Posts Tagged ‘b2b’
Book Review: Social Media Marketing – An Hour a Day
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010Despite its airy title, Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
While many types of marketing and PR pros will find value in the book, it is aimed primarily at mid-level marketers (entry-level staff will lack the business acumen to pull this off, while senior executives will delegate it) at midsize to large organizations, possibly in b2b but more likely in the b2c space.
Author Dave Evans (@evansdave) once worked as a systems analyst for the Voyager deep space exploration program with the Jet Propulsion Laboratories/NASA. Yes, this really is rocket science. From there, as Strategy Director GSD&M IdeaCity, he developed integrated communications programs for clients like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Southwest Airlines, AARP, the PGA Tour, Chili’s and other big brands. Later, he founded his own marketing technology consultancy. He’s a ClickZ columnist, frequent speaker, and has served on advisory boards for ad:tech and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. In short, he’s an extremely smart guy, though with an analytics-heavy, big organization background that shows through in this book.
The book begins with a fascinating trip through the early days of the web and the foundations of social media. Evans reminds us that the web grew from approximately 6,000 sites in 1992 to one million websites by the mid-nineties. One million websites. How quaint that number now seems! (Google currently indexes more than 10 billion sites.) Spam email led to a consumer backlash over unwanted advertising and the rise of ad-voidance. Technologies such as the iPod, DVRs, pop-up blockers, do-not-call registries and spam filters have empowered consumers to take control over the commercial messages they see. Marketers can no longer rely on interrupting prospective customers in order to get their attention; they need to earn it by producing content that people want and then making that content findable when buyers are searching.
Evans also makes an incredibly strong case for social media participation: “Your customers are already talking about you. The fact that you aren’t participating is your implicit endorsement of whatever it is that they are saying…You cannot choose whether or not your customers will see you on the social web. They will, because they will put you there. You can only choose whether or not you will join them there.” By not participating in social media, you embolden your critics while ignoring your fans. Research shows that two out of three word-of-mouth conversations reference a brand, product or service—and these conversations are increasingly moving online through social media.
From there, Evans’ hour-a-day plan is laid out, starting with an exploration of the different forms of social content (blogs, video, podcasting etc.). consumer-generated media, touchpoint analysis, measurement and metrics, planning a campaign (ugh, social media campaign?), using branded social media platforms, and social media monitoring, wrapping it all up with preparing and presenting your social media plan. This makes the book an excellent guide to developing a social media plan and justifying resource allocation in a large organization environment, if somewhat short on actual execution.
There are a few questionable statements in the book. For one, Evans cites the notoriously anti-business Wikipedia as “an example of why social media is useful to you as a marketer.” At another point, the author advises readers to spend 5-10 minutes “surveying” YouTube and “if you’ve never transferred content from a digital camera to the Internet, take a break now and try it.” Uh, at this point, if you don’t know what’s on YouTube or how to upload a file, perhaps social media marketing isn’t your ideal career choice.
One risk of writing a book like this is the speed at which the social media landscape is changing; though Social Media Marketing
He writes that participating in social media is essential for building trust with customers, then insists on developing robust ROI calculations for any social activity; which is it? The book focuses primarily on using social media to engage in brand conversations with consumers; certainly a critical application, but little acknowledgment is given to other uses of social media marketing including content sharing, media outreach and influencing the influencers. Evans claims that “there are so many good reasons to buy a hybrid other than pure fuel economy” without saying what any of those reasons are; perhaps the sporty styling? Finally, at one point, he actually recommends using an intern for social media data collection and metrics. Argh.
Still, quibbles aside, Evans is a sophisticated writer who brings great depth of insight his topic. He wisely notes that “on the social web, you can’t directly control the conversation. Instead, you influence it by setting an appropriate expectation and then delivering on it.” The book covers an incredibly wide range of social media sites, including some that many readers may not be familiar with. For those who haven’t read The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth
“The social web demands an active presence…if your profile isn’t up to date, if you’re not commenting, if you’re not making connections, you don’t exist. ‘Lights on, but no one home’ and you won’t get the results that you otherwise might. That seems obvious, but I point it out because I see a lot of profiles across a lot of social networks…evidently abandoned and now home to what look like virtual zombies taking up residence in so many empty storefronts.”
Regarding urgency: “Whether attracting and retaining key employees or attracting and retaining key customers, part of the challenge you face in tapping the social web is getting it done today.” While recognizing that measuring ROI from social media is challenging and requires skill and judgment, Evans provides a rich set of tools and models for keeping tabs on business results.
In short, Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
44 (of the) Best Twitter Articles and Blog Posts of 2009
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010There’s no doubt that Twitter is a phenomenon. It’s now the third-largest social network (behind Facebook and MySpace), the fastest-growing, and used by 75% of b2b companies. How can you optimize your organization’s use of Twitter? What are the best ways to search on this platform? How can you measure results? What are the best tools for increasing your effectiveness and efficiency on Twitter?
Discover the answers to these questions and others in this collection of some of the best blog posts and articles about Twitter from the past year.
Twitter Tips & Tactics
The Twitter Guide Book by Mashable
????? 5 stars
How-To: Create a Unique Twitter Background (UPDATED) by Interactive Insights Group
Robin Broitman
Twenty-One Top Twitter Tips by Forbes
Daniel Adler
HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Twitter #Hashtags by Mashable
Ben Parr
How to score the coveted retweet by iMedia Connection
Reid Carr
Free Twitter Backgrounds: 26 Sites To Get Them by Web Resources Depot
Twitter, chat and text messaging abbreviations by SearchCRM
Find Local People on Twitter Using NearbyTweets by Flyte Blog
Rich Brooks
The Top Five Essentials for a Successful Company Twitterfeed by KaneCo conversations
Jennifer Kane
Top 10 Twitter Basics Questions Answered by Junta42
Joe Pulizzi
10 Ways To Grow Your Twitter Influence by Knowledge Enthusiast
Matthew Royse
Ten Things you Must Know before Using Twitter by Tech n’ Marketing
Hillel Fuld
9 Twitter Directories You Should Be Listed On by jasonyormark.com
Jason Yormark
????? 5 stars
Twitter Search
Twitter Search Queries You Should Know by Magicomm Blog
Twitter Search Tips For B2B Marketers by Search Engine Land
Galen DeYoung
Five More Search Tools You Should Know: Twitter Edition by Search Engine Land
Matt McGee
Twitter Metrics & Measurement
6 Ways to Measure Your Twitter Voice by iMedia Connection
Daniel Flamberg
Twitter Analytics: Five Practical, Lesser Known Free Tools for B2B Professionals by ScoopDog’s Blog
????? 5 stars
3 Ways to Track Your Rank on Twitter by ProgrammableWeb
Adam DuVander
Twitter Insights & Observations
Following on Twitter: Quality vs Quantity by Hasai
25 of the Best Designed Twitter Homepages by Design Reviver
10 Basic Rules Of Twitter (And How To Avoid Being A Twanker) by Social Media Today
Rohit Bhargava
Twitter’s hidden marketing superpowers by iMedia Connection
Madhuri Shekar
Best Practices for Corporate Twittering by Social Media Today
Tom Humbarger
10 People You Won’t See on Twitter Anymore by Mashable
Jennifer Van Grove
Visualizing Twitter Statistics x100 by Digital Buzz Blog
Aden Hepburn
The Marketing Power of the Retweet: An Interview With Dan Zarrella by Social Media Examiner
Michael Stelzner
5 Reasons to Use the New Twitter List Feature by Duct Tape Marketing
John Jantsch
The 14 Types of Twitter Personalities by Media Caffeine
Here’s Hard Data for Headlines that Spread on Twitter by Copyblogger
Dan Zarrella
6 Twitter Tips You Should Have Figured Out on Your Own by Tech n’ Marketing
Hillel Fuld
Twitter Tools
105 Twitter Applications for PR Professionals by Everything PR
Genesis Davies
101 Twitter Tools – an insane list by marcmeyer’s posterous
Marc Meyer
????? 5 stars
The Ultimate List of Twitter Tools by The Social Media Guide
Matthew Tommasi
????? 5 stars
10 essential Twitter apps for marketers by iMedia Connection
Tricia Despres
TwitBacks (tool for creating custom Twitter backgrounds)
6 Twitter Apps for Marketing Your Business by Quick Online Tips
Sourish Nath
Twitter Critiques & Skepticism
Why Twitter will soon become obsolete by iMedia Connection
Jason Clark
(Interesting that this article was written nine months ago, but this hasn’t happened yet.)
Why Twitter Needs Its Bottom Spanked by Social Media Today
Jason Baer
The Twitter Revolution For Business May Not Be Televised by MediaPost Online Media Daily
Drew Kerr
Twitter Brings Lower Quality Clicks by eLearning Technology
Tony Karrer
And Finally…
Why Twitter Will Endure by The New York Times
David Carr
Study: Webinars, Twitter, Blogs Critical for B2B Social Media
Thursday, November 19th, 2009The brilliant and helpful team at Business.com have just released a phenomenal, must read research report, the 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study. The report covers responses from a wide range of company sizes and industries, and breaks the data down by those attributes as well as title and department. Among the most interesting findings:
Webinars and podcasts topped the list of most popular social media resources for business information, followed closely by user ratings (good news for b2b-focused social media sites like FYIndOut.com), company/product profile pages on social media sites, and company blogs. Social bookmarking sites (e.g. Digg, Mixx, StumbleUpon) were viewed as least important, though they are still used by 28% of respondents.
Those figures hold as well specifically for senior management, with 77% listening to podcasts or webinars, 61% visiting company blogs and more than half participating in online business communities or forums.
Large companies (defined in the study as having 100 or more employees) are somewhat more likely to actively used social media than smaller enterprises, though the difference varied considerably by specific activities. For example, employees at large companies were considerably more likely (84% vs. 67%) to spend time on webinars and podcasts, but only slightly more inclined (64% vs. 54%) to read company blogs for information.
Not surprisingly, marketing and communications professionals are the heaviest users of b2b social media. This group is followed however by senior management, then sales, then—who would have thought it—accounting and finance.
60% of respondents report spending less than 20% of their work time using social media, with the largest single group (37%) saying they spend 10-20% of their day with it. Only one out of five employees spend 30% or more of their working hours with social media.
Most b2b social media users are relative newbies. 30% have used social media for less than a year, two-thirds have been active for less than two years, and more than 80% have four years of less of social media experience.
Even more pronounced, on a company level, nearly 40% of enterprises have been using social media as a b2b business resource for less than a year; 72% for less than two years; and almost 90% for less than four years.
Among the most popular activities for “outbound” (as opposed to research) social media activities for b2b companies, 81% maintain company accounts/profiles on social media sites, 75% are on Twitter, 74% maintain company blogs, and 73% monitor social media mentions of their companies. At the other end of the scale, only 42% advertise on social media sites and just 36% use social media for employee recruiting.
76% of b2b companies report that their social media initiatives are driven by marketing, with 13% saying customer service is the driver. In contrast, the figures for b2c companies are 63% and 26%, respectively.
Finally, there is the matter of social media measurement. Among the top social media success metrics, 68% of b2b companies use website traffic as a key measurement of success, 61% brand awareness, and 60% engagement with prospects. At the other end of the scale, only 37% use prospect lead volume as a success metric (likely because social media is far more effective at brand building than lead generation) and 26% say it provides useful product feedback.
The only findings that seem somewhat questionable are that 60% of respondents claimed they can demonstrate the revenue impact of social media activities and 57% said they can measure prospect lead volume. This is suspect because ROI metrics for social media are notoriously difficult to measure accurately, and because, if these measures were true, one would have expected different answers to the question above regarding success metrics.
Overall, this report from Business.com is fascinating reading and a valuable resource for anyone involved in b2b social media use. Again, you can download the b2b social media benchmark study here.
