videos to dazzle, inform and attract B2B leads.

6.       Pinterest

This site also works well for distributing image-based sales content since it allows visitors to re-“pin” posts (re-share), unlike Instagram, which will increase exposure.

Unlike the other sites listed here, Pinterest is not oversaturated with B2B content, allowing plenty of opportunities for creative marketers to establish a leading presence still.

7.       Vine

By creating and looping six-second videos, Vine has become popular with businesses that create quick and eccentric commercials that can repeat over and over again online or even in TV ads in order to attract business prospects.  Some businesses even enlist celebrities, athletes or reality stars for Vine videos.

The point here is to entertain while attracting potential leads to check you out further, so provide a URL in your bio where people can find out more.

8.       Tumblr

Because reposting is so convenient on Tumblr, salespeople should consider sharing expertise-laced blogs or company news here for extra exposure.

Again, this service is not currently saturated with B2B presence, so leverage that to your advantage.

9.       Snapchat

According to Advertising Age, many salespeople are having luck sending quickly expiring coupons to potential business customers using Snapchat messages.  Because the promotions will be quickly deleted, prospects are forced to pay attention, write down promotional codes or click to use the promotions immediately.

10.   Scribd

Scribd is a great way to get product research, company information, case studies and other expert information into search engines by uploading professional documents to this document-sharing site. This can attract B2B leads when they are in the research phase of the buying cycle, similar in usefulness as whitepapers.

Using the above sites can help generate the right kind of buzz and pervasive presence that will make new business-to-business prospects take note.