by Fronetics | Aug 6, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain, Transportation & Trucking
Keychain Logistics has made two bold promises. The company has promised truckers that they will never drive empty again and has promised shippers that Keychain will improve their bottom line.
Can the company deliver on these promises?
Who is Keychain Logistics?
Keychain is a leading transportation provider enabling businesses to directly engage carriers, track shipments, and monitor its logistics needs online.
According to Bryan Beshore, the company’s founder, Keychain grew out of the idea that a technology driven marketplace could operate with significantly lower overhead than a manual, human powered brokerage:
“My initial contact with the industry was in 2000. I have researched, analyzed, and thought about the industry ever since. Keychain is a product in understanding the fundamental efficiency problems the third party logistics industry has faced for a long time.”
Beshore goes on to point out that while building a technology company is tough, building Keychain was easier than anticipated:
“With Keychain it was a natural process and easier than I had imagined. I believe the reason for this is twofold: the challenges this industry faces are huge, and the solutions we are building to meet those problems are really fun to solve. Because our work directly affects the wallets of our users (increased pay for drivers, better rates for shippers), we are effectively helping people create better lifestyles for themselves and their families, and that’s really rewarding.”
The company was slated to be built in 2007; however, the timing was not right given the low proliferation of internet-connected mobile devices (500 million). Beshore waited. In 2012 he decided to move forward with the launch of the company (the number of internet connected devices reached 8.7 billion in 2012).
How does it work?
One can draw a parallel between Keychain and Uber – the company removes the broker and connects truckers directly with shippers therefore enabling truckers to focus on driving and shippers to focus on selling products.
Keychain is a marketplace for truckers to book commercial shipments directly with shippers. The company’s technology matches owner operator drivers (and small fleets) with shippers who rely on Keychain Logistics to find the ideal carrier for their freight.
The core of the company’s platform is their network of ten-of-thousands of carriers throughout the US who are connected 24/7/365 via Keychain’s iOS, Android, and Windows phone apps. Keychain can instantly communicate load opportunities to independent owner-operators, 97 percent of whom operate in fleets of 20 trucks or less, and small carrier fleets.
Too good to be true?
One of the biggest challenges the company has faced is that it is perceived as being “too good to be true.” Beshore:
“The transportation industry is traditional and technologically far behind. Because of this, the inherent challenge to sharing our offering is overcoming the “too good to be true” bias. While many of our potential customers have wanted a product like ours for a while, they either don’t know how to articulate it in a Google search or are skeptical that tech companies like Keychain are committed to solving their problems.”
Solving immediate need
Keychain has been working to overcome the perception of being too good to be true. It has been talking to current users, and has honed in on developing a solid marketing message. The message – we can solve your immediate need.
Not expressing the full-vision up front has been a challenge when Keychain reaches out to companies with whom they have little or no relationship; however, they have found that solving an immediate need is what gets companies excited.
What immediate need(s) can the company address? According to Beshore: “For shippers, this is getting them access to trucks, sometimes within just minutes of our first contact. For drivers, this means getting them a paying load when they’re stuck at a rest stop, are far from home, or simply need a line-haul out.”
Leveraging social media to grow the company
The company has found that one of the best ways to use social media is for listening. Rather than spend time and money putting together and distributing sales literature, the company searches for relevant industry hashtags (i.e.: #trucking) to see what people are talking about, and more importantly what they care about. By using social media this way, Keychain is an audience to users instead of the other way around. This has enabled the company to shape their offering with a solid understanding of what people want from a transportation provider.
“From phone calls to interviews, crowdfunded campaign partnerships, and beyond, social media has certainly helped us grow our business,” says Beshore.
Can they deliver?
Can Keychain deliver on their bold promises? Their customers believe so. Here is what three customers say about the company:
“With Keychain I no longer have to waste hours on logistics. Their platform makes it easy to quickly enter shipment details and receive the most competitive rates available.” Marc DeVidts, Double Robotics
“Keychain gives us instant access to thousands of reliable carriers nationwide. It’s the most efficient and cost effective tool we’ve found.” Nathan Brown, Reclaimed American Hardwood
“Within minutes I can enter my shipment details and Keychain handles the rest. Annoying phone calls and exorbitant broker fees are over.” Ad Sachan, Treeline Woodworks.
by Fronetics | Aug 6, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain, Transportation & Trucking
Keychain Logistics has made two bold promises. The company has promised truckers that they will never drive empty again and has promised shippers that Keychain will improve their bottom line.
Can the company deliver on these promises?
Who is Keychain Logistics?
Keychain is a leading transportation provider enabling businesses to directly engage carriers, track shipments, and monitor its logistics needs online.
According to Bryan Beshore, the company’s founder, Keychain grew out of the idea that a technology driven marketplace could operate with significantly lower overhead than a manual, human powered brokerage:
“My initial contact with the industry was in 2000. I have researched, analyzed, and thought about the industry ever since. Keychain is a product in understanding the fundamental efficiency problems the third party logistics industry has faced for a long time.”
Beshore goes on to point out that while building a technology company is tough, building Keychain was easier than anticipated:
“With Keychain it was a natural process and easier than I had imagined. I believe the reason for this is twofold: the challenges this industry faces are huge, and the solutions we are building to meet those problems are really fun to solve. Because our work directly affects the wallets of our users (increased pay for drivers, better rates for shippers), we are effectively helping people create better lifestyles for themselves and their families, and that’s really rewarding.”
The company was slated to be built in 2007; however, the timing was not right given the low proliferation of internet-connected mobile devices (500 million). Beshore waited. In 2012 he decided to move forward with the launch of the company (the number of internet connected devices reached 8.7 billion in 2012).
How does it work?
One can draw a parallel between Keychain and Uber – the company removes the broker and connects truckers directly with shippers therefore enabling truckers to focus on driving and shippers to focus on selling products.
Keychain is a marketplace for truckers to book commercial shipments directly with shippers. The company’s technology matches owner operator drivers (and small fleets) with shippers who rely on Keychain Logistics to find the ideal carrier for their freight.
The core of the company’s platform is their network of ten-of-thousands of carriers throughout the US who are connected 24/7/365 via Keychain’s iOS, Android, and Windows phone apps. Keychain can instantly communicate load opportunities to independent owner-operators, 97 percent of whom operate in fleets of 20 trucks or less, and small carrier fleets.
Too good to be true?
One of the biggest challenges the company has faced is that it is perceived as being “too good to be true.” Beshore:
“The transportation industry is traditional and technologically far behind. Because of this, the inherent challenge to sharing our offering is overcoming the “too good to be true” bias. While many of our potential customers have wanted a product like ours for a while, they either don’t know how to articulate it in a Google search or are skeptical that tech companies like Keychain are committed to solving their problems.”
Solving immediate need
Keychain has been working to overcome the perception of being too good to be true. It has been talking to current users, and has honed in on developing a solid marketing message. The message – we can solve your immediate need.
Not expressing the full-vision up front has been a challenge when Keychain reaches out to companies with whom they have little or no relationship; however, they have found that solving an immediate need is what gets companies excited.
What immediate need(s) can the company address? According to Beshore: “For shippers, this is getting them access to trucks, sometimes within just minutes of our first contact. For drivers, this means getting them a paying load when they’re stuck at a rest stop, are far from home, or simply need a line-haul out.”
Leveraging social media to grow the company
The company has found that one of the best ways to use social media is for listening. Rather than spend time and money putting together and distributing sales literature, the company searches for relevant industry hashtags (i.e.: #trucking) to see what people are talking about, and more importantly what they care about. By using social media this way, Keychain is an audience to users instead of the other way around. This has enabled the company to shape their offering with a solid understanding of what people want from a transportation provider.
“From phone calls to interviews, crowdfunded campaign partnerships, and beyond, social media has certainly helped us grow our business,” says Beshore.
Can they deliver?
Can Keychain deliver on their bold promises? Their customers believe so. Here is what three customers say about the company:
“With Keychain I no longer have to waste hours on logistics. Their platform makes it easy to quickly enter shipment details and receive the most competitive rates available.” Marc DeVidts, Double Robotics
“Keychain gives us instant access to thousands of reliable carriers nationwide. It’s the most efficient and cost effective tool we’ve found.” Nathan Brown, Reclaimed American Hardwood
“Within minutes I can enter my shipment details and Keychain handles the rest. Annoying phone calls and exorbitant broker fees are over.” Ad Sachan, Treeline Woodworks.
by Fronetics | Jun 3, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain, Transportation & Trucking
Many companies within the logistics and supply chain industries are stuck on the social media starting line. The reason – “they can’t get past the word ‘social’ and the perception it creates.” The reality is that social media is a tool that can be utilized to create value and grow your business.
Over the next four weeks I will be providing examples of companies within the logistics and supply chain industries who have moved beyond the social media starting line and have realized the business value of participating in social media.
Using social media to move freight
Transportation logistics is vital to the supply chain and logistics industries. For companies within these industries; however, transportation logistics can prove to be challenging to navigate and can prove challenging to the bottom line.
MercuryGate International Inc. and Con-way Inc. are two companies that have used social media to turn transportation logistics on its head – they use social media to move freight.
TweetLoad
Con-way Multimodel, a division of Con-way Inc., launched TweetLoad™ in 2010. TweetLoad enables carriers to access available loads from Con-Way Multimodel via Twitter. Carriers who follow @ConwayTweetLoad on Twitter are able to see the latest available shipments as well as links to additional information on the company’s link board. Load information is updated on Twitter every 15 minutes, meaning that carriers who follow @ConwayTweetLoad have real-time information on available loads.
Figure 1: Conway TweetLoad
Bill Graves, president, American Trucking Associations (ATA): “With this novel use of Twitter, Con-way Multimodal is leading the industry in maximizing the best features of new technology to improve their processes. This is a great example of how innovative transportation companies can make it easier for carriers to do business with them, which will be a benefit to our industry overall.”
View a YouTube demonstration of TweetLoad at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zL7h7kTU1M.
Freight Friend
In 2011 MercuryGate International Inc. launched Freight Friend. Freight Friend is a free relationship-based full-featured load and truck internet posting service for shippers, brokers and carriers. Freight Friend creates a private network between transportation partners, and utilizes technology to automatically identify appropriate matches. The combination of the technology utilized and the relationship-based nature of Freight Friend allows companies to have real-time visibility to book trucks and find freight with companies they trust.
The Freight Friend concept is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Freight Friend
“FreightFriend is perfect for carriers, shippers, brokers, 3PLs and freight management firms who only want to share information with companies they trust. They can keep their current information in one place, knowing that friends – and only friends – will have constant access. While public load boards fill a real need, they come at a cost – a lot of unknown companies bidding to carry the freight. Private boards are often useful too, but they’re inconvenient to carriers with multiple clients asking them to check their bid portals. FreightFriend solves the dilemma with a single service where carriers can easily communicate with all of their clients and brokers can find available capacity from carriers they trust.”
Freight Friend is fully integrated into MercuryGate’s TMS and Carrier Management System (Carma). Freight Friend is also available to integrate with other TMS providers.
by Jennifer Hart Yim | May 8, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
This is the third 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.
Now that you know about how to create a strategy, you have to execute it. This means content creation, content curation, and using the best tools possible to be effective.
#1: Content Planning
Categorize Target Audience By
- Industry: For example, we knew that within our target audiences, we had the following industry categories: Manufacturing, Distribution, Supply Chain, Logistics, Transportation
- Job Function: Next you then need to understand who are the buyers and what are their personas? Once you do this, you can weave in messaging into your content that speaks to all of them. At Cerasis, we knew our job titles were: C-suite, Managers, Employees
Create Content to speak to categories
Now that you have the categories, it’s time to create and plan for content. When you are coming up with topics, make sure you write the categories down and start creating headlines and doing research in those categories. You will notice on the Cerasis blog that there are broad categories like you see from the ones stated above, but over time we started shifting towards creating sub categories of those broad categories (e.g. Reshoring under manufacturing, or inbound logistics under logistics).
Ways to Generating Content Ideas
- Internal Interviews and Brainstorms
- Use an RSS aggregator such as feed.ly so you can curate articles and start to better understand the marketplace
- Be active in Social and Notice Most Shared
Using a Calendar
Whether you are doing one post (or more) per day or just one per week, a calendar is vital to long term success. If you don’t know what you are writing about each day, it is really easy for you to NOT write it and NOT achieve your goals. Content marketing is an ongoing project plan, and you can use tools such as Asana to have multiple people share the same workspace and work through the content.
Look out for Guest Bloggers
Another great idea for scaling content marketing and not burning out is to reach out to influential bloggers to guest blog for you. Or these can be other companies who are noncompetitive but share a similar target audience. We have had several guest bloggers that line up nicely and are relevant to our content categories. However, don’t take anyone that doesn’t add value to your readers. Think like a publisher and protect yourself from those spammy guest bloggers. You also must be proactive in networking and reaching out in social platforms as you establish relationships online such as on LinkedIn and Twitter.
#2: Content Creation
This is really where most companies get stuck. At Cerasis we leverage our employees and interviews to help get content written. You can also use great ghost writing services if you would like, but I would urge you that you write in house, as you know your authentic voice. The key is to stick to a regular schedule. Sporadic posts are going to find it difficult to build an audience. Think about your TV guide and the schedule of shows. You don’t always have to watch it the day it airs, but at least you know that it will be there.
#3: Content Distribution
If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it really make a sound? This old adage is very true when it comes to content and social media marketing. If you are not posting your content in any of the social media channels or online communities, then you are not going to be effective either. Even with search engines out there crawling your new content, search engines are now favoring social signals from sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+.
We recommend the following tools to use to distribute your content:
- Oktopost: This is a fantastic platform for distributing content as well as analyzing your performance. Their strong suite is the ability to post into multiple LinkedIn groups and mimic the categorization of your content through tagging of your groups. You can also post to many platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn pages, profiles, and groups, Google+ and more. Our favorite feature is the Autoposter. This feature allows you to load up a cache of content and set a schedule in the future so you don’t have to use resources to post every day. In one sessions you could set up a 30 day posting schedule right in the platform and view on a calendar!
- Buffer: This platform is great for content curation. You can load in your social profiles and then set pre-determined times on any day. We really love buffer for mostly Twitter, since Twitter is much like a newspaper where you go to find all the latest news and articles on topics of interest to you. Each morning we load up our RSS aggregator, feed.ly, and buffer all the best articles for our audience.
- Feed.ly: We love feed.ly as it allows to mimic (again) our content categorization but for other sources! It’s also a great way to find other blogs and influencers in your space you can network with and potentially guest blog for. All you have to do is search for content by keyword, add them in the respective category and bam, in one platform you have your own customized newspaper from which you can curate content. It’s got the buffer app loaded in so you can easily add articles to your buffer. This is also a great way to find new ideas for content and keep you up to date on your industry!
- Tweetdeck: This platform is owned and maintained by Twitter, but allows you to not only post to and monitor your account, but also allows you to monitor industry hashtags, such as #manufacturing or #logistics so you can start to follow and interact with those in your target audience. It’s a great tool and we recommend using it!
by Jennifer Hart Yim | May 6, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
This is the second 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.
#1: What are your Marketing Objectives?
The following were the marketing objectives we decided for the Cerasis marketing strategy:
- Create a consistent marketing program of brand awareness campaigns and multi-channel marketing platforms in order to gain leads and sales from a more sophisticated and larger shipper.
- Achieve market perception as a thought leader in the logistics industry through consistent content marketing.
As part of our strategic plan, the Cerasis website and blog is the hub of the entire process. Every marketing element’s purpose is to (a) build brand awareness, (b) build community, and (c) drive traffic from those elements to the blog and website. This is important for several reasons:
- We are in total control of our website content, messaging, and engagement.
- Our blog and website is the best place for inbound lead generation.
- Blog content lasts longer than posts within the realm of social media and other traditional channels such as advertising in a magazine.
- A blog is the best place for sharing your story and showing expertise.
#2: Understanding Content Marketing and the Approach
Consumers of any product or service work through a process that starts with becoming aware of a need and ends with making a decision to purchase or not to purchase (Universal Marketing Funnel). Because of our marketing efforts, at any given moment in time Cerasis will have potential customers considering our company within various stages of the decision process. Our content marketing strategy will focus on building content that communicates with these prospective customers no matter where they are in their decision journey with Cerasis.
- Awareness – This is the stage in which a potential customer becomes aware that your company exists. Of the content you create, 30 percent to 40 percent will be for the purposes of awareness — making potential customers aware of your company and exposing you to your target market. Awareness content focuses on trends, education of best practices, and is completely devoid of over salesy messaging.
- Evaluation – This is the stage in which potential customers are in the market for what you are selling and they are trying to formulate their buying criteria. Like the awareness stage, 30 percent to 40 percent of our content will be focused on helping the customer evaluate your offering. Try and create content which evaluates your type of business vs. another. Another good example is iPhone vs. Android.
- Decision – Decision-based content that communicates why a customer should buy from Cerasis will represent about 20 percent of our content strategy. This kind of content is not overtly salesy, but is in line with your strengths and unique selling proposition
- Fanatic – This is content that is mostly user generated from your customer base and brand loyalists. These are in the form of testimonial, case studies, and guest blogs. This kind of content is about you, but from someone else’s perspective.
#3: Target Audience Establishment and Research
Of course if you want to even have results in social media and content marketing, you have to understand who you are trying to reach. It’s important to think holistically when considering who you are trying to reach at a potential prospects’ company. Typically, your target audience falls into two categories: Primary (decision makers) and Secondary (influencers of the decision maker), but there could also be Tertiary (these are the vetters; admins, executive assistants, and those gathering info to present to the group, usually in a B2B environment).
When thinking about your target audience, think of the following:
- Broad Categories: Think of the different verticals you can support. For example, a logistics company may want to reach those in the industries of Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Logistics, Transportation, Distribution and Freight. Let the categories be your guide for when you are joining digital communities or writing content you will then distribute in these communities.
- Job Titles: Next, ask the sales staff who they typically must talk to in order to get a signed contract. Typically, the person who signs the check, or the contract, is in leadership and makes the ultimate decision. This may be a CFO of a manufacturing company, or a Manager of some sort. Then, ask the customer service reps who fulfill your service or product offering who they deal with at your customers’ companies. For example, it may be Account Manager. Then, finally, continue to ask if there are other job titles that make sense. You can use these job titles to find communities easily on LinkedIn.
- Search Engine Key Phrases: To complete your list of your target audience, next go to Google.com and search some of these job titles to find related job titles, which you can find at the bottom of the search page. You may also use Google’s free Keyword Tool, plugin the job titles, and see related key phrases to those job titles.
More Action Items with this information:
- Start researching what kind of content is relevant to these job titles and industries in preparation for your content planning session
- Identify popular news sources, people, and blogs from which you may draw inspiration, establish key relationship for future guest blogging or networking, and of course in curation of content of value to your target audience to spur community growth and engagement in platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.
#4: Understanding Digital Assets, Social Media Platforms, and Online Communities Activation
Digital Assets
Digital assets are online environments you create from scratch. Digital assets are often created using a technology framework, a hierarchy of navigation, your company logo and custom graphics, and professional copy writing. The major digital assets you should consider when getting ready to activate your content marketing strategy are Website, Company Blog, Landing Pages, Videos, Podcasts.
Social Media Platforms
In general, most social media platforms you set up require you to amass a following in order to be effective. There are some platforms where the entire reason you establish it in the first place is to build followers, and then add value in the way of posts or messages or use to distribute your original content in order to lead back your desired target audience to your digital assets in order to gain awareness and inbound leads. The following are the major social media platforms, what they are, and what they may be used for:
- LinkedIn Company Page: A LinkedIn company page allows you to post information about your company such as founding date, about section, post location information, hours, products and services, job postings, and allow employees to list the company page within their own individual profiles. The page is used for marketing by accruing followers and post messages, such as your own original content, which reach those followers. LinkedIn offers great analytics around how many people were reached with your posts, how many clicks you receive, and how many followers you have gained over time. Company pages are a great way to find out company intelligence such as key decision makers.
o USES: Typically, a LinkedIn page is most effective in a business-to-business environment, as the mindset of the users on LinkedIn are for either finding jobs, finding information on their industry of choice, or consuming content distributed or curated by companies. Aid in the vetting process of potential clients who look up your company via search engines or LinkedIn search, aids in establishing credibility with target audience, reach your followers through consistent, relevant, and remarkable content, promote products and services, stay in touch with employees
- LinkedIn Profile: LinkedIn gives you the keys to controlling your online identity. Have you Googled yourself lately? You never know what may come up. LinkedIn profiles rise to the top of search results, letting you control the first impression people get when searching for you online.
o USES: Again, a profile, when used for digital marketing, is friendlier in a B2B environment, over a business-to-consumer (B2C) geared marketing campaign. The LinkedIn profile allows you to build awareness of yourself and company through consistent posting, serve as a repository for your own personal brand, join LinkedIn groups through your profile, search engine optimize your profile for increased visibility, gain valuable market insight through LinkedIn Today, build connections with your desired target audience
- Twitter: Twitter is an information network that brings people closer to what’s important to them. Every day, millions of people turn to Twitter to connect to their interests, to share information, and find out what’s happening in the world right now. Anyone can read, write and share messages of up to 140 characters on Twitter. These messages, or Tweets, are available to anyone interested in reading them, whether logged in or not. Your followers receive every one of your messages in their timeline – a feed of all the accounts they have subscribed to or followed on Twitter. This unique combination of open, public, and unfiltered Tweets delivered in a simple, standardized 140-character unit, allows Twitter users to share and discover what’s happening on any device in real time.
o USES: Think of Twitter as a consumption platform. Consumption of industry news and original opinionated content. In this way, it is great for B2B marketing. If using for B2C, it works well to extend brand affinity by creating campaigns or using branded hashtags for those who want to follow your company. Unlike a LinkedIn company page and a bit different than requesting a LinkedIn connection, you can follow other thought leaders, or those in your target audience to elicit a follow back. Additionally, Twitter is highly searchable via key word to find and follow those in your target audience or those talking about your products and services. Furthermore, Twitter aids in Search Engine Optimization through sharing your content, show thought leadership and attract your target audience by using strategic hashtags and curating industry news, consume industry news gaining valuable insights, gain inbound leads via content marketing by tweeting your original content, gain followers to increase brand awareness and chances of inbound leads
- Facebook Page: A Facebook Page, much like a LinkedIn Company Page allows you to include your company information, match your graphics to your website, include store locations, hours, mission and value statements, and categorize your business. In order to amass a following people must “Like” your page. Once they do, you can then hope to reach them with your posts. Unlike LinkedIn however, Facebook posts from a page only reach 10-16% of those who “Like” your page, thanks to Facebook’s “Edge Rank” an algorithm designed to declutter your personal Facebook Feed when you login.
o USES: Facebook often times is leveraged in a more B2C environment, but can be wildly successful in B2B if you know the power of a business Facebook’s ability to “Like” another Facebook business page, and thus still receive the posts from the page, hopefully reaching your desired target audiences. Furthermore, you can use Facebook to create Events, which you can promote and gain RSVPs, you can run contests via Facebook ads to increase awareness of your brand, curate and post original content to show your thought leadership, leverage the Facebook Ad platform to target Facebook users who are within your target audience with great precision, and ultimately, through pictures and video, you are able to show the personality of your business via Facebook.
- Google+: Is a social network owned by Google. If you have a google account, you already have a Google+ profile. There are Google+ individual profiles and Google+ Pages. Google views it as a social layer to compliment it’s other products of search, advertising, Gmail, maps, and Google Places (local listings). With a profile or a page, you can amass “Followers” here as well, whenever another Google+ user adds you to their circles.
o USES: Google owns Google+, so you must understand if you are wanting to have success in search engine optimization, Google+ is a must. Like a Facebook Page, you can post to your followers and they can see your posts, and +1, comment, or share on that post. The more +1s you have on your own content the more Google sees your content as trustworthy, thus uplifting your overall SEO efforts. This platform also allows you to fill in your company information, like a LinkedIn Page or Facebook Page, but here you can also connect your Google Local listing (formally known as Google Places) to your Google+ page to aid in further SEO, but also so customers may easily leave reviews and other potential customers can see your information and reviews all in one place. Finally, with a Google+ profile you can add Authorship, so that when your content does show up in search engines, your listing in the search engine stands out and increases the likelihood someone will actually click on it, as you see to the right.
- Pinterest: Pinterest is a fairly new social media platform, having come to prominence in late 2011. Pinterest allows you to create both a personal user account, as well as a business account. Pinterest is very similar to Twitter in that you can create a page and curate content. Except, instead of being driven by links and text, Pinterest is driven by images and video. A page or user can amass followers, and like twitter can follow those in your target audience to hopefully gain a follow back. One may pin your own original content or thought leadership content in the hopes to reach your target audience where they either repin or pin your content, like, comment, and more importantly click on your content.
o USES: Increase Search Engine Optimization by posting your blog and website content, build a community of followers made of your target audience, and display content in a more visual format
- YouTube: This is another platform owned by Google, and also very important in search engine optimization. Again, like many social media platforms, you are allowed to either be a user or have a company YouTube channel. As a company you can establish your channel and upload videos of original content, as well as fill out information about your company. You are able to amass subscribers and subscribe to other channels of interest. Additionally, your videos can gain likes and comments, and you may add descriptions to each video.
o USES: YouTube has applications in both B2B and B2C, and doesn’t require a lot of upkeep or posting, like some of the other platforms. YouTube primarily, in a B2B setting is used to increase search engine visibility with targeted key phrases in each video, gain subscribers of your target audience, and allows you to embed video in your digital assets as a way to make your marketing message stand out.
Online Communities
Finally, we come to online communities. Unlike digital assets and social media platforms, online communities allow you to tap into your target audience and not be at the mercy of having to amass followers or attract visitors to your brand. I am not saying you should not try and attract members of the community to your company, but you can think of online communities where you can use content of relevancy as bait to reel them back into your own controlled environments and established pages in order to support your overall marketing and business goals as laid out in your digital marketing plan. The following are the main online communities which give you broad reach:
- LinkedIn Groups: LinkedIn Groups are communities you may join within LinkedIn with your LinkedIn profile. You may search out LinkedIn groups by key word and decide to join as a member. LinkedIn will tell you the size of the group, the description, the rules of the group, who are the managers, and even the stats. You are allowed to post discussions, comment on others discussions, and after some time, post original content as you build up your influence in the group.
- USES: Increase the awarenes and raise the profile of yourself and your company through relevant discussions and engaging with other group members, gain traffic to your blog and website by posting original, relevant, and not too salesy content, increase connections with other LinkedIn users in your desired target audience, leverage deep search capability to find discussions around your products and services solutions, potentially reach hundreds of thousands of people in your target audience by joining up to 50 groups made up of your target audience.
- Google+ Communities: Google+ Communities are fairly new, but act very much like LinkedIn Groups. You can join strategic groups found by key phrase and post messages in them. You can engage with other members and add targeted users you may want to talk further with to your circles.
- USES: Primarily used to aid in SEO by posting links to your original content, allows for broad reach of your content and brand through reaching large numbers of people in each group
- Quora: Quora is a question and answer site where you can search by specific key word as well. You have to be a member, and it’s as straight forward as someone asking a question, and people offering their expert answers. Other users will then vote on the answer with the best ones being featured.
- USES: The first thing you DON’T want to do is SPAM Quora. This is the place where you simply want to provide value by answering questions related to your expertise. If it makes sense, you can post a link to your content, but this is highly frowned upon unless it truly adds value (this is why proper content marketing where you lead with value is SO IMPORTANT! More to come in future blog posts!). Once you add value and build out your influence, you can be known as “That person” who is the expert. And who doesn’t want to do business with an expert!
- Reddit: Reddit is a fantastic community, but the challenge is how large it is. Like LinkedIn Groups, there are several niche places, called subreddits, where you can simply search for your industry and post your content to. Again, like LinkedIn groups, if you don’t want to be spammy in nature, you have to be relevant and engaging. Don’t over post here, but try a piece of content once per day.
