B2B Voices

Social Clutter or Social Clarity?

Is Motivation the Key to Success?

Stop Throwing Paint Against the Wall

Posted on 19 April 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

Social media continues to change the way brands communicate with stakeholders. Its introduction into the our arsenal of tactics has provided many benefits, including the ability to share important information, listen to feedback and connect with others. When I speak at events I continue to be impressed with the growing surge and interest from B2B companies in developing programs leveraging social media.

Last summer I introduced my kids to Jackson Pollack...and then we went and had some fun in the garden.

Last summer I introduced my kids to Jackson Pollock…and then we went and had some fun in the garden.

But the easy path to do go down is building a social media program versus taking advantage of social media to be your brand. There is a difference and the earlier method usually results in the cliche of, “Throwing paint up against the wall and seeing if it sticks.” It’s also very one-way — you throw the paint and it doesn’t come back. The only person I can recall who could do this method well and make it work is Jackson Pollock.

There is nothing wrong with experimenting in social media — it’s cost effective, it can allow you to be more creative, you can learn from your experiences and it should be encouraged at this stage. We’ve experimented many times during the last six years and trust me, not everything works. However, everything we do has a purpose and reason in order to tie into our brand and who we are as a company.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. Our latest effort involves Instagram as a recruiting tool and using photographs to tell our history and for people to gain insight into the company. While more brands are using Instagram, we could have easily opened an account and pushed out stock images of graphics and photos we’ve had professionally taken — our paint against the wall approach. But we thought about “why” we wanted an account and “how” it could help promote our company. Our conclusion was that Instagram helps give us a personal touch through visuals, so we wanted to take advantage of that by leveraging our employees to share photos from inside the company as well as people around the world who visit us. Images tell stories and we wanted ours to help humanize and capture the heritage of our brand. We have also integrated our Instagram account with our Facebook page.

No offense to Pollock. He was brilliant and one of my favorite artists, but moving from experimental/one-way “paint throwing” social media into strategic communications is how B2B companies need to think about.

But don’t stop experimenting. Don’t stop thinking about what you can do to leverage social channels and networks. But do think carefully about “why” you want to use them and “how” they can help you. And be patient. B2B communications is not as far-reaching as B2C and it will take time, effort and consistency to be make it work for you.

I did buy the Tate’s “Art in a Box” kit so our next weekend art project may involve Lichtenstein. Stay tuned.

If you enjoyed reading this post you may also want to read the following:

Craft work — what’s your B2B expertise?

Do B2B companies need social media?

Three areas to focus in 2013

What is social media success in B2B… and some examples

Who are your content superheroes?

The Next Chapter for Social Finance and Three Things to Consider

Posted on 12 April 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

Some of the biggest news the past two weeks in social media surrounded the SEC’s announcement and Bloomberg’s news around social media. But what does this mean for communicators? While this is a big win for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it means we need to be even more engaged as communicators with these platforms. First, let’s look at a round of each announcement.

Securities Exchange Commission

The Wall Street Journal does a quick FAQ on the news and what it means. Over at CNBC they tell investor relations professionals to relax and enjoy some sleep. And Dominic Jones points out that the “devil is in the details” when it comes to interpreting the guidelines. So while the guidelines are meant to help companies, did anyone think of investors? Managing the information is important and Hootsuite offers some thoughts (we’re a Hootsuite client — and here’s a list of financial services firms currently using Hootsuite). In 2010 I wrote about why investor relations professionals need to use StockTwits, and Howard Lindzon sums up his approach to what they have done and the SEC’s announcement:

“No matter what others call us or think, Stocktwits is a NEWSWIRE. Information is flowing from one to many, all day, every day and it is full of context.”

Bloomberg Terminal

The others news came from Bloomberg and that they were now adding Twitters posts about companies to their terminal feeds. Mashable offers a screen shot of what this will look like. And Venture Beat points out that this won’t be a “firehouse” of tweets, so we’ll need to see what is chosen and what is not. With many financial companies still blocking social media, the importance of this is that people in the markets can now gain access to tweets that matter. And as Joe Weisenthal pointed out during the crisis in Cyprus Twitter was beating most other sources.

Why This Matters

Back in 2011 I pointed out that social finance had arrived. Traders, analysts and financial firms were already mining Twitter for data. The news this month continues the evolution of social finance and further emphasizes the importance and seriousness of the information that is being shared. Here are three things B2B firms need to think about as the SEC and Bloomberg help advance the significance of your posts.

It’s time to revisit your guidelines and disclosure rules. If you haven’t sent the news about what just happened to your compliance and investor relations teams then stop reading and do that now. If you are still pitching internally to use social media this will show that you are on top of the news and give you further leverage to discuss how you can build your social media strategy. At the very least, it should continue to build your relationships internally, and that’s always a good thing.
What you post matters (even more). Think carefully about how you word, when you post and what you want to say about your firm. And don’t be afraid to repost extremely important information. As information gets posted in more venues, and now pulled into the Bloomberg terminal, content management gains in influence. I would also continue to pay attention to what Bloomberg does with social media and integrating it across all of its media.
Register for StockTwits. It’s value as a company just went up, but more importantly for you it’s value as a reputation tool to promote and protect your brand just increased. If you are not using it for your company then integrate it with your Twitter account (and don’t forget to add your Hootsuite account). And if you’re a PR Newswire client (we are) you get the added benefit of having StockTwits on your side too.

I’m a long-time believer that social media can be a catalyst for change within B2B organizations — from sales to investor relations to content management — and this month was significant. The amount of discussions online around what the SEC and Bloomberg have announced, both in agreement and disagreement, makes the value of what has been accomplished in the past decade of information exchange and disclosure both challenging and exciting. As communicators, it’s just discussing “why” we should use these tools but the thinking has advanced to “how” we use them.

Do how do you think this news changes social finance? Or is it business as usual? Let us know.

If you enjoyed this post you may also want to read the following:

How Well Do You Know Your Social Network? Probably Poorly

Five lessons learned after five years of B2B social media

What drives your B2B strategy?

Are you ready for a real-time B2B world?

Need a Strategy? Start by Playing Games

Using Social Networking Sites in B2B Businesses

Craft Work: What’s Your B2B Expertise?

Posted on 2 April 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

It seems we continue to reap the rewards as marketers of the latest digital improvements — from dashboards to metrics — but that doesn’t mean we can instantly do our jobs better. There remains a deep level of expertise and skill that needs to be honed and improved in order to do any part of marketing communications well. Whether you are in web design, media relations, sales, advertising, app development or any other function in the marketing mix, we admire and look up to the people who seem to continuously create winning campaigns.

Like all good skills, developing a real craft or expertise is difficult and takes time. A craftsman knows that you learn from mistakes, you need to take risks, and you need to continuously practice and develop your knowledge.

It takes a lot of time, patience and perseverance to make your craft succeed.

So even though we watch and apply new forms of technology to help us advance our brands, there are areas where some stand out from others. Some of you may call this differentiation, but others call it expertise or skills or leadership. Here are some areas where true craftsmanship can come into play for B2B communications:

Content Management: More and more we are being asked to use content to differentiate our brands and stand out through the massive amounts of information online. Mastering the art of craftsmanship around content can make a big impact for B2B companies. Where the expertise lies is bringing it all together to find the right opportunities to develop content around news, issues or trends and then deciding how to present that content via blog post, infographic or some other distribution method. Tools like Visual.ly can help but sometimes it comes down to more than just choosing the right resource; it’s about having the right vision and integrating the message, visual and distribution. Content can be an exceptional way to make your brand and company stand apart from the competition but the true skill is making this happen consistently and over time. Doing this takes a lot of focus and someone who is connected to many parts of your organization, from customers to management to the people in sales and beyond.

Real-Time Monitoring. The world online is moving in real-time and this is no different for B2B brands than it is for consumer brands. Having the skills to know who to monitor and keeping on top of news and information is critical to various aspects of an organization. While is may seem obvious that this is something that needs to be done, the act of actually doing it can be an art and a skill in running down various content across multiple platforms. This also means you need to develop alerts, set aside monitoring time and learn to constantly adjust and refocus your attention. It becomes even more challenging to make all of this information relevant, which is where the next skill comes into play.

Metrics. More and more data is coming our way and it’s up to someone to not only find the critical connection points, but also wade through a lot of useless information. Knowing what activities or events trigger engagement and understanding qualitative and quantitative data results are increasingly becoming vital marketing and communications skills. For decades we’ve been able to rely on a few forms of metrics and measurement, but that has all changed as social media and digital content have turned information to “always on”. And knowing how to separate the “eyeball” metrics from the “influential” metrics that matter to your campaigns and brand is not easy. In addition, more and more solutions are being introduced, which may or may not help. The key skill here is knowing what to look for, where to find it and then interpreting it to both management and marketing.

Voice. How do you speak as your brand? Do you inject humor? Do you use social media for customers service? Does your social media align with your other branding and marketing efforts? Deciding how and what you post reflects on your brand and this is no easy task as you have to explain images, limit the use of characters and decide what audience you are speaking to online. Having a common voice in a global organization can be extremely difficult as you manage cultures, languages and offerings among a variety of stakeholders. But knowing what your brand represents and its key attributes can help guide the tone and focus.

Connector. While many crafts focus on content, one key skill is the ability to network. With B2B sales cycles longer and generally more complex than B2C, relationships really do matter. Social media allows so many people to gain access to others in your organization and beyond that you can become very good at playing the ultimate connector of people. There can be a clear advantage for you and your organization to bring people together — buyers and sellers — via social media and beyond, and people who network well know how to connect the online and offline worlds.

If there was one B2B skill you could add to this list what would it be and why? Let us know in the comments.

If you like this post you may also want to read the following:

Do B2B companies need social media?

What drives your B2B strategy?

What is social media success in B2B… and some examples

Who are your content superheroes?

Are you ready for a real-time B2B world?

Do B2B Companies Need Social Media?

Posted on 22 March 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

This question was posed to me by Paul Gillin for a Q&A I did with him for BtoB Magazine. There are a number of ways to define the word “need” but it is a good question for companies to begin when they think about starting or expanding social media.

The mistake and trap B2B companies get into is the idea that social media should equate to sales. While the ultimate goal of communications should be to help drive revenue, there are many ways that social media can be used that are just as critical to a brand. Without getting into the tactics of how to do social, here are three ways to think about how social media can build on a company’s efforts.

Don’t get so focused on social media to help sell that you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Recruiting. Recruiters and job seekers more and more are turning to social media to look for a job. Because of this, they are trying to follow and discover more about your company. Whether you use social media to directly recruit employees or not job candidates are researching you online to learn more about you and to decide if they want to be associated with your firm. In addition, tomorrow’s leaders of your organization have grown up with social media. They too are looking online and deciding if they should work for you or your competition.

Crisis communication. When something goes wrong with your organization people more and more are turning to social media for the news or to see what people are saying. In addition, if you are focused on media relations remember that news stories about a crisis will quickly spread online. If you are there to respond as quickly as possible you can learn to leverage social media to your advantage.

Education.Think of your social channels as an extension of your website and event activities. Using social media for brand awareness to celebrate your wins, promote your news and talk about what you are doing can make a difference as you work to build on your brand.

Don’t get into thinking that social media is just about sales. There is more to using these channels than just a sales tool and you need to help your management and sales team understand that your group of stakeholders is much broader than just customers. We continue to see ways that social media is changing the way we consume and communicate information, as B2B brands we need to be listening and a part of these streams and discussions.

If you enjoyed this post you may also want to read the following:

How Well Do You Know Your Social Network? Probably Poorly

Five lessons learned after five years of B2B social media

Still pitching to use social media?

What drives your B2B strategy?

We still need to get together in the real world?

The Future of Social Media is Not Digital

Posted on 14 March 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

I spoke at three separate events last week with a focus on how social media has disrupted B2B communications and the way we operate. While there was a lot of focus on what we have accomplished and lessons learned, everyone seemed interested in my thoughts on what’s next. What is the next platform? Is there a new technology we are testing? What are B2B companies going to do next? What should we be looking to do?

I recently talked about the changing role of communicators, but I’m never one to make predictions, especially when it comes to technology. That’s why I read the blogs of people like Howard Lindzon, Armano, the team at Convince & Convert and others.

That’s not to say I don’t think a lot about technology and all things digital. Tools like Twitter and Instagram came out of nowhere and one of the next new technologies will likely do the same. That is a topic I personally follow regularly, and right now, I’m interested in content aggregation, especially in light of yesterday’s Google Reader news, and how individuals wade through the endless streams of information and vertical communities that help focus conversations.

But technology aside, I think the next, next thing in B2B communications is face-to-face communications. That’s not exactly revolutionary, but it is vital. Read what Aaron Pearson had to say about this while at SXSW.

People want intimate experiences that cannot be filled by any social media.

There still remains a lot to do in social media. Twitter and Stocktwits continue to evolve their real-time streams, LinkedIn still provides us ways to professionally connect and other platforms give us a variety of choice to leverage our B2B content. These are and will be important business tools moving forward.

Speaking last week at the Marketforce Social Media in Financial Services conference

But we are coming closer to the point where competing with our competition on social media will be like competing websites, trade show booths or advertising. These tools do matter, but they will become ubiquitous and expected. A few years ago, companies truly gained a competitive advantage using social media, and we still do, but as it makes its way throughout the enterprise it will be more challenging to do so. Will you still be the best brand on Twitter? Will your Facebook page help you stand out against others? Do Slideshare and Instagram show off your thought leadership? Maybe. Maybe not. Does it matter?

Last week continued to demonstrate to me what I have believed for some time since engaging more and more in social media: People want intimate experiences that cannot be filled by any social media. Yes, Google Hangouts can make a difference and hashtags on Twitter create virtual discussions, but that is not good enough.

My coffee break conversations at the Marketforce event were constructive and interesting. I was also able to finally spend some quality time talking with Cristophe Langlois of Visible Banking. The discussions I had with the students from the Hult International Business School and Penn State Harrisburg were vastly different, but they challenged me on many areas of digital and

We are all in a battle for the “hearts and minds” of customers, influencers and other various stakeholders, and while social media helps us connect, it does not replace what we want as people.

Is your company a leader in social media? Great. Is your organization following and trying to understand new technologies? Wonderful. Are you trying to learn what can help make your brand stand out and understood? Perfect.

But how are you connecting with people and creating those intimate moments that matter? If you are not thinking about this yet, then you quite possibly will be left behind by the next wave of social media: building and maintaining relationships.

If you enjoyed this post you may also want to read the following:

Do we need a social index for businesses?

Who are your content superheroes?

Getting Your Degree in “Business Acumen”

What is social media success in B2B… and some examples

What’s Ahead? The Changing Role of Communications

Posted on 4 March 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

Last week I was fortunate enough to speak at the first TechXplore conference in Belfast, which featured a number of topics from raising capital to social media. It was a good event and I met several really interesting people who are pushing the envelope in terms of ideas and thoughts on the digital space.

TechXplore merged discussions on digital technology and business strategy among businesses, the public sector and entrepreneur’s in Northern Ireland.

As part of my presentation and panel discussion, I was asked to comment on the future role of technology. This is difficult to fully assess without looking at the way technology has changed the profession of communications (e.g. advertising, marketing and public relations). In fact, I focused on the very disruptive nature of all things digital to our jobs.

If we think of the way we do our jobs today there really is very little that has not be affected by technology. We network with people via LinkedIn. We search for news and issues through streams on Twitter. Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are changing the way images shape our thinking and influence what we read. And blogging continues to be a way that we read a diverse set of opinions (including from B2B Voices) on news and trends.

The Financial Brand blog posted today Five Traits of High-Performing Financial Marketers, and some of these I touched on last week in my discussion. What’s happened is that the traditional silo roles of communications – advertising, marketing, PR – have been further blurred by technology. Integrated communications is now the norm for professionals, but technology has also pushed professionals to expand their responsibilities to the business.

Here are the new job functions that digital has evolved the way we need to think as communicators in order to be influential internally and externally:

Technologist: This goes beyond just using social media. We need to not only build our strategies around social media for our brands, but we also need to focus on building robust CRM systems and understanding how our stakeholders use technology. CIO magazine has been covering marketing v IT spending and the convergence of digital marketing and IT systems management regularly and it is worth following. Everything around technology in communication is moving toward inbound and real-time relationships and you should understand how they work.

Economist: Our jobs now mean we need to analyze, follow and interpret trends in the economy. If you think about your company’s value chain — from incubation of ideas to end users — what are the micro and macro economic issues that could positively or negatively influence your brand? We need to think like economists. Understanding the behavior of your company’s ecosystems will help you better interpret how your marketing and messages need to react.

Analyst: We are swimming in data; perhaps even drowning in it. How do you separate the good data from the bad data? What really matters to your business? Interpreting data and understanding success and trends can no longer be left to web clicks and pageviews. We need to think differently about data and move communications into a more robust process focused on understanding what matters to our stakeholders and what we should deliver.

Strategist: Competitive threats are constant and knowing the landscape is a must. There are a number of ways social media can help manage and monitor this ongoing stream. More importantly, interpreting and understanding what is happening and working closely with your business teams to equip them with the perception of the market is vital. How do you package and deliver this information to your internal stakeholders?

Lawyer: Answer this question: is your social media policy just plain useless? Disclosure, transparency and privacy are all regular discussions now. If you are not having these meetings regularly internally you are setting your brand up for a crisis.

If you enjoyed this post you may also want to read:

How Well Do You Know Your Social Network? Probably Poorly

Five lessons learned after five years of B2B social media

Are you ready for a real-time B2B world?

Still pitching to use social media?

What drives your b2b strategy?

So, What do Financial Marketers Want?

Posted on 26 February 2013 by Allan Schoenberg

Last week in Chicago, I was able to participate on a panel discussion at the The Journal of Financial Advertising & Marketing (JFAM) conference titled, “Big Year: What do Financial Marketers Want in 2013?” There are lots of areas to focus this year (I have my targets), but some common themes continue to be discussed. This event was no different, but the level of details continue to change and remain interesting.

My panel discussed themes around social media in financial services and there were three key takeaways.

Content. There was an entire panel before mine devoted to content management — ways to deliver it, measure it and find it. I’ve learned a lot about content and I felt that our panel on social media could also have been devoted to this topic. Content helps us to differentiate our brands, create discussions and build loyalty among our stakeholders. I view content as our biggest competitive advantage and it has quickly become the key driver of our social media strategy versus which platform to use. We are now moving toward a point of matching content to customer and building our social strategy around niche communities, which helps to deepen relationships and positioning of our brand.

Data. As we build more content, we increase the amount of data that needs to be evaluated. There is clearly no shortage of data and this will only grow. As marketers, we need to find ways to better make sense of this data. That means we need to better align ourselves with the business teams and IT and learn new ways to think about online engagement. We’re now learning ways to not only track success, but we need to find ways to sift through false data. I believe metrics and evaluation will be a key theme not only this year, but in the years ahead we need to find ways to find the metrics that matter to help us better connect themes and issues for the business. If you are not thinking about ways to manage data or ways to better understand what you are doing than you are creating a competitive advantage — for your competitors.

Trust. There’s no lack of information about the issue of trust in financial services these days. Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer and APCO’s Champion Brand Index demonstrate with research the need to focus on trust. Everyone on the panel seemed to agree that using social media as a way to build and repair trust in the industry was imperative. I wrote last year in CorpComms magazine about the Trust Economy. This means having conversations — listening and responding — and providing open, transparent information about what you are doing is more critical than ever. There are obstacles to overcome with internal processes, but we are at the point now where not doing social media is more of a risk than doing it.

If you enjoyed this post you may also want to read:

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