We’re seeing lots of examples now of consumer-oriented companies reaching out to their customers via social networking and seeing new and interesting ways of doing business emerge. Companies involved in business-to-business, however, are just starting to warm to social media.  “B2B companies tend to have longer and more complicated messages to convey,” says eMarketer’s Evelyn Jung.

This may be about to change as well.  In fact, a report out of  eMarketer suggests that this space is about to explode. Why? As Jung, author of the report, states: “marketers are beginning to see opportunities to generate quality leads and position themselves as thought leaders in their industries.”

Indeed, eMarketer cites Forrester Research numbers that show marketers plan to ramp up spending for engaging social media channels by 43 percent this year, versus a seven percent increase in spending on their traditional Websites. How will this new spending be allocated within the social media sphere? As eMarketer describes it:

“In 2009, B2B marketers spent the largest portion of their social media budgets on customer communities, followed by podcasts and blogs. These tactics allow B2B marketers to share more relevant product or service information with their customers than they could with other social tools….” For 2010 and beyond, “a substantial portion of their expenses will go toward initiatives such as creating and maintaining a branded profile page, managing promotions or public relations outreach within a social network, and measuring the effect of a social network presence on brand health and sales.”

There are also strong economic advantages for B2B companies to engage in social networking as a go-to-market strategy. Mark Sochan, CEO of PartnerPedia,says the best approach to take advantage of B2B social media is through a partner community. He recommends five steps to build such a community:

Define the business goals: “What are your priorities? Is it to generate more leads? Is it to improve partner efficiency? Is to better target sales tools, training and product information? Is it to drive adoption of a new program or product?”

Identify the benefits for the partners: “Clearly articulate to the partners you are inviting what the purpose is and how they will benefit. Will they get more leads? Will they increase visibility of their company?”

Drive adoption: “Make it easy for members to register. Make it clear where they can get started. Have resources available to help engage and to start and monitor collaborations. Identify and nurture key champions that are thought leaders who will help drive activity in the community. Create partner showcases as a way to highlight and reward early adopters.”

ROI? First measure: “The key is to have clearly defined goals that you can measure. Some key metrics to track include: new members, return users, content access, collaborations, connections made.”

Align around an initiative: “Periodically align your community efforts around an initiate such as an event or new product launch. This is especially important in the early days of the community.”