Marketing Interactions

White Papers and Websites are Highly Influential to Buyers

I've just finished reading Eccolo Media's 2010 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report. Although it covers a variety of impressions from both decision makers and influencers involved in the technology purchasing process, today's post is focused on their findings about white papers and websites.

Although marketers have put a lot of emphasis on white papers in the past, they continue to carry the torch as a collateral favorite among B2B buyers and influencers. A majority of buyers are first exposed to white papers during the early stages of their buying process. White papers also have pass-along value with 33% saying they shared them with at least 2 others. In fact, only 17% of respondents said that white papers had little influence during the buying process.

You should note that influencers are often exposed to your white papers first with decision makers reading them later into the buying process. This may be indicative of the need for influencers to build the business case to get decision makers to take next steps. Are you developing white papers that serve the needs of influencers as well as those that serve decision makers? (See #2 below)

What's interesting to note is what technology buyers say they find most disappointing about white papers. A couple of them may surprise you.

Here are the top 5 disappointments:

1. Poorly Written - there's just no excuse for this one.


2. Not Technical Enough - 42% of respondents were influencers who approach purchase decisions from a technology perspective. 58% were decision makers who consider both technology and business perspectives. Hence the need to develop white papers for specifically to address both audience's needs.


3. No Real-Life Cases - Incorporating examples of your work with customers in relation to the topic of your white paper can help it do double duty by both educating your buyers and showcasing evidence that builds trust that you deliver what you promise.


4. Too Much Product/Vendor Info - Companies must remember that it's not all about them. Considering that the majority of white papers are downloaded from vendor websites, more information about you and your products is only a click away.


5. Poorly Designed - in addition to graphic design, consider that the preferred mode of consumption and sharing of white papers is done online. Using columns that require the buyer to scroll up and down each page several times to read the content is not the best choice.

Interestingly, the desired length of white papers is growing with 61% saying that between 6 and 8 pages is optimal. This may be due to the increased complexity in solving technology issues which requires more in-depth information to provide clarity.

One new trend that appears to have a bold level of influence is embedding video and audio into white papers. 80% said they found this interactive media positively influenced their buying process when embedded in written collateral. Even more telling is that 93% of them responded to that embedded media.

Now a few words about websites. Vendor websites rank 2nd in influence as a collateral channel behind the forwarding of collateral from a personal contact. This is not news. The fact that B2B websites remain ineffective needs to be addressed. In fact, I'd wager that those 5 disappointments in white papers are evidenced on many current business websites. 

Go take a look at yours. How many of those 5 disappointments can you identify on your company's website?

Using Content for Inbound Marketing: Mine or Yours?

I've been having an interesting conversation with Tony Karrer (@TonyKarrer) and Tom Pick (@TomPick) about how the way content is used and distributed is changing as B2B companies embrace the idea of becoming online publishers. The discussion is focused on several different options to meet the growing content needs for prospect engagement and includes ideas about content aggregation, curation, filtering and syndication.

Tony's recent post, Automated Filtering vs. Human-Powered Curation, explains the differences between the two, provides a wealth of resources for your review and makes an interesting case for consideration. 

Tom's post, Content Aggregation: The Future of (B2B and Consumer) Media?, discusses how enterprises, publishers and PR firms can benefit from aggregation and curation. 

I'd like to take a two-pronged look at syndication and curation from a B2B marketer's perspective to provide a bit of a different take. Web syndication as defined by Wikipedia is:

"Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites."

First, let's look at syndication of our own content:

The Pro Side of Syndication:

• Exposure and Awareness: When your blog content is picked up by other industry portals with relevant audiences for your material, your company can gain exposure you might otherwise not have. This can be a great way to attract prospects to your company and become a relied-upon resource for content they're interested in.


• Reputation by Association: Becoming a "trusted advisor" can be expedited when the sites that syndicate your content also syndicate content from the leading bloggers in your industry. By virtue of inclusion it's inferred that you're part of the "group" of influential publishers in your industry.


• Reach: An extension of exposure and awareness, but you may also find that your posts are syndicated by industry portals with markets you may not have thought to pursue, or new opportunities for market expansion.


• Increased Inbound Traffic: Sites that only pull title and description with a link to your original post can provide a nice bump in inbound traffic, as well as the other 3 good things above. Examples include Junta 42 and The B2B Marketing Zone.

The Con Side of Syndication:

• Lost Traffic: Sites that pull your entire post, even with a link back to your blog, take your traffic. I recently estimated that I receive more than 1,000 views per post on other sites that syndicate my entire posts. The exposure, reputation and reach are great, but the lost traffic is not so great. Then again, on the flip side, would I draw those readers to my blog on my own? Maybe so, maybe not.


• No Updates: With full post syndication, once your entire blog post has been syndicated, no updates to your blog post will be reflected. It's kind of a "once and done" thing. So, unless those readers are inspired to click through, they will never know if you've added to or changed your blog post. However, partial post syndication doesn't present these issues as long as your updates are farther in than the first paragraph that's pulled for description.


• Dispersed Conversations: With full-post syndication, comments often happen on the syndication site, not on your blog. This has two impacts - 1) you have to follow and respond to comments on multiple sites/locations and 2) the conversation and engagement is happening beyond your site—instead of on it.


• Lost Links: When people who read and engage with your content on other sites choose to share or ReTweet it, the links pull the syndication site, not your own blog. This drives great traffic for the syndicators, but not for you.


• Ranking in search engines: Sometimes, the syndication site will rank better in search returns than your original post due to their level of traffic.

Ultimately, you need to choose what's more important based on your marketing content goals. Assess your ability to grow the traffic and exposure you need to your own site and choose to take advantage of the type of syndication that serves you best. There are benefits to both.

Now, let's take a look at Content Curation.

Content curation is about finding and sharing content produced by others that your specific audience will find relevant and valuable. Take a look at these definitions to see a variety of viewpoints from leading marketers.

The trick to using other people's content to market to your prospects is in how you integrate that content with your own ideas to amplify them as you provide value to your audience.

The types of content curation vary, but here are two types to consider:

• External content created about (or referencing your company or products). This is similar to the news section of websites that lists media exposure. Only the of a  curation mindset is that you don't silo that information on web page in a list where there's no context, but instead use it for a specific purpose.
• External content created about issues your target audience cares about.

To get the most benefits out of content curation, marketers need to carefully set the context and weave it into the sharing of their own ideas and expertise. From a B2B marketing perspective, curated content, in my opinion, should be used to enhance your content, not as a replacement for creating your own content.

Curated content can add value for both marketers and audiences due to the constraints many companies face when confronted with how to fuel their marketing programs with enough content to meet prospect needs.

B2B marketers need to do some planning and coordination to get the most benefits possible when using curated content. A few tips include:

• Use content from sources that are complementary to your company.
• Make sure you set up the context for sharing that content based on your own ideas and expertise.
• Give credit and links to the sources of the content you use. Do not lift it in full without the author's permission.

There's a case to be made for aggregating, curating, filtering and syndicating content. The pivotal point is in planning how you do so based on your consideration of the pros and cons as well as how your choices impact the goals you have for your marketing programs.

The New B2B Marketing Manifesto

Velocity puts out some innovative B2B marketing content known for inspiring advanced thinking and innovative takes on the roles and responsibilities of marketers—and this manifesto is no exception. They call it a bit of a rant and a challenge intended to raise the ambitions of marketers to tackle this new world many of us find ourselves in deep water to address. 

“B2B marketing is a profession of ideas.”

I love that statement. Doesn't it change the way you think about marketing? Open up infinite possibilities?

To capitalize on that definition, B2B marketers need to embrace and perfect the new (if a bit SCARY) roles to shift the entire dynamic of what we do. In essence, we need to take a stand about:

• Bringing back ideas from what we hear in the marketplace that will make money.
• Owning the revenue pipeline. (You fill it, sales works it.)
• Mastering the information that differentiates our offerings to raise us above the noise.

The ultimate goal we'll be able to achieve when we take charge of these roles is to win the battle for our prospects' attention. You see, you may think that you only need to worry about your direct competition—but they're only a tiny portion of what's competing for that attention.Yet, without your prospects' attention, it's game over. Yes, it's really just that simple.

Everyone and anyone who can publish content online can become a competitor for your prospects' attention—professionally or personally. It really doesn't matter because there are only so many hours in a day. Attention Deficit Disorder has become the norm. There's a "shiny new toy" in every Twitter stream, LinkedIn update, RSS feed and email dump. Instead of 5 - 7 seconds to capture attention, you've now got only micro-seconds. 

In order to win the Battle for Attention, you need to honor the 5 B2B Imperatives; world view, beliefs, chops, ideas, and silo annihilation. The manifesto does a great job of setting these up so you'll just have to go download it to find out more.

But once you've used those imperatives to set your foundation, you're now ready to harness the tools that will make you the marketing rock star you've always pictured yourself becoming.

The tools include:

• Content Marketing – the fuel that powers the marketing engine.
• Analytics – measure everything that moves as well as stuff that doesn’t.
• A/B Testing – check your assumptions at the door.
• Lead Nurturing – the mystical golden link between marketing and sales.
• Search – the foundation for unfair advantage.
• Community – the new B2B staple for building relationships.

The upshot of this wonderfully engaging rant and challenge to push your marketing ambition to new levels of greatness is summed up nicely with this:

“[I]t’s time to drop the childish illusion that anyone cares about you and start telling people what’s in it for them.”

Nope. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore...

Go get your copy and see if you're up for the challenge.

Juan Eloqua's Grande Guide to Sales Enablement

Changes to the way buyers are buying has put knowledge and data—and our ability to apply them to content creation in a way that resonates with buyers—at the forefront of successful B2B marketing programs. These changes to buying behavior have also made it a marketing imperative that content support and facilitate the salesperson's later entry into the buying process as well as help them increase momentum toward purchase decisions.

Last month you were introduced to Juan Eloqua with the first Grande Guide in the series on Lead Scoring. As the grower of coffee and revenues, Juan makes it clear in his latest video, Dinner with the Eloquas, that success is not related to luck—as his son, Diego reports learning from his teacher. With Sirius Decisions reporting that sales cycles have lengthened by 22% over the last five years, he has a point. Luck must be replaced with intelligence.

Effective sales enablement is dependent upon co-ownership of the funnel by both marketing and sales. Although not as simple as it sounds, creating a consistent process that sustains momentum throughout the buying journey is made easier with the visibility marketing automation provides.

Measuring marketing success falls short if it stops at counting the number of qualified leads salespeople accept as worthy for pursuit. Success that translates to revenues depends upon smooth transitions designed to eliminate stalls and step backs experienced during later buying stages by arming salespeople with the knowledge they need to have more effective meetings that move deals to close faster.

Download Juan Eloqua's Grande Guide to Sales Enablement (you won't want to miss my sidebar!)

Now let's tackle one of the points the guide makes about what's next for sales enablement: Getting Predictable

"Sales reps are always looking for a way to shorten the sales cycle. Soon they'll want you to predict the next best course of action with hot leads based on your analysis of how similar buyers responded to your content and website while still in research mode."

One of the goals of both sales and marketing is the ability to recreate successes on a consistent basis to create sustainable growth. When this becomes a singular goal across the entire buying process, results can be exponential.

With the insights gleaned from marketing automation in relation to prospect response to campaigns over time, patterns can be discerned that enable marketers to see the impact content assets have on driving momentum by reviewing the activity history of buyers who buy. Not only can we refine our nurturing programs in real time, but marketers can get closer to discerning which information is critical to creating pipeline progression with prospects in similar situations. Through arming salespeople with better insights, the value they add to meetings will keep them in conversations that produce more wins. Being able to prove marketing's contribution to driving downstream revenues is the ultimate in accountability.

What do you say? Isn't it time for marketing to apply focus to helping sales succeed as an extension to the creation of qualified leads?

Go Download the Grande Guide to Sales Enablement today.

When Thought Leadership Isn't

Many B2B marketers cite a goal of their content marketing programs as establishing their company as thought leaders in their marketplace. This is an admirable goal, as prospects are looking for experts, not just products or solutions. However, becoming a thought leader takes a bit more effort than you may think.

Definition of Thought Leadership by Wikipedia:

A thought leader is a futurist or person who is recognized for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights.

Let's take a look at some of the components of thought leadership.

• Futurist - This means that you can't just pontificate about the current state of affairs, but must demonstrate that you have a vision for what's coming down the pike. In addition, you must show them how it will affect their business/success, as well as what they can do to prepare to get ahead of it without disrupting the strategic goals of their business.


• Innovative Ideas - Innovative = New. There's much content running around online that is just a rehash of all the other stuff out there. Mimicking has become a major past time. This is not to say that all the ideas must be new, but your spin on them should be. For your content to be considered thought leadership, it has to, well, stir up some thinking. Innovative content needs to get people to think about things differently.


• Actionable - (Although I dislike this word, the meaning is significant.) Any content worthy of the thought leadership designation must motivate people to DO something. Whether that's discussing your ideas with a colleague, or spurring them on to do more research about the ideas or try to apply them to the improvement of their current business processes, something must happen.


• Distilled Insights - The way something happens is when you show people what to do with the ideas you share. Help them out and give them next steps. Be specific. The thing that kills the intention to create thought leadership content is generalities. Distilled insights mean being specific. You must narrow the focus to a specific audience in order to make these insights relevant and enticing enough because they're understood and applicable to your audience's specific situations.

Content that isn't thought leadership lacks:

• Educational Value - often we assume the audience knows more than they do. We must put ourselves into their shoes and provide the level of education that connects with them at the right time, with the right information.


• Our Expertise - if your thought leadership content is relying on the expertise of others, without including our own perspectives, we're only reporting - not leading the thinking on a subject.


• Supporting Evidence - Thought leadership content cannot just be full of assertions that lack both foundation and proof that what you say is indeed possible, true, relevant, valuable, strategic, and achievable.


• Ease of Access - What I mean by this is that you've limited the effort it takes for your audience to understand the ideas. This usually gets mucked up with jargon and technical terms and thinly veiled sales pitches. It can also be derailed by an overly stiff academic style that has your audience perceive your content as too difficult or time intensive to bother with.


• Takeaways and Calls to Action - Quite often, the failure to develop thought leadership content for a tightly focused audience means it's too general to provide ideas your prospects can "take away" for discussion, consideration or application. Additionally, thought leadership content that takes the lofty view that the audience will know what to do next is missing the mark. Tell them.

Thought leadership content takes time and planning. It should be based on something your company is absolutely passionate about.

Here's why:Thought leadership is not created with one, two or three pieces of content. It's created with the consistent application of ideas and concepts that helps to define a strategic direction your prospects should pursue to get what they want over the long haul. Achieving this perception is not a flash-in-the-pan endeavor.

Are you creating thought leadership content or just writing interesting articles? There's nothing wrong with either approach, I'm just saying that you need to know the distinction.

Ditch the Weight & Drag Holding Your Business Back

As a B2B marketing strategist, I talk a lot about how to use marketing content to encourage prospects to move from status quo situations to realizing the issue they're facing is a priority that must be addressed. One of the reasons it's difficult to build momentum for buying is that people must be willing to embrace change. Well, status quo is not just a concept related to buyers, it's the equivalent of gravity—the weight and drag that keeps people and businesses from achieving their true potential.

It's with great pleasure that I recommend you read my friend and colleague, Rebel Brown's, new book, Defy Gravity: Propel Your Business to High-Velocity Growth.

Rebel says that, "Defy Gravity is about thinking differently, challenging our status quo and re-evaluating our business, our value and our markets.  The book includes everything a reader needs to learn the and apply the Principles of Business Flight that power high-velocity growth - from concepts and logic to tactical execution.

"The book offers a systematic approach to finding and ditching our Gravity – the status quo beliefs about our business, our value, our markets and ourselves – that limit our growth. Defy Gravity is every person’s guide to challenging their status quo. Once we challenge our beliefs and knowns – the sky is the limit."

I've worked on a number of projects with Rebel over the years, and she's never once failed to pinpoint the reason a company wasn't achieving its goals, or see a "flight plan" for getting them what they needed to put velocity back into their business. She has a knack for uncovering the true value a company provides and then positioning the company to advantage of all the opportunities their value affords.

Rebel points to some corporate legends as sources of gravity that we must continuously challenge and examine to become what she calls a "zero gravity" company. Some examples include:

• It’s our biggest seller. Without it, we’d lose our market position.
• They’re our biggest customer. We need them to grow.
• The competition has it, so we must get it too.
• He/She's a great guy/gal. We have to keep him/her.
• If we build it they’ll buy it. Our product is just too cool.
• We have to discount to beat that competitor.

Defy Gravity is not just a strategy book, it's a guide with examples, case studies, questions to ask and exercises to help you put her Principles of Business Flight into action. And yes, what she teaches will work—regardless of the state of the economy. In fact, you may just be surprised where the winds of change take you.

Go buy the book! If you buy the book today, Rebel is giving away an 80-page workbook for Defy Gravity to provide you with even more exercises, examples and templates.

Embrace Articles for B2B Content Marketing

Many companies that I speak with think that the content they use in marketing campaigns needs to be big, heavy-duty pieces like white papers, eBooks and webinars. When they're assessing how they can implement content marketing programs, they get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content they must produce to fuel the engine. That's before they ever start thinking about what information the content should share or how to build a storyline their prospects will find relevant.

The problems with only focusing on long-form content include:

• It takes a lot of time to develop.
• Production costs - graphic design, layout - are expensive and add to the time line.
• You may not have writing resources in house and will have to outsource.
• Buyers are too busy to read an 8-12 page white paper.
• Once the download is over, your visibility is limited.

This all culminates in costly production, time delays that keep you out of touch with prospects and limited ability to measure beyond clicks.

Instead, consider the short-form article. I'm talking about an 800 - 1,000 word piece of content focused on one idea.

Here's one structure for an article:

• Focus it around one idea
• State your premise and hook up front.
• Include 3 points to support your premise.
• Add in a bit of evidence to increase credibility.
• Write a conclusion that restates your premise and ties it all together.

These can be created in a couple of hours, including research.

They can be easily posted to a web page (public or not), eliminating production design costs and shortening time between prospect touch points. You likely have in-house resources that can develop them. Or, create a slate of topics for development and outsource the whole thing as one project. That way you have them on hand for roll-out as needed.

Why content articles make sense for marketing programs:

• Less expensive.


• Focus prospects on one thing at a time.


• Short-form encourages you to tighten your focus and eliminate jargon and fluff to make room for only those ideas prospects will value.


• Providing just 3 points increases the likelihood of recall.


• A five minute read is much more likely today than a prospect dedicating 20 minutes of their valuable time to read a white paper or an hour to attend a webinar.


• With the right calls to action and follow-up, you can move prospects to next-steps more easily because it requires less effort from them. You can also link articles together, creating a pathway for your story to build engagement.


• More touches mean more opportunity for interactions with prospects, rather than them only hearing from you when you release a new white paper or host a webinar.


• Your measurement opportunities increase dramatically when the content is housed on a web page - including time spent reading, unique vs. repeat visitors, referral value when the link is shared and lead scoring models in response to individual prospect behavior.


• With faster feedback (access to in-depth metrics) on the impact of articles with your prospects, you find out if you're off-track faster, allowing you to regroup and try a different approach. On the flip side, you can see if something really hits and create more just like it to build momentum.


• You can also float those ideas you have for long-form content and see if they fly. Then, at least you'll have a better idea if you're spending money and resources on content that your prospects are truly interested in.


• If you have several prospect segments to address, it's much easier to create several versions of an article and shift the perspective accordingly than it is to do so with a lengthy white paper.

All of this said, content articles will only work if they're focused on what prospects' need to know. These are not mini showcases about your company or your products. These are short-form thought leadership articles that provide information your prospects will find valuable and relevant to the issues they are facing.

I say you give articles a try. I've helped my clients gain a lot of traction with this method.

And, here's a little bonus: If you plan your content articles appropriately, you can combine them to create that big, meaty piece that puts all of the ideas in one place in the form of a white paper, eBook or even as the material for a webinar down the road. Always think about the potential for re-purposing whatever content you create.

I'm not advocating that articles replace long-form formats, just that they can become a useful component of your marketing mix.

How to Get More Social on Twitter

For some B2B marketers, Twitter isn't intuitive. I could come up with a list of reasons why not, but you can probably do that on your own. The thing is that many B2B companies want to establish a social media presence. They want to get their companies on the social media map so they don't miss an opportunity. The kicker is that it's not always as easy as it looks.

Earlier this week, I wrote about 5 Things to Consider BEFORE Using Social Media. Today, I'd like to offer some tips for what to do once you get started - if you choose to engage on Twitter.

Through some very unscientific experience, I've discovered a few things:

• Using Twitter handles in Tweets gets more Re-Tweets.
  We are, after all, people. People like seeing their handle in a Tweet. It will go into their mentions where they will see it. They'll include you in their Thanks Tweet or RT your Tweet with a "Thanks" - giving your Tweet more exposure. Others also identify with Twitter handles they recognize and are more likely to click the link you share or Re-Tweet.


• Always attribute.
  I can't tell you how many Tweets I see with the title of a post and a link. That's it. And, you know what? That's lazy. If you want people to notice and respond to your Tweets, include the name of the blog, person, company or other identifying characteristic so those you Tweet about know you have and so that others are more likely to recognize why they should click.


• Be Creative.
  Don't always use the title of a blog post or article when you Tweet. Find something interesting to say, ask a question or something else that will entice people to engage.


• Add a little something personal.
  When you Tweet or RT, add a phrase or word that puts your spin on the Tweet. Yes, some people use all their characters requiring us to restructure their Tweets to fit in our comment, but it can be done with a bit of thought. Just keep the main idea, the link and the attribution handles. If you want to become known as a relied-upon resource, add your $0.02 to show people why they should follow you for access to great content they find useful.


• Ask for Help.
  Putting a "Pls RT" at the end of your Tweets can help encourage people to do so. I wouldn't suggest doing this all the time, but sometimes we have something really great we want to share. Asking will encourage even lurkers to take action and help you spread the word.


• Be humble when you Tweet about YOUR stuff.
  Do not be a sleazy, self-promotional putz. You know what I mean. The kind that posts about a "GREAT MUST READ" article, but after the click your audience sees it's your own stuff. Just put it out there to share with the best hook you've got and set it free. If it strikes a chord, people will RT your Tweet. And it's okay to RT with thanks once or twice, but don't do it every time. Do make sure to acknowledge people with a "Thanks for the RTs" Tweet or by direct message.


• Use Hashtags.
  I forget about this one often myself, but many people have columns set up to follow hashtags (e.g. #marketing, #B2B, etc.) so you can gain a lot of additional exposure to those who may not be followers by using them. Do a bit of research and find out what tags the audience you want to attract is following. Then, make sure your Tweets are really relevant to that tag.


• RT someone you don't know well.
  Look for new people who are Tweeting great stuff that aren't on everyone's radar. Help them get exposure and they'll repay the favor. Plus, it feels good to share a new find! And, the person you RT will feel good, too. I've met a lot of new people with great ideas by reaching out.

I think one of the things that gets confusing about Twitter is that the stream moves so fast. It can feel overwhelming and become a time suck if you let it. I was speaking with Trish Bertuzzi (@bridgegroupinc) one day and we joked that we should only Tweet while eating in order to limit our time! Of course that didn't work, but it sounded good at the time.

Instead of just grabbing things to post and moving on, take the time to put some thought into what you post - even if you post less. Remember that when we Tweet for business we've got goals to accomplish. What you choose to Tweet and how you choose to do so should be built around those goals.

Take the time to search for a Twitter handle, to create a great message and to construct it so that you leave 20 characters available for someone to easily RT. It'll pay off.

But we all need to remember that it's not just about the links. Sometimes it's about sharing a thought or idea or answering someone's question, responding to their ideas. Keep an eye out for those opportunities. They can lead to some amazing exchanges.

What would you add to my list above? Anything you disagree with?

Oh - and please follow me on Twitter @ardath421, if you're so inclined.

5 Things to Consider BEFORE Using Social Media

Many companies I work with today are enthusiastic about diving into social media. It's shiny object syndrome at its finest. The problem I find most prevalent is that companies have no realistic idea about what it takes to launch and support a social media program.

It takes a lot more than creating an account and setting up a profile with the best of intentions to participate.

Here are 5 things to consider before you choose to add social media to your marketing mix:

1. Prospect Preferences. Do you know where your prospects hang out online? Do they engage in social media? If so, is their involvement based on personal or professional reasons. (e.g. many people use Facebook for family and friends, keeping it separate from business) 


2. Content. How much of it do you have? Do you have plans to continuously develop a flow of content with the variety of contexts you need to meet expectations in different social media venues? Is your company stance to gate content or make it freely available? Is all this content focused on your prospects' perspectives? Is it helpful? Do your prospects engage well with the content you already share with them? In other words, will they be receptive to more of it? If not, fix that first.


3. Resources. How many people do you have that can spend time working on social media efforts? What? Just you? How much free time do you have in your current schedule? Social media is not free. Take a look at #2 above and then consider how much time it actually takes to keep up with conversational threads, developing and sharing your content—-as well as that of others—contributing to conversations, answering questions, etc.
   
   Are you a writer? If not, make sure you line up writing resources to contribute content you can use. If you think you can force people (engineers, product managers, customer service agents, executives, etc. to write blog posts, think again. It's harder to get busy people to make time to write than you'd ever imagine.) Solely interacting in social media by curating other people's content (not your own) may make you a relied-upon resource, but it won't make you a thought leader that people seek out for ideas.


4. Long-term Commitment. Social media is not something you start and expect to see amazing results with in 3 months or less. It's definitely the turtle that beats the hare in this race. It can take 6 months to a year to develop the following, engagement and participation that leads to directly attributed sales gains.
   
   And, if you start, what impression will you make if you stop and your accounts become inactive? Social media requires commitment. You must be prepared to measure short-term wins and long-term goals accordingly. And those goals must be reasonable and achievable or you'll be setting yourself up for failure. Getting pushy and trying to make it happen faster can (will) backfire.


5. Connection Points. How can you integrate your social media efforts with your existing marketing programs? Set up a plan to develop cross-over and help your prospects find the content they're searching for regardless of where they look. Make sure you've got calls to action designed to help them migrate from one platform to another to follow your ideas and engage with your content—and your company.
   
   How will you share what's going on in social media internally across your company so that when the subject comes up, your customer service agents, salespeople, installers, etc. know how to respond? For B2B companies, social media is not a singular effort but a plural one. If people are out of the loop and get blindsided, it can be problematic—both for your company's reputation and your own dealings with other departments within the company.

Social media can be a boon for marketers and companies. But it does require planning and commitment that's often out of reach for many marketing departments already spread thin.

The best advice I can share is to do your research and stockpile some content (or create an editorial calendar) before you begin. Incorporate it with your existing marketing programs from the start to give it legs. Choose one tool that matches your prospects' preferences and apply yourself to becoming the best at it. Measure as you go. Then add more platforms/tools as you and plan to be prepared before continuing to expand your efforts. 

Consider starting with a blog. A blog is the surest way to generate the content you need to fuel sharing on other social media platforms. Plus, with the proper planning, you can incorporate blog posts into newsletters and nurturing sends right away. This said, go back and really take a hard look at the list above before you commit.

Give Marketing Content a Job Description

Content and more content. You can read tons of blog posts, analyst recommendations, industry articles and more, all pointing out the need for content. Today's marketing is fueled by massive amounts of content - whether online or off. But, without a plan your content will likely suck wind.

Content has a job to do. This means it needs a job description.

Imagine hiring a new employee, showing them to their desk and saying "have at it." How successful do you think that employee will be without a clear understanding of roles and responsiblities required to achieve the goals you've set for them?

If I had to develop a job description for marketing content, it might look something like this.

Position: Marketing Content

Role: To consistently engage targeted prospects during each stage of their buying process.

Responsibilities: To create pipeline progression by encouraging prospects to take next steps toward purchase, build credibility and inspire trust in the company's expertise.

Required Skill Set: Marketing Content must have the ability to...

• Adjust to meet the relevance requirements of the prospect.
• Address a facet of a problem the prospect is trying to solve.
• Answer a question the prospect is asking.
• Hook the reader in less than 7 seconds.
• Be scannable as well as easily read and understood.
• Deliver useful information the prospect values.
• Be the rockstar during nurturing programs.
• Compel prospects to do what you ask of them.
• Hold attention for the duration of the read.
• Provide visual ideas that help prospects share them with others on the buying committee.
• Morph into the appropriate format for the communication.
• Be findable whenever prospects search for you.
• Invite website visitors inside the front door.
• Gain attention in crowded social settings.
• Refer prospects to your "marketing content" colleagues.
• Show prospects how we deliver more than the other guys. (adapted from Larry's suggestion below)

How much of your content is living up to its job description?

What would you add?

Just a little something to think about as you go off to "Labor" this weekend.