Why B2B Marketers should care about social media as part of a bigger inbound marketing strategy.

1. BUILDING A SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY FOR B2B BRANDS
CURATE BEE

2. B2B
MARKETERS
SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA?

3. REASONS TO CARE
ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
90% of all data in the world has been created in the last
2 years.
10B – Internet connected devices NOW.
1 Billion
Source: IBM " Understanding Big Data"
Source: ABI Research
500 Million
1 Billion/mo
130 Million
883 Million 259 Million
Source: https://twitter.com/leeodden

4. BENEFITS: SOCIAL
MEDIA FOR BUSINESS
AWARENESS:
• MARKETING & SALES
• MEDIA & PUBLIC RELATIONS
RETENTION:
• CUSTOMER SERVICE
• COMMUNITY & ADVOCACY
OPERATIONS:
• RECRUITING
• COLLABORATION
Source: https://twitter.com/leeodden

5. SOURCES OF CONTENT TO
MAKE B2B PURCHASING
DECISIONS:
50%
48%
35%
33%
Source: https://twitter.com/leeodden

6. UNDERSTANDING
THE B2B BUYER
Discover Consume Act
• Text, images
• Audio, video
• Mobile, tablet
• Computer
• Formal, funny,
• Long, short
• Social share
• Engage
• Subscribe
• Register
• Inquire
• Buy
• Search
keywords
• Social topics
• Advertising
• Publications
• Events
• Word of mouth
Source: https://twitter.com/leeodden

7. B2B SOCIAL & BUYER
JOURNEY
Source: https://twitter.com/leeodden

8. B2B BUYERS ARE PEOPLE TOO
Humor:
CISCO ASR 9000:
A perfect Valentines
Day gift because it
has 6.4 terrabites per
second, 400gbpps
per slot, 6 times the
mobile backhaul
capacity.
Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/

9. B2B SOCIAL
MEASUREMENT
Social Content KPI’s Business Outcomes
• Visi ts
• Views/ impressions
• Fans
• Friends
• Fol lowers
• Commments
• Likes
• Google plusses
• Links
• Serps
• Search traf f ic
• Shorter sales cycles
• Increased order
quant i ty, frequency
• More referrals
• Share of voice
• Improve service
• Lower market ing costs
• Grow revenue
• Improve prof i ts
Source: https://twitter.com/leeodden

10. While 90%
of buyers begin
their SEARCH for
a solution online…
A startling 60%* of
the buying decision
is made BEFORE
speaking with a
supplier.
*Source: The End of Solution Sales, Harvard Business Review

11. SOCIAL MEDIA
is only ONE component of the
digital marketing picture.

12. Like it or not, buyers are SELF-SERVING on the web.
They're SEARCHING for information and solution options.
They're DETERMINING the criteria they'll use to select a
product.
They're IDENTIFYING their requirements.
They're SHORT-LISTING vendors and COMPARING
solutions.
All WITHOUT speaking to a sales
representative
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/gstok/content-the-key-to-influencing-the-b2b-buying-process

13. "(Content Marketing) ... is being there when
customers need you and seek you out with
RELEVANT, EDUCATIONAL, HELPFUL,
COMPELLING, ENGAGING and sometimes
ENTERTAINING information."
Source: Rebeca Lieb, a u t h o r o f “Co n t e n t Marketing: How to use Content to
Market Onl ine and in Social Media

14. CONTENT FORMATS
TEXT
• BLOG
• ARTICLE
• WHITEPAPER
• E-BOOK
VISUAL
• VIDEO
• DEMO
• INFOGRAPHIC
• SLIDESHARE
EVENT
• SEMINAR
• WORKSHOP
AUDIO
• PODCAST
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/gstok/content-the-key-to-influencing-the-b2b-buying-process

15. This means there are MANY
opportunities to create content that
positions your company as a subject
EXPERT and trusted ADVISOR...
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/gstok/content-the-key-to-influencing-the-b2b-buying-process

16. "By publishing content that shows
buyers you UNDERSTAND their
problems and can SHOWthem how
to solve them, you build credibility ...
prospects will
PROACTIVELY SEEK IT OUT."
Source: Ardath Albee, author of
”eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale"

17. There are also many OPERATIONAL benefits
to publishing buyer-centric content.
• The more content you publish, the higher you'll rank in organic
search results.
• Leads that are generated through organic search have a 14.6%
close rate…
… while outbound marketing leads only have a 1% close rate.
• Better still, Google's latest algorithm, hummingbird, recognises
and rewards quality content with higher ranking.
• "Per dollar, content marketing produces 3x more leads"
Source: Content marketing ROI (Kapost and Eloqua)

18. So it's easy to understand why 91% of
surveyed B2B companies practice
content marketing.
Source: B2B Content Marketing 2013 Research Report

19. ... And allocate up to 33% of their annual
marketing budget to content marketing...
Source: B2B Content Marketing 2013 Research Report

20. ... to DRIVE key marketing and sales tactics.
Brand awareness - 79%
Customer acquisition - 74%
Lead generation - 71%
Thought leadership - 64%
Retention / loyalty - 64%
Engagement - 63%
Website traffic - 60%
Lead management - 45%
Sales - 43%
Source: B2B Content Marketing 2013 Research Report

21. Case in Point: AT&T

22. Thanks to a blog-centered,
social sales strategy, AT&T
generated $47M in NEW BUSINESS
within a period of 18 months.
Source: http://www.businessesgrow.com/

23. 47 MILLION!

24. The bottom line.

25. "Content drives
CONVERSATIONS
Conversation ENGAGES
Your customers.
Engaging with people is how
your company will SURVIVE and THRIVE
in this new social world."
Source: Ann Handley And C.C. Chapman, Authors Of "Content Rules"

26. BEING SOCIAL DRIVES ENGAGEMENT,
ENGAGEMENT DRIVES
LOYALTY AND ADVOCACY,
AND BOTH CORRELATE DIRECTLY
TO INCREASED SALES.
ROR = ROI. RETURN ON REVENUE EQUALS RETURN
ON INVESTMENT.

27. THANK
YOU
QUESTIONS?