by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 15, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
I tell everyone if they could only use one social media tool to generate new business, I’d use LinkedIn. While my blog is important (long term), and Twitter is very useful once you get your followers, LinkedIn offers you a way to be more proactive. Before you start utilizing it, you first have to make sure that your page is updated and as near to the 100% mark as you can get it. Once that’s done, dig in and have some fun.
Here are 5 ways I utilize LinkedIn:
- Ongoing program to increase your contacts – After going through your contact list, continue to add contacts each week by setting a goal of say 4-5 new contacts. It’s easy to do. When you’re at social or business events and meet people, when you get back to the office, see if they’re on LinkedIn and get connected. Every time you go to your LinkedIn page, it prompts you in the upper right hand corner to invite people that might be primary contacts of someone you know or a group you belong to. This should be good for 2-3 new contacts each week.
- Search company profiles – for niches/markets you’re trying to target. Get in and get involved!
- Search for groups – this allows you to search associations, buying groups or other folks who share common interests. I normally, once a week, take a recent post and put it on all the groups that I belong to. This is a good way to not only build credibility, but also drive more people to your blog.
- Search individual profiles – there’s a whole bunch of info on individuals that you target. Take some time to review their profile and see what kind of connection and groups they belong to. If you do your homework, you’ll know a lot about a new potential friend, and when you ask him to join your network, you can talk about some common interests in your first contact. This is a great way to get a conversation going quickly.
- Search by market terms – determine what questions or answers can be searched that will bring up like-minded people. By reviewing your findings, “experts ” in the field will be easily identified.
Once you have a system in place, then you need to start listening and contributing. These are the ways I utilize LinkedIn. I ‘d like to hear how others out there are doing using social as a new business tool.
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 10, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
According to a recent survey by emarketer.com, B-to-B clients are going to increase their spending in the social media arena in 2010. It certainly makes sense that the ones who have tried various aspects of social must be getting some traction or they wouldn’t be spending more. It’s interesting to note that the 3 top areas they plan on increasing are web sites, e-mails and search. The three main reasons are:
- Thought leadership
- Lead generation
- Customer feedback
What are you planning for 2010?
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 9, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
I think it’s safe to say that social media is here to stay. For those of us who have accepted that fact, we are moving on from adoption to trying to understand how businesses can take advantage of social in a work context today. A recent 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking study (download a copy) was compiled from approx. 2900 responses and is an excellent overview of how businesses are trying to utilize this media. The report covers both how businesses are using social media to find relevant information and how they judge its success.
Of particular interest to our target audiences using social media as a business information resource, Constuction was at the top of the charts and Industrial was lagging a bit. The most popular media resources for businesses were webinars or listening to podcasts(69%), followed by reading ratings reviews for businesses, products or services (62%). The least popular were saving links on social bookmarking sites (28%) and participating in discussions on third party web sites (29%).
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 8, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
I’ve always said that social media isn’t the silver bullet that will make all things right. It’s just a tool like any other tool in your marketing tool box. Whether it’s e-mail, snail mail or social media, they all work better when they are a part of a bigger picture and an integrated plan. When we talk with clients about social, they are so focused on the “how” instead of the ” why.” “How” isn’t relevant if you don’t have plan on “why” you’re going to integrate social. Marketers need to realize that by integrating social into existing programs, the net result will be better because social lets potentials identify you!
I read a post recently by Jay Baer, The big social media integration picture, that highlights ways to achieve cross-media synergy using social media that I think is worth reading. Jay is a leading authority in social and he’s on my must-read list every day.
I’d like to hear from you on ways that you’re integrating social into your current marketing plans.
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 2, 2009 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
With more B-to-B marketers jumping on the social media bandwagon, some are so focused on the content that they sometimes ignore the metrics to see if what they are writing is being read, and more importantly, acted upon. Analytics are a crucial component to successfully generating traffic to your blog,Web site and inbound new business leads. But for many manufacturers, best practices for using analytics isn’t understood at all.
The tools are available and be sure to use them. A good resource is the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Their IAB SmartBrief is one of the daily e-mail newsletters that I receive. It always has helpful information, “what you need to know,” about analytic practices, trends and research pertinent to your company.
Here’s a sampling of some of the latest articles from IAB Smart Brief newsletter:
Click Here to sign up for the IAB SmartBrief.
by tradespeopleinsights | Dec 1, 2009 | Marketing Tools, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Whether you’re using traditional marketing tools or social media, one of your key objectives should be to become the thought leader in your market or category.
As a B-to-B marketer, Thought Leadership is one of the most valuable assets of your brand. When reaching out to the professional tradesman, you have several audiences that you need to build relationships with – Distribution, Buying Groups, Associations and ultimately, the Contractor or End User. Messaging to each of these markets while sharing common traits can and will be different. The sooner you begin building relationships in the buying cycle, the better off you’re going to be. Thought leadership and brand building should be an ongoing process.
I believe social media affords you a better means of reaching your objectives. You don’t become a thought leader overnight. It’s a process that takes time. You need to gain trust of your audience and become the “go to” resource. What better way to accomplish this than through the likes of LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs and Twitter? Think of it as a form of “opt in” places that people go on a regular basis to read and learn. People follow blogs because the subject matter is relevant to them. People follow you on Twitter for the same reason. LinkedIn has groups you can join based on interest levels in particular issues, causes or markets. You get the picture. There are numerous ways to stay connected and build your Brand.
Jon Miller in a recent post on Marketo, outlines 4 ways to build your brand:
- Use your company’s blog to provide insights
- Be a solution to a specific problem
- Provide original research
- Join a speaking circuit
Those are my thoughts on the subject and I’d like to hear what you’re doing to build your thought leadership.
