To celebrate the release of my new book, The End of Business as Usual, I recently hosted a discussion on behalf of Vocus on how businesses should rethink a marketing-driven social media approach by not just engaging, but activating a market-driven strategy defined by smarter, more meaningful engagement. More than 1,000 people attended the event and while I tried to answer every question, many were left unaddressed because of time constraints. This post tackles some of the recurring questions we…
B2B Social Media Lead Generation Explained
Guest post by Eric Schwartzman and Paul Gillin B2B social media marketing is particularly well suited for business-to-business lead generation. Business purchasing decisions are made by stakeholder committees with diverse priorities and a voracious appetite for details. Social media is the most efficient channel for committees of engineers, product developers, purchasing managers and marketers to self-educate, and a way for marketers to abbreviate sales cycles. B2B social media makes it possible for marketers to inform communities with greater fidelity and…
Are Your Ears Burning? In Social Networks, One-Third of Consumers Talk Brands Every Week
Social media didn’t invent conversations, it provided us with tools to surface and organize them. Conversations about brands predates the mediums used to connect messages and aspirations with consumers. The motivation for brands to engage in social networks varies based on the culture and agility of each company, but what is constant is the aspiration to connect with customers and prospects to earn awareness, attention and connections. On the other hand, B2B and B2C consumers have also expressed desire to…
The Business of B2B Social Media
Social Media is often misconstrued as a medium for business-to-consumer or B2C engagement and discounted as a viable communications network for those companies focused on business-to-business transactions. However, B2B, as in any other field impacted by online activity, is faced with a prime opportunity to not only cultivate communities in social networks and other social channels, but also amplify awareness, increase lead generation, reduce sales cycles, and perhaps most importantly, learn and adapt to market dynamics in real-time. Ignorance is…
The Business of Social Media: B2B and B2C Engagement by the Numbers
I spend a great deal of time working within the B2B sector, among other things, and social media is a growing and or pervasive program within a comprehensive, integrated communications and service strategy. In almost every scenario I’ve encountered, executives, marcom and service executives, and brand managers have generally assumed that social and interactive activities and programming were ideally best suited for consumer applications. However, as we recently explored, in Social Media, it’s not just business, it’s business-to-business. Indeed, Social…
The Evolution of Social Media and Business
Social Media is fundamentally transformative and is rapidly evolving the architecture of business, communications, and the dissemination of information and influence. Today, there are businesses that engage in social media and those that do not. Those at least experimenting with the formidable, yet shifting landscape of intelligence and communication are learning how to adapt and connect in a new world of conversation, networking, and influence. Those that have yet to evaluate the opportunities and advantages for socialized marketing, service, sales,…
In Social Media, It’s Not Just Business, It’s Business-To-Business
Source: Shutterstock (edited) As some social media experts are now starting to realize, businesses need a little bit more than relationships to justify their spend in conversational marketing. Relationships are difficult to forge and even more burdensome to measure. And while participation and engagement are part of a more effective interactive business communications program now, we can not neglect our responsibilities to the bottom line as well as our dedication to existing customers and prospects. Socialized media affects an organization…
Opening Up the Corporate Kimono – Corporate Blogs are the Heart and Soul of Business
Blogging is nothing new. It’s already propelled many of whom used it as a part-time platform for their opinions and observations into the stratosphere, or shall we say blogosphere. Many bloggers and blogerati are rock stars, regardless of industry and journalistic background. Their intelligence, words of wisdom and associated niches attract legions of loyal readers. The technologies available today allow writers to easily publish, link, feed, and market globally – all with a bit of simple HTML code on their…
Using PR to Reach the IT Market – Q&A with Marketing to IT
Marketing to electronics companies and electronic engineers requires than marketing to other audiences/industries. Q. What’s unique/different about marketing to IT? A. 1st of all, the marketing landscape is completely different than just a few years ago. The channels of influence are varied and in many cases, traditional platforms for influence have shifted in favor of more p2p (peer to peer) aggregation networks emerge. The difference is extreme. Electronics companies and electronic engineers work within a different paradigm. Their produce development…
