December 8th, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tim Freestone
There’s a reason why companies are more likely to turn to Twitter and Facebook than corporate blogging: corporate blogging isn’t easy. Twitter and Facebook let you churn out bite-sized pieces of content without forcing you to think fully or comprehensively, let alone communicate a message clearly and distinctly. Well, that’s a limitation of Twitter and Facebook, frankly, not to mention most social media marketing strategies.
When you turn to social media marketing, especially in the B2B space, there’s no substitute for having a blog. Period. Without a blog as the cornerstone of your social media marketing efforts, the rest won’t get far. The effort associated with corporate blogging comes with clear benefits, particularly that you’ll be able to say everything your target market will need to know to make an informed investment decision.
When I ran into an article on Web 2.0 Journal, I basically saw enter:marketing’s approach to social media marketing staring right back at me: it has to be blog-centric, and here are six reasons why:
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November 1st, 2010 - Posted in Strategy by Tim Freestone
Small and mid-sized IT solution providers understand the value of leads. Without a full and steady pipeline, it’s easy to get nervous about the future. And with relatively tight marketing budgets, tough decisions are often necessary, and the focus naturally turns to demand generation over other important marketing initiatives, such as solidifying your brand.
What you may not realize, however, is that an investment in your brand is also an investment in shorter sales cycles, deeper client relationships and repeat business that comes at a lower cost than new client acquisition. Frankly, it pays to invest some of your marketing budget in branding, even if it comes at the expense of some lead generation.
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September 22nd, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tim Freestone
Most marketers are still using social media tools for in-platform branding, which translates to lost opportunity. According to the latest survey by MarketingSherpa, 78 percent of respondents are participating on company branded or managed social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, with another 63 percent using microblogging tools (e.g., Twitter). Content sharing, blogging and social media news releases also receive a considerable amount of attention, at 63 percent, 59 percent and 48 percent of respondents, respectively.
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September 15th, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tom Johansmeyer
Unless you’ve spent a lot of time sifting through the minutiae of social media marketing, you’d probably think that having a story retweeted dozens of times will translate to a hefty increase in pageviews and exposure for your corporate blog. Well, as you’re planning your social media marketing strategy – as with any marketing effort – it pays to think about the people you’re actually targeting.
I’ve always been stunned by the disparity between the action a story gets on Twitter and the actual amount of blog traffic to which it translates. It seems that one really doesn’t have much to do with the other, and a recent study shows why.
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August 25th, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tim Freestone
Back when Twitter had only 3 million users or so, you could market by developing a rich, high-value following, engaging in conversations with your target market and … well … not really marketing. Now that Twitter has topped 125 million users, using the microblogging service as a newsfeed has become far more effective, even though it ostensibly shuns much of what makes social media “social.” Yet, marketers have adapted to this evolution in Twitter, continuing to find ways to use the service to drive traffic to blogs and websites in the hope of luring prospects into their sales cycle.
And just when you were getting comfortable, it’s all about to change again.
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August 18th, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tim Freestone
As you get ready to jump into the social media marketing fray, the draw of just getting started can be powerful. The potential associated with this form of marketing is high, and the pressure to claim your space on the most visible social networks is intense. It’s also fraught with risk, especially if you leap before you look.
Want to make your corporate blog – and Facebook page and Twitter presence – a success? Here are four crucial objectives to focus on:
1. Publishing regularly: this may seem counter-intuitive, as it deals with your company, not your market. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find that both sides of the equation are affected. Without regular content, your market has no reason to engage. Further, it’s challenging to create interesting and useful content regularly, so you need to make that a clear goal.
Objective to set: frequency of publication
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August 13th, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tom Johansmeyer
Either you’ve been tasked with starting your company’s blog, or you just think it’s a good idea. Now what?
Unless you’ve already dipped a toe in the blogging pond, the entire experience can seem overwhelming. Since any corporate marketing initiative comes with a lead time – consisting of everything from design and development to legal approvals – the best first step is to start a blog of your own. As your company is going through the necessary machinations, you can take the time to get a feel for what blogging is.
This may seem like a big step, but it’s actually rather tame. Don’t spend too much time planning (or worrying about what you’ll write). Just head over to WordPress, register and look around.
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August 2nd, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing, Solution Provider Services by Tim Freestone
It’s the marketing mix that leads to better demand generation — not a focus on one particular approach. To fill your sales pipeline, it’s best to use a combination of new and traditional marketing techniques. Don’t ignore social media, but at the same time, be sure to build in some direct mail and telemarketing. The key is to pull it all together into an integrated go-to-market strategy.
Instead of thinking about marketing tactics, start with your objectives. What do you want to accomplish? This can include revenue goals, new account wins and existing client penetration. Once you’ve figured out what you want to reach, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get there.
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June 28th, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing, Solution Provider Services by Tim Freestone
“Large” creeps its way into just about every social media marketing endeavor. Companies want legions of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. And a blog that isn’t highly trafficked and packed with comments almost feels neglected.
Resist the temptation to believe that big is beautiful, and refocus on marketing basics — you’ll get a greater return on your social media marketing investment.
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June 23rd, 2010 - Posted in Social Media Marketing by Tom Johansmeyer
When you rely on tools like Twitter to support your marketing efforts, you’re assuming a certain amount of risk: you can’t control the stability of the platform. As we’ve seen with Twitter’s recent capacity problems, you can lose access to 125 million people because the platform is rendered unavailable. The alternative, of course, would be to sacrifice access to that profound amount of users — with the ante for Facebook up around 500 million.
You can’t stay away, but you can’t simply accept that availability risk will be a part of your future. Fortunately, there’s some space in the middle. Check out our recent guest post on SocialTimes to learn four ways you can hedge against Twitter platform instability.
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Five Reasons Why Social Media Marketing Must Start with Your Corporate Blog
