5 Case Studies on How to Optimize B2B Influencer Engagement on LinkedIn

With over 700 million community members in 200+ countries and territories, LinkedIn is without question the place for businesses to do business. With 91% of marketing executives using LinkedIn as a content source (SocialPilot) it's easy to understand why 94% of B2B marketers using LinkedIn to distribute content (CMI). In fact, there's been a 50% year over year increase in content shared on the LinkedIn platform (LinkedIn). With many social network options, LinkedIn has proven to be an effective choice for B2B marketers. A study from HubSpot showed that traffic from LinkedIn generates the highest visitor to lead conversion rate, 277% higher than Facebook and Twitter. While there are robust opportunities to connect with potential customers on LinkedIn, the platform is busier than ever, making it hard to stand out. There are also challenges in terms of reduced organic visibility and the trend towards distrust of sales outreach and what brands publish directly. With so much information, many buyers are suffering what I call Content Attention Deficit. One of the most promising growth areas within the B2B marketing mix is working with influencers. In our research we found that 77% of marketers say their prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts. and 96% of marketers that engage influencers consider their program to be successful. Trusted experts that have the attention of customers can help B2B brands attract and engage potential customers in more meaningful ways. But what are the best ways to engage with B2B influencers on LinkedIn? How are B2B brands successfully working with influencers to achieve marketing goals using the LinkedIn platform? To help B2B marketers think about how they can better engage with influencers on LinkedIn, here are several examples of how TopRank Marketing and a few clients are doing just that:

1. Give the Gift of Recognition to Influencers

For small B2B brands and those of any size that do not have relationships with influencers, a good starting point to warm up the influencer community is to recognize them. When you come to a party bearing gifts, it makes an impression and with influencers, it's no different except instead of a bottle of spirits, you're giving the gift of recognition. For our 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, we followed our own best practices and identified 20 top B2B influencer marketing professionals working for B2B brands and published a list in the report and as a blog post. Sharing that list on LinkedIn while tagging each person along with a small infographic featuring the group provided relevant and credible recognition. The result was tens of thousands of views on LinkedIn, hundreds of reactions and over 50 comments. More importantly, the post helped generate goodwill among those mentioned, inspiring new connections, conversations and engagement opportunities.

2. Grow Credible Awareness of a Brand Solution

Mitel wanted to create awareness, credibility and consideration of their Remote Working Solutions and what better way to do that than by engaging remote work experts in conversations around topics that highlight the issues and solutions so many companies are considering in today's new normal. A variety of remote work influencers and content formats were used to accomplish program awareness including a livestream video broadcast on LinkedIn. To showcase the topic of remote work with credibility, several paid influencers were engaged to share their expertise along with a Mitel executive on a LinkedIn Live. With an audience of professionals, Linkedin was the perfect place to highlight remote work conversation and in a format that is increasingly important for B2B engagement  - live video. While there were multiple influencers and content formats involved with this program, the LivesStream on LinkedIn had the highest engagement of all, helping Mitel achieve meaningful their awareness, credibility and consideration goals.

3. Increase Brand Engagement with Authentic Stories

While LinkedIn is the most relevant platform for reaching business decision makers, reaching and connecting with both marketers and sales professionals has become increasingly difficult due to  information overload. LinkedIn also faced this challenge, even on their own platform.  In order to reach business decision makers in a meaningful way, LinkedIn Marketing and Sales Solutions set out to create a social influencer content campaign characterized by:

• Increasing engagement and help humanize LinkedIn as a brand by partnering with well respected industry experts to share real-life struggles, stories and obstacles with a focused audience. 
• Driving new audiences to targeted Showcase Pages via the influencer’s audiences (that were not already following or engaging with the LinkedIn brand).
• Continuing to nurture and grow relationships with sales and marketing influencers as part of an ongoing influencer program.
• Engaging the audience in-channel on the LinkedIn platform (versus sending to alternate content elsewhere).

Since much of B2B marketing is more mechanical than meaningful, LinkedIn decided to forego marketing and sales tips content and emphasize stories from respected influencers about experiences they've had in their careers. Influencers were asked to share:

• A defining moment in your career and how it shaped you as a marketer or sales professional.
• One thing NOT on your LinkedIn profile that people should about you?
• One rising star in your field that you’d like to recognize? What makes them amazing? 

By making the shift to a combination of professional and personal content, we were able to better engage the audience around their own professional opportunities and provide them a platform to engage directly with people that they respect.  With the goal to drive authentic engagement, on platform, between LinkedIn and their customers, the reach from influencers' brand mentions exceeded 54 million and there was a 1,000% increase in post engagements over the previous 12 months. This tactic was also part of an ongoing influencer marketing program that won the ANA B2 Marketing Award.  While it would be expected that LinkedIn working with a top B2B influencer marketing agency like TopRank Marketing and a premium group of influencers would achieve results like these, the overall story about the opportunity with B2B influencer marketing is a bit different. The State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report found that while 12X more marketers who run ongoing influencer engagement efforts are very successful compared to those who run periodic campaigns, only 19% of B2B marketers are running ongoing influencer programs.

4. Improve Reach of a Brand Webinar

Prophix software was looking for more more interesting ways to get the attention of LinkedIn followers of the brand to help promote an upcoming brand webinar about the 2020 CFO Benchmark Report. Since the amount of content being published on LinkedIn has risen 50% year over year, the competition for organic attention has too. Fortunately, LinkedIn offers an opportunity for members or brands to upload vertical PDF files to create a carousel of messages that can tell a story or communicate a series of connected messages very different than what the normal feed can. For the webinar in question, a key financial industry influencer, Jack McCullough of the CFO Leadership Council was engaged to collaborate on the report highlighted in the webinar and was also featured in the carousel promotion. The same 3rd party credibility effect that helped the report and webinar also provided validation to the LinkedIn post which had over 1,500 organic impressions and referred nearly 200 visitors to the registration page.

5. Connect Brand Executive with Influencers

Research has show that B2B buyers favorably view brands with senior executives that engage on social media. In an effort to connect with customers while also creating relationships with respected industry influencers, the CEO of HRS engages in content creation and sharing on social networks like LinkedIn. In this example, Tobias Ragge posted an article on his LinkedIn profile page featuring a group of travel and tech industry influencers to provide them with recognition in the context of topics important to the HRS brand and customers. By featuring relevant industry influencers in content from the CEO of the company, HRS was able to inspire meaningful engagement and goodwill with these respected voices as well as to build influence for the CEO as well. Before you get started with B2B influencer engagement on LinkedIn, it's essential that you have a documented influencer marketing strategy. For the most successful B2B influencer marketers, our research found that having a documented strategy (68%) is one of the key differentiators over less successful marketers (25%) so it's a very important step. Here are some basic questions to get you thinking about developing your own B2B influencer marketing plan:

• Topic - What topic do you want to be influential about?
• Influencers - Identify, and qualify relevant influencers
• Collect - Activate influencers for a project or program
• Co-Create - Collaborate on content: text, audio, video, interactive, live
• Publish - Will content live on LinkedIn, off or both?
• Promote - Promote via brand LinkedIn page, influencers, ads
• Optimize - Monitor tracking URLs, LinkedIn engagement, adjust

Of course if you are looking for assistance in understanding what role influencer marketing can play in your B2B marketing mix, be sure to reach out.

The post 5 Case Studies on How to Optimize B2B Influencer Engagement on LinkedIn appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/5-case-studies-on-how-to-optimize-b2b.html

B2B Marketing News: B2B CMOs Plan 2021 Spending Rise, Influencer Marketing’s Pandemic Strength, & YouTube’s Top-Performing Ads

The Majority of B2B CMOs Expect to Increase Their Spending on A Variety of Digital Channels Next Year Nearly 69 percent of B2B marketing CMOs will increase digital advertising spending in 2021, including email and mobile marketing, paid search, website ads, organic SEO, and social media marketing, according to recently-released survey data from Gartner of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts US B2B Digital Advertising Thrives amid the Coronavirus as Traditional B2B Spend Plummets B2B firms will spend over $8 billion on digital advertising in 2020, a 22.6 percent increase from 2019's total, according to newly-released forecast data, also showing that 43 percent of U.S. B2B marketers said they plan to reallocate live event spending to content creation. eMarketer Engagement with sponsored influencer posts doubled during lockdowns Between March and July 2020 sponsored influencer posts saw a five-fold increase in interactions, reaching 57 million in July, according to recently-released report data from Shareablee. Business of Apps Enterprise CMO Survey: COVID-19's Impact on Budgets and Tactics 61 percent of enterprise CMOs said they created special customer communication during the pandemic, topping the list of actions taken by large global firms, with 47 percent noting that they deployed customer sentiment tools, while 42 percent developed scenarios for planning purposes, according to recently-released survey data. MarketingProfs Facebook launches a Shop tab in its app, just like Instagram Facebook has rolled out a global test of its shopping feature — Facebook Shop — occupying its own new tab in the platform's app, in a move aligning in-app purchasing features with those already present in its Instagram offering, the social media giant recently announced. The Verge In-App Bidding Gathers Steam, But Adoption Looks Nothing Like Header Bidding On The Web More digital advertisers who utilize mobile app ad buys are embracing real-time bidding programmatic-like auctions, according to MoPub, in a shift that could affect how marketers allocate spending. Ad Exchanger Email Falls Behind WhatsApp As Customer Request Channel: Study Small to medium size global businesses have seen rising use of digital communication channels during the pandemic, with use of WhatsApp rising some 76 percent, SMS text by 56 percent, and traditional email 10 percent, according to recently-released survey data of interest to online marketers. MediaPost Which YouTube TrueView for Action Direct-Response Ads Are Tops So Far in 2020? Google's YouTube platform has released an algorithmic list of its top-performing ads that utilize the video giant's TrueView for Action automated bidding system, YouTube recently announced. Adweek U.S. Advertising Falls 14% In July, Most Moderate Rate Of Erosion Since March The largest advertisers and digital media helped overall U.S. advertising spending tally its best month during July since the effects of the pandemic began, as April's decrease of 35 percent in ad spending had fallen to 14 percent in July — two of several items of interest to digital marketing in newly-released report data. MediaPost Mobile ad spend jumps 71% amid pandemic recovery Spending on mobile advertising soared some 71 percent globally during the second quarter compared to 2019, with rates in the U.S. even higher at 77 percent, and a global increase of 8 percent over first-quarter mobile ad spending, according to recently-released study data. Mobile Marketer ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “business as usual” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Wendy’s Spices Up Other Brands’ Twitter Profile Pictures — AdWeek TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) / TopRank Marketing — 2020 Finalists and Winners - Content Marketing Awards — Content Marketing Awards
• SAP — 3 Actionable Insights with… SAP global CMO Alicia Tillman — The Drum
• Anne Leuman — What’s Trending: Make B2B Content More Memorable — LinkedIn (client)
• TopRank Marketing — B2B Marketers Lend Their Support to Influencer Programs — New Horizons

Have you come across your own top marketing stories from the past week of news? Please let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading our weekly B2B marketing industry news, and we hope that you'll return next Friday and tune in for another array of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: B2B CMOs Plan 2021 Spending Rise, Influencer Marketing’s Pandemic Strength, & YouTube’s Top-Performing Ads appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/b2b-marketing-news-b2b-cmos-plan-2021.html

10 Wise Quotes To Inspire Your Influencer Marketing

What will successful B2B influencer marketing look like in a post-pandemic world, and what can marketers do today to be ready? Here are 10 quotes from some of the best in the B2B influencer marketing business to inspire your marketing today and to prepare for the eventual post-pandemic landscape.

1 — Rani Mani of Adobe

For Rani Mani, head of social influencer enablement at Adobe*, reaching out to uncover the heartfelt motivations, challenges, and aspirations of B2B influencers can be a great way to start building a long-lasting  marketing relationship. She shares additional insight in our recently-released 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report. [bctt tweet="“I often start my discovery conversations with influencers by finding out what really makes their heart sing — what does success look like to them?” — Rani Mani @ranimani0707" username="toprank"]

2 — Ann Handley of MarketingProfs

Ann Handley, speaker and chief content officer at MarketingProfs see empathy as key to all successful marketing efforts, whether they are of the B2B influencer marketing variety or more traditional approaches. “Start with empathy. Continue with utility. Improve with analysis. Optimize with love,” Ann has wisely suggested — advice that will well-serve marketers looking to embrace gratitude. [bctt tweet="“Start with empathy. Continue with utility. Improve with analysis. Optimize with love.” — Ann Handley @MarketingProfs" username="toprank"]

3 — Amisha Gandhi of SAP Ariba

Amisha Gandhi, vice president of influencer marketing and communications at SAP Ariba* has observed that co-creating content with influencers offers an array of advantages. [bctt tweet="“Working with influencers, to co-create content, delivers value and can inspire audiences to take action.” — Amisha Gandhi @AmishaGandhi" username="toprank"]

4 — Tom Treanor of Arm Treasure Data

For Tom Treanor, global head of marketing at Arm Treasure Data*, B2B influencers make good sense in an array of content areas businesses may already be involved with, as he outlined recently in "How B2B Influencer Marketing Offers Brands an Ideal Alternative to In-Person Events." [bctt tweet="“Consider how you work with influencers in areas such as podcasts, webinars, live-streams, ebooks, blogs and social content. Are there ways that your marketing can be improved with the help of industry influencers?” @RtMixMktg" username="toprank"]

5 — Ty Heath of LinkedIn

Ty Heath, global lead of The B2B Institute at LinkedIn*, sees the power of B2B influencer marketing in building ongoing relationships, especially helpful for breaking through the noise in light of rising content attention deficit. [bctt tweet="“People can break through the noise. People trust people. Influence is about relationships.” — Ty Heath @tyrona" username="toprank"]

6 — Lee Odden of TopRank Marketing

Our own CEO and co-founder Lee Odden has been instrumental in the development and growth of the practice of B2B influencer marketing, and has long seen its multiple advantages for not just brands and influencers, but also B2B buyers. [bctt tweet="“When planned and implemented effectively, B2B influencer marketing programs build trust and confidence for buyers, influencers and the brand.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

7 — Tamara McCleary of Thulium

Tamara McCleary, CEO at Thulium, sees the power of long-term, ongoing marketing efforts — especially when these types of always-on programs are applied to B2B influencer marketing. [bctt tweet="“A long-term influencer program will allow your brand to create true brand advocates, powerful brand evangelists, and raving fans.” — Tamara McCleary @TamaraMcCleary" username="toprank"]

8 — Ashley Zeckman of TopRank Marketing

Our own senior director of digital strategy Ashley Zeckman sees B2B influencer marketing as a great way to collaborate around ideas, and a more effective alternative than traditional one-way "buy this" approaches. [bctt tweet="Rather than unapologetically telling us to buy a product, #B2B influencers are collaborating around an idea. - @azeckman #InfluencerMarketing" username="toprank"]

9 — Konstanze Alex of Cisco Systems

For Konstanze Alex, head of global digital storytelling at Cisco Systems, trust and relationship-building are key when it comes to working with B2B influencers. [bctt tweet="“Regardless of which team at a brand engages with influencers, relationship and trust building should be a top priority” — Konstanze Alex @Konstanze" username="toprank"]

10 —Joshua Nite of TopRank Marketing

Our own content marketing manager Joshua Nite recently shared his insight on how B2B marketers can best work with influencers during the global health crisis, and in "How to Nurture B2B Influencer Relationships During the Pandemic" he offered a smart take on the similarities between influencers and friendships. [bctt tweet="“Influence relationships operate by much the same rules as any friendship: Get to know the person, don’t talk about yourself too much, give something before you ask for anything, and be sensitive to their emotions and needs.” @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

Walk Your B2B Influencer Marketing Walk

via GIPHY Using the wise advice we've highlighted here from Rani, Ann, Amisha, Tom, Ty, Lee, Tamara, Konstanze, Ashley, and Joshua, you can walk your B2B influencer marketing walk with efforts that will take you on down the line to new heights in 2021 and beyond. Whether you work with a top B2B influencer marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing or utilize your own team, now is an ideal time to reach B2B influencers and work together to drive digital brand conversations. * Adobe, SAP Ariba, Arm Treasure Data, and LinkedIn are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post 10 Wise Quotes To Inspire Your Influencer Marketing appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/10-wise-quotes-to-inspire-your.html

5 Refreshing Examples of Imaginative B2B Marketing To Inspire You in 2021

What will it take in 2021 for B2B marketers to break through the mundane and reach the sublime? Post-pandemic success isn’t likely to come for those who settle for the same old B2B marketing efforts, even if some do have a lengthy track-record. Looking ahead to an as-yet unknown new B2B marketing landscape can be a bit of a guessing game, however examining powerful award-winning marketing efforts can at least offer us a glimpse of how imaginative storytelling on a global scale is likely to play a greater role in what eventually emerges. Let's jump right in and take a look at five examples of the type of imaginative and refreshing marketing efforts that may play a greater role in the future of B2B marketing.

1 — IBM's Code & Response

IBM used an original documentary 73-minute film to celebrate the creativity and compassion of tech developers around the world, and the effort led to the company's IBM Developer unit launching a four-year Code and Response initiative aimed at helping communities needing critical aid. IBM's 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge encourages developers to build solutions for everything from COVID-19 to climate change, and offers an open-source technical library filled with online tutorials, code, and tactical insight. The film has won more than 80 awards from The Webby Awards to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and is part of a broad campaign that incorporates a wide variety of digital imagery, video, social promotion, a dedicated micro-site, and more.

2 — SAP's Tech Unknown

Our client SAP’s ongoing #TechUnknown podcast series — hosted by Tamara McCleary — has utilized industry experts to drive fascinating discussions "From the Edge of Next" in an easy to consume entertaining and educational  format. Recent episodes explore intelligent spend management, why employee experience matters in a newly remote world, and how intelligent analytics can help unearth hidden treasure in business data. A case study, "B2B Podcast Engages Thought Leaders, Reaches Millions, Smashes Download Benchmarks by Double-Digits," also digs into the podcast series and its continuing success.

3 — Microsoft's Changing the Game

Garnering over a billion impressions, Microsoft's vast and award-winning Changing the Game initiative centered around the company's efforts to help gamers of all abilities play and compete in new ways. Incorporating social media efforts, mainstream media conversations, and a Super Bowl spot, Microsoft's efforts surrounding the launch of its Xbox Adaptive Controller show a glimpse of how post-pandemic marketing campaigns may increasingly look. Changing the Game continues to pull in awards, including the recent The One Show 2020 CMO Pencil for Microsoft chief brand officer Kathleen Hall. “The success of the campaign stems from the XAC being true to our DNA, from how the product was developed at a hackathon to sharing it with the world at the Super Bowl through the stories of real children, showcasing that ‘When everybody plays, we all win.’," Hall noted.

4 — Omidyar Network / Thomson Reuters Foundation's #COVID-19: The Bigger Picture

Impact investment firm The Omidyar Network — established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar — and the Thomson Reuters Foundation joined together for #COVID-19: The Bigger Picture, a photojournalism initiative examining the human impact of the pandemic. The project incorporates a five-part series of photo essays and a global photography award, and highlights the increasing importance powerful visual digital assets will have in marketing during 2021 and beyond. It also speaks to how a bespoke awards event can create additional engagement opportunities, as we outlined for client Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) in "Case Study: Unique Influencer Content Campaign Drives Awareness, Engagement, and 6-Figure Leads." “This pandemic is a global crisis like no other, affecting every person on the planet," Antonio Zappulla, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO observed. "The world is grappling daily to understand its scale and severity against an onslaught of information and misinformation. It has never been more critical to lean on the power of journalism excellence to cut through the noise with accurate and impartial storytelling. With the Foundation’s legacy and global reach, we are proud to be part of such a critical and innovative project,” Zappulla added.

5 — GoDaddy's 2020 Global Entrepreneurship Survey

For its 2020 Global Entrepreneurship Survey, GoDaddy sought to learn how the global health crisis has affected businesses, and reached out to more than 5,000 small business owners worldwide in an effort that produced a 35-page report, a series of videos, and other social-media-friendly content. How B2B firms conduct business with small businesses can be a microcosm of the broader B2B marketing landscape, and GoDaddy's survey offers a variety of helpful insight including findings showing that one in six have begun a new venture during the pandemic. "This underscores the resilience of the entrepreneurial spirit and offers some hopeful insight into their collective future," Melissa Schneider, GoDaddy vice president of global marketing operations observed.

Slingshot Your Post-Pandemic Marketing To New Heights

via GIPHY The examples we've looked at here from IBM, SAP, Microsoft, Omidyar Network / Thomson Reuters Foundation, GoDaddy and others can help inspire us as we make the move to 2021, and by using some of the award-winning methods these firms have harnessed, we can better adapt to an eventual post-pandemic B2B marketing landscape. We hope you’ve found at least a few new B2B marketing ideas among those we’ve gone into here, that you’ll find them useful as you create new campaigns, and that they’ll also help build your own team’s knowledge. If you are looking for help with your own B2B marketing efforts, check out our new groundbreaking 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, and contact us to find out why top brands from Adobe and LinkedIn to Dell and AT&T have chosen TopRank Marketing.

The post 5 Refreshing Examples of Imaginative B2B Marketing To Inspire You in 2021 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/5-refreshing-examples-of-imaginative.html

Marketing Lessons from Lockdown: What My 3-year-old Has Taught Me

“Our children can be our greatest teachers if we are humble enough to receive their lessons.” Wise words from author Bryant McGill. These last few months of lockdown, while challenging, have brought forth some very inspiring lessons from my almost 3 year old that I hope can inspire you: His fearless attitude, his openness to learning, his inquisitive nature and his no-yielding passion for everything he does.

Be Fearless

Unless we’re talking about cooked carrots, my little guy is about as fearless as they come. Whether he’s full-speed sprint-vaulting (without success) over two storage bins, or sticking his entire face into the pool water, only to come up coughing, nothing deters him from the next obstacle. If you had the complete absence of fear like a toddler, what would you do differently? Would you have that tough conversation with your co-worker? Would you put 20% of your budget to testing a new tactic or ad type? More on strategic testing here. [bctt tweet="“If you had the complete absence of fear like a toddler, what would you do differently? Would you have that tough conversation with your co-worker? Would you put 20% of your budget to testing a new tactic or ad type?” @ElizabethW1057" username="toprank"]

Be Teachable

One of my greatest joys is watching my littles learn. So when my 6-year-old ‘teacher’ waves shape flashcards (her idea!) and little man rattles off ‘square,’ ‘cirkl,’ ‘imon’ and ‘entagon,’ my heart beams! This genuine excitement for learning is something we cannot allow ourselves to lose in our adulthood. Consider pushing your limits by:

1. Opening your eyes to more diverse perspectives (fantastic, free series on Diversity and Inclusion here from LinkedIn (client)).
2. Truly absorbing and applying critical feedback from a team member.
3. Attending a marketing conference or honing a soft skill, like emotional intelligence.
4. Exploring a new personal hobby. Did you know play is a critical component of success?

Always ask questions

This learning mode leads me to my next lesson from my little man: Always ask why. How come I can’t sleep in your bed? Why do we have to shut off the light? Are there ghosts in my closet? What about under the bed? Why can’t I have another drink of water? Do you think the spider we saw outside followed us in the house? Can you tell bedtime is a thing over here? Our latest influencer campaign killed our reach goal by 1790%. BOOM. Don’t high five and mark it down as a win. Ask WHY? Why did we get such outstanding reach? Was the topic just perfectly relevant for the moment: remote work amid COVID-19 world? Did we earn partnerships with just the right influencers? Was one specific tactic more successful than another within the campaign? Use your inquiry as fuel to optimize your next program. Why NOT take that 1790% up to 2790%?

Love what you do

Ever try to interrupt a 3 year old mid-song? Or while he’s ‘tractoring” in the sandbox. I do not advise it. One of the most important lessons we can take from our kids on this account is passion! Do what you love, or don’t do it. If you find yourself in a rut or simply see an opportunity to make coming to work a more joyful experience, examine your organizational culture. Is it really a fit? If you’re not doing what you love right now, maybe one of these positions on our team is a fit? [bctt tweet="“One of the most important lessons we can take from our kids on this account is passion! Do what you love, or don’t do it.” @ElizabethW1057" username="toprank"]

Lessons in Lockdown

When we all look back in 20 years at the forced togetherness of 2020 we probably won’t be thinking about 72 time-outs or fighting over tablets. We’ll remember the invaluable time we’ve spent together: watching our children grow up-close, deepening our family relationships and how it opened our eyes to some of life’s most simple, yet powerful lessons. What lessons have you uncovered in lockdown? Tell us in the comments section below.

The post Marketing Lessons from Lockdown: What My 3-year-old Has Taught Me appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/marketing-lessons-from-lockdown-what-my.html

5 Steps for a More Powerful B2B Content Marketing Strategy

Content Marketing continues to be a driving force behind meaningful B2B marketing that powers marketing and business growth. According to research by HubSpot, 70% of marketers actively investing in content marketing  and there's no sign of a slowdown, especially as SEMrush research has found, marketers are focused on using content to generate more quality leads (75%), attract more traffic to their website (71%), improve brand reputation (56%), and improve customer engagement and loyalty (45%). The problem is, many of those marketers are not creating best answer content experiences. Creating useful content by itself is not an effective strategy in a world of brand distrust, content attention deficit and the distractions brought by a global pandemic. Being the best answer for your customers means being found and also delivering on expectations. Creating findable, credible content that is also useful and experiential is at the center of what being the best answer means for marketers. Content is the common denominator between the building blocks of creating best answer experiences including SEO and social for findability as well as influencer marketing and earned media for credibility. Video and audio driven content formats and even interactive are what help deliver on experiences. Unfortunately, many B2B marketers don't have the resources or insight to bring these essential elements together for their content marketing strategy. To help create the foundation for providing customers with best answer content experiences, here are 5 steps for developing a more powerful content marketing strategy:

Step 1: Ideal Customer Profiles

Content Marketing is essentially connecting customers with relevant information in a way that provides mutual value for both customers and brands. While content informs, it also influences readers to the logical conclusion to buy – directly or indirectly. The most effective content marketing efforts are thoughtful about understanding the people the brand is trying to engage. To do that, there are a few key questions that should be answered:

• What are your customers’ content preferences?
• How do they discover, consume & share content?
• Who are they influenced by?
• What questions do they need answered during the buying cycle?
• What content formats are most compelling (audio, video, text, long/short form, interactive)?

The answers to questions like these can help B2B marketers make important decisions about their content marketing strategy, social media channels of focus and measurement via social monitoring and web analytics. Documenting ideal customer archetypes involves collecting data, aggregating and analyzing it into profiles to help marketers understand expectations, goals, problems and solutions that can be addressed through experiential content. The first step is to collect data you already have on existing customers that exemplify ideal characteristics such as profitability, low support costs, referrals and retention. Additional internal sources include web analytics data from brand websites to identify KPIs that lead to ideal customer acquisition. Social media monitoring and analytics data can also provide insight into ideal customer behaviors. Influencer Marketing platforms can help identify the key voices that have the attention of customers on the topics relevant for the brand solution. Additional tools include competitive search and social media research services, social media monitoring tools and keyword research tools. You can also survey your customers to identify what social media and content sites they prefer, who they are influenced by and the types of content that is most valuable to them.

Step 2: Topics of Influence, Search and Social

Driven by a desire to connect customers with the information they need to make B2B buying decisions, content marketers dedicate substantial resources to creating information and media that engage. Understanding target customer interests and the language they use to think about the problem/solution involved with your offering are an important step in optimizing content for discovery through search, social media and influencers. With the pandemic driving virtually all B2B activities online, many buyers discover new services through search engines. They also look for recommendations from influencers and discuss what they find via search on social networks, forums and blogs. Search engine optimization best practices call for topic research so that content can be optimized for what’s relevant to customers and the language they actually use when searching for solutions. Because B2B buyers are active and influenced by social content, it’s important for B2B marketers to understand social topics as well as search keywords. What buyers search on Google and what they discuss on social networking or Q/A sites like Quora are not always the same. SEO focused topics help inspire creation and optimization of content for discovery via search engines. Social media focused topics help guide the content and messaging approach on relevant social channels. Topics of influence help marketers identify the people that are most trusted and therefore can be engaged to co-create and promote content to audiences that are interested. This way, when B2B buyers search a category for solutions, they see “Brand 123” in a prominent position. When that buyer looks at social content like blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn or video for the topic, Brand 123 appears there as well. When B2B buyers see their search and social findings match with what they see trusted industry experts advocating and what is covered in industry publications, it creates and incredibly powerful combination.

Step 3: Editorial Plan & Content Mapping

The implementation of a content strategy, ideal customer profile and search/social/influencer topics is through the Editorial plan. Most B2B marketers engaging in content marketing have adopted the same best practices used by publishers to create engaging information and media for a specific type of audience. The Editorial plan covers any kind of content that tells the brand story to the customer segments being targeted. Such content plans factor in original website and blog content, curated content from other sources, influencer contributions, repurposed content from inside the organization and content published on other websites or other brand web properties. The editorial plan also influences the content created for social media specific purposes such as blog posts, Tweets, Facebook Status updates, LinkedIn forum posts, YouTube videos, and influencer activations on social channels. In order to coordinate the connection between the ideal customer profile guided Editorial Plan and the actual content, it should be mapped. Many SEO practitioners already do this with keywords and associate target keyword phrases with specific web pages or categories of pages. This is useful for making sure all target concepts are accounted for with on-page optimization and can be modified as content or target keywords change. If there is no content for a target keyword to be mapped to, then it’s added to the content creation plan. Mapping content according to the ideal customer profile is very similar. Existing content is audited for its ability to address the information needs of target customers across the buying cycle. If there are gaps, then new content is created to address those needs. In a coordinated Social, SEO Influencer Marketing effort, the Editorial Plan and Content Mapping process occurs first, then the SEO audit.

Step 4: Content Promotion

“Build it and they will come”. It’s a well-known and often over-used quote used to describe the fallacy of great content as a marketing tool. Content isn’t great until someone shares it. And they share it, and so on and so on. With B2B content marketing, great content is the beginning not the end objective. An effective Content Marketing strategy includes information about the customer, search and social topics as well as topics of influence, editorial plan and a plan for promoting all the high quality content being created.  With content attention deficit and information overload experienced by so many, buyers can easily be distracted. It’s important for B2B brands to stand out and stay connected with findable, credible content that delivers and experience. Here are four basic reasons for promoting great content as well as making it findable:

1. Many B2B buyers still rely on information to be pushed to them because finding and trusting new sources on an ongoing basis isn’t practical.
2. Promoting content through channels where a social network has been developed can lead to exposure, traffic and links.
3. Content promotion can inspire syndication and citations from other blogs and online media.
4. Brand trust is an issue, so when credible experts share and advocate, customers listen.

A particularly effective model for coordinated Social, SEO, Influencer and Content promotion is a Hub and Spoke. Depending on your content strategy and target audience, the hub might be a resource center, a blog, Facebook Fan Page, YouTube Channel or a Website. The spokes are distribution and promotion channels leading to off-site networks or communities. Understanding the communities and influencers and involving them in both content development and promotion keeps topics fresh, relevant and trusted as well as interesting for the community to promote to others.

Step 5: Mining Search, Social & Influencer Analytics

As B2B marketers implement a coordinated Best Answer Content Experience effort, there’s a cyclical publishing, promotion, analysis and improvement process that can boost effectiveness: Marketing Optimization. It starts by co-creating topic specific content with influencers, optimizing it for search and promoting it to relevant social channels. As the brand content gets noticed, it is shared and engaged with creating more awareness of the brand as a source of useful information on the desired topics. At the same time, a persistent effort is made to grow social network connections and relationships with relevant influencers. Increased exposure of brand-authored content will attract more subscribers, followers, mentions and citations of brand messages. Increased links & social exposure by influencers and social networks will attract even more search, link & social traffic. Increased web traffic & community engagement actions will provide the brand with data that can be used to research, develop & further grow social networks for content, SEO and expand influencer relationships. With the information gained from community data, editorial optimization plans can be refined for more effective content creation, influencer activation, search optimization and content promotion. While these 5 steps are relatively basic for more advanced B2B marketers, hopefully the model will provide you inspiration or fuel to start intentionally and consistently incorporating Influencers, Social Media and SEO in your B2B content marketing. You’ll reach more customers where they’re looking with experiences that will inspire more effective engagement, revenue and retention outcomes.

The post 5 Steps for a More Powerful B2B Content Marketing Strategy appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/5-steps-for-more-powerful-b2b-content.html

B2B Marketing News: Top B2B Brand-Building Challenges, Online Engagement Gets Just 2 Seconds, Facebook’s New Paid Event Options, & Google’s Shared Ad Budgeting

The Most Significant Challenges to B2B Brand-Building Unclear strategy, performance measurement unsurety, low priority brand-building and foggy messaging are the leading brand reach amplification challenges faced by B2B marketers, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingProfs 'You get 2 seconds to engage consumers online': Mars neuroscientist shares key findings Digital marketers have just two seconds to capture consumers' attention and five to make an impact, according to newly-released neuroscience study data, also showing that memory encoding is key as duration time has dropped. The Drum Facebook Adds New Paid Events Options for Businesses and Creators Facebook has made direct in-stream purchase options available for eligible Facebook business pages in 20 countries including the U.S., offering digital marketers new monetization and event marketing options, the social media giant recently announced. Social Media Today Twitter users can now control who replies to their tweet Twitter has rolled out new user options for managing who can reply to tweets on the platform, allowing posters to specify that everyone can reply, only those they follow, or only users mentioned in a tweet, the firm recently announced. Reuters Google Ads Performance Planner Added Shared Budgets, Shared Access & Conversion Delays Google has rolled out three new budget planning features to its widely-used Google Ads management utilities, including better use of conversion delays, team shared access, and downloadable budgeting forecast data, the search giant recently announced. Search Engine Roundtable The rise of the avatar as a marketing medium The global health crisis has brought new marketing opportunities for the use of avatars usable in any number of virtual worlds, and AdAge takes a look at the trend here. AdAge The World’s Biggest Brands Are Spending More in Programmatic The largest brands have been spending more on programmatic advertising, according to recently-released World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) study data, also showing that 74 percent of the world's biggest brands partner with an agency. Ad Week Facebook Is Testing New Post-Level Analytics for Groups Facebook has launched new analytics features for group administrators, allowing digital marketers a more detailed look at active member views, post hides, image views, and other metrics, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today Instagram rolls out suggested posts to keep you glued to your feed Facebook-owned Instagram has released a new feature update that shows posts from accounts users don’t follow once they have reached the end of their traditional feed, creating both an endless feed and new ad options for marketers, the firm recently announced. The Verge B2B Marketers Lend Their Support to Influencer Programs 96 percent of B2B marketers engaging in influencer marketing find their program successful, with 84 percent also noting that influencer marketing can achieve brand awareness — two of dozens of insights from the TopRank Marketing 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, examined here by MarketingCharts. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “the evolution of digital transformation” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist New California Energy Tax Makes You Pay 10 Cents to Open a New Browser Tab — The Hard Times TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• SAP — How SAP puts purpose into practice — AdAge
• Lee Odden — 2 Questions To Ask Before Building Your B2B Ambassador Program — Forbes
• TopRank Marketing — B2B Marketers Lend Their Support to Influencer Programs — MarketingProfs
• Lee Odden — Influencer marketing set to be the next big thing, apparently — Meetings & Incentive Travel Magazine
• Lee Odden — 5 B2B Content Marketing Trends to Take in 2021 — V3Broadsuite
• Lee Odden — What’s Trending: Renew Your Content Strategy Commitment — LinkedIn (client)
• Lee Odden — CoronaCocktails 8.18 - The Norse God, Lee Odden [Podcast] — Joseph Jaffe / CoronaTV
• Lee Odden — Instagram Influencer Marketing Myths, Debunked — HubSpot
• TopRank Marketing — Affiliate Marketing News — Jason Hulott
• Nick Nelson — 10 Ways to Tailor Your Marketing Strategy to Your Business — Small Business Trends
• Debbie Friez — How Farm Life Prepared Me Sheltering In Place — Debbie Friez
• Lee Odden — New Essentials for Commerce: SEO, Content Marketing, and Influencers — inRiver
• Lee Odden /TopRank Marketing — TopRank data shows 74% of B2B pros believe influencer marketing could improve CX — 360 Magazine
• Lee Odden — CoronaCocktails 8.18 - The Norse God, Lee Odden [Video] — Joseph Jaffe
• TopRank Marketing — Cover Your Bases: How to Use LinkedIn for Agent Recruiting — New Horizons
• TopRank Marketing — 15 Best Digital Marketing Blogs Filled With Valuable Advice — SEO Basics

Have you found your own top marketing stories from the past week of news? Please let us know in the comments below. Thanks for joining us, and please return again next Friday and tune in for another array of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: Top B2B Brand-Building Challenges, Online Engagement Gets Just 2 Seconds, Facebook’s New Paid Event Options, & Google’s Shared Ad Budgeting appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/08/b2b-marketing-news-top-b2b-brand.html