A Practical Guide For CEOs On Using Social Media – B2B Edition

“Some CEOs say they’re too busy for social media. I say it’s part of the job.” Jack Salzwedel – CEO of American Family Mutual Insurance Company

Salzwadel’s advice seems to be falling on deaf ears if a Domo and CEO.com study is to be believed. The report, published earlier this year, found that fully 61% of CEOs of the Fortune 500 had no presence on any social channel and the usage of social media by even the other 39% is underwhelming. No one is saying this is a good thing, though, and digging deeper into the “why” of such low CEO participation reveals that many of the reasons are internal to them rather than business-driven. Apart from a belief that social media is a young person’s game and a fear of repercussions from sharing something inappropriate, among the chief causes cited by CEOs was a lack of understanding of what to do on social platforms. At Midas Touch, we work with a bunch of B2B clients. As we go about getting their company on the social media wagon, the question of how the CEOs in these companies should use social channels often comes up. Let me use this post to share the recommendations we usually end up giving.

First some caveats. In keeping with the “practical” nature of this guide – this is a “nuts and bolts” set of suggestions intended for CEOs of mid-sized companies looking to leverage social media to help their business get ahead. We are not really addressing loftier goals like branding or creating thought leadership. Using social media for personal branding is also a story that will have to wait for another day.   

LinkedIn

A TrackMaven analysis of content shared by B2B brands across the leading social media networks over a 12-month period starting mid-2015, revealed that across several measures LinkedIn was the most popular and effective platform. That’s reason enough to have it front-and-center in our plans too. Here’s what the time-strapped CEO should do on LinkedIn.

1. Networking really is LinkedIn’s primary raison d'être. As soon as the, hero of our blog, CEO connects (meet, emeet etc.) with a customer, prospect or influencer, we recommend connecting on LinkedIn as well. As a matter of practice, the connect should occur very soon after the meeting so the interaction is still fresh in their minds. This also means that the LinkedIn profile of the CEO should be complete, with a professional head-shot and the relevant amount of information about the organization they represent. 

2. This CEO should post occasional, but regular LinkedIn status updates from their profiles. Except to share significant news, preferably the updates should be to about the industry at large rather than about their own company. This is to get into the eye line of a wider audience, positioned as someone with an interest in and a contribution to make to the space.

3. Our, now emerging from social exile, CEO should follow the company’s LinkedIn company page and like and share the content being posted there, especially if it leads back to the company website. This will help the visibility of the posts.

4. Keeping in mind that the CEO, who is the subject of our post, is time-strapped, having a regular blog may remain an ambition only. That being the case, blogs from the company blog absolutely can be posted from the personal profile of the CEO (with attribution). The topic of the blog, their tone and message and even the frequency of posting has to fit in with the overall positioning and network of the CEO. This helps to showcase the thought leadership of the company.

Twitter

Last year Social Media Today reported that B2B Marketers who used Twitter generated twice as many leads as compared to those who didn’t. Most B2B Marketers rate Twitter as the 2nd most effective social platform behind LinkedIn. Here’s how the CEO can work Twitter like a (near) pro.

1. Well, of course, create a Twitter handle and tweet regularly. Yeah – we already agreed that the CEO doesn’t have a lot of time so this does not have to be a flood of tweets daily. Let’s start with a measured, steady, sustainable pace. Remember, the tweets cannot all be promotional. We suggest a mix of personal thoughts that relate to the business, company news and content and also relevant content from the industry at large. People will follow the CEO if they see the twitter channel as a worthy source of informative content.

2. Something that should please the sales team - this is also a good way to connect with senior prospects, customers, and decision makers directly. I’m fond of saying that if you start a tweet with @BillGates, it will reach the man – he won’t react to it in all probability but really which channel gives you that kind of direct access? With such great power comes great responsibility, though – these connections are not to be milked too blatantly, be slow, be sure and don’t be salesy.

3. This is also a great place for our, now socially-savvy, CEO to listen. The aim is to participate in ongoing conversations by searching for #s (sorry – I should explain that is this an easy way for those in the know to identify tweets across the Twitterverse that refer to a particular topic) that are relevant. This gives great insights into what others have to say about the area you work in, or even what customers, prospects, and competitors consider important at the time.

4. Now that our CEO has become quite the social media pro let’s up the ante. Next on the agenda – live tweeting. Think of the many events and occasions CEOs attend. This is the time to make the handle more active – live tweeting the occasional relevant impression from the event floor is a great way to contribute to a larger conversation and gain some visibility for your own and your company’s point of view.

I think our CEO is now ready for the social world – right? In closing a word of advice. Not from me, but from Marketing and Customer Service thought-leader Jay Baer. He said, “Focus on how to be social, not how to do social.” That’s sound advice for all CEO’s looking to dive into social media.

Going Full Mentor – The TiE Pune / Lufthansa Start-up Mentorship Camp

Kicking off the session.

Lufthansa has, for the last three years, sponsored a start-up focused show called “Runway to Success”, on business channel ET Now. The program is a kind of start-up version of “Survivor” with a bunch of start-ups applying for prizes (and attention) and rising through levels. This year, in an attempt to elevate the level of the participation the show Lufthansa, in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs, organized a series of mentorship camps across 6 Indian cities. My partner at Midas Touch, Radha Giri, and I were invited to join the panel of mentors and help the participating start-ups understand the value of and the approach to branding. The event was a great success with close to 140 start-ups registering for an intense half day exercise.

The presentation we used, “The case for start-ups and entrepreneurs to embrace social media”, is at the link below but let me take this opportunity to talk through the essence of what we presented.

Clearly, there is value in establishing the start-up’s brand. As Alina Wheeler had said, “Brand is the promise, the big idea, the expectations that reside in each customer’s mind about a product, services or company. Branding is about making an emotional connection.” Given the resource constraints and the focus of most start-ups, a convincing case can be made for them to focus their brand-building efforts on the digital and social space. Start-ups can effectively leverage social media to:

Ø  Let the world know about them – who they are, what they represent and how they are different

Ø  Connect with their target audience

Ø  Let it be known that they are active and open for business

Ø  Let their content play at the same level as the content from their more established competitors

Ø  Get traffic to their web properties and also, provide support to offline sales or campaign activities

Full House.

Having established the value of adopting the digital world it is important to understand what should guide the initiative. It is important to not do too little while being conscious of not spending too much. It is also important to remember to give the initiative the time it needs to take root and to be “genuine” in the content you share. Borrowing from Sean Gardner, “Social media is not just an activity, it is an investment of valuable time and resources. Surround yourself with people who not just support you and stay with you, but inform your thinking about ways to WOW your online presence.”

Radha Giri talking Personal Branding

Start-ups considering social media have their own concerns, some of them coming down to a mismatch of expectations on what can or cannot be achieved. While start-ups can expect a sharply increased awareness of their brand and more “warm” connections when they do connect with their target customers it would not be appropriate for them to expect their social media efforts to become a lead generation engine or to be a substitute for sales efforts!

The other critical branding pillar for start-ups is the personal brand of the founder -among the biggest assets of the start-up. Like Jason Hartman said, “Your personal brand is a promise to your clients.. a promise of quality, consistency, competency and reliability.” Creating an appropriate personal brand for the founder, just like creating an appropriate brand for the start-up comes down to creating well-thought out content addressed to the target customers and then promoting it on the social channels those target customers are likely to frequent.

The Mentors.

Bernard Kelvin Clive had said, “In a competitive crowded world market, it's the well positioned brands that Stands Out!” In today’s social age, it is also clear that brand-building is no longer an activity for the big boys. The upstart start-ups can build just as powerful brands and reap the benefits.

SlideShare Link to Full Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/MidasTouchConsultants/the-case-for-startups-entrepreneurs-to-embrace-social-media

The Proof Of The Pudding - A Content Marketer's Rant

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Miguel de Cervantes

Maybe, like Cervantes’ most abiding creation, I am tilting at windmills here but indulge me please. I have taken to this forum to try and understand the “Proof of Concept” phenomenon in Content Marketing and yes, to share the pain with other content marketing agencies out there similarly afflicted.

This has happened to my agency on a couple of occasions now and I wanted to vent or alternately get better informed in case this is the vanguard of an inevitable but undesirable trend. The way the story goes in a couple of prospect discussions close to the sharp end of the sales cycle after the usual rounds of “hoop jumping” the prospect suddenly asked us to work on what they called a “proof of concept”, essentially an obligation-free exercise to create some custom content specifically for them. If this hit the mark we could hope to be engaged for more remunerative work. Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?

First let me say to prospects that I understand, sort-of, where you are coming from. I know that the quality of a service is only apparent after it is consumed so prior to doing anything irreversible you are looking to re-assure yourselves that the people you are considering engaging have got what it takes. To accomplish that the advice you seem to have paid heed to is Cervantes’.

That being said, to my mind, there are so many better ways to get that assurance. In each of these instances we have happily provided several examples of content created by us already out there in the public domain, we have provided written references from clients who have used similar services from us and we have also given contact information for live references for the prospect to engage with more deeply or to address any specific concerns. Despite all that how does one justify the need for more custom content creation? Perhaps the prospect is a disciple of Thales of Miletus who said “A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind.”

The logic the prospect usually presents is that what they have to offer is so path-breaking or so unique that they need to first validate our capacity to understand it well enough to be able to create and promote appropriate content. Without even getting into how thin on the ground truly innovative and unique business models or offerings are, this poses a conundrum.

1.If the offering truly is unique then before churning out any meaningful content an agency would have to put in, presumably, long hours of study and substantial research. This being the case how appropriate is it then to expect the agency to commit that kind of bandwidth before any deals are inked

2.The alternative seems incomprehensible as superficial study will lead to shallow content – an unacceptable outcome. Presumably the objective would be to put your best foot forward so no compromise would be acceptable right?

3.On the other hand if the prospect is looking for content that is not so specific to them or, as is entirely likely, their offering is not really so unique after-all then why go through the exercise at all? Would it not be easier and faster to check references and / or review the content already presented.

That’s a Helleresque Catch 22 for Content Marketers – doing something you would rather not do, in a manner that doesn’t satisfy you, for someone who doesn’t know really what to do with it for an unclear purpose. I’m looking for answers – from agencies that have faced and dealt with the issue or have become convinced of the value of this additional stage in the sales cycle or from prospects who have a reason for the “proof of concept” demand that may have escaped my own attentions. Till I get them though I would like to leave with an anonymous quote that pretty much sums up my own feeling on the subject “If you believe in something, no proof is necessary. If you don't, none is sufficient.”

Note: This post appeared in much the same form under my byline in Social Media Magazine Social Samosa - it is available here.

Your Content Is Outstanding But Is It Standing Out?

“Marketers always ask me how to make more or better content, and it’s almost always the wrong question. The right question is: “How do I get my content in front of the right people?”” Joe Chernov – VP of Content at HubSpot

You were among those that embraced Content Marketing early. You truly believe that high quality, well written content that informs and educates is a great way to present your own expertise. You have also spent a considerable amount of time and energy in building a process internally that listens socially to identify issues that matter in your area and then captures your own unique point of view about those issues in an article. Despite all this the nagging fear is something is not working out. Month on month the trend is clear - “views” and social shares are down and so is engagement. Does that sound like your story? If – so you are not alone.

In essence the problem is one of plenty – the content marketing case is so strong that everyone is climbing on to this particular bandwagon. The result is 30 million items of content being shared online every single day. It’s asking a lot of your content to grab the eyeballs while buried in that dense a thicket. Is it time then to hang up your content marketing boots – not by a long shot! Here are 5 types of content that will still stand out from the crowd.

Uber-Targeted Content

“The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say, ‘This was written specifically for me.’” : Jamie Turner, 60 Second Marketer  

Something written for everyone makes sense to no-one. An ever-present temptation is to try to address the larger target segments with your content – in the current situation the reverse may well work better. Create more pieces of content – each piece specifically targeted at specific sub-segments or even smaller target groups. The fact is their needs are different in their own way – identify those differences , address them specifically and watch the small but highly targeted audience lap it up.

Visual Content

Research commissioned by 3M showed that nearly 90% of the information consumed by the brain is visual and as a result visual information gets processed by the brain up to 60000 faster than text information. This gives a clue why in recent times the most shared content is all visual. In the context of content of value to organizations this suggests that the Content Marketing focus should be on creating Infographics, Process or Flow Charts and text articles liberally supported by pictures and diagrams. 

Audio / Video Content

The kind of videos actor Mike Henry had in mind when he said “We’re living in a world where one good video can lead to a massive social following” are perhaps not what most organizations would find useful. That being said one can no longer ignore the importance of audio / video content when YouTube is pushing to be the world’s 2^nd largest search engine after Google. Bandwidths today are not a problem and creating webinars, podcasts and animated or live action videos is no longer as challenging as used to be the case. The medium is still relatively underserved – a good opportunity for content you create to be viewed positively (pun intended).

Customer Generated Content

Surveys show that 51% of Americans trust user-generated content, 16% information on the company website and 14% news articles about the company – the numbers won’t be very different for other markets. While not the easiest to produce if you have a customer willing to lend their name and inputs to a piece of content this can swiftly become a magnet for similar organizations or for those with similar questions that need answering. You marketing team will also tell you that promoting content written by someone else has the ring of truth to it and is hence often easier to promote!

Storytelling

Randall Lane, editor of Forbes said - “Tell a relevant, targeted, transparent story, and the whole world will share it.” Attention spans are short and there is a lot of competition for the mental bandwidth of your target audience – a story told well that echoes the situation your own target audience is facing is thus more likely to strike a chord. Given a choice between a pedantic article and a story the story will get picked each time. It’s obviously an easier read and the customers believe themselves smart enough to extract the right message from it.

This is a fast evolving space – everyone has bright ideas and the motivation to make their content better. My suggestion is don’t be content if your outstanding content – the real value will be when it stands out!

Note: This article first appeared in more or less the same shape in Social Samosa under my byline.

More Bang For The Tradeshow Buck For B2B Startups

Tradeshows are expensive and as a startup our participation is completely un-affordable. The ROI for B2B events is uncertain. Does this sound familiar? As a B2B focused social media marketing agency we at Midas Touch get pulled into this argument often but somewhat contrary to expectations our response is not always an outright rejection. We believe that there may well be a case for B2B focused startups to seriously consider tradeshows as a part of their marketing mix.

Why should my startup go at-all?

The benefits of participating in Tradeshows are well known. For starters – where else can you access such a large, reasonably homogenous group of target customers together? The opportunity to engage with them and start the long process of relationship building, what old timers called networking, is apparent. Such a focused gathering also offers a great opportunity to craft a very specific message and broadcast it in a “gatekeeper” free environment. There are also undeniable benefits to visibly being a part of a community your target customers obviously care about. In most cases merely attending the event can also deliver acceptable returns provided some tactical steps are taken.

The importance of specific content

First understand that a lot of preparation is involved – generally the larger the event the longer the time you will have to spend in the groundwork. The first step starts well in advance of the actual event – define the message likely to appeal to the audience at the event and start creating high quality content to reflect that. This includes informative blogs on your website, thought-leadership oriented articles in online publications that target the same audience and more salesy “hard-copy” collateral.

The next step is to start a structured effort to get that content in front of the people it is intended for. The aim should be to associate your startup with the chosen subject in the minds of the target audience and the best way to do this is for them to “find” your content as they go online to answer their questions or to seek information. To do this we can turn to social media as well as some more “direct” action.

Getting the content “found” – social media

Twitter and LinkedIn are the weapons of choice in the B2B Social Media space. Most trade events these days invest in building a social trail – on Twitter this may take the form of a dedicated Twitter handle and a hashtag associated with the event and on LinkedIn long running events may have Groups of past and prospective participants. This presents startups an opportunity to become a part of a conversation larger than their own circles by associating themselves with these online properties.

One approach would be to start with teaser mentions on Twitter about the event that use the appropriate hashtags and in the period leading up to the event increase the mentions. Live tweeting impressions and opinions of proceedings during the event will grab some eyeballs and continuing the tweets in the immediate aftermath of the event will help your startup stay in the eyeline and linked to the event.      

On LinkedIn the approach has to be different – updating your company page to reflect your participation is important to inform those who already follow your startup. Going into the LinkedIn group associated with the event and in other groups of people likely to be similarly interested is also worthwhile but has to be approached sensitively. These forums are not the place to shamelessly promote oneself or one’s participation – a more subtle approach is called for. For eg. a mention of something newsworthy from previous conferences or your own expectations from the upcoming one is a good way to invite opinions from other people who would also be in attendance.     

Direct action- The role of email campaigns

Email campaigns should be planned as the tradeshow approach. Here step 1 is to identify the people attending the event that you would like to connect with. The list of the speakers at the conference could be the first port of call. The next stop could be the list of sponsors and exhibitors – chances are the top people in those companies will be in attendance. A carefully crafted email to these people referring to the tradeshow in the subject line stands a better chance of being read than other “cold” emails. The email should set out crisply what you hope to achieve from attending the event and seek an opportunity for a conversation while there. Following up, both with people who have confirmed meetings and those who have not, is critically important but a fine line has to be toed here so you don’t cross over into spammer territory. The timing of the emails is important – too early won’t work and too close to the show won’t do.

Following this script in prep should both improve your chances of meeting people that matter at the event and also in getting the word out to the rest of the people attending about your startup’s relevance in the space. After that it’s off to the races – make sure you have loads of business cards to hand out!       

Note: This article first appeared in more-or-less this shape in Yourstory.in under my byline.

On Why You Don’t Visit Facebook to Look For A Job Or LinkedIn For Hotel Reviews?

Staying Socially Afloat

About 3 and a bit years ago it seemed you couldn’t go a moment on facebook without someone sending you a BranchOut shout-out. The app was touted to help facebook make the pivot from being a place one visited to surreptitiously check back on one’s ex to the brand new jobs supermart. Perhaps unsurprisingly nothing of the sort happened and today BranchOut has transformed into a kind of workplace messaging app. This is a salutary tale - a reminder that each social network has its specific place and marketers have to choose wisely. Let’s take a brief look at some of the most popular networks and how your brand can best leverage them.

LinkedIn: My agency, Midas Touch, does a fair amount of work with B2B focused clients so it’s no surprise we love LinkedIn. The people here have professional motivations – network with their peers, build up a profile that attracts potential employers, seek information for their professional needs and so on. This is THE place to go if you want to paint a professional picture of yourself (or your brand). Research shows a significant percentage of engagements with companies on LinkedIn eventually convert into purchases with the operative word being eventually. Use the company page as a living breathing extension of your website, the Showcase pages as mini special purpose websites and the LinkedIn groups as a forum of your peers to learn from, participate in and promote quality content to get the most out of undoubtedly the most effective B2B Social Media Channel out there.

Twitter: Short, sharp, swift and ground zero for the momentary sensation. This social network is best suited for making announcements and updates including time-limited offers. If your brand counts on buzz then riding on the “breaking news” of the moment on Twitter – a witty aside or a meme-worthy image offers it the best chance of going viral courtesy the oh-so-easy RT. If you want to participate in an ongoing conversation or show your interest in or understanding of a particular market space Twitter offers that opportunity in spades through the intelligent use of hashtags and the curated presentation of relevant informative articles. Another unique opening that Twitter provides is the chance to directly get in the eye-line of influencers, opinion makers and possible large buyers – an organized, subtle campaign of following them, sharing what they share and sustained engagement could get you and your brand on their radar and eventually help convert them into trusted brand advocates.

facebook: Sometimes I wonder how did we keep track of the wonderful vacations our friends were taking in the dark days before facebook? Checking into facebook is now a many-times-a-day activity for hundreds of millions of users, also known as potential buyers, worldwide. The consensus of opinion is that these people look upon facebook as a personal space and are perfectly willing to seek information that would help them reach buying decisions across a variety of product and service categories that impinge on their personal lives. Brand pages and Fan pages are as, if not more, valid surrogates for the brand as the website or offline advertising. The marketer’s responsibility is then to keep the page active and always reflective of the values of the brand through everything it says. The potential is high for showcasing visual elements in the form of photos, albums, videos and graphics. Content that elicits engagement is king here – the currency of record is “Likes”. Fans happily “Like”, “Share”, “Comment” and “Tag” their way into an abiding relationship with the brand. The brand page is a close approximation of a customer community with all of the attendant advantages and disadvantages. The warm and fuzzy feelings of certain fans of the brand are just as likely to get airtime publically on the brand page as the rant of the disillusioned former fan. The marketer’s domain overflows into the customer service space here quite seamlessly and the brand has to be ready for that. facebook is constantly evolving – opportunities for brands abound as long as marketers stay in sync with the network.

There are several other social networks out there vying for the attention of your brand – Pinterest for creating special interest based communities, YouTube as a means of sharing video information and SlideShare (a part of LinkedIn) as a means of presentation format content dissemination all hold their own special promise – the challenge for brand marketers is to identify the specific purpose they aim to achieve and to then pick the right social media network best suited for that. After-all you wouldn’t go to facebook to look for a job or to LinkedIn to find a restaurant now would you? 

An Event To Remember - Pune Digital Marketers

On the 6th of Sept., 2014 my partner in crime at Midas Touch, Radha Giri, and I had the honour of presenting our thoughts to The Pune Digital Marketers. This group is an extremely active and enthusiastic group of professionals from the, no prizes for guessing, Digital Marketing space. We decided the session would be the perfect opportunity for us to present our oft-talked about but seldom exposed to the outside world idea - The Integrated Approach to B2B Lead Generation. 

In conversations with our clients in the BB space over the last year or so we have been trying to put in place a mechanism that allows each of the distinct functions within the Marketing, Inside Sales and Sales organizations pull in the same direction with the objective of increasing the effectiveness of all of them. There was also room for several popular social media techniques in the mix - social listening, social selling, content marketing, influencer marketing and the like. 

The session was wonderfully organized and well attended - standing room only as the picture shows. Radha & I were struck by the quality of the audience and the sharp questions. The entire interaction lasted close to 3 hours and while we cannot capture everything that was covered in that time the PPT we used may serve as a pointer. Some more info. can be found on Twitter by searching for #PuneB2BSocial - the official hashtag for the event. 

We look forward to more such events in the future - this was buzzing !    

http://www.slideshare.net/SanjeevNambudiri/an-integrated-approach-to-b2b-lead-generation-and-social-media