Finally! A B2B social media success story

Oct 19th

At long last, I bring to you my valued {grow} folks, a true B2B social media success story that can really be measured by MONEY. I believe this is the only one in the world. ; ) And it is GENIUS!

Best of all, the success comes from one of our very own {grow}-er’s, Nathan Dube aka @DubiousMonk, a frequent comment contributor.

Nathan works in the marketing department of Expert Laser Services of Southbridge, MA. The company is a managed print services provider and provides printer/copier sales, service and supplies. Nathan’s challenge was to increase awareness for his company through social media initiatives.

His idea was to let people release their technology angst by finding the most creative ways to destroy their printer — on video. The “Destroy Your Printer Video Contest” was promoted through the company’s blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The oddball humor of the contest gave it a great buzz and more – web traffic more than doubled and the company gained more than 100 new inbound links. Recycler magazine did an Internet TV special about the contest as well as an article which was the most-read topics on the site for several weeks.

The submissions can be found here and they are hilarious. The winning entry involves a backhoe (but I think the dynamite should have won: “We’re approaching the target!”).

Momentum for the contest picked up as people fell in love with the crazy ways people destroyed their printers. One fan was an employee of nearby Telesian Technologies, who called up Expert Laser Services and asked them to be their new service provider.

That’s right. New business. Money in the bank from a social media victory.

Nathan said getting a new customer was just icing on the cake. “The focus of the contest was not ‘let’s get customers’,” he said. ” The focus was to drive more traffic to the website, build inbound links, and create good content. The fact that we landed a new service and repair customer was not our goal, but it happened.”

And to make a happy ending even happier, the winner of the contest, Cottage Revolution of Wales, MA, donated their winning toner cartridges to Catholic Charities.

best practices, business strategy, customer acquisition, Internet marketing, marketing strategy, social media

Social Web Ushers in “The Era of Alone”

Oct 15th

21 comments

To a large extent, civilization has been defined by the way it communicates and the tectonic plates of of our culture have shifted. Permanently. The social web has ushered in the ”Era of Alone.”

You can witness this transformational power of communication in almost any history book.

Look at a map of Europe. Ever wonder why all the countries are approximately the same size? It was largely determined by how much territory a messenger could cover on horseback in two days. Even the vast empires of the past were divided into states that approximated this size. You could not possibly control a territory larger than a two-day ride from the center point. Communication determined kingdoms.

Communication also defined our social structures. Even the smallest Medieval village had a town square where people could meet, trade and socialize. Gathering each evening to meet was the only communication channel we had for centuries. The entire city was built around that center of communication.

With radio, for the first time, we could get immediate news and entertainment without stepping outside. The TV became the centerpiece of the home, a place where families gathered each evening to watch a flickering screen. That innovation, combined with the automobile, ended the need for city squares, but it was still a “social” communication channel – you could do it with your family and friends. In fact, it was better that way.

Today, seemingly every person under 40 is wired to a portable electronic communicator to provide news and entertainment how we want it, where we want it, when we want it. It’s called the Internet and social media, but there isn’t much truly “social” about it. We don’t gather in a city center to share Facebook. We don’t sit around a fireplace and read tweets to one another.

For the first time in history, daily communication and entertainment can be a solitary event. I’ve observed hordes of teenagers hunched over cell phones, frantically texting one another … even when they are surrounded by friends! Isn’t it ironic these new tools actively, incessantly pull us away from live human interaction, and yet we call it “social” media?

The basic premise of the popular “World is Flat” book is that people and place don’t matter any more. We can be employed, connected, global citizens and never step outside. If we do, it’s to the coffee shop for WiFi rather than camaraderie.

How strange and sad. You and I never have to meet or speak or touch one another. We can be completely informed, entertained and connected individuals, while sitting alone in a small dark room. Civilization is still defined by how we communicate. Welcome to the Era of Alone.

I’ve learned that when I spew deep thoughts like this nobody reads it, so congratulations, and thank you, if you’ve made it this far. : ) I appreciate your indulgence and would value your comments!

This is the Fourth and final segment of a series on “Self and Social Media.”

Part 1: The Next Social Media Imperative: Defining YOU!

Part 2: Do You Have What it Takes to Kick Social Media Ass?

Part 3: Social Media Expert: Women Need Not Apply?

social media, sociology, work/life balance

Is Twitter business success “in the cards” for you?

Sep 18th

3 comments

My friend Jayme Soulati sent me a great little story about getting new business through Twitter. I thought you might enjoy it! Here’s Jayme:

The name of the game, as they frequently say, Mark, is developing relationship for ultimate Twitter success. I began tweeting for Cardthartic, a 16-year-old private greeting card publisher, in June. Currently, we have merely 130 followers and 200 tweets. Because the web site relaunch was not slated until September 2009, I knew I needed to establish a presence, build reputation and tweet about our passionate greeting cards in a sincere way.

Content is king. No doubt about that. While I could not drive traffic to the antiquated Web site, all I could do was tweet about the greeting within each card. To gain followers, I reviewed trending topics for “florists” who carry our cards that are nationally distributed and kept following people oriented to moms, grandmas, pet lovers, gift givers and florists. In a little over a month, I got my first authentic sale from Twitter!

Here’s Jayme’s list for Twitter success:

Establish yourself with relevant and sincere content.
Do not directly sell with offensive marketing gimmicks, like teeth whiteners.
Personify yourself; a human is tweeting so who are you?
While tweeting for a company brand is acceptable, come out from behind the curtain and be accessible.
To convert a lead into a sale, ensure you pull in the traditional troops to close the deal.
Monitor, monitor. Had we not been in close touch with the Tweets, we could easily have missed potential sales.

business strategy, social media, twitter, Uncategorized

Five reasons B2B companies should reject social media marketing

Sep 15th

19 comments

In yesterday’s post, I demonstrated that even in the case of the most extreme B2B sales situation (one customer, long sales cycle, few competitors), there could be a place for social media marketing. Today I’ll tell you why it isn’t that simple.

Does my schizophrenia seem strange? I’ve been around long enough to know that even when there’s a slam-dunk business case for something, it doesn’t mean a company will do it. This has been quite apparent in B2B where hard-dollar social media successes have been few and far between, despite a lot of hype. Here are five good reasons why some B2B’s should NOT adopt social media right now:

1) The economy sucks. Unless a customer is screaming for social media, it’s not likely a struggling company is going to voluntarily get into a brand new marketing effort in the teeth of a recession. Even though most social media is “free,” it still takes valuable time and resources many companies don’t have right now. (On the flip side, your competitors are in the same boat – why not get a jump start on this now?)

2) The strategy doesn’t make sense. In these economically-urgent times, the focus is probably on generating short-term sales through established channels. There is nothing wrong with that – in fact, it’s an entirely appropriate strategy. If your company is burning the furniture to heat the building, it’s probably not the right time to start an internal battle to create a Facebook page.

3) The resources simply don’t exist. If you’re working in PR or marketing for a large B2B today, it’s likely that you’re doing a job that used to be two or three jobs a few years ago. Who really has the incremental time to take on social media and do it well? Maybe when the economy turns your company can free up the resources, but in the near-term, you may need to stay focused on only the most important customer initiatives. Be patient.

4) You don’t want to be social. Let’s say you work for a defense contractor. You really don’t want to conduct business on the social web, do you? So hanging out on Twitter is not for every business situation. I recently put a slide presentation out on the web that was promptly picked up and copied by my competitor. Will it hurt me? Not really. Could a similar situation hurt a company like Boeing? Yup. It might be more prudent to establish internal, secure collaborative efforts instead using the social web.

5) Your customers don’t care. I was at a gathering of about 15 B2B executives last week. All VP’s or higher … very influential to the purchasing decision at their companies. None of them were involved in social media. Nada. Wouldn’t know a tweet if it poked them in the nose. If these folks are your customers, you’re wasting your time on social media, aren’t you? In fact, I would say this is the number one issue facing B2B social web marketing: The customers aren’t engaged. Yet.

OK, please let me pre-empt a few hot-blooded retorts bound to show up in the comment section … I’m not saying DON’T do social media. You know me better than that. I know that every one of these reasons I listed could be turned around as a reason TO DO social media marketing!

My job is to consult and help businesses, and I actively recommend at least some social media component to the marketing plan of almost any customer. But I’m also practical and sympathetic to the needs of businesses that are just trying to survive right now. While there is almost certainly a place for social media in even traditional B2B situations, we need to realize that resistance may make perfect sense in the context of a lousy business situation. It might just be a matter of timing.

And although there may be real business situations that could delay social web engagement, there are also plenty of lame excuses. I will continue my schizophrenic journey tomorrow with some of these beauties!

OK, your turn. Let ‘er rip!