Going beyond the Big Three: 3 more social nets B2Bs should use

When B2B marketers decide to take the plunge into social media – and hopefully after first establishing their company’s blog – they usually begin with the Big 3 of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, since those three do typically account for most of the action for B2Bs.

But life doesn’t end there, Megan Leap reminds us in a recent post on MarketingProfs’ Daily Fix.  In particular, she points out three social networks that are [Read more...]

Google can find anything you create; is your creativity keeping pace?

Just around 3 years ago, the major search engines began to incorporate
material other than straight-text Web pages in their results listings,
in pursuit of a nirvana they dubbed “universal search.” Today, you’ll
see anything from video, images, and maps to news, podcasts, books,
products and user reviews popping up in search results.

Previously, we’ve urged our B2B readers to supplement their textual
content with video and images …although we came at it mainly from the
perspective of what will best engage and educate your human visitors.
The old adage says a picture is worth a thousand words …and it’s
definitely more interesting;  many moving pictures (as in video), even more so.

But with the advent of universal search, there’s now another equally
compelling reason to deploy such richer media:  they can help you [Read more...]

3 ways to integrate social media into your current online marketing

We’re sometimes asked by clients considering a plunge into social media whether those media can be integrated into their existing online marketing vehicles …usually search, display ads and email.

Here’s a nice post on iMedia Connection from Bill Flitter, who not only answers with a resounding “Yes!”, but cites several ways to do it… [Read more...]

7 free B2B social media tools you probably haven’t heard of

Those B2Bs holding out on social media in the belief that it’s too cumbersome and time-consuming may soon be running out of excuses.  The social networks themselves are becoming ever more business-friendly, and a plethora of tools is springing up to streamline the usage and management of social-media programs.  We’ve posted several samplings of such tools, the most recent just a few weeks back.

So it was good to come across a review of 14-odd such tools that Adam Holden-Bache posted on Social Media B2B.  We thought we’d just pull out and list here the subset of Adam’s list that are available free (at least for now)… [Read more...]

ROI metrics really do help B2B marketers do a better job – research

Most of us marketers feel like we’re pretty much on top of things …most of the time.  So this survey result (of 231 B2B marketers …significantly large) may seem astounding:

  • 44% said that if asked by their C-suite, they would have no idea of the impact on profit of a 10% increase in their budget
  • only 32% said such an increase would improve profits by at least 10%

This result and more come from [Read more...]

Search Engine Optimization: Top 10 Harsh Realities

Sadly, there are a number of shady practitioners out there who will attempt to take your good money by promising virtually impossible-to-achieve results from search engine optimization (SEO).  Worse, they would lead you to believe that their magical methods will succeed with virtually no effort on your part, as a B2B client firm.

Folks, I’ve been at this for roughly a decade now, in both B2C and B2B environments and on both client and agency sides …which I think qualifies me to tell you “it ain’t necessarily so”;  and in fact, it necessarily ain’t so.  The fact is that while SEO can surely bring substantial benefit to your B2B’s online marketing program, its capabilities are not unlimited; and the process will require significant effort on your part (although some of that may be outsource-able).

Based on that extensive experience, then, here are my top 10 SEO “harsh realities”: [Read more...]

Rumors of telemarketing’s death are greatly exaggerated

Social media should have their own “Most wanted” photo in the Post Office;  they’ve been accused of causing the premature death of websites, email marketing …and now today’s alleged victim, telemarketing.

Of course, none of these accusations has yet been proven in court;  and in the case of telemarketing, it ain’t ever gonna happen …or so says Kristin [Read more...]