by tradesmeninsights | 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.
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by tradesmeninsights | 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 tradesmeninsights | 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 tradesmeninsights | 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 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 12, 2009 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing
A
new product is on the horizon that will have a major impact upon online communications.
Let me give you a heads up. The next big tidal wave will be made available to the general public later this year. It’s the top trending conversation on Twitter and is becoming a hot topic in the daily news cycle.
Google Wave is a new real-time communications platform. It’s one of the top Google product launches and is expected to redefine online communication. It’s being heralded as the next evolution of email.
Click Here to check out the Google Wave Developer Review
This will be an all-in-one communications tool. You only need Google Wave open to manage your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, project management, email, etc. It will also replace lots of communications and can easily be embedded into your web site or blog
“(Wave) could very well be the game-changing communications tool that everyone has been waiting for.” Ben Parr, Associate Editor for Mashable
To learn more about Google Wave, check out Mashable’s Google Wave: A Complete Guide. Also be sure and sign up for Google Wave updates by clicking here
