Nomination Categories

Local/Regional B2B Company – Manufacturer & Local/Regional B2B Company – Services

National/International B2B Company – Manufacturer & National/International B2B Company – Services

This allows larger brands with a presumed large following to compete, even between their own related business units or departments.

B2B Trade Association/Advocacy Group

This category was broken out to recognize the non-profit sector that serves the B2B community.

B2G/G2B Company/Organization

This may be the smallest group – we don’t know what to expect yet – but we want to showcase a good case study on how business may tweet with government clients and vice versa.

Boss Tweet” B2B Personality

This award is based on an individual, not a company and is meant to recognize a B2B professional who goes “above and beyond” their employer’s brand and truly serves the B2B community. It’s called “Boss Tweet” after our little blue mascot, but you don’t have to be the “boss” to be nominated. Any B2B professional who tweets may be a candidate. Like the other categories, this will be judged by some of the panel and is not award based on popularity or votes.

B2B Publications

This award recognizes publications that focus on particular industries or professions. It can be a for-profit publication or part of a non-profit entity.

Business Journalists

This award recognizes a journalist working for either a trade publication or “business desk” of a consumer publication that reports on the business world.

B2B Twitter Application

This will go to the best app that businesses are utilizing in conjunction with participating in Twitter conversations.

Ideas for Nominating

In nominating a B2B organization or Boss Tweet for the 2010 B2B Twitterer of the Year awards, think of the many ways that Twitter could be used to communicate to a particular B2B stakeholder:

Investor/Public Relations - Who are they following, and who is following them (customers, potential customers)? How is the content relevant to the audience (company information, tips, etc.)? How does the B2B Twitterer engage with the audience (answer questions, respond to comments, etc.)?

Customer Support - What issues do they have regarding customer use of their products or services? What kind of feedback are they asking for or getting?

Human Resources - How is the B2B company using Twitter to attract qualified employee candidates?

Internal Marketing - How does the B2B company use Twitter to communicate to a field staff, other departments, etc.?

Research - Have they posed questions to their audience, solicited surveys or monitored tweets relevant to their products or services? What have they done with the data they gathered?

Crisis Management - How do they follow their brand, product and sector issues? What kind of resources, updated information and explanations do they provide?

Corporate Reputation Management - Who are some of the industry leaders, similar interest groups, news media and bloggers they follow? What insight, expertise and thought leadership via links to other content do they offer? How are they transparent in their efforts?

Event Coverage - How do they follow the ecosystem of a particular program or event, including media and bloggers? How do they provide event information, updates or behind the scenes coverage?

Product Promotion & Sales - Who are they following, and who is following them (customers, potential customers)? Do they provide links to online promotions, insider information on upcoming sales, discounts, etc.? Do they provide answers to questions about their product?

Issue Advocacy - What kind of stakeholders follow them/do they follow who are interested in their cause (industry leaders, policy makers, media, etc.) What kind of tips, alerts and other information do they

Guidelines

1. The deadline for submissions is Friday, December 16, 2011 at midnight ET.
2. Submissions can only be filled out online at www.b2btoty.com and must be in English.
3. Only nominations for organizations selling/advocating business-to-business products will be counted. “Pure” B2C organizations are not eligible.
4. Judging will be based on complete submissions; incomplete submissions will be disqualified.
5. Anyone may nominate any B2B organization, and may nominate more than one organization in any given category.
6. You may vote once per day, per person, per category.
7. With each vote, you must provide a reason why you are voting for the person.
8. Companies with several Twitter accounts (customer service, CXOs, divisions, etc.) may have each account nominated and voted for.
9. Yes, you may vote for yourself. Not that we suggest it, but you can.
10. The B2BTOTY Award is not a “popularity” contest. The number of votes you receive will only be one piece of the criteria used by the judging panel, It will not be to sole reason for the winning selection.
11. All judges are independent and their decision is final.
12. There will be ten categories in which to compete: Local/Regional B2B Company – Local B2B Manufacturer , Local B2B Services Company, Inter/National B2B Manufacturer, Inter/National B2B Services Company, B2B Trade Association, B2G Company, “Boss Tweet” B2B Personality, B2B Publications, Business Journalists, and B2B Twitter App.
13. There is no fee for submissions.
14. Please do not contact judges directly.
15. The winner will be selected by a committee of judges with professional experience.

10 Reasons to Nominate a B2B Twitterer of the Year

1. Twitter is the hottest thing since business blogging and sliced bread.
2. If you nominate a boss or customer, they’ll never get mad at you again.
3. Nominating is free. Do it now, before it gets taxed!
4. We spent hours on the CGI scripting, so don’t make us think we did it in vain!
5. The nominator of each category winner will receive a B2BTOTY coffee mug! (Really!)
6. The little blue bird will leave a “calling card” on your windshield if you don’t.
7. This isn’t the Nobel Prize, so there won’t be any debate whether someone “earned it.”
8. B2B companies need more lovin’ than B2C companies.
9. Our sponsors were promised billions upon billions of eyeballs, impressions and click-throughs.
10. This isn’t a silly web popularity contest based on click-fraud votes, so you actually have a chance of winning.