Marketing Pilgrim

With all of the focus that has been placed on Facebook lately (and for good reason since they are changing the rules of the social media game) it’s important not to lose sight of the B2B segment of the social media marketplace.

It’s quite easy for social media pundits and the like to dismiss B2B uses of the Twitter, Facebook etc because it’s not the sexy side of social media. Well, like many things in this life, just because it’s not all shiny and pretty doesn’t mean it’s not effective. In fact, our obsession with all things glitzy and polished often blinds us to areas where things actually work. The B2B social media space is one of those.

A recent report shows just how one “unsexy” player, LinkedIn, stomps Facebook in its level of importance in the purchasing research process for B2B companies. Take a look from the data from TriComB2B and the University of Dayton’s School of Business Administration as reported by eMarketer.

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The folks over at HubSpot are usually talking about ways to generate leads online but it appears that they are well aware of other ways to generate leads.

One way is to put on an event. To be sure, this kind of activity is no simple matter and, in fact, many have gotten themselves into an event marketing situation where they realized that they have bitten off a bit more than they could chew.

So HubSpot, off the heels of their Inbound Marketing Summit, put together an infographic to help guide you through the process of event marketing.Enjoy.

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Love it or hate it, social media has changed the way we interact, advertise and engage with our target markets. Even the chances that you made it to this article through social media are high – a recent study found almost 9 in 10 businesses use social media for marketing purposes.

And why not? It’s free, it’s effective and you can reach people all over the world in a few simple clicks.

But to truly reach global markets, you need to speak their language, and there are a few essential tricks you need to know to make it in the heady world of multilingual social media.

So you hire an SEO, social media guru, business coach, and who ever else is willing to take your money, and they all tell you the same thing: You need better content. At this point there is a 50% chance that they are right. So let’s take a look at what you should do if they are wrong, and what you should do if they are right.

If they are wrong.

So your consultants have told you that you need better content. But, you know for a fact that you produce amazing products and services, and all the content in the world isn’t going to change that. Here’s what you do: Fire them. Don’t waste anytime, pick up the phone right now and fire them. Find a new marketing or PR person that understands your business and can see the real value in your products and services. Hire people that appreciate your work because those are the ones that understand that outstanding product sell themselves, not content. All they need to do is let others know that as well.

Daily deal sites are out of control. They’re like. . . well, you know. . . everybody’s got one. Now Bing has one, but instead of running their own deals, they’re aggregating the ones that are already out there.

In theory, it’s a good concept. In practice, I’d say they have a little work to do.

First off, the PR on the site says it’s all about daily deals, a phrase that has come to take on a certain meaning. A daily deal is one of those short-term, limited quantity, discounts usually for some kind of food or service. But the top line on Bing’s very graphically-oriented deal site is dedicated to retail items with a “find the best price” engine attached to each. That’s not a daily deal. That’s not even necessarily a deal!

One of the most well-thought out new features on Facebook is the sharing of music between you and your friends. Much of this comes from their partner Spotify, whose CEO Daniel Ek spoke at yesterday’s F8 Conference.

He brought up two points that really stuck with me.

First is the concept of the record collection. In the days before the internet, we used to go to our friend’s home and browse through their albums. They were often proudly displayed in the living room (if you were a grown-up) or in an orange crate in the bedroom (if you were a teen). We were defined by our collection. A collection of current artists said you were cool. If you had Johnny Mathis mixed with Johnny Rotten, you were an individualist. The biggest collection of Broadway soundtracks this side of the Great White Way? You’re probably a little flashier than most.