Effective B2B social media marketing:

Transcription

1 Effective B2B social media marketing: Driving traffic, leads & sales Written by Martin Broadhurst

2 Martin Broadhurst Certified by market leading inbound marketing software provider HubSpot, Martin leads Katapult s inbound team in the development and ongoing management of campaigns. Martin Broadhurst Digital Marketing Manager With extensive experience across every aspect of digital marketing, Martin is well versed in working closely with clients to generate leads and drive new business.

3 Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Setting up your Facebook Page Chapter 2 Setting up your Twitter account Chapter 3 The other key players in social media Conclusion

4 Introduction Top of the funnel Drive traffic and capture lead data. Examples: SEO, blogging, whitepapers, ebooks, competitions, giveaways, landing pages, CTAs. Middle of the funnel Nurture leads. Educate and inform prospects about your service benefits. Examples: Webinars, case studies, fact sheets, marketing. Bottom of the funnel Enter prospects into your sales process. Examples: CRM, demonstrations, consultations, open days, free trials.

5 Introduction Social media is no longer the new kid on the block when it comes to marketing; it is a proven tactic for creating brand awareness, increasing website traffic, generating leads and driving sales. Every marketing strategy should take social media into consideration for these reasons. So where does social media fit in to our marketing mix? What purpose should it serve? Facebook might have one billion users but that doesn t mean thousands of likes will help us to achieve our business goals. This whitepaper will help you understand why your business should take social media seriously as a marketing tactic and how best to implement it within your online marketing strategy. A successful implementation of social media should generate leads for your business and, in turn, increase sales from online channels. However, achieving this takes careful planning, robust workflows and a little patience.

6 Effective B2B social media marketing: Driving traffic, leads & sales Key concepts & statistics Traffic generation by social networks (UK) Top 7 social media sites in United Kingdom from December 2011 to December 2012 A C I C Average hours per week spent on this online activity, worldwide Facebook StumbleUpon Twitter YouTube reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Shopping Browsing Social News Other 0% 15% 30% 45% 60% Gaming Multimedia Online Activity US internet users spend 3x more minutes on blogs and social networks than on % of the online UK population are on Facebook (More than 33 million users).2 1 out of every 8 minutes online is spent on Facebook.3 41% of Facebook users report that they see a lot more company, brand and product related content on their news feed than one year ago.4 Amongst those who do follow brands, products or companies on social networks, 80% indicate that Facebook is the network they use the most to connect with companies.6 Nearly a quarter of social network users indicated that Facebook is the social site or service that most influences their buying decisions.6 One in four social network users knowingly follow brands, products or services on social networks. For those who use these sites and services several times per day, this figure increases to 43%.5 Katapult 2014 katapult.co.uk Office +44 (0)

7 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page

8 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page 8 Creating a Facebook Page is a simple process and it takes just a few minutes to get the basics in place. You are then only a few posts and ads away from developing a highly valuable marketing tool. Directions People have profiles; brands have Pages. Both have timelines where status updates, photos, videos, links and questions are posted and stored. Pages can create tabs which can host contests, contact forms, downloads and more. Treat these like landing pages. Push for a like or an address. Add call-to-actions. Set up Custom Tabs for resources ( newsletters, blogs, etc.) using an iframe application. Share company information in a more compelling way. Encourage users to give you contact information rather than just a like. If you are a single location business, set up a places page. Encourage your Facebook audience to become customers by using the offers function. Add useful applications such as competition forms and YouTube video functionality. More interactive and engaging. Treat it as an extension of your website. Give your Facebook audience a reason to return to your Page after their first visit. Recap Facebook Pages must be as inviting as possible. To get started, visit Focus on the format of your Page to create an engaging environment for your audience. Create data capture tabs to ensure you convert fans into leads. When executed properly, this will generate leads and enable you to collect more information about them. Be as creative as possible, and determine which activities or applications will best support your brand.

9 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page 9 Gaining exposure and awareness for your Facebook Page Creating a Facebook Page is just the start. As mentioned earlier, social media requires a bit of work and that comes in the form of content. While your Facebook Page is racking up likes, you need to keep your audience engaged and encourage them to share great content. Post regularly on your Facebook Page, preferably with new content every day; encourage users to share your posts, comment on your updates and like your updates. Each new interaction with your Page will expose your brand to more and more Facebook users. Facebook wants people to keep using their service and in order to keep users coming back they ensure that users news feeds contain only relevant content. To do this, Facebook uses the news feed algorithm. Quite simply, this algorithm requires a user to engage regularly with your content in order for your posts to continue to appear in their news feed.

10 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page 10 Make sure your posts stand out in the streams filled with content relating to family, friends and more distant connections. Key concepts and statistics To increase your Facebook exposure, you need to design offers and content that will motivate people to like or share your page. 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations. 7 Posts including the word video are shared 30% more on Facebook than posts without. 8 Posts that use buzzwords or business jargon like optimise significantly decrease the number of likes for a Facebook Page. Such pages have 100 likes, as opposed to the average of 6,247. Posts with digits in the title tend to be shared more often. Lists using words like top make tremendously successful Facebook posts.

11 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page 11 Facebook engagement best practice Keep it short. Posts between 100 and 250 characters see about 60% more interactions than posts greater than 250 characters. 60% Post photos and videos. Posts including a photo album, a picture or a video generate about 180%, 120%, and 100% more engagement than the average post, respectively. Encourage interaction. Fill-in-the-blank posts generate about 90% more engagement than the average text post. Recap Keep your audience informed and entertained. To find your Facebook Page engaging, customers and prospects need enticing materials and regular posts. In return, you need likes, comments and shares to keep your content visible. Facebook rewards Pages that have great content with more exposure. 90% 180%

12 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page 12 Monitoring your Facebook Page As your Facebook audience grows you will be able to learn new insights about them over time. Each new post will tell you a little more about the sort of content that your audience appreciates and this should help shape your future content strategy. By using the Facebook Insights tool that is available to Page Administrators, you will be able to track multiple indicators of success such as type of content, time of posting and response rates. Check these regularly to discover exactly what it is that your audience responds best to. Key concepts and statistics There have been over 1.1 trillion likes across Facebook since the feature launched. Encourage people to like content. Run competitions or make it explicit you want a like, for example, Like this if you re looking forward to the weekend. Brands have seen a 46% increase in general user engagement and a 65% increase in user engagement of interactive content with the introduction of Timeline for Pages. 9 Share original content 60% of links shared on Facebook are published content % of shares are embedded content. 10 Put like or recommend buttons at the top of blog articles. Your community will build up a reputation for the article by liking the content. Consider posting articles outside office hours. 51% of US companies 8 and a third of UK 11 companies block Facebook at work.

13 Chapter 1: Setting up your Facebook Page 13 Facebook activity by age group Teens Twenties Thirties Forties Fifties Recap Your Facebook Page should be the launching point to your website, blog, and conversion offers. Number of friends Number of wall posts By encouraging discussions on your Facebook timeline, you will be fostering a community in which your newest visitors interact with your most dedicated and loyal customers. In doing so, your existing customers sharing of and interaction with your page and content could positively impact your prospects purchasing decisions. Number of interests listed Number of quotes listed Number of books listed Number of TV shows listed Number of activities listed Source: HubSpot, The Science of Facebook. 2011

14 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account

15 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 15 Creating a Twitter account is a must for businesses wanting to show themselves as open, engaged and thought leaders within their industry. Where else can you share your blog posts to an interested audience and contact industry journalists directly while simultaneously catching the eye of onlookers who may also be interested in your business? Twitter provides us, as individuals and businesses, with a level playing field where anyone can discuss, share and present new ideas so long as they do so within 140 characters. There are more examples than we could possibly share of professionals using Twitter to boost their profile within their industry. It takes quite a small amount of effort yet the results can be significant. When Twitter is integrated into a content marketing campaign the results can be impressive. The ease with which users can share content and the demand for high quality content makes it the ideal channel for driving traffic to your website and converting followers to leads.

16 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 16 Key concepts and statistics Unsurprisingly, branded Twitter usernames more effectively promote your brand. Twitter users who fill out their bio have over 6x times as many followers than those that do not. 12 Use non-diminutive words such as expert that show your authority and expertise for your job description. People who use these kinds of words for their job description average 100 more followers than those people that use business jargon for their job description. 12 Those who put links to their blog, website, and other social networks on their Twitter profile have 6x more followers than those that do not. 12 Create employee profiles that link to their Twitter accounts. In October 2013, images began displaying automatically in the tweets. This means you can use creative visuals to make your tweets stand out among all the others in a user s feed. When you have plans to attend a conference, make sure you monitor the event hashtag, follow other attendees, and respond when you have something meaningful to say.

17 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 17 Interact & engage 64% of users are more likely to purchase from businesses that answer their questions on Twitter. Key concepts and statistics Engage and interact with your followers. Thank them, retweet them and show them you are listening. Share other people s content. If you see something that your audience will find interesting, share it. Join industry related Twitter conversations on the hashtags relevant for your industry. Use directories such as to find relevant hashtags. Schedule tweets in advance. When promoting your landing pages, blogs posts and premium content offers it pays to plan in advance. Add Twitter buttons to your website to make your Twitter profile as visible and easily accessible as possible. Recap It is important to establish a relatively casual atmosphere on your Twitter account; it will create a more informal, yet personable and comfortable relationship with potential customers that will encourage them to engage with you frequently. More Likely As Likely Less Likely

18 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 18 Gaining exposure and awareness for your Twitter account People on Twitter follow influencers and key experts in the industries they are interested in. By establishing relationships with your industry leaders, their followers can learn about your brand through a resource they trust. Building a relationship with influencers isn t difficult. It simply requires a human touch; politeness, interesting discussion and genuine engagement. Twitter profiles have the most impact and success when they feel like they are owned and operated by real people with opinions and ideas of their own. Encourage your team to engage in industry relevant discussions, to connect with industry thought leaders and represent your brand online.

19 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 19 Key concepts and statistics Connect with journalists and bloggers who cover your industry. Use Technorati to identify and start following influencers. Engage with influencers on Twitter. Do not pester; be subtle. Be brief and concise. Leave comments on influencers articles. Use your original content as an outreach tool. Help influencers with their research by posting useful content on their Twitter account. Do not follow too many people at once Your following:follower ratio will look imbalanced. Other useful tools Tweet Grader. Muck Rack. Journalist Tweets. Twitter has a strong presence of early adopters who tend to be the first to purchase the newest products and services. They often depend on these industry experts to make that purchasing decision. Recap Following thought leaders will give you ideas and inspiration to create your own content, while also providing you with the chance to get in touch with active consumers in your industry. It also provides you with a platform to become an industry thought leader in your own right. Given the nature of Twitter, this could be on a regional, national or international scale. The possibilities are endless.

20 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 20 Monitoring your Twitter account Many Marketing Managers and CEOs prefer to remain in control of the message when it comes to their brand. The reality of social media means this just isn t possible and we have to ensure we know how to deal with all scenarios online. Your brand s followers can share whatever thoughts they have about you via Twitter. This provides you with the opportunity to highlight positive reviews and comments, address problems up front (e.g. complaints), and promote their content. Reward and retweet delighted customers who tweet about the positive experiences they have when dealing with your organisation. Show that you truly appreciate their comments. Likewise, don t bury your head in the sand when you receive negative feedback. Listen, respond and take action; customers respect brands that try to resolve problems and try to prevent such issues occurring in future. Key concepts and statistics Favourite your customers best testimonials, they will then appear within your Favourites tab. You can then direct people with relevant questions about your company or product to your Favourites page. By answering questions about your industry directly, you increase your credibility. Any requests or complaints for support should be responded to promptly. You can generate 4x more retweets simply by requesting them, for example by adding Please RT to a tweet % of retweets contain links. 14 Tweets with images increase engagement by 5x 14 47% of people who follow a brand on Twitter are more likely to visit the company s website and 72% are more likely to make a purchase from them. 12 The average Twitter user sends out 22 tweets per day. 12 Tweet links to: Landing pages Blog posts Promote new tools and apps

21 Chapter 2: Setting up your Twitter account 21 Follow back Business responses can establish a relationship with the person asking the question. When businesses respond to someone s Twitter question, that person is likely to follow the business and is more likely to make a purchase. 59% 29% 12% More likely to follow As likely Less likely Recap Your Twitter presence should be about transparency and convenience. Your followers should be able to easily share whatever reactions they have about your blog posts, offers, and news so more traffic starts to gravitate towards these materials. 64% 24% 12% More likely to purchase As likely Less likely

22 Chapter 3: The other key players in social media

23 Chapter 3: The key players in social media 23 Social media is more than Facebook and Twitter; it is YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest and so many more. Pinterest Google+ StumbleUpon LinkedIn Pinterest s referral traffic has grown by 67% from Refers more web traffic than Bing, Twitter and Yahoo Rapidly growing userbase Google authorship tools aid SEO Social signals such as the +1 button increase search visibility 540m registered users and 300m monthly active users as of October m registered users as of September 2013 Refers more website traffic than Twitter despite much smaller user base Refers more than 1bn hits per month 277m registered users as of February 2014 Low volume of website referral User engagement is increasing Always keep business objectives in mind when choosing a new network. Lead generation and sales are best achieved through networks with high referral rates. Avoid choosing networks simply because they are the current hot trend; you ll end up wasting more time than you care to imagine. Focusing your campaigns on driving traffic will ensure you have measurable social media campaigns that can be monitored accurately to demonstrate ROI. Recap Don t become distracted by the next Facebook killer. Given the rate with which new social networks rise and fall, it is important to concentrate on using only those that help achieve your goals. Focusing on those sites which drive the most traffic to your website will ensure your audience are exposed to call-to-actions to generate new leads.

24 Effective B2B social media marketing: Driving traffic, leads & sales A C I 1 2 Conclusion 3 C 24 Conclusion Social media is an important part of the marketing mix for organisations of every type and size. Communication is transformed when we provide valuable content to our customers, and brands that combine great content with a proper strategy should increase leads and drive sales. Social media activity needs the supporting infrastructure in place though. It s great to tweet links to your blog posts or share your latest infographic on Pinterest but, if the data capture and lead nurturing techniques that support a great social media marketing campaign are missing, your efforts are likely to be in vain. Katapult can help if you are looking to embark upon a successful and integrated social media marketing campaign. Social media is just one aspect of inbound marketing that we can help with alongside others, from creating compelling content and driving traffic to your website, to capturing leads and nurturing them through to sales. Key concepts and statistics Valuable content is at the heart of a good social media campaign. Think about your content before diving in to a Facebook Page and Twitter campaign. Social media profiles will amplify your reach and grow your online visibility and reputation. When set up properly, your Twitter and Facebook pages can become effective pieces of your lead generation strategy. Social media is one of your most powerful content distribution channels. Recap Social media is a powerful tool, but cannot stand alone as a digital marketing solution. In fact, social media comes last you need to discover your voice through blogging and have a keyword strategy first. Social media assumes you have content to share or something to say, so consider your overall inbound marketing process before you focus in on your social media marketing strategy. Katapult Download choosing agency partner ebook Choosing your agency partner for digital marketing success Ask the right questions when appointing your B2B digital marketing agency. katapult.co.uk Office +44 (0)

25 Sources 1 The Nielsen Company, November SocialBakers, January Comscore, February Chadwick Martin Bailey, September Edison Research, Edison Research Eric Qualman, Social Media Statistics 2012, emarketer, Online Content Format Shared Most Often by US Internet Users, Feb Handy Facebook Stats and Charts HubSpot, The Science of Twitter, Clearswift, InboxQ, Social Media s Loaded Questions, Simply Measured, Impact of Facebook Timeline for Brands Study, Expanded Ramblings, 2014

26 Inbound marketing services Contact us today to find out how to get inbound marketing delivering results for your brand. We can help with every aspect of digital marketing and lead generation, just get in touch to find out more. For more content and resources Visit our blog regularly for great posts and premium content covering all things brand, inbound, design, digital and video related. Martin Broadhurst Digital Marketing Manager Katapult, 28 Ashbourne Road Derby, DE22 3AD, UK. Office +44 (0)