Biznology

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Today, 89% of B-to-B marketers in the U.S. are using social media, says a study conducted by iTracks and the Business Marketing Association (BMA).    In fact, B-to-B use of social media may have even eclipsed that of consumer marketers, according to another report from White Horse Productions.  But the B-to-B marketers I talk to still sound confused.  “What should I be doing,” they ask.  “What’s really worth my time?” Read the remainder of this entry »

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My long tail blogger outreach strategy is periodically challenged or criticized as being too aggressive. The argument generally goes as follows: if you send thousands of email pitches to topically- and demographically-relevant bloggers and online influencers in one go, you’re spamming. The real way to do it right is to reach out blogger by blogger, with each pitch being lovingly and relevantly written in series over time after investing months of time, previous to actually initiating a pitch, becoming best friends.  In my opinion, it is virtually impossible to resource enough time, talent and treasure to engage meaningfully with enough people, enough influencers, enough bloggers, to result in the sort of impact required to move the needle with any level of immediacy or timeliness.

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People are constantly using the Internet. Whether they are browsing from a desktop computer, laptop, smart phone, or tablet, the Internet is always “on”. When people are looking for information and researching products and services, they turn to the Internet. More specifically, they turn to the search engines. Businesses today understand that in order to be successful online, they need to have a positive search engine presence and invest in SEO. However, a mistake that they can sometimes make is to think that working on SEO is enough. While SEO is an important piece of the puzzle, an SEO campaign should only be one part of a well rounded marketing campaign that includes online and offline tactics. Scaling back on everything else to focus on SEO will limit the potential of the SEO campaign.
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I was reading a post by Amber Naslund where she lamented the fact that she even had to write a post that seemed to state the obvious that many of the social media “metrics” marketers turn to are mere hollow representations of success. She stated:

The end destination is not for someone to follow your page on Twitter or on Google+. It is not for your employees to fill out their profile on the company social network. It is not to add people’s LinkedIn profiles to your CRM system and call it social. It is not to get people to click the link and read your blog post, believe it or not.

Those are mechanisms that further your business objectives. They’re the supporting goals and tactics that absolutely must tie into the big picture to be worth a salt, and they are not the big picture in and of themselves.

I can understand her frustration. What we all need to remember is though is that most marketers are not taking the time that the social media marketing industry does to truly understand these things. We desperately want them to but they are too busy with ALL of their marketing responsibilities to become an expert in one area such as social media. They may even be afraid to dive in because once you do you realize how big and hairy the whole social media world can be. Read the remainder of this entry »

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You go to a conference, watch in awe the keynote speaker making a very convincing case that the-world-has-completely-changed-and-nothing-will-ever-be-the-same-again and leave energized, certain that we are all just witnessing the dawn of a brave new business world where you will never have to deal with email and endless meetings, hierarchy is replaced by a flat organizational structure and any knowledge you need is within close reach–all you have to do is to Google it. Then, you go back to your cubicle or home office, and realize that your inbox and calendars are still full, you still have 10 people between you and the CEO, and getting the information you need to do your job still feels like pulling teeth. Where did all that promise go? Wasn’t the world supposed to be changing? Have you just been trapped in a really bad Groundhog Day joke? Read the remainder of this entry »