As we all know, in order to learn and grow, one needs to ask questions. In the world of online marketing and search engine marketing, there are always a number of questions to ask. For those B2B marketers who were early adopters of search, the questions they seek answers to are quite common. For those B2B marketers who are new to the game, the questions they have afre many. So then which questions become the most important questions with regards to setting up and implemeting an effective online marketing campaign? We have come up with a number of them, but here is a sample of ten important SEM questions that we get asked by smart B2B marketers.
How can search engine marketing fit in an integrated marketing plan? - Every purchase or buying relationship that has an online component (what B2B relationship doesn't?) starts with a query in a search engine. Smart B2B marketers look for innovative ways to integrate search engine marketing with an entire marketing plan.
How can we measure & track branding campaigns? - Smart B2B marketers understand that the immediate return from a branding campaign is difficult to reconcile, if only because the objective is not necessarily to create or drive conversions/sales but to increase the visibility, recognition, and identification of the brand by a core target market.
How can we stay abreast of the latest technologies? - In order to be the best that you can be continuous improvement is key. Staying abreast of the latest technologies can be a daunting task. However it doesn't always have to be…
How do we test our landing pages? - Landing page testing is built around collected SEM best practices, a complete understanding of the purchasing and consideration behavior of the target market.
These are but a sample of questions that B2B marketers are seeking answers to. In order to drive a successful campaign as marketers we need to continue to seek answers to questions such as thes so that we can provide our clients with an effective online experience that becomes a powerful lead generation tool.
The SEMPO Institute has recently launched an advanced version of their Search Engine Optimization course and earlier this week I caught up with SEMPO Institute Dean, Terry Plank, to discuss his thoughts on the latest course. The courses offered by SEMPO will help both companies (who are looking for highly trained SEM professionals) and individuals (looking to get into search marketing).
Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a 5 module, 15 lesson course designed to teach the 'how to' of Search Engine Optimization.
Here is the audio and the list of questions I posed to Terry Plank:
Can you talk a little bit about the success of the Fundamentals of Search Marketing?
Who is the the target market for the advanced SEO Classes?
What are the major changes from the Fundamentals of Search Marketing?
What can a student in the advanced course expect to get out of the class? Are the ready for a full time search marketing position?
Do you have any thoughts of creating anymore category specific tracks, ie: Web Analytics, Social Media, etc…?
I was fortunate enough to be asked to MC the SearchInsider Summit in Bonita Springs, Florida on May 6. As the MC, I get to open each day with a few pithy comments and hopefully insightful observations about the emerging trends and notable events in the search engine space. As faithful readers of this column, let me give you the inside track on at least one of the names I'll drop regularly. In fact, take a moment to go find yourself a pen to jot this name down, because it will become vitally important to you in the next year or two…
Sep Kamvar
Who, you ask? As I was writing this I took a quick scan of the regular search marketing columns, including this one, to see how much ink Sep has received in the past week. It's a great injustice that when Kevin Federline launches his own search engine we all rush (and I use first-person plural intentionally, I know I wrote about it too) to add our insightful commentary to the buzz is surrounded this relative nonevent. But when perhaps the most important announcement to be made in the search space in years happened last Thursday, it passed with nary a whisper. A quick search on Google News showed that the only blogging about this announcement, other than Google's official post, was a couple of blogs I did on my own site that got picked up in a few other places. Danny Sullivan also wrote a fairly lengthy post on the announcement. But other than that, not a ripple on the normally turbulent waters of the Internet.
Meet Sep Kamvar
Sep Kamvar could become one of the most important people at Google very quickly. In fact, his name could become as well known as Larry and Sergey. Last Thursday, Google announced that they were adding Web History to their search personalization algorithm. Sep is the guy behind the algorithm. I've been blogging and writing about personalization for the last few months, telling everyone that they have to pay attention to this. But other than a handful of people that I’ve spoken to recently, I don't think that most search marketers or users get how important this potentially is, not just for search but for online marketing in general. The lack of pick up on Google’s announcement is evidence of this. Three weeks ago I wrote a column called Google's Gargantuan Footprint. A key piece of that puzzle was Google's ability to move towards behavioral targeting. At that time, I speculated on how that might happen, and I mentioned the Google Toolbar and it's PageRank feature as one of the key elements. Less than two weeks later I got an e-mail from one of my favorite PR people at Google, Katie Watson, letting me know that Marissa Mayer wanted to chat with me about their plans for personalization. Sep Kamvar would be joining her on the call. I juggled my schedule so I could make that call, because I knew it was going to be important. I was not disappointed.
History is Being Written
Google is now offering an opt-in option for users to include Web History (all the sites you've visited) as a data set that will power their search personalization. If one lets themselves think into the near future, the implications of this are vast on several different levels. Being able to roll Web History into Search History and monitoring a user's click stream to help refine search results is a huge step towards disambiguation that will substantially alter our individual search experience. The question for the user is; are they willing to make the trade-off necessary by providing all this click stream data to Google, with their consent? The fact is, if you have PageRank enabled on your toolbar, this information is being sent to Google anyway. But now with Google's move towards opting into Web History, they increase the level of transparency into what information they're gathering and how they will be using that information to refine your search experience.
But it's not the personalization of search results that makes this a sea change. It's the ability for Google to close the loop around one individual based on their online behavior and use that to offer multiple advertising opportunities across their network. For the interactive marketer, this represents targeting nirvana. And if one considers Google's recent acquisition of DoubleClick, combined with their contextual network and the ever spreading web of touch points that Google now controls, my speculation about the gargantuan footprint that Google was leaving on the online landscape move several steps closer to reality.
I simply can not speak enough how important this is to every search user and every search marketer out there. At the user level, there will probably be very little in the way of noticeable change for the immediate future. Google's move was simply to give Sep and his team a nice clean opt in database that they can play with to improve the personalization algorithm. But as Sep and his team begin to refine personalization, expect it to be aggressively rolled into multiple aspects of your Google experience. It's the engine that will power the future of Google for the foreseeable future. It will eventually surpass the PageRank algorithm in importance, giving Google the ability to match content to very specific and unique user intent on the fly.
And for that reason, Sep Kamvar is a name to pay attention to.
The key to success in blogging, whether you want to make money, gain more subscribers, or increase visitor engagement is to constantly test new strategies. With A/B or Multivariate testing and using web analytics to measure its performance anyone can move closer to their ideal formula of success. The results from the multivariate testing will allow you to test various alterations before they are 100% live as well as allow you to capitalize on the best performing combinations.
Here are a few suggestions you can try testing within your blog:
Internal Search - Ideally it should be near the top of the page because you want to enhance visitor engagement with your blog by making it easy to find more information. Try placing internal search in different locations near the top, as well with a variety of text-box/submit button colors. Test the results by measuring the number of searches and the overall quality of the keywords.
Feed Subscription - Test different combinations of feed chicklets, I personally use 6 different chicklets plus an optional email subscription option (all above the fold). Top Rank Blog offers a simple way to create feed button variations. FeedBurner's stats are an excellent method for getting a better understanding of your subscribers.
Header - I mention this because it can dictate the layout of the rest of the page. For instance if your blog's header is massive graphic, it can potentially push much of the important items below the fold. However if your header is lost within the entire page it becomes difficult to promote your brand to visitors. My header is now 50% of it's original height and next I plan on reducing its width to be able to test key link placements such as my most popular posts.
Archives - by category, by date, and placement with the page are all variations worth testing. Archives can help engage visitors to read more content on your blog, however they can also take up valuable real estate for subscription options or advertisement. Through testing you can determine the most suitable layout for your blog.
About - The 'About us' page allows visitors to get to know the blogger, but how much emphasis is too much? Is a LinkedIn button good enough? To measure the performance of an "about us" page you will need to measure metrics such as time spent, abandonment rates, new contacts on LinkedIn and the number of emails.
Widgets - One of the hottest topics on the Internet right now. Trying to find a balance between placing widgets that compliment your blog versus widgets that take over your blog is important to keep on top of. Widgets can also potentially cause you to lose visitors by navigating them off your blog. The cool thing about this process is that it is applicable to all bloggers (at all levels of authority) not to mention it's fun seeing your blog flourish.
Advertising - There are numerous options for bloggers to make money through advertising. Popular ones include affiliate advertising (for sites like Text Link Ads), Google Ad Sense, Feedvertising (through FeedBurner services) or banner ads. Whichever service or combinations of services you should remember never to let advertising harm a visitor's experience on the site. All of the above advertising models provide excellent revenue reporting therefore it becomes quite simple to select the best performing option.
There you have it, 7 tips to better blogging, the formula is relatively simple but it requires perseverance: Define, Test, Measure, and Repeat.
Last week I wrote a piece on Ten Ways B2B Marketers Can Become Cutting Edge with Online Marketing. One of the items mentioned was to use Mobile Marketing to compliment your online presence. So exactly what is mobile marketing or mobile SEO? Can it be used by B2B marketers as a lead generation tool? Should it be used by B2B marketers as part of an online marketing strategy at all?
Before we try to answer these questions, we should discuss exactly what mobile marketing/mobile SEO is.
Definition of Mobile SEO: the process of increasing visitors to your web properties through the use of mobile marketing and promotion.
Definition of Mobile Marketing: Mobile marketing is the process of marketing on or with a mobile device such as a cellular phone or personal digital assistants (PDA). Mobile marketing is usually done through SMS.
Definition of SMS: Short Message Service (SMS) is also known as “text-messaging” and is a telecommunications protocol that allows the sending of "short" (160 characters or less) text messages.
Since the start of the decade, Short Message Service (SMS) has become popular in Europe and Asia. As a result, businesses in these areas started to compile mobile phone numbers and send off content and ad messages. Mobile Marketing via SMS has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia as a new channel to reach the consumer. As a side note, the first cross-carrier SMS shortcode campaign in North America was run by Labatt Brewing Company in 2002.
SMS Facts
• in 2000 (the start of text messaging and SMS) just 17 billion SMS messages were sent • in 2001, the number was up to 250 billion • 2004 saw this rise to 500 billion SMS messages • At an average cost of USD 0.10 per message, this generates revenues in excess of $50 billion for mobile telephone operators • The 2004 total of SMS messages represents close to 100 text messages for every person in the world • Short messages are most popular amongst young people who live in urban areas
So the question becomes should B2B marketers use mobile marketing? Well the quick answer is yes why not? Mobile marketing presents a fairly cost effective way to intercept your audience. You can use it to promote your website (in addition to your solution or product). Mobile marketing cannot hurt your existing campaign. In fact it can be used to bolster your online marketing campaign. There are a number of reasons as to why B2B marketers may want to consider establishing a mobile marketing strategy.
Reasons Why Mobile SEO Should be a part of a B2B Online Marketing Strategy
• The number of cell phone users continues to increase. (2005 saw 2.1 billion users, recent reports suggest this is now considerably higher) • having a mobile marketing strategy through mobile ads can help promote traffic to your web properties • text messages are also often used to interact with automated systems, such as ordering products and services for mobile phones, or participating in contests • SMS has caused interesting changes in society and language since it became popular in such as short time. Text-messaging has had impacts on academics, criminal activity, political events and social news-worthy events. Creative marketing through text-messaging can generate tremendous revenue. • so long as advertisers do not abuse the power of mobile marketing so that it is not considered spam, advertising through text messaging can be very effective
Should Mobile SEO be a focus of B2B Marketers?
Depending on whom your target market may be, mobile marketing may not be for all B2B marketers. In the past, services that provide bulk text message sending are also becoming a popular way for clubs, associations, and advertisers to quickly reach a group of opt-in subscribers. Is mobile marketing simply a fad? I’m not so sure as it appears to picking up steam as we head towards the end of the decade. The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association), have both established guidelines and have began evangelizing the use of the mobile channel for marketers. Mobile marketing is not going anywhere in the near future. For that reason alone B2B marketers should look further into the opportunities that mobile marketing may provide for their organizations. Mobile marketing can be a great way to compliment your online marketing efforts as part of an overall marketing strategy.
After spending a week with thousands of search marketers in New York last week, I think I've figured out what search’s problem is. It's suffering from low self-esteem.
I said before that Search is crossing the chasm. That certainly seemed to be true last week, but to be honest, it took me a little while to figure it out. It wasn't till the last day of the show, having lunch with my friend Greg Jarboe, that we hit it, with a little help from Anne Kennedy.
Greg Jarboe’s Gentrification Theory
Both Greg and I felt like the industry was adrift. It was going through something that hadn't quite defined itself. We certainly felt that a sea change was imminent, but we weren't sure what was entailed in that change. Greg referred to it as the gentrification of search. A new wave of bright, shiny respectability was coming to the hard-working but plain-Jane neighborhood of search, first established by people like Greg and myself. For me, this new influx encapsulated some of what I was seeing but there was something else here.
One of the noticeable trends I've been seeing is the tendency for large organizations to want to ramp-up their search efforts internally. They want to jump into the search pool but they're afraid to take the leap with any of the search vendors currently in the space. They'd rather try to figure it out themselves.
Anne Kennedy’s Epiphany
On the way out of the coffee shop of the New York Hilton, we happen to spot Anne Kennedy, a fellow pioneer of SEM, who put it all in perspective. Search was moving from early adopters to the mainstream market. Search was Crossing the Chasm!
I should've seen it much, much earlier. After all, I've written columns right here in the SearchInsider saying that this is happening. But those columns were written from the vantage point of my office in Kelowna, for all intents and purposes a location far removed from the search industry. Sometimes it's easier to see a clear picture when you're standing back a little bit. When I was in the middle of search, surrounded by it in New York, it was hard to get my bearings. I knew I was surrounded by a flurry of activity, but I wasn't sure what the point of all that activity was. It took Anne’s comment to put it in its proper context.
Is Google Too Big for Search?
The irony here is that as search is gearing up for what should be its finest moment, its time in the spotlight, it seems like the companies that have the most to gain are the ones that rushing headlong to leave search behind.
Consider the irony of the two big announcements at the show last week. First of all we have IPG, one of the gargantuan holding companies in the advertising world, announcing that they had purchased Reprise Media for an undisclosed sum. Again this is part of the trend for the large advertising companies to quickly ramp up their search efforts in anticipation of the coming firestorm of demand in the search space. This is the way the chasm crossings work. If you can successfully make the leap from early adopters to mainstream there's a resulting crush of demand that everyone has to rush to meet.
But then you had the big news of the show, Google's acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. The closer that search gets to the mainstream market, the more intent Google seems to be to build up its rapidly expanding portfolio of non-search marketing channels. It's like Google is saying, "Sure we've got search. But search isn't sexy. It’s utilitarian. It’s direct marketing. Online video, that's sexy! Cable TV, that's sexy! Auction-based print and radio, that's sexy! Google wants to get their hands on those branding dollars and in their mind; Search is not the way to do that. To use Jarboe's gentrification analogy again, just when everyone seems to be considering a move into the inner city neighborhood of search, Google has its eye on buying new property all over town.
Why Search Deserves a Second Look
If this is Google’s thinking, they may be too quick to discount the value of search. To me, there's vast untapped potential here still. All the research we've done seems to indicate that search is the crux of online activity. We just haven't done a very good job of assigning value through the entire buying cycle to the various points where consumers reach out and interact with search. Online consumer research and brand engagement is a Gordian knot, a complex map of intertwining click stream paths, winding through various properties and doubling back on itself. When you start to look at that click stream, one thing becomes very apparent. Search is the connector that holds it all together. As we move from point to point and continue to build our brand awareness, we are connecting the dots through a search. There has to be value to each one of those connections and as we get better at defining and quantifying it, I believe we will find more and more reasons to shift our budget to some form of search.
It's almost as if Google (or at least, parts of Google) takes search for granted in its rush to secure the entire landscape that consumer interaction takes place on. With more and more advertisers starting to look at search seriously, maybe it would be a good idea for Google to do the same thing.
Addendum: I made a similarly themed post on Tuesday in my blog. Matt Cutts was quick to comment that Google’s search team remains as dedicated as ever and has some great things in store. I hope so, because I think search’s finest hour has yet to arrive.
Over the past few years, as online options have increased, the world of B2B marketing has reinvented itself—several times. In order to be competitive, particularly in the Web 2.0 environment, businesses have to be ahead of the trends. Marketers need to evaluate and utilize cutting edge online marketing strategies to keep up with the winds of change. So just how do B2B marketers become cutting edge with their online strategies? Knowing that a business prospect, will spend far more time researching the product or service that you provide, weighing the risks and implications, and looking for possible alternatives, B2B marketers need to be early adopters of online marketing strategies.
Consider Creating an Online Community of Interest Around Your Solution - social marketing continues to be an effective method for reaching new prospects and can provide access to leads that may have otherwise been overlooked.
Make use of Online Video or a Video Blog with Product/Solution Demos - with the surging popularity of online video with YouTube and Google Video, creating a video blog with a series of your solution demos or interviews with key company personnel is a great way to generate top of mind awareness and build trust with your potential prospects.
Use Mobile Marketing to Compliment your Online Presence – the number of cell phone users continues to increase. Having a mobile marketing strategy through mobile ads can help promote traffic to your web properties. Marketing on a mobile phone has become increasingly popular ever since the rise of SMS (Short Message Service) in the early 2000s in Europe and some parts of Asia.
Have Dedicated Resources for Search Engine Marketing – whether in-house or outsourced, the organizations that realize search is here to stay have dedicated budgets for online marketing. Dedicated online marketing staff can keep on top of the latest online strategies and evaluate which strategies can be of the most benefit.
Check out the Competition – what are they doing? What are they not doing? Are they using some new online marketing strategy that you can leverage and make better use of?
Live and Breath Relationship Marketing – The longer, more complex buying cycle means that relationships have to be cultivated and grown over a lengthy period of time. Having plans in place for building a long-term relationship for prospects through your website is critical in creating top of mind awareness and building the relationship between your organization and your prospects.
Learn, Understand and Utilize Widget Marketing - with a surging increase in the use of widgets, widget marketing can help help promote your product or solution as widgets are all about providing your users with the tools to promote your B2B business or any business/online property.
Determine your most important and actionable KPIs – Being cutting edge means that realizing that not all leads should be treated as equal. Successful lead generation will rely on multiple KPIs to keep the online marketing program focused and effective—and to keep you from wasting time and money on leads that just don’t matter. Three KPIs to live by: Leads Generated (This metric is very high level and should be considered a long-term trended KPI. As traffic fluctuates, leads will naturally fluctuate.), Lead Conversion Ratio (the conversion ratio is generally influenced positively by incentives including offers and negatively by barriers like poor navigation or onsite security concerns), Cost per Lead (Cost per Lead is a ratio and strategic metric, should never be managed independent of revenue)
Prepare for the Personalization of Search - the switch from a universal Search Engine Results Page (SERP) to a somehwhat unique results page for each and every user who performs a query for one of your keywords. Ensuring that you have the relevant content to be found in "personalized" search results can improve your chances for consideration as your prospect goes through their buying process.
Have an Interactive Site – providing avenues for user generated content can help enhance the user experience and improve your presence in the search engines. Updating your site to be search engine friendly and to allow for user interaction is a great way to generate traffic, interest and leads for your business.
In the end what does it mean for B2B Marketers?
According to the Direct Marketing Association, by 2008 online marketing efforts will be the dominant media for business-to-business initiatives. Today’s B2B marketers need to keep up with the demands, and identify emerging trends before they impact efforts. Becoming an early adopter is key if business to business marketers are to become cutting edge with their online marketing efforts
Kraig Swensrud is the Sr. Director of Marketing Products at Salesforce.com. Recently he developed 7 best practices to help marketers adapt to "Marketing in the Google Era." I was very fortunate in being able to talk to Kraig about his best practices, listen to the podcast:
Here is the overview of my questions/topics during the converation with Kraig Swensrud:
I started by asking Kraig's motivation's for developing these best practices
1) Invest in your web properties: Are you referring to leveraging your business's website to its full potential through the understanding of what's happening on it?
2) The second tip is to Invest in Search Marketing and being in this Industry makes it a no brainer for me, yet not everyone takes advantage of it.
3) Tip 3 is to Make your Message Relevant. I can't stress the importance of this practice with personalization in the forefront.
4) Create Landing Pages for Each Program is the next practice. Matching content to the intent of the user will definitely lead to stronger conversion rates.
5) Tip 5 is to Measure Everything, in Real Time. Can you explain the advantage of measuring real time versus measure yesterday's data?
6) Use the Web for PR is tip 6 and in your PDF you discuss the power of Blogging and Syndication.
7) The Final tip is to engage your community and in a consumer driven market this concept becomes very important.
Here is the link to Kraig's webinar on the 7 best practices: Webinar Slides.
I was forcefully fit into the proverbial "other shoes" last week, and it was a disconcerting experience. I was behaviorally targeted in an unmistakable way, and I had to come to personal terms with the new reality of marketing.
In the Crosshairs
I've written about behavioral targeting a number of times in the past, but always from a marketer's perspective. From that viewpoint, there's a lot I like about behavioral targeting. But Last week, the crosshairs drew a bead on my forehead and I became the hunted, not the hunter.
I'm not naive, I know I've been targeted before, but this was the first time that it was obvious enough to register on my consciousness. And I have to tell you, I'm having mixed feelings about it.
Leaving Footprints and Collecting Cookies
In the past 2 weeks, I've been making my travel plans to head to China for SES in May. I've been merrily hop scotching around the web, booking flights, checking hotels and frequenting the typical online travel haunts: Expedia, Orbitz and TripAdvisor. All the time, these sites were jamming my browser with cookies galore. As I went on my way in blissful ignorance, I was definitely leaving a trail (I'm picturing virtual droppings, probably from too many cookies) that obviously caught one advertisers attention. Late last week, I went to About.com on a totally unrelated quest (the topic of which escapes me at this time), and there in the top bar was an ad urging be to book my hotel in Xiamen in the next 3 days on Orbitz or miss out on a $25 discount. Now, Xiamen obviously caught my attention. It's just not a destination you see all that often in the typical display ad on a website. It's not Paris, or London, or even Beijing, all of which I might have just chalked up to coincidence. But it does happen to be where SES China is taking place and it is where I'll be spending 3 or 4 days in May. And I haven't booked my hotel yet. So from a targeting perspective, I had a red laser dot on my forehead. Well done Orbitz!
Is Ignorance Bliss?
I don't consider myself a neophyte when it comes to online marketing. I obviously knew what was going on. I understood the mechanics behind it. But this was the first time that it was obvious that I was being targeted, and I've got to tell you, it creeped me out a little.
Now, I'm not sure if my level of sophistication here, such as it is, was a good thing or not. Would the average user, less aware of the inner workings of behavior targeting, be more apprehensive or less so? Would they just say, "Wow, how did Orbitz know?" or would they quickly wrap their monitor in tinfoil, certain that there was some unhealthy spying going on, either by aliens or the government. I'm not sure, but I know that losing my BT virginity has left me feeling a little queasy.
Did Orbitz Bag Their Prey?
So, the collective marketing audience is wondering, did Orbitz succeed in getting my booking? Well, yes, and no. The ad certainly caught my attention. In fact, it totally derailed my train of thought, which could be why I forget what it was I went to About.com for in the first place. But I didn't book, at least, not yet. I'm still sorting out whether I want to or not. It's really strange. Intellectually I have totally accepted behavioral targeting and even welcome it as an advertiser, but emotionally and as a prospect, I'm still not sure. I had no idea I would be so prudish about this until it actually happened. I admire Orbitz's marketing prowess, but I do feel a little violated. Maybe it will just take some getting used to. Until then, I'm sniffing the wind when I frequent my online watering holes and being a little more careful about the trail I'm leaving behind. After all, you can't be too careful nowadays. The trees have eyes and ears.
Recently we have been discussing the importance of social marketing/networking and social media marketing. We described the various communities that make up the components of social marketing and defined online communities as an environment consisting of a group of people with a common interest where the users can share their knowledge and experience in a manner that will benefit the community as a whole.
It is these online communities that B2B marketers need to participate in as part of their total online marketing solution. Participation in these communities can help create top of mind awareness and tap into potential leads who may have not of been aware of your solutions or services. Online communities offer businesses the opportunity to build a deeper relationship with their customers and prospects by facilitating interaction and feedback. As Ryan mentioned in his recent post, "the key to effective social marketing is to actively participate in communities that are relevant to your product or service. B2B marketers should engage the vertical social networks, forums and blogs that surround their industries." In the past particpation in online communities was taylored for individuals and B2C organizations. But now companies are beginning to ask what community means for the B2B market and particularly, “how do we get there?” So how do B2B marketers get there?
How Can B2B Marketers Actively Participate in Online Communities?
Well the first thing is to you need to do is discover all of the online communities that are relevant for your industry and for your business. Of course there are some communities whereby having a physical presence in, you may be able to obtain leads from. Here are a couple of examples of online community resources that B2B marketers should be aware of:
5 Online Community Resources for B2B Marketers
I Belong Networks - Develop your own large-scale web-based communities.
Com Find - directory Consisting of targeted business categories. Being that it is a directory, there is not as much interaction as an actual online community.
LinkedIn - LinkedIn is by far the most popular social networking site targeted to business users with more than 9 million registered users in more than 130 industries. Of those registered members nearly half a million are C-suite level executives.
Vox - Online community where you can share information about your products, solutions and services through blog posts, audio, video and more. For more on Vox, visit http://www.sixapart.com/about/news/.
We Are Smarter.org - See real world applications of the power of community and social networking.
If you are going to create your own community remember that communities are created from within and should be built upon and complement your corporate strategy. You need to encourage interaction both between and directly with your our customers and prospects. When creating your own online community you should consider the following:
Create an online content environment that drives customers and prospects to your site for product and service information early in the buying process
Keep the the community relevant to users and their needs
Ensure that there’s a reason for repeat visits
Interaction is key. Make it easy for community members to find people who they can relate with and are “like themselves”. This can be done via profiles and forums and mini communities. MyBlogLog does a great job of this.
Always respond to community feedback – if you have set up a community to attract prospects and leads, make sure you listen to what they are saying.
It is important to keep in mind that marketing as we have known it is undergoing a metamorphosis. Push strategies are not as effective as they once were. With the power shift to the consumer, B2B marketers need to create pull strategies that engage the customer. There’s no doubt that this will cause marketing professionals and indeed all company executives to really step out of the status quo and understand and participate in the new age of marketing. The question will not be "What have you done for me lately?" it will become "What can I do for you now and in the future?"
Copyright 2008 - Enquiro Search Solutions.
Articles from ask.enquiro may be reproduced if the author credit is retained and there is a prominent source link to www.enquiro.com .
enquiro research
