As always, we had a blast together; in fact, we really let loose. We sat on the back porch for hours eating great food, drinking a few too many beers, telling stories and laughing about old times. Reminiscing really got to the financial planner, as he channeled his inner Bon Jovi, “rocking out” via Guitar Hero on Wii. It was quite sight.

On the four-hour drive home, I thought about my buddies as I finished reading “World Wide Rave” by David Meerman Scott (yes, my wife was driving). He says that building a big loyal audience through social media requires an approach that both engages and entertains audiences in a manner that compels them to share our story with others. If you succeed, they will spread your message to others through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.

OK, that concept seems easy enough. We’ve all seen great marketing campaigns that have become “viral” or as Meerman Scott calls it a “World Wide Rave.” But very few campaigns — especially in the B2B world — actually achieve that level of success.

Why is that? Have we in the B2B community grown to accept the “we’re boring” label and condemned ourselves to uninspiring geek speak?

We need to think of those two professionals I so enjoyed hanging out with all weekend. To remember that an engineer we may be targeting with a PR campaign isn’t just a professional who needs technical specs and details. He may also be the guy who enjoys barbecuing on his ultra-fancy grill and talking football. The financial professional isn’t just a numbers guy. He may also be the weekend rock star who enjoys jamming to power ballads on the Wii. [Insert your own audience reference here!]

Yes, our B2B audiences all have a job to do. At the same, they also want and expect to be entertained and have fun.  

I mean, how many of us actually look forward to sitting through PowerPoint presentations crammed with data presented in miniscule font sizes and 27 bullet points per slide?