Twitter: How Useful is This Tool for B-to-B Marketers?
Some B-to-B marketers are having a hard time including Twitter in the marketing mix. You need to think of it as a relationship building tool. Twitter should never be used as a stand-alone tactic. It should be used in conjunction with other social media as well as traditional tools like e-mail.
Use Online Training to Educate Tradesmen – Part 2
Whether you are using the carrot or the stick to drive training participation, providing contractors resources for their folks to take advantage of can be a very real benefit to the tradesman in the field.
From a contractors perspective, having a manufacturer that’s committed to training is an obvious win. These guys are in the field and it’s a real challenge to corral folks into the office for formalized training. At the same time, the guys in the field need training to stay safe on the job, learn about new products, maintain their licensure or certification.
Use Online Training to Educate Tradesmen – Part 1
Training – both product and safety, are important to professional tradesmen. That’s why several years ago we formed a strategic alliance with BlueVolt to help educate and inform our client’s customers (the professional tradesman). BlueVolt creates online marketing and learning platforms that are focused on the professional tradesmen. They have delivered over 535,000 courses to 50,000-plus registered users. We have the privilege of having Lisa Bordeaux, director of sales and partner development, here to share with you a two-part series on the benefits of online training. Enjoy her insights!
Top 5 Tips for Prioritizing Time Spent on Social Media
We all have limits on our time, and those of us who have dived into social media have to find time in our schedules if we want these marketing tools to work. The key like anything is organization and setting priorities so you optimize your time spent. I recently read a post by Adam Singer (worth reading), 21 Must-Follow Tips for Optimizing Time Spent on Social Media, and it got me thinking of several ways to make the most out of your time.
Is Social Media More Reliable Than Traditional Media?
According to the Harvard Business Review, “the American public assessment of the accuracy of the news media has reached a new low. 63% of American adults say news stories are often inaccurate, compared to 53% in 2007 and 34% in 1985. 70% say that the news media tries to cover up mistakes, and 27% describe the press as “not professional.”
Why Do People Ignore Social Media Metrics?
I’m amazed when asking people who are using social tools how are they doing, they come back to me with some generalized statements like, “I’m doing really well.” If I press them for more details, I come to find out that they really don’t have a plan for measuring what they do and the time they spend at it. Metrics are an important component for the use of social media .
Manufacturing Pros Look to Generate Leads
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to most, but most Industrial Marketing budgets have been cut this year. It’s also no surprise that Mar/Com departments are still charged with bringing in leads. But what I want to warn everyone about is don’t be focused on just the number of leads (yeah, I’m assuming that they are qualified in some manner). Shoppers are getting ready to buy and these are the ones that need to be identified and passed on to the sales department.
Social Networks Continue to Gain in Popularity
Social media as a whole continues to surpass growth estimates. eMarketer reported earlier this month that Twitter has over 18 million adults who access on at least a monthly basis. That’s a 200% increase over last year. eMarketer estimates that 44.2% of all Internet users in the U.S. are social network users. Worldwide, 62.5% of active users ages 16-54 have a social networking profile in 2009. Worldwide, 62.5%of active Internet users ages 16-54 have a social network profile.
Google Sidewiki: Allow Others to Post Comments on Your Web Site
I don’t know if the world is ready for this, but it’s here and it’s from Google, so you know that there’s been a lot of thought behind it.
Google Sidewiki allows you to contribute helpful information next to any webpage or even critical information to a competitor’s Website. Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page. Google uses an algorithm to display the most relevant and helpful posts up top.
Social Media Users are Focusing More on Brands
The idea of marketers adopting social media by the boatloads is not a surprising statement. One of their biggest concerns has been will the consumer return the favor. Well some recent data shows that half of social networking users have became a fan or follower of a brand online.