Why you need to understand what B2B buyers think about content [Infographic]

Why you need to understand what B2B buyers think about content [Infographic]

If you want to attract B2B buyers with content, you need to understand what B2B buyers think about content.

93% of B2B companies use content marketing.  If you want your content marketing efforts to be effective you need to understand why B2B buyers consume and value content.  When you understand what B2B buyers think about content you can create and distribute the right content – content that will help you grow your business by driving profitable customer action.

The CMO Council, Content ROI Center, and Netline conducted a survey of 352 senior-level B2B buyers, influencers, and decision makers with the objective of determining content’s role in influencing B2B buyers in the purchase process.

Why do B2B buyers consume content?

B2B buyers turn to content for a number of reasons including to:

  • Learn about new market developments and industry practices;
  • Discover new solutions to address a specific problem;
  • Address a project or a program being undertaken by their company.

Why do B2B buyers value content?

B2B buyers value content because it:

  • Keeps them current on new techniques;
  • Provides strategic insights and shapes their purchase specifications;
  • Educates them about industry issues, problems, and challenges.

content B2B buyers

Source: CMO Council

Understanding what B2B buyers think about content and why they use content will enable you to create, curate, and distribute content that speaks to B2B buyers and attracts new customers and engages current customers.

If you consistently create, curate, and distribute content that B2B buyers find valuable, you will realize results.

 

 

Survey on content use within the logistics and supply chain industries

Survey on content use within the logistics and supply chain industries

content survey

Share your experience with the use of content within the logistics and supply chain industries.

The amount of content on the internet is astounding, and it is growing by the second (check out One Second on the Internet).  93% of B2B companies are using content marketing and are thereby contributing to the increasing amount of content that is out there.

How do companies within the logistics and supply chain use content?  What do companies see as the most effective methods of content creation and content distribution?

Fronetics Strategic Advisors is conducting a brief survey focused on the use of content within the logistics and supply chain industries.  The survey will take less than five minutes to complete.  All data collected will be used in aggregate and no identifying information will be shared or reported.

A report focused on the survey results will be published in March 2015.

Thank you in advance for your participation.






Survey on content use within the logistics and supply chain industries

Survey on content use within the logistics and supply chain industries

content survey

Share your experience with the use of content within the logistics and supply chain industries.

The amount of content on the internet is astounding, and it is growing by the second (check out One Second on the Internet).  93% of B2B companies are using content marketing and are thereby contributing to the increasing amount of content that is out there.

How do companies within the logistics and supply chain use content?  What do companies see as the most effective methods of content creation and content distribution?

Fronetics Strategic Advisors is conducting a brief survey focused on the use of content within the logistics and supply chain industries.  The survey will take less than five minutes to complete.  All data collected will be used in aggregate and no identifying information will be shared or reported.

A report focused on the survey results will be published in March 2015.

Thank you in advance for your participation.






Content and Social Media: A Perfect Match for Customer Engagement and Business Growth

Content and Social Media: A Perfect Match for Customer Engagement and Business Growth

content and social media

Content and social media are integral to business growth

Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog written by Kecia Gray, Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Communications, Transplace. Transplace is a premier provider of transportation management services, intermodal, truck brokerage, and SaaS TMS solutions.  Transplace successfully leverages social media and content to expand the company’s brand awareness and thought leadership.  The company’s LinkedIn page, Facebook page, and blog were named as “favorites” in a survey conducted by Fronetics.

At Transplace, social media has become an integral part of our marketing and communications strategy and key to expanding our brand awareness and thought leadership in the logistics and transportation space.  Our marketing and communication team has had the opportunity to utilize multiple social channels, including:

While we consistently post content to all of these channels, what has been and continues to be important to our social strategy is creating our own original content and utilizing it within a more aggressive approach on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Sharing content on these channels has allowed our newest blog to achieve fast success in under a year’s time.

Content Is King…

Within any industry, there is always significant opportunity to create original thought leadership content that is informative and insightful.  When developing a social media strategy, our foremost goal was to establish a thought leadership blog resource for the market, in addition to providing engaging and personalized content across social channels that was easily sharable. Our main objectives focus on connecting with customers, and creating content that resonates with the members of our industry and provides value to their businesses. By distributing this content across our social channels to foster sharing, conversation and engagement, we’ve continued to gain influence with our targeted audiences.

…And Metrics Are Key

Because of the rapid pace of developing content, it’s important to track and report on levels of engagement to optimize and repurpose information. We created a social plan that included a comprehensive calendar to capture the topics and content items we’d be working on throughout the year. For maximum integration, we purposely aligned new pieces to marketing campaigns and corporate objectives such as events, transportation services and current industry issues. In addition, we established benchmarks and metrics that were important for us to track, such as followers and level of engagement. Analyzing the data allowed us to regularly monitor and evaluate our program, maximize what worked and adjust areas that did not meet expectations.

Incorporating Talent for Quality Thought Leadership

We have also taken advantage of the significant opportunity for Transplace employees at all levels to contribute quality thought-leadership posts across a number of channels. We’ve learned that the best place to utilize this content is on the company’s logisticallyspeakingblog.com. Some of the posts we’re most proud of turned out to be the most popular of 2014, including:

  • A motivating guest blog post highlighting our dedication to our customers – from George Abernathy, our president and CCO.
  • An insightful commentary on the growth of Transplace in light of a recent acquisition – from Frank McGuigan, president of transportation management at Transplace.
  • An informative infographic recap of our signature event, the annual Transplace Shipper Symposium, highlighting some amazing speakers.

To ensure we always stay up-to-date and focused, our team holds quarterly meetings in which we share key highlights, metrics and snapshots of the program quarter by quarter. The time is used to plan for what’s coming up in the future, brainstorm new ideas and make changes as needed.  We always make the utmost effort to continually update our program and assess our short and long term goals – an important aspect to any social program!

How is your organization utilizing social media and thought leadership content?

Content and Social Media: A Perfect Match for Customer Engagement and Business Growth

Content and Social Media: A Perfect Match for Customer Engagement and Business Growth

content and social media

Content and social media are integral to business growth

Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog written by Kecia Gray, Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Communications, Transplace. Transplace is a premier provider of transportation management services, intermodal, truck brokerage, and SaaS TMS solutions.  Transplace successfully leverages social media and content to expand the company’s brand awareness and thought leadership.  The company’s LinkedIn page, Facebook page, and blog were named as “favorites” in a survey conducted by Fronetics.

At Transplace, social media has become an integral part of our marketing and communications strategy and key to expanding our brand awareness and thought leadership in the logistics and transportation space.  Our marketing and communication team has had the opportunity to utilize multiple social channels, including:

While we consistently post content to all of these channels, what has been and continues to be important to our social strategy is creating our own original content and utilizing it within a more aggressive approach on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Sharing content on these channels has allowed our newest blog to achieve fast success in under a year’s time.

Content Is King…

Within any industry, there is always significant opportunity to create original thought leadership content that is informative and insightful.  When developing a social media strategy, our foremost goal was to establish a thought leadership blog resource for the market, in addition to providing engaging and personalized content across social channels that was easily sharable. Our main objectives focus on connecting with customers, and creating content that resonates with the members of our industry and provides value to their businesses. By distributing this content across our social channels to foster sharing, conversation and engagement, we’ve continued to gain influence with our targeted audiences.

…And Metrics Are Key

Because of the rapid pace of developing content, it’s important to track and report on levels of engagement to optimize and repurpose information. We created a social plan that included a comprehensive calendar to capture the topics and content items we’d be working on throughout the year. For maximum integration, we purposely aligned new pieces to marketing campaigns and corporate objectives such as events, transportation services and current industry issues. In addition, we established benchmarks and metrics that were important for us to track, such as followers and level of engagement. Analyzing the data allowed us to regularly monitor and evaluate our program, maximize what worked and adjust areas that did not meet expectations.

Incorporating Talent for Quality Thought Leadership

We have also taken advantage of the significant opportunity for Transplace employees at all levels to contribute quality thought-leadership posts across a number of channels. We’ve learned that the best place to utilize this content is on the company’s logisticallyspeakingblog.com. Some of the posts we’re most proud of turned out to be the most popular of 2014, including:

  • A motivating guest blog post highlighting our dedication to our customers – from George Abernathy, our president and CCO.
  • An insightful commentary on the growth of Transplace in light of a recent acquisition – from Frank McGuigan, president of transportation management at Transplace.
  • An informative infographic recap of our signature event, the annual Transplace Shipper Symposium, highlighting some amazing speakers.

To ensure we always stay up-to-date and focused, our team holds quarterly meetings in which we share key highlights, metrics and snapshots of the program quarter by quarter. The time is used to plan for what’s coming up in the future, brainstorm new ideas and make changes as needed.  We always make the utmost effort to continually update our program and assess our short and long term goals – an important aspect to any social program!

How is your organization utilizing social media and thought leadership content?