Why B2B Companies Need Social Media Now
As with all things in the world of advertising, it’s about the timing. As businesses struggle, year after year, they turn to the latest marketing trend to help them remain relevant.
While the pace of change quickens, it’s more critical than ever to stay on the cutting edge of communicating with your customers. Every week, a new threat to the survival of your company seems to emerge. Business owners lie in bed, staring at the ceiling when they should be sleeping. They worry about the threats: Threats that take the form of new competitors — domestic, overseas, and on-line; rising overhead costs for materials and salaries; government regulations in the form of taxes and insurance requirements; and labor concerns from minimum wage to finding skilled workers.
When it comes to marketing, there is more to worry about than ever. For B2B marketers, the danger is clear — embrace change or become irrelevant. Social media is that change.
Continue ReadingB2B: The Red-Headed Stepchild Deserves More Respect
by MGB2B
Whether you’re marketing to both consumers and other businesses or just the latter, you need to put as much thought and creativity into your marketing as you would if you were just a B2C brand.
Here are the Top 5 ways brands disrespect their B2B customers (and themselves):
Continue ReadingAre You Tapping Into Online Communities for B2B Lead Generation?
by MGB2B
In the late 1970’s, the first messages were exchanged on an early online bulletin board and voilà — social media was born. The term may not have been coined quite yet, and a couple decades of evolution were still required to produce what we now refer to as ‘social media channels,’ but the framework was there.
This structure of communication and exchanging ideas is still the heart of a successful social media network, but mainstream channels like Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn do not hold all the answers for B2B marketers. Generating highly-targeted, lead-focused conversations online sometimes means moving off the beaten path of likes and follows and into the world of niche communities. An article from Clickz.com uncovered several such platforms, with discussions ranging from craft brewed beer to challenges facing oil and gasoline rig professionals. These communities are ideal incubators for B2B lead generation.
Why invest time (and potentially dollars) in these vertical sites? Here are 3 good reasons:
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