In just a few years, social media has evolved into a critical B2B online marketing tool that is being used by more businesses every day. Top venture capital firms are no exception, with many now using social media and other online channels to amplify their messaging, create opportunities for networking, and enhance their overall brand. The top venture capital firms are also taking advantage of social media to communicate their story, successes, and ability to help startups succeed.

Coming on the heels of OpenView’s last report about how individual venture capitalists are using social media, “Social Media Mavens (Part II): The 10 Most Influential Technology Venture Capital Firms Online” takes a broader view of leading technology firms themselves. The report analyzes how Accel Partners, First Round Capital, and Greylock Partners, among others, are using websites, LinkedIn, and Twitter to distinguish themselves and expand their influence.

The result is a ranking of the 10 most influential technology venture capital firms online overall, as well as the top venture capital firms using each of these tools. The report also explains the techniques these leading VCs are using to drive their social media success.

“Although there have always been numerous barometers for measuring the success of a venture capital firm, in today’s world, their fluency in social media is becoming an increasingly important one,” explains OpenView Managing Director, Brian Zimmerman. “To be part of the conversation with entrepreneurs, they need to fully utilize the power of social channels.”

Take a lesson from some of the top venture capital firms in the country by reading the report and learning the social media techniques your B2B business can use to become an online influencer.

Zmags today announced Zmags Convergence, a consumer interface that completely transforms the online browsing and shopping experience, has been selected as a finalist in the Best Commerce Game Changer category for the MITX Innovation Awards.

"The 2012 finalists represent some of the best innovators in the region, these forward-thinking companies are developing unique, new solutions to problems that are game changing," said MITX President Debi Kleiman. "We were so impressed by this group during a very competitive year, it was amazing to see the range and depth of new things being created here, and we're very proud to honor their great achievements."

"It's a great honor to be recognized by the MITX organization," said Michael Schreck, CEO of Zmags.  "Being named a finalist among such an impressive group is validation of our dedication to offer a product that is truly transforming the way consumers engage with their favorite brands."

About Zmags

About MITX

Interop Las Vegas 2012 – Exinda, a global provider of next-generation WAN optimization and performance assurance solutions, announced that MLB Network, Major League Baseball's 24/7 cable television network, is using its WAN optimization solution to shape traffic, prioritize critical applications, and save its network infrastructure from reaching disastrous saturation levels.

"Previously we were seeing 98% utilization on our routers, which spelled potential problems with upcoming traffic peaks around the MLB First-Year Player Draft, All-Star Game and the World Series; maybe even traffic overloads bringing our firewalls down. It's pretty impressive what Exinda has been able to do for us to make those issues disappear," said MLB Network IT Director Cindy Cortell. "With Exinda, we're now able to assure performance to key applications and systems."

"The behind-the-scenes work that delivers live, nationwide, rolling sports coverage and shows like MLB Tonight to millions of baseball fans is just extraordinary," said Nolan Rosen, CMO at Exinda. "It's great to know Exinda is playing such an important role in helping the team at MLB Network succeed, and to continue pushing the limits of 24/7 broadcasting as far as possible."

About MLB Network

About Exinda®

Exinda, a global provider of WAN optimization and application performance assurance solutions, recorded a breakthrough year in 2011 as customers embraced the company's WAN optimization 2.0 solutions, and has continued to build on that momentum into 2012.

• More than 600 new customer acquisitions; one-third of which Exinda displaced incumbent competitors.
• An 82% year-on-year increase in the number of deals, with the average deal size growing 18%.
• Explosive revenue growth in global markets following investment in international personnel, channel development and technical resources throughout EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Asia-Pacific alone saw triple-digit growth.
• Recognized leadership in key vertical industry segments. For example, eight out of the 10 leading international hotel brands run on the Exinda Hospitality Network, and more than 6 million students rely on the Exinda Learning Network.
• The addition of more than 100 new partners to existing global business relationships, extending market reach.
• Maturing market acceptance for its Exinda 360 Dynamic Policy Engine, furthered by the introduction of virtual appliances for WAN optimization, providing customers maximum deployment flexibility.

"We expect 2012 to be a watershed year for Exinda, and we're in a very healthy place to continue to capitalize on opportunities as they present themselves," Sharma said.

About Exinda®

Brooks Brothers, the classic American retailer, has partnered with Monetate to leverage customer data and make real-time changes to its website that improve customer relevance and increase ecommerce revenue.

“With 193 years in business we are America’s oldest fashion retailer, and our longstanding history is the direct result of a focus on innovation,” said Cindy Lincks, Director of Analytics at Brooks Brothers. “Leading through innovation is built into the fabric of our company, and Monetate is helping us live up to that commitment. Monetate’s technology has transformed the way we do business and produced incredible results.” “Monetate makes it easy for retailers like Brooks Brothers to put big data to work in ways that drive business results,” said David Brussin, founder and CEO of Monetate. “It’s great to see Brooks Brothers create a culture of testing and website optimization across the organization that has led to higher conversions and an improved customer experience.”

About Monetate

Why MVV (Mission, Vision, Values) Is a Growing Company’s MVP

In the startup phase, CEOs can have an impact on every aspect of their business. But as companies scale, that kind of hands-on involvement not only becomes more difficult, it can actually become an inhibitor to growth. That’s why, as OpenView Managing Director Adam Marcus writes in this post, CEOs need to establish a crystal clear MVV (mission, vision, and values) statement before they slam into the proverbial wall.

Build or Buy? Exploring Google’s Cloud Storage Dilemma

It’s a common software conundrum: Build a new product from scratch, or save time (and maybe money) by simply purchasing an already existing platform. That’s exactly the dilemma Google faced when it pondered buying Dropbox or building its own cloud storage solution. In this post, Nick Petri explores the six questions the powers that be at Google likely asked themselves, and explains what expansion-stage software companies can learn from them.

Kind of a Big Deal: 8 Tips to Build Influence Through Blogging that Works

So you’ve got a business blog and you’re publishing some unique, insightful posts. That’s great, but what have you got to show for your effort? The reality is that a blog’s influence is measured by much more than the quality of its content. In this post, Brandon Hickie highlights five additional factors that lead to long-term blogging success, and offers eight tips to improve your return on investment.

Recruiting Secrets Revealed: How OpenView’s Recruiters Find Top Talent

With the economy on the upswing and software companies battling for top talent, the value of recruiters who can work with companies to find the right candidate for the right job is enormous. So, why would any recruiter reveal their secrets to success? Maybe Lindsey Gurian was just feeling charitable. In this post, she details the OpenView recruiting team’s process for sourcing and hiring the tech industry’s top talent and explains why it’s so unique.

Top Ideas from the Industry

Too Many Irons in the Fire? Why Lack of Prioritization Can Cost Your Startup

High tech startups are often full of top talent with truly groundbreaking ideas. And while those ideas can be exciting and alluring, they can also be distracting. In this post, venture capitalist Mark Suster explains why startups must be able to prioritize their goals, tasks, and time in order to focus on one thing and making sure they do it extraordinarily well before moving on to anything else.

Child’s Play: What a 9-Year-Old Can Teach You About Sales

In sales, complexity can be a killer. Yet, so many salespeople ignore the old acronym KISS and sully their messaging with verbose language that seems more fit for the Harvard Law Review than a simple value proposition. In this post, Inc.’s Tom Searcy encourages sales pros to approach conversations with their buyers as they would a 9-year-old, delivering their pitch in a context they can easily relate to and understand.

3 Simple Steps to Creating a Sustainable Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing isn’t rocket science. All it takes is hard work, detailed planning, and reliability akin to a finely tuned Swiss watch (ok, maybe it is a little daunting). Thankfully, in this guest post for the Content Marketing Institute, Roger C. Parker shares a three-step systematic approach that will take the stress out of daily deadlines and get the content flowing.

Is Your Klout Score Hurting Your Chances of Being Hired?

It depends on the employer, but it could be. In fact, a recent Wired article revealed that one VP’s job interview was cut short when the hiring manager discovered his low Klout score. In this post for VentureBeat, John Koetsier debates the merit of Klout as a measure for talent and explores the potential backlash of boiling a candidate’s entire online existence down to a two-digit number.