by Fronetics | May 12, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Adam Robinson of freight logistics company Cerasis wrote a series of posts which outlined the company’s social media and content marketing strategy and the successes the company has achieved through the execution of their strategy. The series also included how-to guides: how to create a social media and content marketing strategy and how to execute a social media and content marketing strategy. Robinson’s series is a must read for companies interested in learning the potential business value of a social media and content marketing strategy and for companies wondering the steps they need to take to create and execute a successful strategy.
Two sentences in Robinson’s series stand out:
“It all comes down to strategy!”
“Now, if you have the resources to be on every social media platform, you should, but only if you do it well!”
Sage advice.
Without a strategy it is unlikely that your company will be successful. Social media and content marketing can be effective tools for attracting new customers and retaining current customers; however, it is unlikely that your company will reap these benefits if you do not have a strategy in place. A 2014 study shows just how important strategy is. The study found that 60 percent of companies with a documented strategy in place consider their efforts to be effective as compared to 11 percent of companies with no documented strategy in place.
A successful strategy takes into consideration your company’s strengths, resources, limitations, and goals. Another component of success – doing things well. For some companies it is possible (and makes sense) to be on every social media platform. For many companies a well-executed strategy means focusing on one or two platforms. Don’t spread yourself thin, make your company show up strong!
It is also important to remember that if you need help, there is help available. It is possible to obtain training in social media and content marketing and it is possible to outsource these functions.
This article also appeared on DC Velocity.
by Jennifer Hart Yim | May 6, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
This is the first in a series of blog posts written by Adam Robinson, Director of Marketing at Cerasis. Founded in 1997, Cerasis is a top freight logistics company and truckload freight broker.
The purpose of this series of blog posts is to give others in our industry and especially those in the manufacturing industry, a guide to create an effective digital, social media, and content marketing strategy which will produce results for your company. If you have followed the Cerasis blog since its launch in March 2013, you have noticed that we work really hard at executing our strategy. The reason we work so hard is because we are passionate about educating the marketplace on information that matters to them. In that way, we want to be the de facto expert in the manufacturing and logistics industries. If we can help those who are our customers and potential customers (manufacturers and distributors) with best practices around logistics and freight, as well as manufacturing industry news, we are continuing our mission of driving long term value (even if we give the information away for free). The result (we hope and have seen) is that people view us as the expert and will want to engage us in a long term relationship as their logistics services provider. We hope this is helpful and you learn something from it!
Background of Cerasis use of Content Marketing and Social Media
- Company started formal marketing for the first time in October 2012, its 16th year.
- Little brand awareness, not thought of as a thought leader, but company still grew well by referral.
- It was important for us to establish our messaging, our target audience, and how we were going to best market the company.
- We didn’t have any budget for advertising, and with the rise of content marketing, we knew it was important to use social media and content as a way to start marketing and fine tuning the messaging of the company.
- We finished our market research phase (tips below on how to conduct one), and knew the content and who we wanted to reach.
- We then looked at all the social media channels and decided which platforms to use and what online communities to join.
- We built a strategy and started executing our content by simply posting one piece of content every business day.
Digital Marketing Strategy Approach for Cerasis
There is a process to strategic planning in order to lead towards sustainable marketing programs which yield a tangible return-on-investment (ROI). The process starts with understanding where social, digital, content, and traditional marketing fits in the world of inbound lead generation and increased brand awareness.
The goal of any strategic plan should be to find and acquire new customers and to grow existing customer relationships. The map on the next page shows how customer engagements happen online and in general. This map to the left helps us determine Cerasis’s route, analyze where we currently are, and hone in on where we should focus our attention to keep the strategy on track.
So, what are all the results from our social and digital marketing you ask?
Cerasis Quick Stats (Sept 12 to March 14)
- All Visits to Cerasis.com: 4,476 to 34,461 (669.91% Increase)
- Blog Visits: 0 to 28,271 (notice how without our content and social media, we would not have grown our website visits to where they are today)
- Social Media Visits: 4 to 8,546 (214,550% Increase)
- Search Visits: 711 to 16,275 (2,189.03% Increase)
- Social Community: 175 users total to 9,635 users total
- Twitter: 0 to 2,760 Followers
- FB: 0 to 492 Likes
- LinkedIn Group Members: 0 to 3,550
- LinkedIn Profile Connections: 120 to 1,456
- LinkedIn Company Page Followers: 51 to 529
- Google Plus Followers: 0 to 662 and over 310,000 views of the Company Page
- Pinterest Followers: 0 to 188
- Engagement Numbers:
- Twitter Mentions/RTs: 14,825/5,721
- LinkedIn Group Comments: 12,766
- Facebook Comments, Likes, Shares: 1,484
- LinkedIn Page Impressions/Interactions/Clicks: 247,359/566/1,560
- Pinterest Impressions/Repins: 73,698/327
- Blog Comments: 841
- Google Plus +1s: 2,976
- Conversion data (note, leads vary based on industry; 1 sale for us can mean a lot of revenue)
- Leads From Search Engines: 71
- Leads From Social Media: 65
- Leads From Webinars: 52
- Total Customers Gained: 35
Conclusion
Social media, content, and digital marketing are much like the Pareto Principle: Focus on the platforms and entities which yield the highest results, don’t just do something or be somewhere to do it! It all comes down to strategy! Now, if you have the resources to be on every social media platform, you should, but only if you do it well!
by Fronetics | Apr 29, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Content will help you grow your business; by creating and distributing valuable and relevant content in a strategic and consistent manner you can drive profitable customer action. But, it’s not all about you. It’s not all about the content you and/or your business creates. Here’s why content curation is an essential component of a successful content strategy.
The internet is a fire hose stream of content. Being able to navigate the deluge of content and identify the content that is valuable to your customers and to your business is essential. The process of identifying and sharing this content is content curation.
By consistently being able to identify, make sense of, and share content that is important and relevant to your customers and to your industry you will establish your business as a thought-leader and a trusted resource.
A 2014 survey found that 76 percent of respondents reported that content curation positively impacted their business goals in 2013. Ninety percent of respondents predicted that content curation will have a positive impact on their business goals in the upcoming year.
This article was originally published on DC Velocity.
by Fronetics | Apr 23, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Content infographic: how to grow your business with content
by Fronetics | Apr 21, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
When it comes to content your company doesn’t need to go it alone. Not only is it possible to outsource content, for many companies it may be the best solution. Here is how to determine if outsourcing content is right for your company, and what your company needs to consider when looking for an outsource partner.
Is outsourcing right for you?
Outsourcing is not the panacea. It may be the right solution for your company – or maybe not. Here is what to consider when determining if outsourcing content is the right solution for your company:
- What are your company’s core competencies?
- How can your company deliver the best value to your customers?
- A successful content strategy needs to be deliberate and needs to have someone in charge. Do you have in-house talent who can put together a content strategy for your company and manage the execution of the strategy?
- Does your company have in-house talent that can consistently create good content?
- Does your company have in-house talent that has the time to consistently create good talent?
- Does your company have in-house talent that can distribute your company’s content?
- Does your company have in-house talent that can track and analyze your company’s content strategy?
Be honest. Cobbling together staff or passing content like a hot potato from one person to another is not going to be effective. If content is not an area where your company excels, or if content could be carried out more efficiently and effectively if the service was outsourced – start looking for an outsource partner.
If you do decide that outsourcing is right for your company, know that you are not alone. Forty-four percent of B2B marketers report that they outsource content creation. Diving down further, 72 percent of large B2B companies (1,000 employees or more) outsource content creation and 34 percent of small B2B companies (10 to 99 employees) outsource content creation. Looking specifically at the manufacturing industry – 55 percent of manufacturing marketers report that they outsource content creation.
As shown in Figure 1 the content functions that B2B marketers outsource vary from writing to design to distribution to creating a buyer persona. When it comes to outsourcing content functions it doesn’t need to be the kitchen sink.
Figure 1
What to look for in an outsource partner
When it comes to finding an outsource partner you want to find a partner that will bring value to your company and to your customers. Whether you outsource all content functions or just one, here is what to look for in an outsource partner:
- Experience and knowledge of your industry;
- Willing to work with your company to help you achieve your goals;
- Open to exploring and furthering your company’s creative ideas;
- Able to follow instructions and execute with minimal oversight;
- Able to create the type of content your company needs;
- Interested in entering into a long-term relationship.
More generally, Frank Cavallaro wrote that when choosing your perfect outsource mate it is important to start by looking at the mission or value statement of your potential partner. Are these aligned to your company’s? If they are, move on and explore the partnership further. If not, walk away. “Mission and value statements speak to the core culture of the company, so if you can’t find common ground here, it is unlikely you will be able to build a positive working relationship.”
This post was originally published on DC Velocity.
