4 B2B Social Media Marketing Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Their B2C Counterparts

When social media first launched, many companies were skeptical that these new platforms could be used to support their business initiatives. Today, if you hear of a company that is not on social media, you find yourself wondering “What are they thinking?”.

According to NewsCred, 87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content. However, many B2B brands are still trailing behind their B2C counterparts when it comes to social media strategy and results.

There is no denying that social media can be used to build brand affinity and increase engagement for B2B companies. Below are a few lessons and examples that B2B companies can learn from successful B2C companies to increase their “likeability” on social networks. You’ll also find a few B2B companies that are already proving it’s possible.

#1 – Highlight Customers & Community

Because of the loyalty that is often built with consumer products, B2C brands have a lot of opportunities to feature their customers or online community. Featuring different people outside of the organization is a fantastic way to better connect your audience with the content shared on social media channels.

GoPro has done a fantastic job of featuring different people within their community regularly on their Instagram account. It can be everything from a smiling baby, to someone using their GoPro to show off their skateboard moves like the image below.

A B2B brand that is also incorporating their community is MailChimp. Along with some of the best brand visuals I’ve ever seen, MailChimp highlights individuals in a super creative way that anyone that is following them can appreciate.

#2 – Support Content Marketing Initiatives

As the largest professional social network, LinkedIn provides many opportunities for B2C and B2B companies alike.

Starbucks is a B2C company with a great LinkedIn feed. Instead of simply sharing a product list or their latest news, they’re creating video content that their audience will find interesting. This post for example provides a sneak peek into how Starbuck’s locations transform for the holidays.

HubSpot is well-known within the online community as a marketing automation tool that businesses can use to create more meaningful interactions with potential customers. However, HubSpot provides some of the most useful content I’ve ever uncovered and does a great job of showcasing that content in an enticing and clever way on their LinkedIn page.

#3 – Show The Human Side of Your Company

Many B2B companies have built their business around process, technology and reliability. However, that direction often cuts out one of the most important elements of a company, the people that are a part of the experience.

Love or hate them, BuzzFeed constantly features their employees in different videos and articles. One of their staff members, Matt Bellassai also has a popular weekly video series that is so good, he’s been nominated for a people’s choice award.

B2B companies have equal opportunity to feature stories about their staff. Salesforce has taken a simpler approach and recently shared a post showcasing some of their employee’s giving back during the holiday season.

#4 – Create Anticipation

When you have a new release or something exciting to share with your customers, it’s a great idea to publish teasers on social media that create anticipation. This can help keep people glued to your feed waiting to see what happens next.

Royal Dutch Airlines created a series of teasers and videos that featured the “unboxing” of their brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Were they talking about ticket prices? No. However, they were creating an experience to connect their audience to the content.

Creativity and building anticipation around an event or unveiling isn’t relegated only to B2C companies. Adobe is currently running what they call a “binge-worthy” docu series where three teams are competing to create a holiday campaign. Adobe published teasers leading up to the launch of the series and is frequently providing status updates and encouraging their audience to catch up on the latest episode.

Bonus: Invest in Targeted Social Media Advertising

One challenge that B2B marketers experience (unlike their B2C counterparts) is that there are often multiple decision makers, at different stages within the purchasing cycle.

If you aren’t already, test creating separate ad campaigns for each of the audiences that you want to attract and engage on social networks and then target appropriately based on their common characteristics.

Can You Spot the Similarities?

Did you notice something similar about all of these examples? No matter which social network both these B2C and B2B companies are using, they’re including great visuals alongside engaging content.

This post just scratches the surface of what is required for a truly successful social media strategy. But what it does highlight is that one of the most important things a B2B company can do is treat their audience in a way that highlights their needs and interests as people, not just as potential buyers.

If you’re ready to take your social media game to the next level, see if TopRank Marketing’s Social Media Marketing services are a good fit for your organization.

Header image via Shutterstock

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Site Optimization: 2 strategies to consider when trying to increase conversion

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Online shopping is a favorite hobby of mine, mainly due to the convenience factor.

Recently, I was shopping online for a new coffee table and found myself with a dilemma. I found a website that had a great assortment of coffee tables: different sizes, shapes and every color you could think of. They had it all. After navigating through the website for a few minutes, I realized finding the right one was going to be difficult. I was having trouble sorting through the different styles and began to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

I had great tables laid out on the page in front of me with no way to organize them how I wanted. Not only was I having trouble with the layout of the page, but there was also a pop-up continuously asking me to sign up for the newsletter and for my personal information.

I quickly became annoyed and overwhelmed, and I left the page.

This made me think of a concept that we teach at MarketingExperiments’ parent company MECLABS: the inverted funnel.

The inverted funnel

Marketers usually use the funnel as an analogy for customers moving through the sales process. What many marketers don’t realize, though, is that their customers are not falling into the funnel — they are falling out. Our Managing Director and CEO at MECLABS, Flint McGlaughlin, has instilled in our company a customer-centric logic. With this logic, we realize that the funnel must be inverted.

By flipping the funnel to illustrate customers climbing up the sides of it, we change the way marketers think about the funnel. Marketers need to realize that their customers are being powered up by decision; if the funnel is not inverted, it is uncontrolled. There is a sequence of micro-yes(s) that a customer must make in their journey up the funnel that will, in the end, lead to conversion.

Personally, I was a customer that fell out of a funnel when looking for the right coffee table. I was having a hard time finding the style I was looking for. After hitting too much friction on the page, I instead found myself making my purchase from a different website. The website I purchased from had everything laid out on the page clear and concise. I was able to sort through the different tables by size, color, brand, etc. This made it easier for me to find exactly what I was looking for with less anxiety.

Today, we’re examining two strategies to consider when trying to increase conversion and power your customers up the funnel.

Strategy #1. Fight the friction

The first concept to look at when trying to power customers up the sides of the funnel is the friction on the page.  At MarketingExperiments and MECLABS, we define friction as the psychological resistance that interferes with a customer making a purchase.

Friction is psychological; it does not exist on your webpages but rather in the mind of your customer.

The website I was shopping on could have easily avoided losing me as a customer if its website had been simplified a little. I continuously ran into walls when trying to find the right coffee table. A marketer should always put themselves in the mind of the customer.

From our research here at MECLABS, we have learned that “difficulty friction” can weigh heavily on a customer’s cognitive conclusions about a purchase.

One factor we as marketers need to focus on is the eye path on a page. Ask yourself these questions:

• Where will your customers look first?
• What are they looking for?

Getting to know your customers and being able to provide a page that shows them exactly what they are looking for is an easy way to decrease friction and help push a customer up the funnel.

 

Strategy #2. Alleviate anxiety

The second concept to look at when trying to prevent customers from falling out of your funnel is their anxiety. At MECLABS, we have found that anxiety — a psychological concern that interferes with a sale — also weighs heavily on a customer’s decision to make a purchase.

In my own personal example, I began to experience anxiety with the pop-up. It continuously asked me to give them my personal information for their newsletter. Not only did I not want the newsletter, but I also didn’t want to provide my personal information.

It is necessary to think about the customer when you decide to place something on your webpage. Ask yourself, what will make them feel safe? You can add certain cybersecurity features to make them feel secure in giving you their information, such as security seals, credibility indicators and testimonials.

Being able to decrease the anxiety of the customer is another way to increase conversion and move customers up the sides of the funnel.

We have now reviewed two strategies to consider when you are trying to prevent someone from falling out of your funnel. Once you have controlled the friction and eased the anxiety of a customer, it becomes easier to push them up the sides of your funnel, thereby increasing conversion.

As a customer shopping for furniture, I encountered a lot of friction on the website, unable to sort through to find the furniture. Most marketers forget they should focus on the customer’s eye path and thought sequence to try to create a fluid flow on the page.

We also discussed how anxiety can cause a customer to fall out of your funnel. For me, this happened with a pop-up. I was already frustrated from the layout of the page, and on top of that, I was experiencing concern with a pop-up that continuously asked me for my personal information so that I could receive a newsletter.

When marketers begin to use customer-centric logic, they will more clearly see when an ad or pop-up or even a question evokes anxiety from their customers. As we discussed, imputing certain features to help reduce customer anxiety will in the end increase conversion. From our research, we have found that when we focus on the customer and how they make choices, we can increase conversion and move customers up the sides of the funnel.

 

You might also like

MarketingSherpa Summit 2016 — At the Bellagio in Las Vegas, February 22-24

Customer Anxiety: One element of the MECLABS Conversion Heuristic explained

Ecommerce: How parent brands can reduce user friction and anxiety

The Marketer as Philosopher: 40 Brief Reflections on the Power of Your Value Proposition [From MECLABS]

4 Hot Mobile Marketing Trends to Watch in 2016

Few things have had such a profound effect on the way we live, work, play and socialize as mobile devices. From sending emails and texts to incorporating cameras, GPS navigation, menu ordering and entertainment, no one could have predicted that the humble “brick” would evolve to become such an integral part of our digital lifestyle.

But just as devices and technologies change, so too do our marketing methods. 2015 was the first year that mobile traffic exceeded that of desktop users. As marketers, this opens up a whole new field of ideas to try and avenues to pursue in order to reach these customers, create dialogues and forge relationships with them in a way that makes our offer irresistible.

Gone are the days of top-down communications, of intrusive ads and poorly aligned customer outreach campaigns. Today, we have more data than ever, and we’re leveraging it to come up with innovative trends and ideas like these:

Customer-Centric will become Customer-Obsessive

Big Data becomes Meaningful Data in our rush to learn more about our customers.
Image source: Connexia

It sounds like the makings of a horror stalker film, but the fact is, in our race to become more customer-centric, we, as marketers, are already bordering on obsession. We’re finally at the point where we’re not being swallowed up by wave after wave of big data, and can start using it to create more meaningful interactions.

Mobile is the vehicle that makes this happen. Few other things are as pivotal to sealing the deal as a device that the customer carries with them everywhere. Figuring out how to make that impact is something that companies are still working on, but you can bet it will be the customer, not the corporation, that powers how these decisions are made.

Search Engine Results Will Display More than Pages

You got Apps in my SERPs!

Google already displays videos in search results, but they’ve recently been experimenting with video ads as well. Other search engines, as well as other platforms like Facebook and Twitter, already leverage these types of ads in the form of auto-playing videos and Vines respectively – but at the moment Google is still testing the waters to determine how audiences respond to video-based ads.

Assuming users are receptive of the idea, don’t be surprised to see apps also sharing a place at the SERPs table. Sure, we already have app directories and recommendations, but apps as part of search results will take these directories and stores to a whole new level.

Also, don’t be surprised to see big shifts in mobile search. UI and UX specialists are still learning how we gesture, point, flick and tap on our devices, and with a search interface that’s designed for typing and scrolling, you can see how trying to wrangle a process built for computers into a small screen with taps and flicks just becomes an exercise in frustration. With so much data available, and so many past browsing habits to draw from, coming up with a page full of results is no longer going to cut it. It’s very likely we’ll see fully optimized, fine-tuned mobile search that enlists the help of third party apps to not just recommend a particular product, but find it in the customer’s preferred color, size, location, price range and much more.

Brands will Blur the Lines Between Apps, E-Commerce and Social

Well-known social platforms are taking their awkward first steps into becoming shopping centers.
Image Source: Adweek

2016 will be the year of even greater innovation from apps we already know and recognize. More seamless integration between those apps and their corresponding e-commerce and social outlets will become commonplace. Many social platforms are already tying e-commerce features into their networks. From Instagram’s “Shop Now” to Pinterest’s “Buyable Pins”, today’s hottest platforms are looking for ways to blur the lines between web, social, app and e-commerce.

As you might expect, the rallying cry from marketing has been “people don’t shop on social media!” but as mobile, social and e-commerce become more integrated, the possibilities open up to hit the right combination of buying and browsing buttons to turn that notion around.

Apps Become Reflections of our Lifestyles

Apps will evolve to become more feature-full in an attempt to position themselves as a lifestyle choice rather than a novelty.
Image Source: EATT Magazine

The problem so far with consistent app adoption has been nailed down to one singular issue – bandwidth. With caps on data and insane overage charges, brands really can’t get as creative or forward-thinking as they might like to with restraints like those holding them back. These days, you might have one app for weather, one to track your fitness level and food input, and another to remind you when it’s time to pick up the kids from school.

Expect apps in 2016 to become less about individual features and more about becoming an integral part of your life – a fitness journal that displays the weather before your run and reminds you when it’s time to get the kids. Sound a bit far-fetched? Not to app developers. As long as there are forced restrictions on how much you can download, apps themselves play a pivotal role in position themselves as more of a lifestyle attachment than a usable “thing” that can quickly be uninstalled in favor of the next big thing. There’s only so much bandwidth that will fit in a mobile plan – better make sure your app is making the most of it.

What’s more, the apps you choose could very well communicate your values in terms of your lifestyle. Just like Doritos and the Superbowl or Mountain Dew and gamers, the apps you use every day could tell people “I’m proud to be a _______ and that’s why I use (app). The more attuned these apps become to our goals, likes and dislikes in life, the more they’ll find themselves being used likely far beyond what the original developers envisioned.

The Next Big Thing?

2016 is bursting at the seams with mobile potential, and that’s not even counting things like wearable technology and mobile automation systems like Echo, Cortana and Siri. At the end of the next year, we’ll take a look back and see how these trends played out. Did they catch on or fizzle out? Did something new and unexpected take hold of our collective attention? What do you think will be the next big thing? Share your ideas with us in the comments below!

About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!

Five Buzzworthy SEO Trends You Must Know About for 2016

Get ready for a new year of changes to Google's algorithms--and your SEO strategy. Here are five of the biggest search trends on tap for 2016. They're sure to be buzzed about next year. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Why Customer Match is the biggest thing to happen to email since Hotmail

Now available on Google and Facebook, features like Customer Match or Custom Audiences are expected to revolutionize digital advertising, especially within the email marketing sphere.

Google Image Search Lets You Save Images For Later With Stars

Google brings back starring for saving image search results to your photo collections. The post Google Image Search Lets You Save Images For Later With Stars appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Digital Analytics Association San Francisco Symposium: ‘Tis the Season for Data

The fourth annual Digital Analytics Association (DAA) San Francisco Symposium is coming up! Join us on Tuesday, December 8th as we host the symposium at Google’s San Francisco office. This year’s event is focused on how all businesses use data to optimize, personalize, and succeed through the holidays.

Our lineup of great speakers includes:

• Jim Sterne, Target Marketing and the DAA
  
• Kristina Bergman, Ignition Partners
  
• Adam Singer, Analytics Advocate, Google
  
• Prolet Miteva, Senior Manager Web Analytics Infrastructure, Autodesk
  
• Joshua Anderson, Senior Manager Analytics, BlueShield
  
• Michele Kiss, Senior Partner, Analytics Demystified
  
• David Meyers, Co-Founder/CEO, AdoptAPet
  
• and other great speakers
  

Theme: Optimization, personalization, and how to succeed through the holidays

When: Tuesday, December 8th, 2015. Registration starts at 12:30. Program runs from 1:00 to 5:30, followed by a networking reception.

Where: Google San Francisco, 345 Spear Street, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

Cost: $25 for DAA members/$75 for non-members

Event website and registration: register here

Space is limited so register early!

San Francisco locals, this Symposium is organized by local DAA members and volunteers. We encourage you to become a member of the DAA and join our local efforts. Become a member and reach out to one of the local chapter leaders, Krista, Charles or Feras.

Happy Holidays!

Posted by Krista Seiden, Google Analytics Advocate

SearchCap: Building Author Rank, Google’s Car Loan Calculator & L.M. Montgomery Google Doodle

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: Building Author Rank, Google’s Car Loan Calculator & L.M. Montgomery Google Doodle appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

SEOs, SEMs, Analysts & Developers: Teams Save Up To 20% At SMX West

Do you manage the search marketing team at your company or agency? Sister site Search Engine Land’s SMX West is the ultimate team-building experience. There members will get must-know SEO, SEM, mobile and conversion optimization tactics at more than 50 sessions and from 100 expert presenters. Is...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.