Ideas for Business

Yesterday I quoted an article from SiteProNews saying that social media marketing is dying. Today I’d like to focus on another report that suggests that social media marketing isn’t dying but that social media creation might be.

There are some interesting stats here if you examine the Social Technographics Ladder published by Forrester. Try these:

• 23% of social media users are creators
• 31% are conversationalists
• 33% are critics
• 19% are collectors
• 59% are joiners
• 68% are spectators
• 19% are social media inactives

Obviously, there is some crossover between categories. The way Forrester groups these is by engagement with one of the activities listed for that category. For instance, to be considered a social media creator you have to participate in at least one of the following activities:

• Publish a blog
• Publish your own web pages
• Upload videos you create
• Upload audio/music you create
• Write articles and stories and post them

So it seems that fewer people are creators and more people are conversationalists, critics and spectators. I think I know why.

If these numbers represent a percentage of social media users, and I think they do, then the decline in creators would be accounted for the rise in people who are on Facebook and Twitter just to listen to what their friends, the creators, are doing. That’s a good thing, right?

In essence, the creators got there first and started creating. Then the conversationalists, critics and spectators came along to read and enjoy, or not, what the creators started. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

I think that as the web grows, you’ll see these numbers move along a trajectory. There will be fewer creators overall (actually, more creators but fewer in terms of a percentage of total web users) and more spectators.

Of course, I do think that some of those creators of yesteryear might have given up on creating and just become conversationalists. Marketing Pilgrim has a slightly different take. What’s yours?

Kipp Bodnar of HubSpot

This post is one of a series of liveblogs from the 2010 MIMA Summit.

B2B social media can be surprisingly successful with a specific focus on lead generation.  If social media is to be taken seriously for B2B by marketing decision makers, it needs to maintain a focus on business objectives and driving sales vs. “fluff”.

B2B companies are actually in a much better position to use social media as a marketing channel than B2C companies.  They often have a much clearer expectation for what a customer does and what they want.

B2B companies also have deep internal expertise.  It’s not uncommon for top B2B companies to employ thought leaders in their specific industry.  However, there’s a solid argument that for many B2B companies, online marketing and social media might not be a fit.

Instances where social media doesn’t make sense:

• If you have a tiny customer base (perhaps you have only 5 customers).
• If the people you are trying to talk to can’t access the internet.  Many people in regulated industries can’t access the outside internet from work. (i.e., some military/electric industry).
• If you or your business don’t have an advocate that can help you.
• Velocity and volume – tough for social media in the beginning.  You can potentially create quick velocity but quick volume would be difficult.
• If you have a lack of resources you shouldn’t engage in social media.  This seems like a big pain point for organizations.  If you lack the time or resources it makes it difficult to be successful.

It’s important to classify what exactly a lead is.  According to Kip, a lead is when somebody expresses clear interest in working with your business.  If someone downloaded a whitepaper and gave full contact information, Kip classifies that as a lead.

Before anything else, it’s important to have the basics in place.  If the website isn’t usable and there are no landing pages to collect lead information, social media is going to have much less of an impact because the traffic won’t engage and convert with your content.

Content to build leads for B2B Online Marketing

Content is the building block for all online marketing as a B2B company.  Companies need to know how to talk to prospects in a way that is not promotional, solves their problems and provides value to them.

More content, in general, equals more entry points which should lead to increased leads.  Content creation correlates to organic lead growth.  One way to attain conversions is to ensure there are calls to action alongside content.

Leads stem from multiple social channels depending on industry and strategy. Discovering where your audience is matters.  Remember that engagement is not a goal, it’s something you do which helps facilitate a goal and should be measured as a KPI, not an outcome.

Blogging has been critical as it is a platform to create and publish content throughout many different networks and attract new visitors.

Headlines win – never before in history have we had so much information.  People are subscribing to blogs via email, Twitter LinkedIn, RSS, etc and headlines are the main call to action for content.  They’re the make-or-break detail if people read content or not.  HubSpot has found many of their most successful article headlines have numbers in them because people know they’ll be scanable.

Always optimize content with keywords so that you’re gaining additional organic visitors from search engines.

Social media and lead generation

CTAs (Calls to Action) – With a business blog, there are many different ways to get people to become a “lead” from a visitor.  For example: including buttons in the sidebar to talk to a representative, or text links within content to whitepaper landing pages or to download content.  HubSpot has found it successful to add calls to action at the end of content.

We have found that a majority of posts generating leads haven’t been published recently.  Older content is generating  leads.

It’s important to remember that your customers are more important than you are.  For example, HubSpot has a customer in Virginia that installs pools and spas.  All he does is share what someone might want to know when installing a pool.  He doesn’t directly sell his products, but that’s okay.  Even if people aren’t ready to buy, publishing value added content adds them into that consideration section.

Getting all team members involved in the business blog is vital.  People want content from people, not necessarily just companies.  Getting different people from different departments – i.e., research or product, allows marketers to expand the relevant information covered on a given blog to appeal to a larger subset of customers.

Business blogging drives leads and serves as a hub for search and social media visitors.  It doesn’t feel like they are visiting a website that hasn’t been updated in years.  A blog provides much better context for a business.

According to HubSpot’s research of its own customers, B2B is lagging behind B2C in terms of direct customer acquisition in social channels.  B2B is only winning in one tool: LinkedIn, which makes sense.  B2B organizations are acquiring customers through social channels, just not at the same rates as B2C.

Key tips and takeaways for B2B Social Media Marketing:

• Email is the ultimate testing ground for social media because for most of those getting started in social media, email is the largest sample. Email is not being replaced by social.  You can use it as a testing ground to amplify the success of other marketing campaigns.
• The CRM tool is essential to tracking.  Look at how a lead comes in, how it was converted and how it goes through the sales process.  By having your sales system and CRM tied in with analytics, it gives a clearer picture from visit to lead, which is essential to tracking.
• Lead source – It’s important to understand what leads you get from different online channels to identify what sources are effective or not.
• Measurement – With analytics in place to measure and provide insight around lead sources, you can figure out where to allocate budget, especially if you can measure from visit to customer.
• Social + CRM is how you should think about ROI.  If you can have your web analytics and your CRM talking, you can have an understanding of how people are coming to your site and how different channels are performing to you, measuring it down to the customer level.
• Acquisition cost reduction: Social media can equal more engaged and lower cost customers.

Thanks to Kipp Bodnar for presenting the above session during the 2010 MIMA Summit.  Kipp leads the content marketing team at HubSpot and writes for the Social Media B2B blog.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. | How to: Use B2B Social Media for Lead Generation | http://www.toprankblog.com

In a recent article on AdAge.com, several “players” on the social scene argued where media agencies would go in the future, how they would evolve. The result was a large amount of unique and relevant ideas specifically on social marketing, if not the entire media marketing field in general. So how can you and your business become a player in the new social web?

Evolve Online
Too many of us get stuck on one unique technology, when only months later something bigger and better comes along. Maybe that is the nature of the business. Where was social media 10 years ago? Where was the internet 50 years ago? On the other hand, where were the major markets? All these things evolved, and it’s important to understand why and prepare strategies to capitalize.

Affects of the Social Web On Consumers
In the Ad Age article, one person notes how media agencies must adapt. Consumer focused marketing will control how brands are built. While Twitter and Facebook have potential, they have more potential when consumers control. If a virus spreads, it can spread fast. It’s important to acknowledge this idea and to encourage it, because online consumers are the real marketing players.

Future of Social Media
Where will social media be in 10 years? 20 years? With iPhones and iPads now making portable social communication even more common, the world, so small already, is just closing in. However you choose to market, developing strategies for adapting to social changes is crucial. The future will likely be from various sources, but true marketing changes are created by talent. Talent is what drives marketing.

What’s Your Plan?
Developing a strategy is crucial in building anything from search engine ranking to a following on Facebook. Developing a contact strategy in social media, for example, should go beyond your pages and messages. Many of the marketing strategies used before social media came along — namely email marketing and SEM – are still very relevant.

Who Can Help?
Talent will be the driving force in who becomes a player in the future of social marketing. Talent is what has always driven innovation in marketing. Instead of listening to sales pitches from your employees, you may consider looking at your ideal buyers and what they are doing. As noted earlier, developing a way to have users market for you – spreading links to YouTube videos – can be of more value than a TV commercial.

Get to Know Other Players
Finally, communicate, offer value, share your insights. This blog post put together many opinions; your social web strategy should too.

In a recent article on AdAge.com, several “players” on the social scene argued where media agencies would go in the future, how they would evolve. The result was a large amount of unique and relevant ideas specifically on social marketing, if not the entire media marketing field in general. So how can you and your business become a player in the new social web?

Evolve Online
Too many of us get stuck on one unique technology, when only months later something bigger and better comes along. Maybe that is the nature of the business. Where was social media 10 years ago? Where was the internet 50 years ago? On the other hand, where were the major markets? All these things evolved, and it’s important to understand why and prepare strategies to capitalize.

Affects of the Social Web On Consumers
In the Ad Age article, one person notes how media agencies must adapt. Consumer focused marketing will control how brands are built. While Twitter and Facebook have potential, they have more potential when consumers control. If a virus spreads, it can spread fast. It’s important to acknowledge this idea and to encourage it, because online consumers are the real marketing players.

Future of Social Media
Where will social media be in 10 years? 20 years? With iPhones and iPads now making portable social communication even more common, the world, so small already, is just closing in. However you choose to market, developing strategies for adapting to social changes is crucial. The future will likely be from various sources, but true marketing changes are created by talent. Talent is what drives marketing.

What’s Your Plan?
Developing a strategy is crucial in building anything from search engine ranking to a following on Facebook. Developing a contact strategy in social media, for example, should go beyond your pages and messages. Many of the marketing strategies used before social media came along — namely email marketing and SEM – are still very relevant.

Who Can Help?
Talent will be the driving force in who becomes a player in the future of social marketing. Talent is what has always driven innovation in marketing. Instead of listening to sales pitches from your employees, you may consider looking at your ideal buyers and what they are doing. As noted earlier, developing a way to have users market for you – spreading links to YouTube videos – can be of more value than a TV commercial.

Get to Know Other Players
Finally, communicate, offer value, share your insights. This blog post put together many opinions; your social web strategy should too.

According to an article on SiteProNews, social media marketing is dying. But is it?

Duncan Wierman makes some good points. Here’s one:

What business entrepreneurs are forgetting is that they are on the other side of the fence of social media. They are on the advertising end, which means without a real connection to the “the people,” they are getting nowhere. At some point, a real connection needs to be established or otherwise all efforts to make a sale or spread the word are pointless.

In other words, it doesn’t matter how strong your sales pitch is, if you don’t care about your followers and it shows then you likely won’t succeed at social media marketing. If you do, it will be an accident and will likely be short lived.

I’d say that social media marketing isn’t dying. Rather, bad social media marketing is dying – at least, I hope so.

If you want to succeed at social media marketing then you’ve got to put the marketing on the back burner and put the social on the front burner. Get to know your followers and fans. Treat them like people. Don’t just jump in there and start pitching products. That’s a sure way to turn people off and they will certainly return the favor and turn you off too.