Posts tagged social media


Why B2B’s MUST adopt social media strategies

Jun 17th

4 comments

With most of my career with Fortune 100 blue chip companies, I know what it’s like to market in a hyper-competitive, show-me-the-money environment. I’ve been aggressively skeptical about the role of social media in an environment where there is a finite number of customers, an emphasis on long-term contracts, and no patience for fluff.

But after spending a few weeks assessing the state of social media among industrial companies, I’m changing my mind.

To be sure, B2B social media successes have been scarce. According to a 2009 Forrester research study, 86% of B2B companies had NO integrated social media strategy. These are smart folks — if there is a way to market effectively for less, they’ll be doing it. But there are good reasons why there is slow adoption in this segment of business:

  • Social media takes time and new skillsets. The recession will depress any rapid change in marketing capabilities.
  • In a failing economic environment, the emphasis is on near-term cash generation and survival, not “community.”
  • Building a community seems less relevant when you have a small number of known customers tied up in long-term contracts.
  • Understanding the shift in marketing channels, customer dynamics and relevance to B2B will take time … and maybe a few retirements.

When the economy improves, I believe mainstream B2B companies WILL make the shift as they understand how technology is already re-defining their customer relationships. Here’s why:1) Sales and marketing is about building relationships … and that’s what social media is all about. The intense, high-value B2B industrial relationships are like a marriage. B2C is a flirtation — gimme a coupon and I’ll go out with you baby. There are probably lots of ways this important, long-term B2B bond can be enhanced through the constant contact enabled by social media, especially throughout a long sales cycle. Perhaps it will take place behind a firewall — most people don’t want to discuss their marriage in public!

2) It’s where the customers are. In some of my seminars, I challenge attendees to find their “truckstop“ — the place where customers hang out. That place has changed dramatically over the past few years. Even baby boomers are spending enormous amounts of time on the Internet. The lines between professional “truckstops” and social “truckstops” are blurring. In the old days, business networking took place on the golf course or at glitzy trade shows booths. Those days are over. We need to find the new truckstops and they’re online (53% of Facebook users are over 35, up from 46% in 2008).

3) Social media can play a critical role in the information-gathering process. The consequences of a major buy are high and purchasing agents use all available means to gather data on your company and product. They’re going to Google the heck out of you. So why not help them and gain an edge by putting quality content everywhere — blogs, videos and social networking communities that can help your cause.

4) It can help build loyalty. Compared to impulsive B2C behaviors, there are probably fewer opportunities to influence direct sales through SM. However, that’s just one piece of the sales pipeline. What about service? Technical support? Product development? Customer involvement and loyalty? I’ve been guilty of focusing too much on the lead-generating opportunities of social media and have not given enough credit to the other parts of the sales cycle.

5) Social media is a way to engage and inspire far-flung employees. Today, every employee can be your best sales advocate or a corporate terrorist. It has never been more important to enlist your employees and engage them through the power of social media. For example, Ingram Micro, the world’s largest technology distributor, has open Facebook sites available by country so their employees can connect and collaborate. IBM, GE and others are actively engaging employees to tell their company story through this global Town Hall meeting.

6) If you don’t engage, it will be done for you! My previous blog showed an example where Dow’s name has been hijacked for several fake social media sites that pillory the company. Today, every customer can be a critic, every employee a reporter, every activist a broadcaster. Without an active voice in social media, your company will be defined by others.

Props: In the best spirit of social media, my enlightenment on this subject was nurtured by blogs and thought leaders such as Chris Brogan, Jamie Wallace, John Bottom, Nathan Egan, and Jason Falls    . If you’re interested in social media’s impact on marketing, follow their tweets, blogs and insights.

How is your B2B company coping with the transition to this new world of “community?”

, , , , , , ,

Social media channels will become fragmented

Jun 10th

3 comments

Here’s a trend to watch — social media platforms will rapidly segment and become more specialized to meet the needs of their growing communities.

What do I mean by this?  Think about the early years of television. For decades there were just three network channels serving the entire population.  As the user base swelled and cable became predominant, a channel emerged for every conceivable taste and interest.

Today a few social media channels are rising to dominance — YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are some of the heavy hitters. At this point in their lifecycle, they can still try to be everything to everybody because the demographic profile of their users is still fairly homogeneous. But as the social media population builds, critical mass will emerge to support more specialized applications, which can be created rather quickly and inexpensively on the Internet.

In the near future, wouldn’t it be fun to be able to “tune-in” to on-going Twitter conversations on a certain topic? We are already seeing this today on breaking news and current events by having the ability to follow a “trending topic.” Eventually there will be Twitter channels for every conceivable interest and hobby, not just news.

As critical mass builds, smaller, specialized platforms will be able to attract a critical mass of users that can support an advertising initiative necessary to cover costs.

, , , ,

The writing's on the wall: An interview with Sharpie's Twitter Queen

Jun 2nd

4 comments

When I first learned that Sharpie pens had its own Twitter-er, I couldn’t believe it. How in the world could you spend your day writing 140-character statements about INK PENS?
I decided to “follow” SharpieSusan and see for myself. I’m hooked. The enthusiasm, authenticity and wit driving her stream of tweets is addictive!

A former newspaper reporter and PR counsel to Kraft, Honeywell, American Airlines and others, Susan Wassel now combines “traditional” with “new” as both PR and social media manager for Sharpie. This week, Susan and her company launched a new community website and social media strategy. Amid this chaos, she had time to talk to me about her social media job and challenges.

How did you become the Twitter Queen of Sharpie?

Like the rest of us, I was reading about the Twitter phenomenon and the opportunity it offered marketers to connect informally with their audiences. It also worked out that Twitter was a platform that seemed most successful when a “personality” was involved. Let’s just say Twitter and I were a match made in heaven. I was lucky that lots of passionate Sharpie users were already Tweeting away and welcomed me into the conversation.

Does your company participate in other social media channels? Which seem to work best for your brand and why??

We just officially launched Sharpie’s Facebook fan page and You Tube site. Both are part of a larger initiative to celebrate Sharpie’s passionate users and the amazing things they create with our product. Our community channels are all housed on this new community site, http://www.sharpieuncapped.com/, along with a Sharpie gallery, a how-to video section, a virtual product test drive app, and of course the Sharpie blog, which I edit and which was our very first foray into social media.?

How do you measure the effectiveness of your Twitter-based promotional dialogue?

To date, we’ve only looked at number of followers, not because we didn’t want to know more but because we didn’t have the resources in place to dig deeper. The launch of our new community website includes an analytics initiative led by our agency Draftfcb that will take a closer look at some of our social media properties and Sharpie’s share of voice overall in the social media sphere. While we’ll get some fairly immediate feedback, we’re looking at measurement over the course of 6 months to give us broader measure of Sharpie conversation over time.

Other than raising awareness for your brand, have there been other, unexpected benefits of your Twitter campaign?

Again, nothing quantitative yet but more anecdotal. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Twitterers in general love Sharpie. They often express how surprised and excited they are to see Sharpie on Twitter. Everybody seems to have a Sharpie story they want to share – whether it’s a favorite color or a great idea about how to use Sharpies — from the Sharpie dress one sculptor sent me to the giant Sharpie-shaped birthday cake a fan made for a friend. People send me Twitpics of Sharpies on their desks at work, in their backpacks at art school, in the hands of celebrities at rock concerts and Broadway performances. It really is an amazing thing to see so many people so passionate about a little ol’ marker!?????

How do you explain to mainstream management what you do and why you do it?

Mainstream management isn’t so mainstream any more. I think you’d have to be living in a cave to have missed the social media movement and the power it can wield over brands. While not all execs have it figured out, they know it’s big, they know it matters and they couldn’t be more supportive of efforts at Sharpie to open a dialogue with our consumers and find out how we can continue to make them happy.

Everyone knows you are blatantly promoting a product … yet you remain so authentic and endearing! What advice do you have for others learning to promote their products through social media channels?

Ah, this is where the magic comes in. This is the part you can’t buy at the store. I think that for the most part, the people today who have stepped up to the plate within corporations to commandeer social media are those with their own deep passion for the product. And it is that genuine passion that consumers connect with.?I use Sharpies, my family uses Sharpies, my friends, my relatives — who doesn’t use Sharpies? There’s just something about their shiny cigar-shaped barrels, the bold, brilliant colors, the bright and smooth way the ink lays down, that I love! Not a day goes by that I don’t use them to label one of my kids’ lunch bags or make a Christmas ornament with the cousins or create big loopy bubble letters on my daughter’s 8th?grade graduation poster. So I have lots to of real-life Sharpie fodder for my Tweets. And then of course I always get off on these talk tangents. There is a group of us addicted to NPR, another caught up in the Jon & Kate crisis. It’s not just all Sharpie all the time and I think that’s important too.

Photo credit Promo magazine
, , , , , , , , , ,

Alternative perspectives on social media impact

May 29th

No comments

My article this week on social media’s impact on personality development spawned many thought-provoking comments and insights. I wanted to share some of the best posts with you as we continue to explore the dangers and opportunities presented by the daily digital hurricane.
Trevor Longino, CEO, Overnight PR.com
I think, as we reach a point where practically everything about us is tracked and assembled in one location (anyone here heard of Google Wave yet?) we will find that anyone who’s not fully opted-in to the hyper-connected reality of the early 21st century will be increasingly out of the loop. Sure, when the CEOs are all people who are 50, never got comfortable with computers, and don’t understand how to “get a twitter,” the gradient is tilted in opposition to the differently socialized kids of today. But wait a decade and see what happens; everyone who can’t dip into the stream of endless communication, sharing, and feedback will find themselves high and dry. My only despair, with younger siblings who are 17, 15, and 13, is that they may send 500 texts a day, but they don’t spell a word correctly in any of them. :)
James Wallis Martin, Director at JB Metrics
…short attention spans, a lack of social skills, and a shaky sense of identity. It sounds like what every generation says about the generation about to come. I am sure it was uttered by researchers in the 50′s (Rockers), then again in the 60′s (Hippies), then again in the 70′s (Stoners), then skipped in the 80′s as everyone in the decade suffered, (not just a single generation), then again in the 90′s (Slackers), and now in the 00′s (Emos).
Social networking is allowing all of us to stay better connected with our friends around the world, those that we otherwise would lose contact with, and helping those that find it difficult to socialize, (either do to location, interests, or personality traits) to be able to socialize. I would postulate that the researchers that are critical of social networking are the same folks who find it difficult to find five friends to invite in Facebook. (whether because they are not comfortable with the technology or because they are stuck in physical mode only wanting to socialize with people they can see in front of them).
Brenna DeLeo, Social Media specialist, Image Communications
I agree with your article, however I think that many of these problems are due to a dependence on electronics in general. Instead of playing outside with their friends, young kids are on their computer or gaming systems. The constant use of MP3 players, cell phones and portable games prevent the awareness of the environment around them, not to mention the opportunity to meet and interact with new people. Overall, I agree that ‘short attention spans, lack of social skills and a shaky sense of identity’ could very well result.
John Bottom, Director at B2B agency Base One, U.K.
Mark – I echo your concerns, but is this change necessarily change for the worse? Social standards have constantly changed through history. For example, much modern social behaviour would be considered shockingly casual/rude/impolite to a Victorian observer, but who are we to say that they were wrong and we are right? Or that future generations, as they continue this trend, are wrong. Of course, the growing use of social media, texting, iPhones, video games etc is a big issue today. They’re all technologies that catalyse change – just as movies and TV helped make us different to previous generations. This will undoubtedly have implications for the future, and we (as the over 20s) need to be aware of it. But is there any point trying to stop it? Or even worry about it? The only certainty is change…
Zulfigar Deo, MBA student, Haaga Helia University, Helsinki
Progress is adding to what has already been done. The fundamental nature of change you have mentioned started off last century. If you look at the rate of progression we have made in the last 100 yrs, you’ll see never in history has man done so much in so little time. e.g the fax has come and gone, cassettes have come and gone. Social media, how long do you think it will stay for? I agree we are finally heading towards doing things in a way that even if we wanted to relate to the past we won’t be able to, but this is the start of the acceptance that we are fundamentally doing things differently. Should we start talking how build a sustainable competitive edge from this?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
, , ,
« First...1020«2324252627»...Last »