by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 30, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
So, you’ve been reading about all this social media stuff…your friends have been talking about Facebook or Twitter, but you haven’t yet taken the plunge. Come on in, the water is fine. The longer you wait, the farther behind you’re going to be. Social media has made it to the mainstream which means businesses (you) need to get on board.
The best way to learn is by doing it yourself. Don’t worry, you can’t break anything. This whole social thing can be overwhelming, so I’d recommend you start off slow, and as you get comfortable, expand your horizons. If you want to get up to speed quicker, I’d recommend hiring a coach. When we decided to get into the social market, we wanted to be up and running in a short period of time, so we hired a coach that helped us identify our niche for a blog, and helped not only set up the basic accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter), but helped us to get our networking going. Your timeline will be dependent on what you want to accomplish. If you are going after the professional tradesman or other industrial-type markets and want to ramp up your activity quickly, we do offer a program to help you do that, and if you want more information, you can click here.
Here’s what we are recommending to our clients who want to get started:
- LinkedIn. Beyond the basic profile info, make sure you link to your web site and eventually your blog (if you decide to do). Start inviting your friends and business associates to join (you might be surprised as to how many are already on). Join groups that are appropriate to your industry and start watching and participating in discussions, surveys, etc. Once you start getting a following, you can start asking for recommendations. Also consider starting your own group. Our agency started our own group, Sonnhalter.
- Facebook. You need to make a choice of either doing a personal or company profile. Once that’s determined, you need to fill out the profile making sure to include your web site and leave room for a link to your blog (again, if you plan on doing one). Facebook also offers pages, which are set up similar to profiles, except people are fans of pages making it a good option for companies, products or brands. You need a profile before you can create a page. On Facebook, you can also add photos (either personal or work-related depending on how you set up your site). Start inviting friends and engage in the conversations.
- Twitter. Sign up and start adding followers. Rule of thumb is if someone follows you, you should reciprocate. The idea is to have more people following you than you are them. Twitter has some useful tools, one of which I’d recommend you start off with is Twilert. This is a tool where you can put in search terms (about your company, its products or your competitor), and they will identify any tweets that have mentioned those terms.
- Google. Through Google, you can set up Google Alerts which again uses search terms and gives you daily updates on the latest web and news pages on the Google web search. They also have a tool called Google Reader which lets you assemble, in one place, all of your reading resources and links from various sources.
(Remember, our target audience is manufacturers who want to sell to the professional tradesmen, but these suggestions apply across the board.)
A link you will find interesting from Nicky Jameson, How to create your own social networking site on a shoe string.
Suggested reading, Monitoring the Social Web, by Larry Weber
Comic courtesy of Automation.com
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 25, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Twitter
Beyond those who have signed up for your blog and those that reach you through organic searches, here are two ways I drive people to my blog.
1. Twitter. One of the applications, Tweetlater, allows you to pre-program when and what you want to tweet. I schedule tweets every hour during the business day and have got tremendous action. Twitter is by far my best source for page views.
2. LinkedIn Groups. One of the great advantages of LinkedIn, in my opinion, is that it’s more of a business site and you can join groups of like-minded folks. For example, I belong to the Industrial Marketing Mavens, E-Marketing Association and Sustainable Construction Groups. Each week I go up and post what I think is a relative subject to that audience under the news section. I get great feedback from them. I also use the group’s discussion option to get feedback on questions or issues.
We even put together a media schedule so we know what’s tweeting when and what posts were put onto LinkedIn. This gives us another way of monitoring what’s bringing in the best results.
These are some ways I try to maximize my posts. I’d like to hear yours.
eahisvyrbc
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 24, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
Social media is always talked about in the context of being a marketing tool. While I agree that social plays a big role in marketing, it can also help in the selling cycle. No, I’m not saying that social media is going to sell anything. That’s not its purpose.
Social can help in the sales process, and according to a recent post by Nicky Jameson, Do social media tools help B-to-B companies sell?, she points out that social can’t help close the sale. There are CRM tools out there that serve that function. Nicky says that by using social in conjunction with a CRM program, it will help the sales process forge new relationships and connections based on trust. She stresses that the relationship comes first. You must know, like and trust someone before you start doing business with them.
Social can, though, identify, evaluate, engage, promote, measure and improve relationships with potential customers. All valuable info that sales would love to have before talking to a professional tradesman. The competitive landscape has changed and users are more likely to know a great deal about solutions to their problems before they talk to anyone. In a recent BtoB magazine post, the DMA conducted an online survey to more than 3000 companies. Here’s what they found:
More than 70% of companies are currently using social networks for branding and collaboration purposes, with many viewing it as a key voice-of-the-customer tool, according to a new survey by the Direct Marketing Association.
According to DMA’s “Social Media Survey,” conducted by the organization’s Social Media Council, almost 60% of those surveyed think that social networking can have a high impact on brand awareness, with more than 45% viewing social outreach as important in providing customer insights.
So many times the marketing departments are so busy compiling all this info on your customers and potentials that they sometimes forget to share it with the front line guys in sales. According to Aberdeen Group research, top-performing companies are turning to social media as a way to connect their sales force to subject matter experts within the company so they will reduce time spent in preparation and more time selling.
The bottom line is a well-informed and educated sales force (not only on products, but on what’s happening in the social space that they play in) will represent you better and sell more!
How are you using social in conjunction with your sales force?
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 23, 2009 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
For manufacturers who are targeting the professional tradesman, we think creating a Facebook page instead of a group is the better choice. Facebook pages let you connect directly without having to connect to a personal account if you create a group. Think of your Brand as a rock star who wants to stay connected to your fans.
More importantly, you want to build a fan base. To create a fan page, go to fan and create a new page. Both you and your friends can post photos and comments, you can share updates, create upcoming events (or new product announcements) very easily. The whole idea of social media is networking and building relationships, so we need to make it as easy as possible for tradesmen to have access to you. Pages are also indexed by external search engines and groups are not.
Groups, on the other hand, have options for privacy settings (which means there’s another layer to go through to get in). Groups are limited to 5000 members (they won’t let you do e-mail blasts to anything over that). This is great if you’re in charge of a class reunion or some other group that needs a common place to communicate.
Facebook has continued its tremendous growth, according to Compete; it grew from 104 million to 113 million monthly uniques; an 8.54% increase. Visits grew from 1.63 billion to 1.74 billion, solidifying Facebook’s position as the number 3 site on the Internet.
You should take advantage of this network. What are you doing to capitalize on your Facebook account? I’d like to hear from you.
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 18, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
Many manufacturers are still leery about social media in a B-to-B arena. Since we deal with the professional trades, we know most of the editors very well and recently asked many of them to participate in a survey on social media. The majority of them are responsible for end user books that serve the likes of plumbers, electricians, HVACR contractors and mechanical contractors.
Here are some highlights:
Editors are using the social tools, and if for no other reason, you should be using them to communicate about your brand.
While some editors are currently writing blogs, more are anticipating doing them in the future.
Editors are looking for success stories involving social media.
Although most editors believe their audience isn’t that social savvy today (35.2%), they think that will improve dramatically in the next year (64.7%).
Here are the results:
1. Are You Using Any of the New Social Media Tools?
LinkedIn – 88.2%
Facebook – 64.7%
Twitter – 35.2%
Blogs – 29.4%
Online Forums – 23.5%
2. Do You or Another Editor on Your Staff Write a Blog for Your Publication?
Yes – 35.2%
No – 64.7%
3. If no to Question #2, are you planning on Doing a Blog for Your Publication?
Yes – 52.9%
No – 41.1%
4. Is Social Media and its Impact on Business on Your Editorial Radar Screen?
Yes – 76.4%
N0 – 23.5%
5. Have you Written Articles on Social Media and its Impact or Future Impact on Your Readers?
Yes – 35.2%
No – 64.7%
6. Do you Think Your Readers are Aware of Social Media as it Relates to the Business Aspects of Their Lives?
Ye s- 35.2%
No – 64.7%
7. Do you Think Your Readers will Become More Involved in Social Media in the next Year?
Yes – 64.7%
No – 41.1%
8. Do You Think Your Readers are Using any of the following Social Media Tools?
LinkedIn – 47.0%
Facebook – 41.1%
Twitter – 11.7%
Blogs – 35.2%
Online Forums – 52.9%
by tradespeopleinsights | Jun 16, 2009 | Marketing Trends
I recently attended a webinar where the key speaker, Roy Young, President of MarketingProfs, shared key findings from the study on trends and spending strategies for B-to-B marketers. Highlights include:
- Reduced budgets
- Marketers are sharpening their focus
- New media is on the rise
- Emphasis is particularly strong for search marketing, webinars, emails and company web sites
- Digital and traditional tactics are being woven into an integrated marketing program
The implications are a trend toward the adoption of digital tactics, which started before the economic crisis, but have been accelerated by B-to-B marketers having to do more with less. Marketers have found that buyers want to be in control. The seller’s success depends on engagement and trust.
The study represented a broad range of B-to-B clients in both small, medium and large categories. While traditional tactics still remained the dominant player in 2007 and 2008, 2009 budget tactics now were including more of the social media mix.
To read the entire study, B-to-B marketing in 2009: Trends in Strategies and Spending
