So much of social-media marketing advice focuses on retail businesses. But is there more to the story than that? You bet — business-to-business companies can also use social tools to strengthen their brands and even find new leads. Read on for a roundup of relevant stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media.
Are your sales and social-media teams on the same page?
Many business-to-business companies have noticed a rift emerging between their sales and social-media teams, and it’s important to find ways to bridge that gap, writes Karlie Justus. Tracking leads generated by social-media efforts and providing regular analytic reports to the sales team are usually enough to win over skeptics, she notes. SocialMediaB2B.com (4/20)
5 tips for launching a business-to-business social strategy
Before starting a business-to-business social campaign, it’s important to know the answers to five key questions, writes Luke Brynley-Jones. Figuring out how you’ll find time to run your social operations, understanding your method for determining ROI and understanding your customers’ needs are all prerequisites for a successful social-campaign launch, he adds. (read more…)
Facebook announced major changes to its service at its annual F8 conference last week. The network killed off its “fan” function and did away with its lite interface. In their place Facebook launched Open Graph — a plan to build a Facebook-centric social infrastructure that could affect the whole Internet. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg billed the changes as the beginning of “a Web where the default is social.” While reaction to the changes has been mixed so far, marketers everywhere realize that these new features mean rethinking their social strategies. Read on for a roundup of relevant stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media.
Did Facebook just take over the Web?
Facebook’s new features go way beyond simply providing a set of new widgets and a universal log-in — if all goes according to plan, they’ll effectively create far more social infrastructure for the entire Web, argues MG Siegler. (read more…)
Here at SmartBrief, we’re huge fans of the power of e-mail. But as social technologies become more powerful and more prevalent, it can be difficult to understand how e-mail fits into your marketing strategy. How can make sure you’re getting the most out of every send? How can you integrate your e-mail and social efforts so that they support each other? Read on for a roundup of relevant stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media.
Fuse your e-mail and social-media strategies
Embracing social media doesn’t have to imply scrapping your e-mail-marketing campaigns, writes Jeanne S. Jennings. Social-media users actually tend to be avid e-mail users, and people are more amenable to receiving marketing messages via e-mail from companies they’re already connected to socially, a study shows, so there’s plenty of incentive to overlap. “Smart marketers know that social and e-mail work together well,” Jennings notes. (read more…)
Mobile access to social networks is on the rise, and marketers everywhere are looking for ways to combine these two powerful technologies. Worried you’ve missed out on a key development? Read on for a roundup of relevant stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media.
For even more best practices on mobile marketing and other social-media topics, check out the upcoming Social Media Success Summit, which SmartBrief is helping to organize. The event is fully online, so there are no travel expenses, and registration is still half-off for a limited time.
6 rules for building a successful mobile app
Smartphone-powered mobile apps can be a great way to create a free promotional vehicle — but only if you know what you’re doing, writes Paul Reddick. The key to mobile success, he adds, is to plan for cross-platform support. “Marketers and product managers need to address the types of customers they want to reach rather than simply a technology platform,” he writes. (read more…)
Social-media news often focuses on consumer-facing companies, but social platforms can be a boon to a wide variety of organizations, including nonprofits. While the tactics may vary, you’ll be surprised at the similarities between the social strategies employed by businesses and nonprofits alike. After all, nonprofits are all about organizing people around a given issue — and what’s more social than that? Read on for a roundup of relevant stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media.
Why nonprofits need to find their own social direction
Social marketing is a natural fit for many nonprofits, says nonprofit blogger Beth Kanter — but they can’t just cut and paste the strategies used by commercial marketers. Nonprofits have a mission that goes beyond simply dollars and cents, so it’s important for nonprofit social-media managers to figure out what outcomes they’re expecting from their campaigns. “There are both tangible and intangible results that can be realized through an effective social-media strategy,” Kanter says. (read more…)
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