by Fronetics | Jan 29, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to social media marketing. From expanding corporate communications to learning valuable information about consumers, social media has benefits that help businesses grow and expand their reach. Here are four powerful reasons why your business needs to incorporate social media into your marketing strategy:
1. Sharing Educational Content with Consumers
Leveraging social media as a tool for educating customers is a B2B marketing strategy that many businesses miss out on. Build your social media channels and develop thought leadership by providing objective, educational content that is relevant to your customers’ business problems. Become a resource of industry-related information through your original content and content curated from across the Internet. When potential customers are beginning their buying process, they gravitate towards companies with whom they are familiar and perceive as industry experts. According to Sirius Decisions, 70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before they ever contact a sales representative. Socially sharing educational content will increase your visibility to buyers during the sales process. Buyers are more informed than ever before, and businesses need to strive to be a resource for their customers on social media.
2. Improve Your SEO Ranking
Inbound links and social shares are two key performance indicators (KPIs) to be mindful of throughout the SEO process. Inbound links and social shares are two increasingly important factors that are taken into consideration during website indexes. These increase what Google refers to as Author Authority, and the more authority, the more SEO weight your website gains. Bottom line: the stronger your presence on social media, the higher your search engine page rank will be.
3. Generate New Leads
Social media can be used to help businesses build robust marketing campaigns to support lead generation, often with little to no cost. The plethora of social media networks and websites can seem overwhelming, but popular networks like LinkedIn and Twitter are a great place to start using social media to generate qualified leads.
LinkedIn is an ideal space for businesses; the community of professionals is a great resource for networking. LinkedIn supports businesses with community pages, company pages, groups and discussion boards for users to share ideas, content and talk to like-minded professionals. LinkedIn is also a useful tool for leads by gauging interest in products and services based on conversations. Additionally, Twitter is another free platform that users can use to drive lead generation efforts. According to Inside View, B2B marketers who use Twitter generate twice as many leads as those that do not.
4. Stretch Your Marketing Dollars
Even if you do chose to upgrade your social media toolkit and pay for premium benefits and services, the cost of implementing a social media marketing campaign is significantly lower than using many traditional mediums. The real-time data and analytics received through different social platforms provide users with valuable insights and the opportunity for businesses to pivot campaigns and tactics as needed in order to have the highest possible impact. Moreover, you be flexible with your marketing strategies, campaigns and tactics.
What have been some of the biggest benefits that your organization has seen as a result of their social media practices?
For more information on the benefits of social media, check out our white paper.
by Fronetics | Jan 29, 2014 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media
There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to social media marketing. From expanding corporate communications to learning valuable information about consumers, social media has benefits that help businesses grow and expand their reach. Here are four powerful reasons why your business needs to incorporate social media into your marketing strategy:
1. Sharing Educational Content with Consumers
Leveraging social media as a tool for educating customers is a B2B marketing strategy that many businesses miss out on. Build your social media channels and develop thought leadership by providing objective, educational content that is relevant to your customers’ business problems. Become a resource of industry-related information through your original content and content curated from across the Internet. When potential customers are beginning their buying process, they gravitate towards companies with whom they are familiar and perceive as industry experts. According to Sirius Decisions, 70% of the buyer’s journey is complete before they ever contact a sales representative. Socially sharing educational content will increase your visibility to buyers during the sales process. Buyers are more informed than ever before, and businesses need to strive to be a resource for their customers on social media.
2. Improve Your SEO Ranking
Inbound links and social shares are two key performance indicators (KPIs) to be mindful of throughout the SEO process. Inbound links and social shares are two increasingly important factors that are taken into consideration during website indexes. These increase what Google refers to as Author Authority, and the more authority, the more SEO weight your website gains. Bottom line: the stronger your presence on social media, the higher your search engine page rank will be.
3. Generate New Leads
Social media can be used to help businesses build robust marketing campaigns to support lead generation, often with little to no cost. The plethora of social media networks and websites can seem overwhelming, but popular networks like LinkedIn and Twitter are a great place to start using social media to generate qualified leads.
LinkedIn is an ideal space for businesses; the community of professionals is a great resource for networking. LinkedIn supports businesses with community pages, company pages, groups and discussion boards for users to share ideas, content and talk to like-minded professionals. LinkedIn is also a useful tool for leads by gauging interest in products and services based on conversations. Additionally, Twitter is another free platform that users can use to drive lead generation efforts. According to Inside View, B2B marketers who use Twitter generate twice as many leads as those that do not.
4. Stretch Your Marketing Dollars
Even if you do chose to upgrade your social media toolkit and pay for premium benefits and services, the cost of implementing a social media marketing campaign is significantly lower than using many traditional mediums. The real-time data and analytics received through different social platforms provide users with valuable insights and the opportunity for businesses to pivot campaigns and tactics as needed in order to have the highest possible impact. Moreover, you be flexible with your marketing strategies, campaigns and tactics.
What have been some of the biggest benefits that your organization has seen as a result of their social media practices?
For more information on the benefits of social media, check out our white paper.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 27, 2014 | Blog, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Supply Chain
This post originally appeared on EBN.
For many customers, both current and prospective, you are your packaging. Take the time to do it right.
I recently read a great piece by Zach Williams, founder and creative director of Venveo, on the role of packaging from a marketing perspective.
Williams puts forth the idea that packaging is a critical element to marketing, and therefore, should become the fifth P in marketing (the other four being Product, Pricing, Placement, and Promotion). He makes the point that “packaging embodies so much more than promotion… [it] can make or break how your company is positioned.”
Williams discusses how packaging can create customer experiences. He offers the example of Apple’s packaging and how getting a box with the Apple logo on it creates an emotional response for customers. So emotional is the response that Williams pointed out that there are videos on YouTube of people “unboxing” their new products. When Williams wrote the article in October 2012, there were “thousands” of videos; when I looked today there were close to 3.5 million. That growth alone says a lot. And, the joy and excitement displayed in the videos speaks volumes to Apple, the product, and to the packaging itself.
Another company whose packaging has become iconic in the realm of creating customer experience is Tiffany & Co… New York Times writer Alice Rawsthorn wrote an articleabout the role Tiffany’s packaging played in her decision to purchase a pendant for her goddaughter: “Would I have bought that pendant without the packaging? I’m not sure, but the thought of Delilah opening that duck egg blue box tied with white satin ribbon certainly clinched my choice.”
Williams also notes that packaging can also serve to justify the price of the product and that “packaging should always aim to increase the perceived value of the product.” To Williams’s point, look at both Apple and Tiffany — their prices are higher than their competitors.
The final point in Williams’s article is that the packaging of a company needs to go beyond the physical and extend to the company’s website — that the website “can be considered packaging as well.” The point is a good one, but I think it should go further. I believe packaging should not only include the company’s website, but should also extend to the company’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Twitter account, blog, and any outward-facing materials. If your company does not take the time to create an exceptional package for customers, you will be passed over.
Your company’s physical packaging and online packaging speaks volumes about your company. For many customers, current and prospective, you are your packaging. Take the time to do it right.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 27, 2014 | Blog, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Supply Chain
This post originally appeared on EBN.
For many customers, both current and prospective, you are your packaging. Take the time to do it right.
I recently read a great piece by Zach Williams, founder and creative director of Venveo, on the role of packaging from a marketing perspective.
Williams puts forth the idea that packaging is a critical element to marketing, and therefore, should become the fifth P in marketing (the other four being Product, Pricing, Placement, and Promotion). He makes the point that “packaging embodies so much more than promotion… [it] can make or break how your company is positioned.”
Williams discusses how packaging can create customer experiences. He offers the example of Apple’s packaging and how getting a box with the Apple logo on it creates an emotional response for customers. So emotional is the response that Williams pointed out that there are videos on YouTube of people “unboxing” their new products. When Williams wrote the article in October 2012, there were “thousands” of videos; when I looked today there were close to 3.5 million. That growth alone says a lot. And, the joy and excitement displayed in the videos speaks volumes to Apple, the product, and to the packaging itself.
Another company whose packaging has become iconic in the realm of creating customer experience is Tiffany & Co… New York Times writer Alice Rawsthorn wrote an articleabout the role Tiffany’s packaging played in her decision to purchase a pendant for her goddaughter: “Would I have bought that pendant without the packaging? I’m not sure, but the thought of Delilah opening that duck egg blue box tied with white satin ribbon certainly clinched my choice.”
Williams also notes that packaging can also serve to justify the price of the product and that “packaging should always aim to increase the perceived value of the product.” To Williams’s point, look at both Apple and Tiffany — their prices are higher than their competitors.
The final point in Williams’s article is that the packaging of a company needs to go beyond the physical and extend to the company’s website — that the website “can be considered packaging as well.” The point is a good one, but I think it should go further. I believe packaging should not only include the company’s website, but should also extend to the company’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Twitter account, blog, and any outward-facing materials. If your company does not take the time to create an exceptional package for customers, you will be passed over.
Your company’s physical packaging and online packaging speaks volumes about your company. For many customers, current and prospective, you are your packaging. Take the time to do it right.
