2013 November 08 Archive - EXEIdeas

Social Media marketing has opened an exciting avenue for B2B companies to grow further. Many have lapped up this opportunity, but unfortunately they haven’t seen results they’d have liked. Why they haven’t been able to make the most out of this dynamic marketing channel is the question that needs to be asked. Email marketing for example has been around for a long time but it still remains a mystery for many companies.Hence it’s important to try and understand 10 main reasons why B2B companies are failing with Social Media.Not Enough Investment In Content:Space constraints used to be major limitation in B2B marketing because you had to work on a direct mail piece to pass on your message. But on social media while the space is massive, attention span is limited. That’s the reason it’s important to have a lot of content to generate online leads. You can’t rely on one blog a month; it’s about having several blogs and social media updates in a week. Marketing teams are not equipped to handle that kind of responsibility, which is why problems arise.Not Using Paid Social To Boost Organic Efforts:Advertising in Social Media marketing isn’t necessarily bad; in fact paid social media marketing on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn has its advantages. It can be used to get new connections on social network. It will bring attention to your content and thereby more leads.Lack Of Focus On Lead Generation:The goal for your social media marketing has to be the leads generated and not the number of followers. Revenue goal also helps as it will demonstrate the value of your marketing campaign when you need to get additional budget. Absence Of Management Support:One-man army won’t be enough to take on the challenges of Social Media. Brainstorming and getting advice from others in the team can lead to a model that can generate leads over time. You can then take it to your executive team to get the funding and support you need.Not Paying Attention To Right Data:Remember, social media is a marketing channel, which is why looking at metrics like engagement and followers is pointless. Think of it as any other marketing channel and pay attention to important metrics like visitor-to-lead conversion rate, visitor-to-customer conversion rate etc.Not Having A Fair Idea Of Customer Personas:You need to have a good understanding of customer personas to know the pain they experience. It gives you helpful information about your target audience. Often social media marketing misses the mark because it fails to address the pain target audience goes through.Letting Boring Overwhelm Exciting:Your business is exciting, which is why you are taking huge efforts for it in the first place. You have to make sure the exciting stuff translates to your audience. There are unexpected applications of products that can be highlighted; sadly in many instances the boring things seem overwhelming.Poor Website:Your social media marketing can bring traffic to your website but if it is not up to the mark, what’s the point? Conversion paths of your website have to be looked into so that when there are hits through social media you know if they can be converted into a lead. Overestimating The Benefits Of Social Media:It can’t fix all your problems or do the job for all other marketing channels. Having unreasonable expectations from it can be a huge issue.Making Excuses:Resisting the impact of social media by saying it doesn’t work for my industry or it didn’t work for us, doesn’t cut it. You have to be open to this new change that can bring you sensational results. It might motivate you to do even better.B2B Marketers are doing their best to figure out the potential of social media. Your products and services can be exciting but age old method of product marketing driven writing can be boring. And it certainly doesn’t help in the social media marketing context.Prospects and customers don’t want to hear about your products on social media platforms; they want to find solutions for their pains. Understanding their problems can help you create relevant content that will help you build connect with them. Then it’s about making your content visible to be read and shared by your audience.There are a few ways to make it captivating for your audience…Using Keywords In The Headline:It’s important to use words that your customers and prospects are talking about, irrespective of the subject you are writing on. These words are being used by your audience on search engines and with their social media connections. The best place to use keywords is the headline as it will help B2B marketers find what they are looking for. Your audience will find it difficult to find your content without obvious keywords.Using Adjectives In The Headline:You can make your headlines that have keywords captivating with good use of adjectives. Your audience is looking for things that are worth their time. Adjectives create an opportunity to draw in new visitors while you establish your authority in an area.Using Captivating Images:They might not be completely relevant to the post but work better than stock pictures. They can relate back to the headline and draw a large number of visitors out of curiosity. You can use your own images or pick compelling shots from Flickr for Creative Commons giving due credit to the photographer.Avoiding Talk About Your Products:Your blog post should talk about your expertise in the field and your authority in the industry. Let your website talk about your products; don’t bring them into your blog.Helping Prospects Solve Their Professional Issues:“How To” posts help people with their business problems and are much sought after. They work quite well with search engines as well. If your prospects are looking for answers then such posts are likely to come up in searches. Sharing Customer Stories:Rather than case studies, human and ratable stories where customers benefited from your products and services can make the right impact. Using Videos:A post with an embedded video can get your audience’s attention differently than a written post. Short and crisp videos (since video viewing drop-off is quite high at two minutes) are a brilliant way to tell a story, share a detail or a point of view.Choosing Different Formats:All your posts don’t have to be uniform; some can be short, other analytical ones long while there can be some all-image posts. Altering the format frequently can keep things interesting. Using Subheadings:They make it easier for your audience to consume information by just gleaning through posts without taking time out to read them.Focusing On Social Networks:Being found on search engines is one thing, found on social networks is quite another. Use headlines, images in a way that they remain captivating on social networks. Following these steps can help B2B companies make their mark with social media.#ath{background:#f8f8f8;margin:0 0 40px 0;padding:10px;border:3px outset #e8e8e8;-moz-border-radius:10px;border-radius:10px;overflow:hidden;font-size:14px;}.pro{background:#FFF;float:left;margin:0 10px 0 0;padding:4px;border:2px inset #e8e8e8;}.social{float:right;}About the Author:I’m Ramya Raju, a freelance web designer/writer based in India. I have worked in a number of SEO projects and have a good insight into creating a web design with SEO techniques incorporated in it. Apart from web designing and SEO I also contribute high-quality articles to top class websites and blogs. Besides business I am part-time wildlife photographer and generally an extrovert, I also like travelling to different destinations. Currently I am on www.seotraining.me.uk/seo-training-blog/Find Me On GooglePlus