Whenever we bring up social media with a new client, we’re braced to receive “that look” …the one that says, “Oh no, you’re talking about that Facebook, Twitter & YouTube stuff that my college kid is so addicted to.”
Well, kinda/sorta; but also about LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, forums, private social networks, rich media (chiefly video), wikis, blogging, and more. And that reaction (“the look”) is so 2006. The fact is that social media have long since become a staple of B2C online marketing, and are rapidly becoming a wave that B2B marketers will miss only at their peril. Don’t believe us? …well, we’ve blogged about this before, but let’s take a look at some more recent research.
Your customers/prospects (and some competitors) are using social media…
On the customer side… writing in Forrester’s “groundswell” blog, Josh Bernoff discusses recent research done by Forrester’s Technology Industry / B2B group, “The Social Technographics of Business Buyers” (you can get the report if you’re a Forrester client; or anyone can register to hear a Webinar on the topic). Some of their key datapoints:
- 91% of the surveyed technology decision-makers were “Spectators” – meaning that they are reading blogs, watching user-generated video and participating in other social media. And 69% of them said they were using these technologies for business purposes.
- 55% of these decision-makers were actually members of social networks (“Joiners”) – much higher than expected for mature businesspeople and not college students. Nearly 30% of them claim that it’s “for business purposes”.
On the vendor side… eMarketer’s free newsletter recently reported on research conducted by MarketingProfs and Forrester Research, looking at how B2B marketers were planning this year’s budgets. They found that the percentage of B2B respondents who expect their budgets for various social media categories to either increase or stay level in 2009 (vs. 2008) was just astonishingly high:
Blogs 92%
Discussion forums, social
networks, communities 89%
Other Web 2.0 media 86%
Online video, podcasts,
rich media 85%
Great examples of B2B social-media use are popping up everywhere
As just one example… take a look at the “Thank an Engineer” video campaign that Amber Pizano runs for Texas Instruments (see especially Amber’s responses to Kipp Bodnar’s brief posting); it’s helping TI build brand loyalty among design engineers – its buyers – by showing that TI “gets” them and values their central role in innovation. Oh, and doesn’t the mere existence of a blog named “Social Media B2B” speak volumes?!
What you should be doing …now
In light of all this, there are some steps that every B2B should be taking:
- Understand how your market consumes social media; there are many choices now, so it only makes sense to invest in a sequence that roughly parallels your buyers’ usage (the “our customers aren’t on social networks” excuse is quickly fading away). Don’t be too embarrassed to survey them; your users have a vested interest in your success, so they’re usually willing to help you understand them better.
- Based on that understanding, develop a plan; and decide ahead of time what metrics you’ll use. Think of social media as being more like PR – i.e., more about “buzz”, loyalty- and image-building than about lead generation – and you won’t be looking for ROI in all the wrong places.
- Assign the task of “listening” for comments about your company/brand and engaging with those talking about it. (For a cautionary tale of how not doing this can result in major missed opportunities, see Jeff Cohen’s analysis of Siemens’ deficient follow-up to its recent presentation at VoiceCon.) It may sound defensive, but with the right approach you can win lots of influential hearts and minds simply by joining conversations that are in progress anyway.
Not sure you’re on the right track? Your online marketing consultants should be able to help you create or fine-tune your social media strategy.
June 24th, 2009
Posted by: Bill Gadless
According to MarketingSherpa/ADTECH research, 44% of marketers believe that email marketing to their house lists has “great ROI”. So you want to do as much as possible to keep your list names from being in the 69% that either “occasionally” or “frequently” unsubscribe from opt-in lists, according to Epsilon and ROI Research data. The biggest reasons (per the same survey)?
- 67% - Irrelevant content
- 64% - Receive too frequently
- 50% - Think address being sold
- 48% - Don’t recall signing up
We found that brief research summary in a June 17th piece in eMarketer’s free newsletter. The moral of the story seems pretty clear:
- Don’t email content that you’re not sure your readers will find useful.
- Avoid a too-frequent blast schedule; weekly – if not every other week – is probably about max for B2Bs.
- Don’t use a shady or disguised opt-in process, and do reassure your subscribers that “your address is safe with us.”
June 24th, 2009
Posted by: Bill Gadless
At this point, of course, it depends a bit on who you ask and how long you’re prepared to wait. Bing did have a good second week: based on ComScore numbers, Ina Fried over at CNET News reports that Bing added another percentage point (now up to a total of 3 points, post-launch) to its share of all Web searches.
For a longer view, check out Christopher Hosford’s B to B Magazine piece (we liked his title so well, we borrowed it above!), which presents opinions both pro and con. The consensus seems to be that the all-important ad dollars won’t swing in Microsoft’s direction until Bing materially changes the relative shares of searches conducted (historically 64% Google, 8% Microsoft Live Search) …and no one expects that to happen very quickly. However, Chris quotes a Forrester Research VP (Shar VanBoskirk) opining that Bing “could be a game-changer” that will “appeal to the savvy searcher seeking more relevant search results.”
Bing represents Microsoft’s 5th run at a search entry – at least in terms of branding – and they do have a track record of getting things right (enough) …eventually. We’ll be watching, and keeping you up to date.
June 23rd, 2009
Posted by: Bill Gadless
Here’s something I’ve noticed while helping improve search-engine marketing for so many clients, I’ve lost count: too often these days websites are busy selling, when most of today’s buyers need problem-solving.
Many – perhaps most – of your website visitors require a problem of theirs to be solved …especially those already sold on the idea of buying your type of product or service. That’s the main reason they’ve come to your website. If all your site does is trumpet the generic virtues of your product, it won’t do much to distinguish your company from others, and you risk letting those visitors leave, in effect, empty-handed.
Start here: What are your buyers’ problems?
Of course, you already know the half-dozen or so (more…)
June 8th, 2009
Posted by: Matt Roche
Like so many others, I make a trip each morning to my favorite local spot to get a cup of coffee before work. At this point in my day, I’m awake and coherent enough to operate my vehicle though one squinting eye, order my beverage and little else. When I request my daily cup of caffeine, I rely on the person behind the counter to give me a bit of courtesy in my first true social interaction of the day, and – sadly – I’m still occasionally faced with the absence of a simple “Thank You.”
Luckily, my usual place very rarely misses this pleasantry, but that makes it all the more obvious when it isn’t there. “No ‘thank you?’ Really? I’m giving you my business – my money – every morning, and I can’t get a ‘thanks?’”
When we don’t hear those two words in our day-to-day transactions out in the world, it affects us – our mood, our outlook. Yet every day, we have clients submit content where the “Thank You” text is rushed, an afterthought, or forgotten altogether. That kind of customer service doesn’t fly in brick and mortar business; it should be no surprise that it fails on the web, too. (more…)
May 4th, 2009
Posted by: Tim Croteau
In Search Engine Marketing, pragmatism is in short supply. And in B2B, realistic expectations and practical perspectives are more important than anywhere else.
With consumer widget-selling businesses, you can practically measure your ROI on a daily basis.
But in B2B, where complex (long) sales cycles prevail and quality outweighs quantity in terms of lead requirements, the need for patience is an understatement.
Todd Miechiels has compiled “The 7 Cardinal Sins of B2B Search Engine Marketing“. MarketingSherpa founder Anne Holland calls Todd “one of the rare search engine marketing experts who… (more…)
January 28th, 2009
Posted by: Bill Gadless
The most important, yet most often neglected element of a B-to-B web site’s home page is its main “billboard” messaging. A user will decide whether to stay on a site or leave within 5 seconds.
While a typical site will serve multiple objectives (e-commerce, marketing, customer service, employee optimization/intranet, public relations, investor relations, channel partner relations), in most cases, the focus is on NEW LEADS AND PROSPECTS.
This being the case, we can never ASSUME a visitor knows exactly what it is the company offers, and why it’s beneficial for him or her to go deeper into the site. A common argument (we don’t know why any marketer would argue proper site messaging) we hear is: “Nobody who hits our site is going to need to be told what we do. They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t know. And if they DON’T know, they’re not our prospects anyway”. Even if a user has sought you out in a search engine, or visited your site as a result of a marketing promotion, they STILL need a reminder UPON IMPACT that they have arrived at a site that might solve their business problem.
The prime real estate for site messaging is (more…)
January 24th, 2009
Posted by: Bill Gadless
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