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B2B Social Media

How to Create B2B Marketing Buzz: Part II

The Buzz Marketing Formula

Alice Farmiloe - Marketing & Katie Martell - Director of Buzz

What is buzz? For marketers, buzz is the amplification effect that happens when great content meets great promotion.

 

In B2B marketing, buzz-building incorporates content marketing, PR and web 2.0 platforms including email and social media.  

Buzz-building is one of the many tools for marketers today who want to create positive association, awareness, excitement, or anticipation about their product, message or service. 

In this two-part series, we'll explore the content and promotion strategy behind a successful buzz-building campaign by NetProspex.

• PART I: The Buzz Formula Part I: Buzz-worthy B2B content
• PART II: The Buzz Formula Part II: How to Create (and measure) B2B Buzz

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The Buzz Formula Part II: How to Create (and measure) B2B Buzz 

 Part II of the buzz formula is using PR and Web 2.0 to generate awareness, excitement, and positive buzz about your content. 

[ Great content] + [ Great PR & Web 2.0 Strategy ] = BUZZ

 

How to generate exposure:

1. Partner with a great PR agency

2. Target high profile media outlets, key industry pubs, and relevant bloggers

3. Empower your community of clients/employees/partners to share

4. Reach targeted prospects via email

5. Engage with the buzz, repurpose content and extend the conversation

Our strategy:

PR: We partnered with the North 6th Agency to develop a targeted media outreach plan that included top-tier media platforms such as Fox Business News and The Huffington Post, tech publications such as Business Insider and eConsultancy, as well as key industry bloggers including The Funnelholic and Savvy B2B Marketing. 

Web 2.0: We made it easy for everybody on the NetProspex team to share the social report with their LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter networks, and encouraged them to do so via email.

We also reached out to organizations whose audiences would also benefit from the report, like Eloqua (marketing automation), who helped spread the good buzz: 

 

Email Marketing: Eating our own dog food, we downloaded a list of VPs and Directors of Marketing across the nation from NetProspex.com, and shared the report with them as a means of introducing our brand in a valuable, helpful way.  We also shared the report with our clients and newsletter subscribers.

Engagement and repurposing: We had staff on hand to answer questions about the report publicly via Twitter, on media sites that allowed comments, and on LinkedIn. To repurpose the report, an upcoming episode of The Social Call was dedicated to the findings, and one of the companies featured in the report, Volt Information Sciences, issued a press release announcing their spot in the rankings of our report.  

Measurement:

Following the launch of our 4th Social Business Report, we decided to see just how effective our content marketing campaign had been. While hard to quantify the readership of publications, the sharing of articles across Twitter is easily trackable. We used Tweet Reach to measure how many Twitter accounts had been exposed to our social report in the 2 weeks immediately following the launch by mentions of the term "NetProspex".

The results: we reached 1,200,218 people and created 4,582,340 impressions! 

Click here for TweetReach's definition of these two figures.  

Hint: TweetReach reads up to the last 5 days, so it's necessary to run multiple reports every 5 days or upgrade to their enterprise service.

Are you under pressure to explain the result, ROI, or value of your content marketing or PR spend? Figures like this demonstrate the exposure gained, and the reach achieved by your buzz-building strategy. 

 Special thanks to Alice Farmiloe, NetProspex Intern, for her buzz-building contributions! 

 

 

How to Create B2B Marketing Buzz: Part I

The Buzz Marketing Formula

Alice Farmiloe - Marketing & Katie Martell - Director of Buzz 

What is buzz? For marketers, buzz is the amplification effect that happens when great content meets great promotion.

In B2B marketing, buzz-building incorporates content marketing, PR and web 2.0 platforms including email and social media.  

Buzz-building is one of the many tools for marketers today who want to create positive association, awareness, excitement, or anticipation about their product, message or service. 

In this two-part series, we'll explore the content and promotion strategy behind a successful buzz-building campaign by NetProspex. 

• The Buzz Formula Part I: Buzz-worthy B2B content
• The Buzz Formula Part II: How to Create (and measure) B2B Buzz

 ***

 

PART I: The Buzz Formula Part I: Buzz-worthy B2B content

Part I of the buzz formula is developing something worth the buzz. "Let's give 'em something to talk about" should be your mantra! 

[ Great content ] + [ Great PR & Web 2.0 Strategy ] = BUZZ

How to create buzz-worth B2B content:

1. Do your research. 

Just as markets can be saturated with similar product offerings or services, the media your audience consumes can be overwhelmed with lookalike content. Write and create something different, something valuable, and something new. 

2. Tell a story

We're inclined to relate to and digest stories, with characters, settings, and plots. This style is a surefire way to write your content so it hooks and engages your audience. 

3. Be entertaining

What is the most viewed content on the web? Funny cat videos and silly memes like dancing hamsters and people laying face-down in unexpected places. There's enough distracting your audience, even your technical B2B buyer, so don't waste your (or your readers) time with boring content. 

4. Be informative

Is your content useful and valuable to your reader? Will it help them do their job better today or next week? Does it position you as a brand to trust and work with? Let's hope so. So much marketing is fluff, BS, jargon, and gobbledygook. Knock it off. If it's not useful, don't try to pretend it is. Be a resource, be informative, and always create value.

5. Relate to your bigger brand picture. 

Your brand story connects your company mission to your products/services in an engaging, relatable way. Your content should add to that story, and speak to what kind of company you are and how you can help. 

How NetProspex created buzz-worthy content: The NetProspex Social Business Report

As a business prospect database, we have millions of records containing job titles and social media profiles for contacts in thousands of industries and geographic markets. This asset was the foundation for our Social Business Report. 

1. 12 million contacts with social media profiles in our database were analyzed. 

2. We told a story of the evolution of business communication by illustrating the widespread adoption of social media within the US business community. 

3. The data was easy to digest visually with stellar-looking infographics. 

4. To maximize relevance, we categorized our findings by company, industry, job function, and city. 

5. Our branding story was the key here. As the first B2B prospect database to incorporate social data in our records, the report reflects our dedication to helping clients reach new customers with the latest aspects of business communication, including social media. 

Read the full report -- and check out Part II to find out how we created buzz around the report and its findings. 

NetProspex Just Got Seriously Social

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Background

Here at NetProspex, the last 2 weeks have been pretty exciting. Following the success of our prior Social Business Reports, we just released the Summer 2011 edition . Our aim was to illustrate the widespread social media adoption in the US business community.

It is our most comprehensive study to date, with more research, insights, and data than ever before. Our team analyzed 12 million businesspeople from the NetProspex database of crowd-sourced business contacts to provide a snapshot of social media activity and trends among employees of the nation’s largest corporations, industries, cities, and job functions.

This is definitely the LARGEST focus group we have ever seen.

Methodology

The findings were gathered by using the NetProspex Social Index (NPSI). This was used to score and rank social network activity across the top social networks, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

This score comprised of social media presence (the number of employees in a category with social media profiles registered under a business email address), and social connectedness (the average number of connections per employee across major social networks). 

In this fourth edition, more contacts were analyzed, more granular categories were targeted, there was a focus on Twitter use, and the methodology was substantially updated, with several new, comprehensive categories added to the analysis.

Key Findings

Our report ranks the top performers and breaks them down by company, industry, job title and geographic region and includes eye-catching infographics and data visualization.

The most notable findings include:

• The New York Times is the most social company, with Intuit close behind, both zooming past Google & Microsoft

•  Technology companies dominated the Top 10 rankings

• The Computer Technology industry is the most socially savvy industry in the US

• Recruiting ranked as the most social job category, bypassing even communications and marketing professionals

• The Silicon Valley takes the crown for the most social cities, with San Francisco and San Jose taking 1st & 2nd place respectively. These contributed toward the West coast beating the East coast in the Top 10 list.

 Media Coverage

Our previous three reports all earned coverage in hundreds of media outlets, and have been used as reference material in business and educational presentations, studies, and reports. The 4th edition has seen a phenomenal response within the first week of launch. 

The findings were published in The Huffington Post, Business Insider, and many other regional publications and technology outlets. Our very own Mike Bird appeared on Fox News last Tuesday, discussing how roots of social media are really taking hold within the business community. 

Here at NetProspex we believe social media to be a natural evolution of B2B business communication. As B2C companies know well, businesses have to be where their customers are (after all, if you’re not, you quickly become irrelevant.) In a B2B world, brands must acknowledge that their buyers, whether the Director of IT or the HR manager, are active on social networks in their day-to-day workplace. 

Today, businesspeople are having conversations in a public forum, about brands, solutions, trends and opinions.

This was reflected on Twitter where the news of our Social Report spread to almost 1 million accounts (analyzed by TweetReach).  Feedback included repeated comments such as; ‘great insights into social business’ and ‘interesting stuff you guys are doing’ with requests to even expand this study to examine global social media trends!

This social media frontier needs to be continuously embraced by B2B companies worldwide as they realize that being social is not just personal, it’s business.

You can see the full report here.

 

Alice Farmiloe - Marketing @ NetProspex

Amplification

@JaniceMcCallum of Health Content Advisors submitted a comment about the amplification effect on content through social media, on our latest episode of Social Call:

"Gary, I particularly like your use of the word “amplify” to describe the value of social media. I use it often to describe how Twitter amplifies blog content and how the two cross-pollinate.

As was emphasized by all speakers on this podcast, there has to be existing content –preferably high quality content–to get value from amplification. So, companies should have a solid underlying media strategy before they jump into a social media campaign. In healthcare, where I spend most of my time now, I observe hospitals trying to establish social media programs when they have weak or non-existent content strategies. They need to ask themselves what they’re amplifying and if they don’t have a good answer, I suggest they focus on building the foundational message first.

OTOH, for publishers with quality content, they’re missing out if they’re not taking advantage of social media amplification."

Listen to / read the full Social Call episode.

5 Reasons Cisco Rocks at B2B Social Media Marketing

Last night, the spotlight was on the best B2B Twitter users, from individuals to companies, as the winners of the 2nd annual B2B Twitterer of the Year awards were announced during #B2BCHAT. As a sponsor, the whole NetProspex team was excited to see the results. See the full 2010 winners list.

Congratulations to @CiscoSystems for winning the National/International B2B Manufacturer category. (Runners up were @JuniperNetworks and @KronesAG)

Marketers can learn from Cisco as a real-time case-study on how B2B companies can use social media to deliver value to their audience, and find value in return from nurturing a thriving community. 

5 Reasons Cisco Rocks at B2B Social Media Marketing

1. They're transparent. Cisco's Social Media guidelines and FAQs for employees are published for the world to see. Talk about transparency.  A fantastic resource if you are wondering where to start drawing the lines within your own organization. 
    
2. They've created a community. Cisco's Social Media Hub it's all here, a snapshot of their social activity across the web. 
   
   
3. They take it seriously. Seriously enough to have a dedicated Director of Social Media Marketing, Jeanette Gibson. She sums up Cisco's philosophy of social media with "Social Media is not just a fun trend, it's something that can really help drive business value."
    
4. They listen. Ant's Eye View recently posted a detailed account of Cisco's listening journey. "Through social media monitoring, Cisco learned what messages resonated with the market resulting in a shortened sales cycle, increased engagement and lower cost." Follow Stephanie Marx, who manages centralized Listening efforts at Cisco. 
    
5. They make a hard business case for social media. By saving $100,000+ on a product launch using social media, Cisco sets the bar for social media marketing innovation that is directly related to the bottom line. Read the full article on Social Media Examiner 

To quote NetProspex CRO Michael Bird.. "it's all about revenue." 

Rock on, Cisco.

What do you think? Share a comment below, tweet @NetProspex or me personally @KatieMartell.

For further reading, definitely check out The NetProspex Social Report for the most social industries, companies, cities, and jobs, based on an analysis of our B2B sales and marketing database.

 

5 Ways for B2B Companies to Engage on Twitter

Our Social Business Report proves B2B employees, from IT managers to Marketing Directors, are using social media for collaboration, research, news, and more. The question for many of our clients is how to engage with the right people on social networks, and turn LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter into platforms for lead generation and client/community interaction.

This article from Karlie Justus at SocialMediaB2B.com points out five great ways to engage on Twitter. Read the original post.

 

Just as B2B sales relationships aren’t built over night, sustained B2B Twitter relationships – often the basis for industry insight, lead generation and media coverage – require a commitment to engagement. When considering and crafting Twitter contributor, monitoring and legality strategies to support B2B sales efforts, it’s also important to think about how your company can leverage two-way communication.

Here are five ways to approach B2B Twitter engagement:

Social Report FAQ: What about Zappos?

Question from @pamstucky: Was surprised not to see @Zappos on your Social Report. They seem to be very Social. Were they not included in research?

No doubt Zappos has an often-referenced and often-admired social media strategy. You can read more about their use of social media here, here, here, and by doing a quick Google search.

One reason why Zappos did not rank on our chart was most likely due to the criteria we used: we were interested in finding those companies where social media was used throughout the company.

Our research analyzed the whole corporate ladder, from IT to marketing to customer support. Corporations with thousands of employees were analyzed, and ranked based on the percentage of their staff with an active social media presence.

So, while the folks at Zappos are using social media for award-winning customer support, perhaps their procurement team, IT staff, or HR team is not as social.

What NetProspex is all about is connecting our clients to their target audience in the B2B world: IT decision makers, business development, CEOs, human resources, etc. If you're a B2B organization prospecting for leads and generating new business, social media should be considered as a viable platform, as important as an email address and phone number, in reaching and engaging prospects. 

Any further questions? Leave a comment, or shoot me an email. kmartell@ netprospex.com

Best,

Katie Martell
Director of Marketing
NetProspex

Building a Company with Social Media

Source

This infographic from Elliance is a great example of how social media is used at each level of an organization to drive awareness, customer and prospect engagement, PR, and thought leadership. 

The networks could be updated to reflect the most popular social networks of 2010, but these values are clear throughout the changing landscape of social platforms.