Archive for the ‘Social media marketing’ Category

IBM and Social Media: 7 Tips for Midmarket Businesses

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 27, 2011

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

7 tips midsize businesses can apply to their social marketing

This is the third in a series of posts based on my conversations about social marketing with Leslie Reiser, Program Director of Worldwide Digital Marketing for IBM General Business. Leslie and her team built IBM’s infoboom online community to collaborate with mid-market B2B companies. The community has since merged with other IBM midsized business social media channels, including a Facebook page, LinkedIn group, etc.

Read the first post, Big Blue Blogs?, to get the scoop on how IBM incorporates social media in its midsize business marketing. Don’t miss the second post, which reveals some of IBM’s lessons learned in building successful social collaboration with leaders of midsize businesses.

In this post, Leslie shares 7 principles you can apply to your own social media/digital marketing efforts. Using even one or two of Leslie’s insights can make developing your company’s social marketing a whole lot easier.

Understand where people are already getting their information, where conversations are already happening. Get involved in these discussions first. Understand where the client base is going before you try to direct the discussion.

Realize that social marketing requires an investment. You’ll need to have some level of investment to grow your social presence. For example, you may want to have a community manager added to your staff who will drive online discussions.

Be creative! After you’ve been listening to discussions for awhile, you’ll have an idea of what’s needed, what’s missing in the marketplace. Make that your niche. Create a new concept for that niche and make it your own.

Have something insightful to say. You have a short window to engage your audience because there’s so much competition for their time. What value are you giving in exchange for their time?

Keep it simple. When you keep it simple, you’ll make the best use of your investment. You’ll want to focus on sharing your content on the social platforms where you find the discussions most relevant to your company. IBM, for example, simplified and consolidated its midmarket interactions into five relevant social spaces, and made content easier to find with tags and indexing.

Empower your employees to be social marketers, and do it in the context of your market. The Watson success on Jeopardy is a good example – IBM people were all over the place – on both social and traditional media. For example, on Reddit.com [the social bookmarking and sharing site], there is a small, enthusiastic Watson audience, and IBM employees contributed to that discussion.

Leverage free tools – there are many. You don’t need to spend millions of dollars, but be thoughtful and be prepared. [For a good list of free social media tools, check out 10 Free Social Media Tools Every PR Pro Should Master].

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Posted in Business, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social media marketing | Tagged: digital and social marketing, IBM and midsize businesses, IBM and social business, social networking, thought leadership | 2 Comments »

IBM’s Lessons Learned in Social Business

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 20, 2011

You can do social the hard way, or read these lessons learned by the IBM mid-market team

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

“I didn’t fail; I just found a thousand ways that didn’t work.” – Thomas Edison

In my previous post, I highlighted how IBM uses digital and social marketing to build its online eminence (think: Watson on Jeopardy), leverage the intellectual capital of its 400,000 employees, and provide deep-level content for its target audiences. This post resulted from my conversations with Leslie Reiser, Program Director of Worldwide Digital Marketing for IBM General Business.

Leslie and her team built IBM’s infoboom online community to collaborate with mid-market B2B companies. In October 2011, infoboom merged with new and expanded IBM midsized business social media channels – making it easier for business leaders to engage with the information that interests them.

The team has many lessons learned that small and mid-market businesses can apply to their own social marketing strategy. These are some of the insights Leslie shared:

Get the support of your leadership team. This helps galvanize the broader organization behind you. Present the business case and talk about social in terms leadership understands. Leslie’s team set up a consolidated dashboard with social sharing and engagement metrics that demonstrate value to the business.

Online communities take care and feeding. Community building isn’t easy. You need to understand the market view. What does the market want – an objective approach or one that’s vendor-driven? Then differentiate yourself – find a market niche and present a better solution for the niche’s needs.

Do your research and talk to clients. IBM’s research was extensive, including one-on-one “voice of the customer” interviews, focus groups, and over 1,000 online surveys. Even if you don’t have an IBM-sized budget, you should still invest time in reaching out to clients to discuss their needs and challenges.

IBM also set up a client advisory network, with 140 middle market CIOs [Chief Information Officers] from diverse industries and multiple countries who bounce ideas back and forth. This group, which has been in place for 3-5 years, is very candid and outspoken. The group also has the characteristics of the customers IBM is targeting. They’re not necessarily IBM’s best customers, but are indicative of the broader market.

It’s also important to pilot. Leslie’s team needed to see what worked and what didn’t in the market. You have to pilot before you invest in content. “You don’t want a meatball – especially an expensive meatball – hanging out there,” says Leslie.

At launch, validate and ensure you’re meeting audience expectations. Ask for feedback and correct your path.

Be sure you very carefully articulate your value exchange. What are you going to provide that the market or client needs?

If you’re an international company, be very sensitive to country nuances and individual requirements. It’s not enough to translate – you need local experts. For example, IBM’s US healthcare solutions are vastly different from solutions for the UK. Certain countries can leverage US solutions and content – Singapore and Australia are two – but not the UK. Understand the market you’re getting into and know what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

Let your rock stars go social. People are looking for expertise, credibility and authenticity from you. Leverage your subject matter experts in your social marketing and it will help your company become an industry thought leader and drive the online discussion.

Next post: Leslie offers tips for middle market businesses for building social presence.

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Posted in B2B marketing, Business, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social media marketing | Tagged: building online communities, content development, digital and social marketing, IBM, thought leadership | 2 Comments »

Big Blue Blogs? IBM Goes Social

Posted by advantagemarketing on September 15, 2011

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

Watson. Big Blue. Lotus. What comes to mind when you read these words? Most of us associate them with IBM, the Fortune 50 technology and consulting company. What you might not associate with IBM is social media, but the company is going social in a big way. By 2012, 90-95% of IBM’s marketing budget will be spent on social and digital tactics, including social and online media, blogging, online communities, and content delivery.

I had the opportunity to talk to Leslie Reiser, Program Director for Worldwide Digital Marketing, IBM General Business, about how IBM is using social media and digital marketing today. Leslie’s team markets IBM’s solutions to mid-market B2B companies.

Here’s the first part of our conversation:

How is IBM using digital and social marketing?

The Watson supercomputer – besides winning Jeopardy’s Man vs. Machine Challenge – is a very good example of how we approach social using a Paid-Owned-Earned Media model. There’s a Watson Facebook page and Twitter presence, a website, plus YouTube videos and online community. There’s press and blogger coverage along with paid advertising.

For mid-market solutions specifically, we started with infoboom, a community where we could listen to and provide content for leaders of midsize businesses. This is evolving to a new stage of social collaboration* with a simplified social media presence where we have fewer Twitter handles and just one Facebook page and a LinkedIn group.

Our websites are now optimized for search. So now clients can find us more easily, and partners can interact more easily. Clients can come directly to one of our sites, find us via search, or come in through paid ads and landing pages.

We also rebuilt our middle market portal so that it can provide deep-level solution content. We are making it as seamless as possible for a client to go among the deeper content, wherever it originates. Based on the behavior and intent of the user, the portal gets them to the right content so that they get what they need. For example, if someone is looking for a cloud solution, they can find the discussion threads all in one place at the portal.

With over 400,000 employees worldwide, IBM has considerable intellectual capital. How are you leveraging this in your social marketing?

People are looking for expertise, credibility and authenticity from us. We identified our “rock stars” – the true experts in the company – and assessed their social media readiness and what they could share. We began evangelizing these people and their knowledge – promoting our expertise and credibility.

We also developed an expertise locator tool – it’s internal now, but we’re beginning to surface it outside the company. It includes profiles of employees – that they add themselves – by skill and willingness to be available by expertise and proficiency.

Getting so many employees on board with social must be a big task. How are you doing it?

It’s no doubt we’re a large company, with disparate goals across brands, teams, and regions. We knew starting out that we’d have to integrate social behavior into the corporate culture, if we hoped to be successful. We needed to address a traditional management culture so we got our senior execs involved and sold it to them first. This way they’d get their people involved.

We put social in terms leadership understands by establishing a consolidated dashboard with social sharing and engagement metrics to demonstrate the value back to the business. Not every social media aspect has a direct ROI, but we can show impact to the business through KPIs.

Our employees have different social proficiency levels and limited time and resources to participate in social behaviors. We needed to bring everyone along the learning curve and encourage participation, so we came up with a flexible model that all employees could leverage.

We also set up social marketing guidelines. Employees company-wide must sign and adhere to these guidelines. These aren’t “do’s and don’ts;” they’re meant to encourage IBMers to blog and participate in internal and external social networks.

We also have our Social Business portal, which is an internal site where employees can access tools – blogs, video, and podcasts – that they can leverage in their social networks. For example, employees could access the IBM Centennial materials via Social Business and then Tweet or blog about our milestone.

Another thing we did was get IBM alumni involved – there’s a very strong group who’re involved on Facebook and LinkedIn. This has been a great way to extend IBM’s capabilities. There are some very notable IBM alumni – such as Irving Wladawsky-Berger – who have an independent, well known presence in industry.

Next week’s post: IBM’s “lessons learned” in going social

* According to the infoboom site, beginning on October 1, 2011, infoboom will merge with several new and expanded IBM midsized business social media channels. The site won’t be available after Sept. 30, 2011.

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Posted in Business, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social media marketing, Twitter | Tagged: build company credibility, content development, IBM and social business, marketing ROI, Social media | 2 Comments »

I’ll Have the Special with a Side of Facebook Please

Posted by advantagemarketing on July 25, 2011

by Christian DeGobbi, PCM

Simple tips for integrating Facebook in your company's marketing

For businesses both large and small, integrating Facebook effectively into your marketing activities not only makes a lot of sense but can change the way your clients and prospects view your company.

Having a Facebook page for your business today is great, but not enough. A savvy company knows how to promote their social media presence and weave it into their existing marketing efforts. When done in a smart and successful way, your target market will view your company as one that is “with-it”, interactive, and encourages, values and desires feedback. Unfortunately, not too many companies are doing this well… if at all.

Here are just a few simple ways your company can start integrating Facebook with the rest of your marketing:

Most Web sites have a top menu bar on their homepage calling out “Services”, “About Us”, “Resource Center”, “Contact Us”, etc. Include “Facebook Page” in this menu bar. You’re sure to drive more of your Web site visitors to your page, compared to just having the obligatory Facebook logo buried somewhere on your home page.

Make it a company standard for all key executives and sales team members to have a link to the Facebook page in their e-mail e-signature line. A brief comment right on top or below the link can inform the viewer of a new Facebook posting, video or feature.

If you run print ads, drive readers to your Facebook page through a “teaser” ad. You can do this in many creative ways. For example, ask a really compelling question in the main header of the ad – a question your target would really want to know the answer to – and direct them to your Facebook page for the answer. Or, if you are running a special, provide the reader with just a hint of information. Let them know they can read the rest of details at your Facebook page.

Include your Facebook URL on all marketing materials from business cards and brochures to event booths and promo items.

People, in general, enjoy participating in polls that interest them and seeing the results when they click “Submit.” I know I do! Start posting a weekly poll on your Facebook page that interests your base (on the same day/time so your visitors know a new poll will be posted every Tuesday at 9:00am). Not only are you providing interaction and information to your fans, as well as gathering super insights, but it’s a great way to start a dialogue directly with your fans.

Videos are a huge draw for any online site, especially Facebook. If you have a interesting and informative video posted, the next time you send an e-mail campaign, include a link with a brief description of the video in the body of the e-mail.

These are just a few ways you can start promoting your Facebook presence, while enhancing the way clients and prospects view your company.

I would love to hear what you’re doing to integrate Facebook in with the rest of your marketing activities! Who’s first?

Christian DeGobbi, PCM is currently the Marketing Manager, Americas for Dow Jones Indexes. He recently earned his Professional Certified Marketer designation from the American Marketing Association, of which he’s an active member. Christian has 15 years experience at top NYC advertising agencies and B2B client side marketing.

Photo credit: http://flic.kr/p/247omf photo by eston

Posted in Business, Marketing, Social media marketing | Tagged: Facebook, Facebook for business, marketing, Social media, social media tips | Leave a Comment »

How Businesses Can Take Advantage of Social Media

Posted by advantagemarketing on May 10, 2011

Technology Today host Rich Kazimir and I talked about how businesses can use social media to connect with customers

I was a guest last week on WDVR FM’s Technology Today radio broadcast. Host Rich Kazimir interviewed me about how small businesses can take advantage of social media. Here are some excerpts from our conversation.

Rich: Can you start by telling us what social media is?

Loraine: The simplest way to look at social media is as a collection of tools for interacting online. That can be by posting content like photos or articles, or sending out short messages, called updates, to people who are following you. This is called social networking. The big social networking tools are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. And, of course, blogging.

There are other tools that help you track and share content you like – that’s called social bookmarking. Social bookmarking tools include Reddit, Stumbled Upon and Digg.

For business owners, social media is a great way offer valuable content that engages prospects and customers.

Rich: So if you had to summarize social media in a few words, you’d say…

Loraine: It’s a collection of tools that enable business owners to interact with their clients and prospects online.

Rich: How should business owners be thinking about social media?

Loraine: Business owners need to understand that social media is a conversation; it’s not a one-way push of their company’s advertising message. They need to think of it like a cocktail party – how you’d join a conversation when you walk in to the party. You wouldn’t just barge in and start talking. You’d listen – comment – ask a question – then offer your opinion.

The best way to use social media is to integrate it with your company’s other marketing tactics – like your website, trade show, or public speaking engagements.

Rich: Where should a business owner focus, especially when they’re getting started?

Loraine: First, owners need to understand that social media is content driven, and they need to have good content to contribute to the conversation. So they need to start with a plan for developing content and what content they will use.

Owners should also realize that they don’t need to be on every social networking site. They can start by finding out where their customers and prospects are – then that’s where they need focus their efforts. It’s a good reason to give clients a call and ask them, are they reading blogs? Posting tweets?

Once owners know where their customers are, then they can go ahead and set up their own accounts on these applications – whether it’s Twitter or Facebook or another app. It’s free to set up accounts and if the owner is reasonably comfortable around email and the Internet, then they should be able to learn these apps pretty quickly. All the apps have online tutorials which make learning them a bit easier.

Rich: Can you give our audience some examples of companies who are using social media effectively?

Loraine: I’ve seen both large and small businesses use social media effectively as part of their marketing. Comcast mines Twitter for customer service issues and then responds fairly quickly… Office Depot just started a contest that integrated Facebook with email marketing – it’s their 2011 Official Small Business of NASCAR contest. This is targeted at growing their small business customer base.

A couple small businesses I’ve seen would be WebUndies.com – one of my clients – who is working on integrating their current email marketing with Facebook and Twitter to grow their customer base. I also work with an IT security startup – Aujas – and they are using an electronic newsletter, website, WordPress blog, as well as a white paper marketing campaign and industry trade shows.

Rich: I’ve seen businesses start to use social media, but then they seem to lose momentum and stop putting out new content. How can businesses stick with it?

Loraine: Losing momentum is a big problem, especially when a business owner has so much else on their plate. One thing an owner can do is see what content they already have developed for their business and repurpose it. For example, a how-to manual or a non-confidential email to a customer can be the basis for great blog posts.

It’s also perfectly ok to hire knowledgeable content developers who will work with you to develop your message – to write blog posts or tweets.

Rich: Aren’t there also tools that can help a business owner with social media – like Tweet Deck? Can you talk about those?

Loraine: Tweet Deck, Social Oomph, Hoot Suite are all great tools for helping an owner schedule and promote their content through Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. They’re all free tools too – some have premium paid subscriptions, but the free accounts work well. These tools also have online tutorials, which can be a big help.

Rich: What would you recommend as the starting point for the small business owner listening tonight?

Loraine: Definitely start by asking your customers what social media they’re using. Learn those tools and get your company profiles set up. Then you can see what content you already have that you can repurpose. You’ll be off and running.

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Posted in Business, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social media marketing, Twitter | Tagged: content development, Facebook for business, LinkedIn, social media tips, Twitter for business | 2 Comments »

Has Email Marketing Become “Old School?”

Posted by advantagemarketing on April 19, 2011

By Deborah Bailey

Email marketing isn't going away, but author Deb Bailey thinks it's time to rethink how you reach out to clients.

Has social media put an end to email? I doubt that we’re going to see email go away completely, but there are changes happening. Check your own communications to see what shifts you’re seeing. Based on what I’ve observed in my own business, I’ve come to these conclusions:

1. Open rates. Check your newsletter open rates to get a picture over time of what’s being viewed. From texts, to emails, telemarketer calls, ads, thousands of cable channels, etc., we’re constantly bombarded with messages from every direction.

There are televisions in elevators these days and ads on shopping carts. Information overload has created an environment where open rates are falling and people are thinking twice before giving up their email addresses.

2. Spam vs. information. It’s seems lately that some people think nothing of sending out three to four emails a day, seemingly in an effort to break down your resistance. If I’m not interested, sending me more emails isn’t going to change my mind.

Yes, I know that you’re supposed to touch your prospects multiple times, and some people will always wait until the last minute to sign up. However, it’s likely that those prospects are also being repeatedly contacted by others as well. There are ways to touch them without being intrusive (which is why relationship building is so important). Otherwise they’re just going to become overwhelmed and tune out completely.

3. Blogs are alive and well. For a while I wasn’t doing much posting on my blog, especially after I opened a Twitter account. However, after I tried to get on Twitter a few times and couldn’t due to it being “over capacity” I realized that one should not depend on any one tool. If for some reason your social media account gets closed or isn’t working, your blog will still be there.

4. Does a “free gift” lead to a paying client? It’s been common practice to give some free report or other item to entice people to sign up for your list. Then you market to them in an effort to get some of them to move through your funnel. Social media (and blog subscriptions) has changed all of that.

When people subscribe to your blog, they want to get your content. They didn’t have to be given a gift to do it. They’ve opted in because they’re interested. Similarly with social media you can join groups with members in your target market. You don’t have to sift though subscribers who may not have any interest in you (other than the free gift).

Frankly I think it’s better to have people opt in who have already been “pre-qualified” through your social media (and in-person) channels. They already know, like and trust you and have opted in to get more. There’s nothing wrong with sharing free information, especially if you want to give your propects a taste of what you have to offer. But I’m sure I’m not alone in having many free ebooks and special reports that I’ve downloaded and never read.

You may look at your own communications and come to different conclusions. In the end you have to make your decisions based on what’s working for you, and what isn’t. Look at your statistics and decide if it’s time to make some changes in how you’re contacting your clients and prospects.

Continue the discussion. What do you think: will social media put an end to email? Tell us in the Comments section.

Connect with the Author. Writer and communications expert Deborah A. Bailey is the author of “Think Like an Entrepreneur: Transforming Your Career and Taking Charge of Your Life.” She specializes in helping entrepreneurs to create relationships with their ideal clients. She’s the host of “Women Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Success,” an Internet radio talk show.Visit her website http://www.dbaileycoach.com and her blog http://womenentrepreneursecrets.blogspot.com.

Get more information. Check out more of The Marketing Advantage blog, and visit the rest of the Advantage Marketing website to learn about the marketing communications and social media services we offer.

Photo: Flickr.com

Posted in B2B marketing, Business, Email marketing, Marketing, Professional service firm marketing, Social media marketing | Tagged: email marketing, marketing professional services, Social media | Leave a Comment »

Quick Start Social Media Coaching for Executives, Professionals and Small Business Owners

Posted by advantagemarketing on April 12, 2011

1-on-1 coaching can help you come up to speed quickly on social media

Are you new to social media and not sure where you should start or how social media can help you achieve your business or professional objectives?

Try some one-on-one coaching. It can help you come up to speed quickly and use social media tools more effectively.

Advantage Marketing offers Quick Start Social Media Coaching for executives, professionals and small business owners.

“Busy executives often don’t know where to start with social media – it can seem overwhelming because there are so many different platforms,” Loraine Kasprzak, Advantage Marketing Managing Director, notes. “Quick Start Social Media Coaching simplifies social media and help execs use these tools to further their business and professional goals.”

The Quick Start individualized coaching sessions cover LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, the three social media platforms most commonly used by business professionals and B2B marketers. “We work with our coaching clients until they understand the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ and feel comfortable using these tools,” says Loraine. She has personally trained many executives and small business owners on social media tools and strategies.

With the Advantage Marketing Quick Start Social Media Coaching, business executives and professionals can

Learn LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter basics
Discover how to set up and optimize their social media profiles
Start building their network of connections
Learn how to interact with their network effectively
Find out how using social media can support their business and professional objectives

Advantage Marketing is offering special pricing for a limited time to introduce this new service. For more information or to register for one-on-one sessions, contact us via email or call 908.233.6265.

Posted in B2B marketing, Business, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social media coaching, Twitter | Tagged: marketing professional services, Social media, social media coaching | 1 Comment »

Is There a Book in Your Future?

Posted by advantagemarketing on April 5, 2011

Writing a book can be a daunting task. These tips from an independent book publisher can make the process easier.

By Loraine Kasprzak, CMC

Is writing a book on your to-do list? Many of my clients have the knowledge and expertise to write a book, not to mention great book ideas swirling around in their heads.

But writing a book can be a daunting task, so I was I was glad to attend a recent Institute of Management Consultants NJ Chapter meeting where the guest speaker was an expert not only on writing, but publishing and marketing books.

Karen Hodges Miller, founder of independent book publisher Open Door Publications, shared advice for getting your book out of your head and into your readers’ hands. To get started:

Set your target. Decide who the target audience is for your book. Are you targeting consumers? Working mothers? Senior executives? Be as specific as possible.
Decide your theme. What is the one unique takeaway you want someone to get when they read your book? Summarize it in one sentence. Then think about your chapters and plan them out, with a mini-theme for each chapter.
Schedule time. Block out time on your calendar each week to write. You don’t have to write every day, but whatever time you schedule, commit to it. You may decide writing for two hours on a Saturday morning works well.
Create your title. Finding the right book title is the hardest part, said Karen, because it really has to grab the reader’s attention. You can Google your title ideas or search Amazon.com to see if the title is already in use. You may also want to ask the librarian at your local library to check the “Books in Print” database.

Think “marketing” early and often

Karen advised that you think about marketing and selling your book as soon as you start thinking about writing it. You should begin marketing your book even before it’s written by putting it in your email signature:

Joe Smith
President, XYZ Financial Advisors
Author of How to Master the Markets in 20 Minutes or Less … Coming December 2011.

You should also mention your upcoming book on your website, Facebook page, blog, and LinkedIn profile. Create a separate website, with its own URL, to market your book. “The more you put yourself out there, the better your [book] marketing will be,” said Karen.

Should your book be in an electronic format or a hard copy edition? Because e-books are only about 2% of the market, Karen advises that you plan to have both. “The hard copy still has greater credibility,” she noted.

As you develop your book ideas, you will want to think about your publishing budget. “Plan on investing $3,000 to $5,000 for publishing, plus marketing expenses,” said Karen. “You’ll need a graphic artist, editor, publisher, proofreader, and a marketing professional.”

The alternative is to go the “DIY” route by, for example, publishing through Amazon.com. But, Karen pointed out, “You get what you pay for. You’ll have a book, but it will look like you did it yourself.”

Are you thinking about writing a book? Tell us about it in the Comments section below.

Posted in B2B marketing, Business, Marketing, Social media marketing, Traditional marketing, Using books to market your firm | Tagged: build company credibility, content development, marketing professional services, writing and publishing a book | Leave a Comment »

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