It’s been an interesting couple of days in the world of social media. While the sky is not falling just yet, the sands are definitely shifting and affecting some of the largest social media platforms out there. [Read more…]
Eight reasons Slideshare is ideal for B2B marketing
I regularly use Slideshare in my day-to-day B2B marketing work and the results are amazing! If you are trying to develop a content marketing strategy for your small business, Slideshare is an excellent vehicle for distributing your material and driving traffic to it. While Slideshare contains a wealth of presentations, it is still a very underutilized platform by B2B marketers. Here are a few of the benefits I’ve seen so far:
1. Slideshare presentations drive search results
If you’ve set your presentation up correctly when loading it to Slideshare, paying attention to the relevant keywords, etc., then you should start to see your presentation show up in related search engine results before too long. When I’ve embedded Slideshare presentations on a blog post, I’ve seen results for both my blog post and Slideshare presentation appear on the same results screen. Nothing like getting twice the bang for your buck. [Read more…]
Are you a social media turtle?
Social media is rapidly altering how businesses engage with customers and prospects
A couple of years ago, I was on vacation staring out at a lake behind my in-law’s home in South Carolina. From time to time, an alligator would come cruising by and this was just such an occasion. He was moving quickly and deliberately towards the shore line on the opposite side of the lake. I grabbed my camera anticipating that I would get a great shot of him coming ashore. As he did, I started snapping pictures, although I couldn’t quite make out what I was capturing from the distance he was at.
Later, I ran into a neighbor who happened to be inside his home and much closer to the alligator than I was. He asked me if I saw the alligator and I acknowledged that I had. Then he said, “I wouldn’t have wanted to be that turtle!”.
I hurried back to my house, flipped open my camera and examined the photos I had taken. What I captured is the photo you see here. A relaxed turtle, baking comfortably in the afternoon sun, with his back to the lake, becoming a nice lunch.
As I think about how quickly the world is changing and how rapidly social media is altering the way businesses engage with their customers and prospects, I can’t help but wonder about how many organizations might look more like the turtle than the alligator. [Read more…]
Why don’t all salespeople believe in social selling?
Why don’t all salespeople believe in social selling? Perhaps the short answer to this question is that we don’t always do what is good for us. We should go to the gym every day. We should reach for a bottle of water, not a can of soda. You get the idea.
When it comes to social selling, I think the reasons run a bit deeper. Here are a few that I have witnessed: [Read more…]
How to select social media platforms for your marketing program
Social media may represent the largest opportunity for marketing misalignment.
The proliferation of channels and the speed at which they change is somewhat overwhelming. Unlike more mature marketing tactics that are well understood, social media presents a range of new challenges for marketers and business owners to manage.
When selecting social media channels to participate in, you should:
1. Ensure that your audience actually uses a given platform.
2. Consider if the platform is a good fit for your brand.
3. Set realistic expectations for your level of participation on a platform and specific goals for what you want to achieve there. [Read more…]