by tradesmeninsights | Jun 15, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Twitter
B-to-B marketers are having a hard time figuring out the best way to use Twitter. If they understand that the people who are following them are obviously interested in them and their products, they’ve already pre-qualified themselves. Twitter has become my number-one source of activity to my blog.
Here are 5 ways I recommend using Twitter in a B-to-B setting:
- Share product and technical information: By putting up new product info, technical and other harder to obtain info on Twitter, you’re allowing tradesmen to keep up to date on information without distractions for search engines or even your web site.
- Drive people to your blog: One main objective is to get them to your blog, and Twitter is an ideal way of doing that. We use TweetLater to send out posts hourly during the business day. Our traffic has increased substantially since we started using this, and our followers have also increased.
- Keep up on competitors as well as what people are saying about you: We use Twitter Search as the tool to keep us informed. It’s fast and easy, much like Google Alerts. Wouldn’t you like to know who’s talking about buying something from your competitor?
- Share solutions for specific applications: Manufacturers can do everything from quick tips for tradesmen in the field, to best practices on how to get the most productivity in certain applications.
- Creating buzz at trade shows: This is relatively new, but is a great way to talk about the latest new widget at XYZ’s booth, and you really should stop by booth #2459. Obviously for this to work, you need to have a number of followers in that industry who are probably at the show. Even if they aren’t, you will have peaked their curiosity enough for them to look on your blog or web for more info on the product.
These are my top 5 ways…what are yours?
Here are a few more posts about Twitter that may be of interest to you:
Using Twitter in Customer Service
Use Twitter to Grow Your Brand
Twitter Search Benefits B-to-B Marketers
by tradesmeninsights | Jun 11, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I know some of us write to specific audiences. Some posts may be more general in nature, but the majority will be focused at your target and should have a title that will not only stop them, but will make them want to click for more info. That’s why the title is so important. You could be giving away chances for a million dollars inside your post, but no one would know if they didn’t open it.
I know when I have an idea for a post I put a working title in my blog when starting to write, but I make sure to review it after completing the post to make sure the title adequately reflects the content. I also look at past posts to see if any of the most popular ones have common threads that might be included. I try to keep the title simple and relate it to my audience and not to search engines.
I’ve come up with some things I do when reviewing titles and I recently read a post by Darren Rowse, 15 ways to rework your next blog title, that is worth your reading. Here are my 5 top things:
- Personalize titles to your target audience. You’ll notice in this post I’m talking about Professional Tradesmen.
- Lists and numbers. This is a proven method of getting people’s attention. Using this post as an example, the title could have been, “5 ways to improve your post titles in order to reach the professional tradesman.”
- WIIFT. What’s in it for them (your target). I have found this gets my posts open more than anything else.
- Ask a question. Again using this post as an example, I’ve used a question in the title.
- Stir the pot. Create a debate or controversy on a timely topic. This will help get the blood pressure up as well as engagement. Obviously this can’t be used in every post, but is a good tactic to consider.
Those are my top lists of what I look at when doing a title. How about you…what tricks do you use?
by tradesmeninsights | Jun 9, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Twitter
Twitter is certainly the hot topic in the social media scene. Corporate executives, editors, financial analysts and community leaders, to mention a few, are all participating. From a PR standpoint, there’s great opportunity, but don’t get caught up with the thought that here’s another avenue we can use to pitch editors or analysts. Instead, think of it as a way to bring up awareness and start the process of building long-term relationships. Used correctly, Twitter can give you an advantage in the marketplace. Here are some tips on how to get involved:
- Sign up. To participate, you need to jump in. Signing up is easy.
- Identify Friends. You’ll want to find people with similar interests to follow and be followed. After you’ve found new friends, look at their lists and start following some of their followers.
- Following/Followers. With Twitter, you not only want to follow, but be followed. When someone goes to your Twitter account, they’ll look first at how many people are following you. This brings up your credibility. It’s important that if someone follows you that you should follow them back. Twitter has some automated programs that will do that for you, and also will unfollow those who quit following you.
- Listen. One of the most important aspects of all social media is listening. When you start, just watch what people are saying about you, your products or competition (use Twitter Search and put in key words).
- Jump in and start Tweeting. Once you feel comfortable, start talking. If you see an interesting post or article, link to it. When people respond or retweet your message, be sure to acknowledge them.
- Improve your writing skills. With a 140 character limit, you’re going to soon find out how to choose your words carefully, which is not a bad thing. Make your tweets clear and concise.
By using these tips, you should be off to a good start tweeting your way through life.
Here are a few more posts about Twitter that you might find interesting:
5 Tips for b-to-b marketers to get the most from Twitter
A guide to micro-blogging for the b-to-b marketers
Use Twitter to grow your b-to-b brands
by tradesmeninsights | Jun 8, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
There are over 100 million blogs – how do you identify and communicate with the right ones to get in front of the professional tradesman? The first question to answer is are your products or services applicable to your end users using social media? If the answer is “yes,” then your goal should be to identify the right communities, monitor them and jump in and get involved!
If social is to be a part of your media relations strategy, you must remember that different rules apply to social:
- Your Brand can be affected positively or negatively. Remember you don’t control the message.
- Your Brand depends on the “loyalists” who are passionate about you.
- Key Blogs or social sites are authored by thought leaders from your industry.
You need to develop the right strategies based on the importance of social media in your overall communications plan. Cision has issued a white paper, Staying afloat in a sea of social media, that gives a good overall view of how to manage and monitor social media.
All blogs are not created equal. Do comprehensive research as to the communities you might want to get involved in and then monitor them. If they seem to be talking about relevant topics, jump into the conversation. Social media demands transparency, so be honest in your engagement. Here are a few sites that may be of interest to those going after the professional tradesman:
Blog references: http://www.plantengineering.com/blog/index.php
http://www.electrician-electricalcontractor.com/
http://todaysfacilitymanager.com/facilityblog/labels/mechanical-contractors-association
http://www.contractorblabblog.com/
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/
http://my.facilitiesnet.com/Default.aspx
Remember that just because you’re using social media, the basic rules of marketing still apply. You must identify your universe, communicate to them clearly, engage in conversations, monitor comments, evaluate and respond.
I’d like to hear from you. What interesting communities have you come across that reach the professional tradesman?
by tradesmeninsights | May 29, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Blogs, Forums, Twitter – are your brands or company being mentioned on any of these? If not, what are you going to do about it? Should you be joining the conversation? What are your competitors doing? Remember, those that start conversations often end up leading them.
I read an interesting post recently from Maria Pergolino, Social media: Signs your prospects want to hear from you, that I thought had some valid points to consider.
- People Talking about You. While this is the most obvious, when you do find those opportunities you need to start participating. Tools like Google and Twitter Search are good free tools to use to help identify opportunities.
- Friends on Parked Names. Sometimes companies reserve names (park) on social sites so no one else can get them, but aren’t active on the site other than some basic company info. While there, you might be attracting potential customers or editors even without putting content up. If this is the case, you’re missing opportunities.
- Someone Speaking for your Brand. Sometimes people (many times they are customers) take over your name and start talking about your brand or product. Often these advocates share tips and tricks on how you can do your job better. Other times they may be complaining about a product, its features or even your customer service. Regardless, the conversations that are taking place indicates interest in your products. In either case, you should know that you’re being talked about, and in the case of the customer who is unhappy, you should try to come to the root of his problem.
- Name Squatting. This is where someone else beats you to your name (brand) on a social site. It may be someone who wants to profit from your name like one of your distributors, or it could be a competitor trying to lock you out of that particular market. If it’s someone using your name, you should monitor it (use a service) to make sure they aren’t saying anything negative about you. Whatever the reason, it should indicate to you that someone thinks it’s important enough to capture your name.
In Social media, they’re going to talk about you whether you’re listening or not. Don’t stick your head in the sand and ignore them.
by tradesmeninsights | May 26, 2009 | Marketing Tips
One of the great things about social media and blogs in particular is you can almost instantly see how you’re doing in the world of blogging. Most programs like WordPress have monitoring devices built in. You can see what’s hot and what’s not. You can monitor what sites are sending you traffic and what key words are doing their job.
While it’s nice to know these things, don’t get obsessed with them. Darren Rowse from Problogger had a post recently, 17 statistics to monitor on your blog, that you might find helpful. Here are a few that I think are important:
- Overall visitors. Are they increasing or decreasing?
- Most popular posts. Gives you direction for future posts.
- Referral stats. What sites are sending you traffic? If it’s another blog, maybe you should develop a relationship with them.
- Questions from Readers. This gives you a good indication of topics for future posts.
- Key Words. Which are generating the most traffic?
- Bounce rates. How many people go to your site and then click off ? You need to make your site sticky so people stay on it.
Remember, stats are good monitoring tools, but make sure you take that info to improve your content because ultimately, if you listen to your audience, your readership and pass along will increase naturally.
