Posted by: Kristi Jackson, Marketing Coordinator
As Social media continues to grow and become an important factor within the B2B industry, companies are beginning to realize the importance of claiming their space through tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in order to reach their consumers. However, most companies are not utilizing these tools to their full potential.
Companies often forget the lead generating opportunities that social media tools like Facebook have to offer. One things that B2B companies should keep in mind to increase lead generation on Facebook is to be sure to have links to the company resources that they already have such as email subscriptions, newsletters, white papers, brochures, etc. on their fan page. By placing registration behind these links, companies can start generating leads from their Facebook consumers. Additionally, tracking URL’s can be placed on these links to easily measure leads generated from Facebook.
Because we know that consumers who are coming to a company’s Facebook fan page are typically already interested in the company’s offerings and are looking for more information, it is important to include content that is unique to Facebook and will give these users a reason to continue to come back. One way that this can be done is by providing a special offer to these consumers that they cannot get by going to your corporate website.
Utilizing these ideas for a B2B Facebook page will not only benefit companies by creating another channel for lead generation, but it will also continue to enhance their users experience on Facebook.
Posted by: Susan Smith, Marketing Coordinator
Now that Google and Bing are displaying Twitter tweets in organic search results alongside other social media, tweets should be optimized just as a website would be. There are multiple ways to increase the relevancy of your tweets and have them indexed by the search engines:
- Get more followers, each follower is considered an incoming link
- Get relevant followers, keywords in their bios relate to your relevancy
- Get tagged in lists that relate to your industry
- Have your tweets retweeted
- Tweet relevant, keyword rich content utilizing active lingo and buzzwords
- Choose a username that is short, easy to remember, and relevant to your brand or industry
- Stick to one handle/username for consistent indexing
- Choose an account name that reflects and promotes your brand
- Utilize the 160 characters available for a bio to insert key words and phrases
- Place a call to action on your website to gain Twitter followers
- Embed your Twitter URL in the footer of your website
- Occasionally tweet a link to your website to drive traffic
- Place your most important keywords at the beginning of your tweet as that is what shows up in Google
As Twitter continues to gain popularity and people begin seeking out real time updates, optimizing tweets will become vital to keeping your company at the top of the search results.
Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Project Manager
Last month both Google and Bing announced they had reached deals with Twitter allowing them to display public Tweets as search results. Currently, Bing is showing live Twitter results only in the Bing Twitter search interface and Google will be integrating Tweets into search results over the next few months.
As Tweets and other real-time results, possibly Facebook postings, are rolled into search results, SEO tactics will need to evolve to keep up with search trends. Having a listing on the first page of search results will become increasingly difficult since pieces of the limited page real estate will be taken by Tweets. Also, having a presence in Twitter and other forms of social media will continue to be more and more important.
You may be thinking, “Great, it can’t be that hard to set up a Twitter account.” That won’t cut it. Bing states that they won’t index Tweets for longer than seven days. This means that having a steady stream of updated Twitter content is crucial for maintaining Twitter search listings. Also, in the case where two Tweets have very similar content, the higher search ranking will go to the person with the most Twitter followers, indicating the importance of building a Twitter community.
Real-time search is still in its infancy and tactics will continue to evolve as more real-time search features are rolled out. To stay on top of the latest real-time search news, check out the Bing Search Blog and the Official Google Blog.
Posted by: Meg Archer, Marketing Coordinator
There is so much buzz around social media and how helpful and even necessary it is for companies to have a strong social presence. Here at 90octane we already understand the importance of social media and have created strategies and manage programs for some clients.
One important element of a strong social strategy is the ability to measure the impact social efforts have on ROI. comScore, GroupM and M80 released a report showing the positive impact search and social media have on one another. The data indicates searchers are more likely to remember a brand if they have seen a combination of paid search ads and social media. There is a 19% lift in searches on branded terms among users who saw some form of social media and a paid search ad relating to the brand, compared to users who where only exposed to a search advertisement. Furthermore the researchers found a 13% lift among users exposed to direct branded social media.
Another interesting finding is that users who search for product terms are three times more likely to have been exposed to social media combined with paid search, compared to paid search alone.
These findings show that social media and key performance numbers are friends, good friends.
(Source for Graphs:Â eMarketer.com )
Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager
Social media marketing is becoming ever more important in building integrated online marketing campaigns for both BtoB and BtoC companies. Not only are social efforts paying off in terms of site traffic, conversions and sales leads are often generated as a result as well.
While launching a social campaign is highly important, it is equally important to track metrics specific to the campaign’s goals and measure ROI for these efforts. Listed below are common social campaign goals along with some of the measurable metrics for each. Evaluating these metrics can help you determine the overall ROI of the social media campaign.
- Site Traffic - Measure increases in traffic to your website looking at the source of the click.
- Buzz – Track the number of comments, video views, or other user generated responses to determine the amount of buzz surrounding your campaign.
- Leads - Track any newsletter sign-ups, requests for contact, product purchases or other actions that qualify a user as a lead.
- Reputation – Track the number of users leaving positive remarks about your brand and the number of negative remarks you were able to combat through these social platforms.
While you may or may not be able to track a click all the way through a sale, certain assumptions can be made regarding the value of each action. Tracking the success of social media efforts will help you hone in on what type of communication carries weight with your audience and focus your budget and efforts in these places.
Posted by: Janessa Seewald, Account Manager
As social media grows in popularity (Facebook, for example, has over 250 million users worldwide), it has become essential for marketers to integrate social media within their existing marketing programs. Before diving in however, it is important to ask the following questions when developing and managing a social media campaign.
- Why am I doing this? Are you implementing a social campaign to help with organic search engine visibility, branding, promoting the launch of a new product or all of the above? Identifying the objectives and goals will help aide in the process of selecting the correct social media platforms, crafting your message/offer and determining which success metrics to track and analyze throughout the campaign.
- Where is my audience? It is important to identify which social media platforms your target audience is using and what offer or message will resonate best with them. If your target audience is younger, MySpace would be a good choice, while Facebook is great to reach a more mature audience. One useful tool is Quantcast, a free tool that provides demographic information for websites including most of the social platforms. Another way to locate your target audience is by getting social yourself. Reading blogs, searching Twitter, etc., will ensure you are a part of the conversation and can provide some great insights. read more »
Posted by: Caitlin Diehl, Senior Marketing Coordinator
With the growing popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, it is important to consider not only the influence of your personal profile page, but also of your business profile page. Remember, opening that Facebook account drops you into a network of thousands of critics. Each company should take a unique approach in creating their Facebook persona, but there are a few behaviors to be avoided at all costs!
- The Show Off. It is great to see news about achievements; especially business awards or nominations, but it is important to know when enough is enough. If every Facebook update is a link to your blog, your award recognition site, your internal employee achievements, or your company’s latest market share, you will sound like a bragger or a self-centered careerist. Vary your posts with promotional offers, achievements and company information.
- The Grammar School Failure. “ABC company offers 2 for one sale tomorow.” Remember that if you are running a Facebook account for a business, posts are more likely to be scrutinized by users. Spell-check all posts and run them by a second pair of eyes to avoid any unwanted errors.
- The Complainer. Don’t use Facebook as an outlet to complain. If your business page is a long list of complaints, your users will start to think your company can only rant about problems instead of providing solutions.
- The Insistent Inviter. We’ve all logged in to see eight new invitations waiting on our home page. Support my cause. Join my green energy group, sign my petition, etc. Gain the attention of your fans by showing you are involved in the community, but do not send so many invites that they feel overwhelmed.
The most important persona to take on when developing your Facebook presence is one of honesty, transparency and sincerity. Social media sites provide the perfect opportunity to have fun and explore a different outlet for your brand or company.
Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager
Social media marketing (SMM) is becoming an increasingly critical tactic in driving website traffic and staying involved in the conversation that surrounds a company’s industry. As you implement a social media campaign, it is important to track these efforts to see which sources are paying off.
Google Analytics now allows webmasters to see how users are interacting with a company’s website through the following sites:
To view this data requires Analytics add-ons, but once gleaned, it’s valuable in understanding what social bookmarking websites people are using to get to your site. Using this information, you can evaluate the target audiences of these sites and consider new ways to reach them. On some sites like Digg.com, you can even click directly to the users’ profiles who have bookmarked your site.
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Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager
MarketingSherpa recently surveyed some of the largest B2B marketers about their top priorities in 2009 as well as the difficulty associated with executing each tactic. Shown below is the chart they provided. The size of the circle indicates the percentage of companies already implementing that specific tactic.
What are top priorities for marketers at the biggest B2B organizations in 2009?
With the crunch of the economy bearing down on B2B companies, retention marketing and identifying new audiences are proving to be top priorities. As you probably already know, it is easier (and cheaper) to keep your current customers and grow their programs than it is to retain new customers. However, with the customer base shrinking, and with current customers cutting back, marketers have to uncover new audiences in order to expand their businesses.
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Posted by: Megan Archer, Marketing Coordinator
Many organizations will be more accepting about implementing a social media strategy in 2009 than ever before. The driving factor? Tight budgets that are making cost-effective marketing channels very appealing. Plus, many are pleased to find that social media marketing can provide some really positive results.
Having a company profile on Facebook might just become more of a standard in the coming year. While you might not think your target audience matches up with Facebook, it’s a way to test the waters – a way to engage socially and open up to feedback about your company.
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