A decade or so ago, when email had reached critical global mass, we all realised that certain attachments had the power to propagate themselves.

The video with the cat jumping out of the bush. The spoof Ferrari engine sound effect that ultimately spawned the Crazy Frog phenomenon. The endless forward-this-for-good-fortune-but-die-a-painful-death-if-you-don't emails. They went round every email inbox and very quickly marketers had the brilliant idea that they could do the same for their clients.

They (we) were right of course. If you had the right piece of content, you could seed it with a few and it would spread to many. We have grown up a lot since those days. The viral marketing epidemic is over.

Sometimes, it’s good to return to the basics.

I have been looking for a way to distil the essence of social media marketing for B2B and, over the course of a number of conversations with clients, it has become clear that there are just 3 things a B2B organisation needs if it is going to have a strong, useful presence on the social web.

Yep. Just three.

The simple (or simplified) truth is that if you can answer ‘Yes’ to the following three questions, you will make a success out of social media marketing…