by Fronetics | Aug 29, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Marketing, Social Media
Also in social media news August 2018: Twitter releases an ads playbook, Snapchat introduces a private ads marketplace, WhatsApp launches a Business API, and Facebook makes updates to its video metrics.
As kids gear up for back to school, social media platforms are busy making updates with a focus on business pages. Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp are all releasing updates and features, including playbooks, to help advertisers increase their brand awareness and user reach. Facebook even created updates to its metrics to help advertisers produce better reporting around usage.
Here’s what’s been happening in August with the hottest social media platforms and how the latest updates are aimed at helping businesses gain exposure and new audiences.
Your social media news for August 2018.
Facebook Q2 earnings show increased user growth but slow revenue growth
Facebook just released their Q2 earnings report showing that the social media giant now has more than 2.5 billion people using at least one of its apps (including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger) monthly. The report also showed declining revenue growth, despite efforts to rebuild trust among users. Mark Zuckerberg reiterated his commitment to user privacy and security. “We continue to invest heavily in safety and security. This quarter, our systems identified and removed thousands of fake accounts, pages, and groups.”
Snapchat drops user count in Q2
Snap Inc. released its Q2 2018 Financial Results revealing a three million daily active user drop in its user base. With a recent redesign to the app, Snap Inc. was aware usage would be down. Co-founder Evan Spiegel states that “the company has been working to improve Snapchat based on user feedback” and is “eager to make more progress on the tremendous opportunity we now have to show more of the right content to the right people.”
Facebook’s Workplace acquires Redkix
Workplace for Facebook, an interactive tool for coworkers, acquired Redkix, an email software that combines email, messaging, and calendar features into one app. Recode reports the acquisition took place so Facebook could create its own communication system within Workplace. Facebook has been working overtime to beef up its Workplace platform to compete against Slack, a messaging app with almost 100 million paid users.
Twitter Business created an ads playbook for businesses and brands
Twitter Business released a Playbook for Agencies, a new document created to answer the most frequently asked questions by businesses about Twitter ads, client strategy, and more. “We compiled the most asked questions from agencies, partnered with our customer service team, and synthesized six months of Twitter research to create this guide which will help agencies guide their clients toward Twitter success,” writes Twitter.
Snapchat creates private ads marketplace
Snapchat is offering more ad tools to “premium publishers and advertisers – offering brands ‘unskippable’ slots and experimenting with a private marketplace (PMP) that lets Discover media partners take greater control over their inventory.” Starting in August, the app will give 100 randomly picked brands the ability to buy ad programming against TV-style content, including a wide variety of programming from scripted drama to comedy.
Facebook updates video metrics
Updates in the past year gave users the ability to rewind and re-watch parts of video ads, leaving advertisers with skewed reporting numbers. Facebook recently updated its video ad metrics to account for re-watched ads, removing any redundancies in reporting. The new metrics will automatically remove any three or ten-second views that are watched after rewinding.
WhatsApp launches Business API
Looking to expand its business tools, WhatsApp launched Business API, allowing medium to large business to manage and send non-promotional messages to customers. These messages include appointment reminders, shipping information, event tickets, and more for a fixed rate. VentureBeat reports all messages sent through the API will be free for the first 24 hours, messages sent after that will be charged. Though currently only available to select businesses, including Uber, Booking.com, and KLM Airlines, Business API will eventually be available to all more customers.
Facebook no longer permits cross-posted tweets
In light of recent Facebook platform and policy updates, users can no longer automatically cross-post their tweets or retweets to Facebook. As of August 1, users will have to copy a tweet’s URL to post a tweet to Facebook.
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by Fronetics | Aug 28, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Here are our thoughts on how often your company should blog, including challenges and ways to overcome them.
Creating valuable, relevant content in a strategic and consistent manner creates demand for your products and services and drives profitable customer action. Blogging is a large part of the foundation of your content marketing strategy. If it’s not, it should be.
Blogging is a great way to attract traffic to your website, build brand awareness, and interact with new visitors. But, a question we get all the time is, “How often should my company blog?”
Blogging: frequency matters.
Blogging every once in awhile isn’t going to get you results. You need to publish quality content on a consistent basis to attract prospects to your site.
[bctt tweet=”Blogging every once and awhile isn’t going to get you results. You need to publish quality content on a consistent basis to attract prospects to your site.” username=”Fronetics”]
The reality is that the more often you blog, the more traffic and leads you’ll get. Search engines consider posting frequency in their rankings. What’s more, every time you post, you create a new opportunity to be found, to be shared, and to be linked to by other sites.
Blogging: the challenge.
The trouble in publishing more posts is balancing resources so that you’re publishing frequently but maintaining value and quality within your content. We’re big advocates of testing to find your personal sweet spot for the amount of posts your organization is able to publish to maximize traffic and leads.
When you start publishing more frequently, make sure to track your KPIs, calculate ROI, and assess whether increasing blogging frequency is right for your business. You may be surprised at the results.
Here’s Elizabeth Hines, creative/editorial director at Fronetics, to discuss how often your company should be posting blogs.
Video: How often should my company blog?
Final thoughts.
Blogging needs to be a central part of your content marketing strategy. And unfortunately, it can take a while to start drawing traffic (and eventually, leads) from your posts. But the benefits of consistent blogging make it worth it.
And don’t forget, blog posts become more credible with age. That is to say, search engines value older content that has had more time to accumulate, like social shares and referrals from other web pages. The more relevant a blog post proves itself to be to readers over time, the higher it will rank in search engine results.
Have you tried blogging more frequently? Coming up with topics can be one of the biggest challenges. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
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by Fronetics | Aug 27, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Repurposed and repackaged, your existing content is a valuable asset for your sales force throughout the buyer’s journey.
If you’re a supply chain marketing professional, it’s likely that you spend a tremendous portion of your day researching, creating, packaging, and disseminating content. Your hard work is all about growing brand awareness and building your reputation as a trusted industry thought-leader — all with the goal of having that work eventually convert leads.
But, consider this: When it comes to engaging prospects and clients, only 20% of salespeople actually use content. When we know that potential buyers are far more willing to engage with someone offering them information and insight, why are B2B businesses abandoning content as soon as prospects are handed over to sales?
B2B buyers prefer content throughout the buying journey
According to DemandGen’s 2018 Content Preferences Survey Report, “Buyers are becoming increasingly more selective in the content they are consuming,” relying more on “trustworthy sources, industry influencers, and their peers to educate themselves.” And furthermore, 88% of those survey respondents want less focus on product specifics and more on the value that product can bring to their business.
[bctt tweet=”Buyers are becoming increasingly more selective in the content they are consuming, relying more on trustworthy sources, industry influencers, and their peers to educate themselves.” username=”Fronetics”]
And on the other side of that coin, according to HubSpot writer and marketing expert Bethany Cartwright, sales reps spend about 15% of their day leaving voicemails, and only about 20% of all sales emails are ever opened. “This means 80-85% of sales outreach efforts are going unnoticed by those prospects you’ve worked so hard to capture with content,” writes Cartwright.
It’s time to start leveraging your content throughout the buyer’s journey by arming your sales force with content. Before you panic at the idea of creating reams of new content, take a breath. It’s more than likely that you can repurpose your existing content, optimized to give your sales force the tools they need to close deals.
So how do you go about repurposing your content and giving your sales force the best possible tools with which to convert prospects to buyers? Web Profits co-founder and author Sujan Patel suggests “mapping content generated by your marketing team to each stage of your customer’s buying journey.” We’ve created the infographic below to help you optimize content for each of the three stages of the buyer’s journey.
Infographic: Delivering content throughout the buyer’s journey
(Made with Canva)
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by Fronetics | Aug 23, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain, Talent
Too many supply chain businesses are devoting inadequate resources and personnel to social media management.
Let’s be honest. It’s time for the supply chain to start taking social media management seriously. Even when we think we’re embracing the future, too may supply chain companies are stuck in the past when it comes to the way they think about marketing — and particularly the role of social media.
[bctt tweet=”A robust and effective social media strategy needs to be just that — a carefully designed and well-thought-out strategy, rather than simply something that an already overworked marketer adds to his or her plate.” username=”Fronetics”]
Case in point: the latest Social Media Marketing Industry Report indicates that for nearly two-thirds of marketers, managing social media marketing for their business is just one of their jobs.
Let’s think about that for a moment. That means that only one-third of the 5,700 businesses surveyed are prioritizing social media management to an adequate degree. For the other two-thirds, the vast and time-consuming task of social media management is squeezed into someone’s job description essentially as an afterthought.
If your business falls into that 64%, this is your wakeup call. Used to its fullest, social media is an immensely valuable set of tools for supply chain marketing. These platforms help brands increase visibility, establish themselves as thought leaders, attract new leads and customers, and much more.
If you’re not convinced (and you should be), take a look through Fronetics’ recent survey report on the benefits of social media for supply chain and logistics industries.
Social media management is no easy task
The thing about social media that so many businesses get wrong is that it’s not an easy task. Maybe you’re a marketer who’s been tasked with managing your brand’s social media efforts — on top of the rest of your responsibilities. It might have sounded like fun at first, essentially getting to scroll and post on Facebook for a few minutes out of the day. But chances are, you’re realizing that it’s a much bigger task than you thought.
A robust and effective social media strategy needs to be just that — a carefully designed and well-thought-out strategy, rather than simply something that an already overworked marketer adds to his or her plate.
For your business to truly take advantage of the benefits that social media can offer, you either need to devote adequate resources to it, or consider outsourcing it.
Is outsourcing right for you?
Supply chain companies are increasingly reaping the benefits of outsourcing their marketing efforts, particularly social media, as it allows them to focus on core competencies and improve productivity. As you consider trusting a professional with your social media, consider these 6 signs that outsourcing might be right for you.
The bottom line: if you’re frustrated that your social media management efforts are not as fruitful as you would like, chances are, you’re not giving them a chance. For social media to work for you, you need to devote the resources it demands — whether in house or out.
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by Fronetics | Aug 22, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
Account-based marketing has traditionally utilized outbound marketing tactics, until now.
Account-based marketing has been around for decades, but it has been gaining a lot of attention in the past few years. More and more companies are starting to use account-based marketing to increase their brand awareness with specific audiences and work together with sales teams to close deals.
But what is account-based marketing?
Account-based marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a focused approach to B2B marketing in which marketing and sales teams work together to target best-fit accounts and turn them into customers. Marketers and sales teams focus their efforts on specific accounts — companies, customers, target audiences — and work to get marketing materials in front of them.
Essentially, account-based marketing takes a potential customer and turns them into their own market. “[ABM] is to address the needs of organization by connecting with all of the stakeholders within it. That’s one reason why it works so well in B2B — oftentimes you have to work with five or more stakeholders in a given sale,” writes Sam Balter, HubSpot’s Corporate Marketing Manager.
So how can content marketing help with ABM, which has traditionally been a sales strategy?
Content marketing and account-based marketing
Inbound marketing focuses on audiences finding you. Instead of pushing a message onto buyers, inbound marketing allows you to establish your brand as an industry leader and let interested audiences come to you. This type of marketing attempts to draw in potential customers through interesting and engaging content.
Content marketing is a type of inbound marketing that uses blog posts, social media, infographics, and video to expose target audiences to a brand.
Merging sales and marketing efforts
There’s no reason that ABM and content marketing can’t work together. In fact, you’re missing out on maximizing your marketing efforts if you aren’t incorporating both of these marketing strategies in your overall marketing plan.
[bctt tweet=”Traditional sales pitches are no longer pushing buyers down the sales funnel. Instead, buyers want a personalized experience, where they feel they are getting to know a brand before they make a buying decision.” username=”Fronetics”]
Today’s buyers don’t want to be ‘sold.’ Traditional sales pitches are no longer pushing buyers down the sales funnel. Instead, buyers want a personalized experience, where they feel they are getting to know a brand before they make a buying decision.
What does this mean for your ABM strategy? It means that content marketing can help educate and inform the specific accounts your sales team has identified through valuable, interesting content.
“For example, if you approach any content you create as part of the strategy with both goals in mind, you can create a piece of content that is both incredibly useful from a keyword perspective (and drives a ton of traffic to your site) while also providing all the key information that you’d like to say to your ABM contacts,” writes Stacy Willis for Impact.
When creating content for any marketing effort, the key is to make sure that your content has value. Whether you’re trying to attract a specific account or looking to increase web traffic, content marketing focuses on value and not just volume.
Creating a cohesive account-based marketing and inbound marketing strategy will help maximize your marketing efforts. Though not traditionally used together, it’s time to think outside the box and start seeing the benefits of a joint marketing approach.
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by Fronetics | Aug 21, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Leadership, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Here are three warning signs that you may be a toxic leader and how you can make changes to avoid these damaging behaviors.
Let’s face it: As the leader of a company, region, or even a team, you have the power to influence those that report to you. This can be a great asset to teams governed by leaders that pride themselves on hard work, respect, and open communication.
But what about a leader that does the exact opposite? A leader whose behavior creates a negative, possibly even hostile, working environment?
Toxic leader: who are you?
A toxic leader is defined as a person who has responsibility over a group of people or an organization, and who abuses the leader–follower relationship by leaving the group or organization in a worse condition than when they first found them.
It’s easy for toxic leaders to blame poor performance and low morale on individuals within the team. But, at some point, it’s important to see if the way employees are managed is a direct reflection of their leadership.
Here are three warning signs that you might be a toxic leader and how to fix the behavior.
3 signs you’re a toxic leader
1. Scattered priorities
This type of toxic leader is an expert in failed time management. Leaders that are unable to prioritize tasks and allow employees to focus on getting their work done are really working to waste their most valuable resources: their trained team.
A recent survey conducted by consulting firm RHR International showed that among high-performing leadership teams, 93% are able to prioritize the most important issues and 96% focus on the right issues. But in low-performing leadership teams, only 62% prioritize well and 53% are focused on the right issues.
Change: Leadership that calls meetings without a set agenda, leaves issues unresolved, and veers off topic when met with questions needs to sit down and start to focus. Toxic leaders that find themselves with scattered priorities can easily get back on track by creating lists that document daily, weekly, and even monthly tasks. Work with your team to delegate tasks and create solutions to issues, and then give them the space to work on their assignments.
2. Unhealthy rivalries
The overly competitive leader with an eye on perfection often has a ‘winning is everything’ attitude, even if comes at the detriment of their team. This toxic leader doesn’t mind leaving broken employees on the sidelines if it means getting ahead.
[bctt tweet=”The overly competitive leader with an eye on perfection often has a ‘winning is everything’ attitude, even if comes at the detriment of their team.” username=”Fronetics”]
In reality, instead of getting ahead, these toxic leaders create a hostile work environment, where employees lose interest in their jobs due to unobtainable demands and a lack of trust in their leadership.
Change: Leadership, and the rest of their team, must work as a unified team. “Shared goals must be accompanied by shared accountability,” writes Ron Carucci, co-founder and managing partner at leadership consulting firm Navalent, for Harvard Business Review. Remove the unnecessary competition from the workplace, and focus on dividing and conquering so everyone is doing their best and achieving their best.
3. Unproductive conflict
When conflicts arise, and they are most certainly going to, leaders need to step in quickly and efficiently to resolve the situation. When organizations have leaders that create or improperly handle conflict, the rest of the team follows their lead.
These leaders often have a reason or excuse for any issues that arise and rarely take responsibility for their role in the matter. With high confidence in their abilities, toxic leaders with unproductive conflict often believe they are right and surround themselves with people that won’t challenge them.
Change: Leadership needs to have certain behaviors that absolutely will not engage in: speaking negatively about team members or other employees or withholding feedback or suggestions that will positively impact their team. If you can relate to any of these points, sit down and write out behaviors that you will no longer engage in. Distribute this list to your team and regularly assess how you’re doing with your list and where you need to personally make tweaks.
What are some other sign of a toxic leader?
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