The case for social media marketing and "Extreme B2B"
At one point in my career, I had one of the largest (if not THE largest!) sales positions in the world. I had just one customer and they bought more than US$1.5 billion of goods and services from my company every year. That’s what I call Extreme B2B. Long sales cycle. High stakes. Extraordinary power […]
The world’s most broken marketing process
Here’s my vote for the most clueless group of marketers in the world: real estate agents.I’ve had the misfortune of buying and selling a number of homes in the past five years and have also done some consulting/research for local real estate professionals, so I’ve received a big dose of some of the dumbest marketing […]
Social Media’s Economy of Giving
In the first article in this four-part series, I defined the three elements that contribute to business benefits through social media: Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits. In this final article, we’ll examine the difficult issue of Authentic Helpfulness. “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who […]
Building meaningful business connections through social media
This is the second in a series exploring the keys to achieving business benefits in social media: Connections + Meaningful Content + Authentic Helpfulness = Business Benefits. Now, we’re going to dive into each element to build a strategy for YOUR social media success! Today we start with CONNECTIONS. Think of the social media landscape […]
Yes, it IS about the money
I know social media is about “relationships.” I get it … I really do. But if you are responsible for a social media initiative for your company, somebody is eventually going to ask you, “Where’s my money, honey?” In a business setting, social media relationships must eventually lead to making or saving money. Of course […]
A double-standard on social media marketing?
If you’ve been reading the blog posts this week about social media and measurement, you owe it to yourself to read the fascinating comment section under the article The biggest lie in social media marketing. Smart people read this blog!! One commentary from Trey Pennington reflects a common obstacle for many of us — a […]
Twitter for business: Four breakthrough insights
I’m privileged to introduce a week-long series of B2B social media insights with Dr. Ben Hanna, Vice President of Marketing for Business.com, where he oversees brand strategy, online marketing, public relations, social media, direct marketing and events. Ben is a true online marketing pioneer. Prior to his current position, Ben led the eBay B2B trading […]
Your website is NOT a strategy
Your website is not a business strategy!
Lessons from a marketing strategy gone wrong (mine!)
The theme for the blog this week is “strategy” and the first thing I needed to do is turn the microscope on myself. It’s ugly. I have not been following my own rules … but let’s see what you might learn from my mistakes. Something I have preached relentlessly: When you start a social media […]
A great example of B2B social media marketing
Two weeks ago I named GE as one of the Top 5 B2B superstars utilizing social media marketing strategies. Yesterdays’ announcement on a new R&D Center in Michigan and 1,200 new jobs is a wonderful illustration of why they earned this honor. 1) An “announcement about the announcement” was broadcast over the GEreports website, blog, […]