If you follow the newest trends in B2B online marketing, and possibly even if you don’t, then you most likely hear loads of buzz about social media marketing.
Marketing professionals around the world are praising social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as the reply to all of our marketing pioneers.
So, what exactly is social media marketing and if you jump on the bandwagon? In this blog post, our objective is to distinguish the hype of the usefulness of social networking marketing, so you can learn if your business should dive in and integrate social networking into your B2B social media marketing mix.
What’s B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
Social media marketing involves leveraging social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, to discuss relevant and exciting social networking content with your network of fans, followers and links.
Social media marketing campaigns typically concentrate on creating compelling content which attracts attention and motivates readers to discuss it with their social networks.
An easy way to understand social media strategy marketing is to think of it as public relations. But, instead of pitching the media, you’re pitching your peers. By sharing relevant and useful content together with members of your community, your message can attain a tremendous reach as your system shares your articles with members of the networks, who shares it with members of the networks, and so forth, etc. and so forth.
THE SECRET TO SUCCESS: YOU NEED TO BECOME A CONTENT MARKETER
The key to success in social networking marketing is to stop marketing your services and products.
You want to stay thinking you’re just in the business of selling services and products. You’re also in the business of knowledge. You will need to advertise your specific experience to demonstrate to prospects and clients that you’re the expert in your area. In loose term, it means you need to be a content marketer.
Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract, acquire, and engage defined target audiences with the objective of driving action.
Content marketing should function as the cornerstone of your social networking marketing strategy — creating educational items which are deemed interesting, relevant and useful to your prospects and clients.
The following social media should serve as your content marketing backbone:
Articles: Articles are a fantastic content marketing tool. By creating 500- to 1,000-word educational articles that demonstrate a best practice, you can showcase your experience and explain to your customers that you understand their requirements.
Blog Posts: Blog posts are insightful and timely Internet content highlighting significant insights, industry news, observations and other useful articles. Readers of your blog articles are invited to share their opinions allowing for a two-way dialogue.
Your marketing blog needs to be regularly updated with at least one new post each week or month. Blog posts offer a terrific opportunity to keep your site content current and relevant.
Presentations: PowerPoint or similar software may be used to make educational presentations which are oriented toward a specific industry challenge, best practice or training subject.
These demonstrations can be 5 to 50 pages in length — whatever it takes to make your point.
Whitepapers: Whitepapers are topical, educational reports or guides which are oriented toward a specific industry challenge, chance or best practice.
Normally, whitepapers are 8 to 15 pages in length and will help you establish thought leadership on issues which are essential to your clients. E-Books: E-Books are similar to whitepapers on steroids. They range from 20 to 50 pages and present complex information compellingly and entertainingly.
Videos: If a picture is worth a thousand words, a movie is worth a thousand. Use online viral video to demonstrate an emerging product, illustrate a best practice, allow customers to realise your organisation behind the scenes, etc.. Online videos don’t need to be produced — a straightforward Flip camera will do the job well. The secret is to picture content your clients will find useful and actionable.
Webinars: A Webinar is almost seminar with a phone conference call, here it is conducted over the net that participants can easily see from their office or home — either live or on-demand.
Many Webinars include a visual slide presentation, in addition to an audio broadcast that’s obtained either over the computer or telephone. Frequently, Webinars are 30 to 90 minutes in length and may include an interactive part to respond to attendee questions.
Podcasts: Podcasts are audio content that individuals can listen to in your site or download and listen to on their MP3 devices, like iPods. Podcasts are simple to produce and offer an opportunity for you to talk directly to your viewers and share your knowledge.
Your Website should function as the heart of your content marketing campaigns. Create great content in many different social media formats and continually publish them on your site. Then use your networks on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to spread the word.