Dive Brief: 

• After acquiring Eloqua in 2012, Oracle tapped sales rep Jill Rowley to spearhead efforts to integrate more social media in its sales force. 
• Rowley has encouraged sales reps to use their own personal social media accounts for social B2B selling. 
• The Oracle reps have embraced the idea and now approach the sales cycle with a level of customer service first, before pitching later on. 

Dive Insight: 

There has been a bit of resistance from B2B companies to jump into social media, probably because there is still the idea that they are selling to businesses and not individuals. The problem with this mindset is that the buying decisions in these businesses are made by individuals. Oracle's grasp of the importance of social in B2B is refreshing. And like Rowley says in the AdAge article, "It's way more frickin' fun than cold calling."