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The drive to generate leads is becoming more complex for the average business-to-business sales organization. About two-thirds of B-to-B organizations consider generating leads their highest priority. Unfortunately, for many organizations, it’s a complex process that is becoming increasingly harder to manage.

Business-to-business marketing organizations today use an average of 13 different marketing techniques to generate leads. Number one among them, increasingly, is social media. But social media comes in many different flavors, and mastering one doesn’t mean you’ve even begun to grasp the rest of them. Building an effective lead generation process using social media as a crown jewel requires a lot of thought, experimentation and planning.

Business2Community’s Tess Kenney recently outlined many of the most critical things marketers need to know before beginning a B-to-B social lead generation program. Despite the importance of social media in lead generation – 66 percent of marketers today say it’s one of the most critical elements in their arsenal, according to eMarketer (News - Alert) – nearly half of those marketers rank social media marketing as the most difficult lead-generation tactic to execute.

“B2B marketers see the value of social media for lead generation, but are having trouble taking the next steps,” writes Kenney. “Take time to write out a social media plan for your company to help streamline the execution process. To get started, write out a few relevant messages for your blog posts for LinkedIn, Facebook (News - Alert), and Twitter then take time to think of responses for anyone who comments or retweets. Once you get a feel for how it works, schedule out posts for the next few weeks.”

For the business-to-business sales community, LinkedIn is often the most useful channel for lead generation, but this doesn’t mean that companies should ignore Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert). They may require a different approach and tone to LinkedIn, however.

“All three sites can build brand awareness through different dynamics,” writes Kenney. “Share images or articles with a short insight on Twitter and use Facebook to share articles and start a conversation with your readers. Both sites can take a lighter tone than LinkedIn (News - Alert), so don’t be afraid to show your fun side!”

For many companies, there will be a lot of trial and error. Today, more than 50 percent of companies report having generated significant leads with social media. That number is likely to rise in the future as marketers get the hang of social media lead generation. Successful companies need to follow up every lead and ensure there is a reporting vehicle in place to measure progress and communicate that progress.

There are many case studies out there on the subject of using social media to generate leads. Examine them all, from the horror stories to the success stories. Every sales organization is different, so too will their social lead generation experience be. What’s critical is to find a process that helps you determine what’s right for your company.