Robin and I had a conversation last week about some of my revelations on social media. My point was that social media has proven itself as a strong contributor to B2C marketing efforts. B2B companies, on the other hand, had yet to identify the process of getting into the social media game.
Robin did not a see a huge difference between the B2C and B2B ways of using social media to sell products or services. As a result, we’ve got to a point where we agree to the following general process of how B2B companies should be using social media. Here we present the LAR Model (Listen, Analyze, Respond):
Step 1: Listen
- Listening is the key component of any social interaction. People are talking about you, your competitors, your peers and your industry. You need to be aware of what’s being said.
- Some popular tools to help aggregate your listening efforts: Google Alerts, Trackur.com, ScoutLabs.com, Radian6.com, Buzzding.com.
- When you decide to setup a Twitter account for your company, be slow to befriend people right away. Instead, try the following: 1) create an account, 2) listen to what people are saying on topics of interest by using search.twitter.com, 3) analyze what people are saying, and finally 4) start following ones of interest.
- Some topics to try listening to: Vanity (your brand, your URL, your name), industry (influencers, leaders, companies, governing bodies), competition (key terms you compete for, your competitor names, URLs, etc.). More on this topic at FastWonderBlog.com.
Step 2: Analyze
- Once you have gathered information on a subject, it’s the time to look closer into the information you found.
- Consider what people are saying. Is there a trend in what they say about your company? Which events are people talking about? Are there certain people that appear to be “influencers”? What are the problems people experience with your product or service?
- Once you have all these data sorted and arranged in a convenient manner, answer the following questions: How can I solve the problem people are having? Who can I ask for help? Are there any influencers that I could talk to for assistance?
- Finally, you need to choose a champion. Someone (or a small group) who can take ownership of your interaction with social media. If you don’t have the time or desire, a social media or PR agency can help you.
Step 3: Respond
- Now that you’ve come up with a way to address your audience’s issues, you should start the conversation through your social media champion.
- Stick to your plan, but be flexible. Participate in conversations in a consistent manner to establish and maintain the quality of what you’re saying, and avoid confusion.
- Always respond with the assumption that the entire world is listening in. Because they are.
At the end of our heated discussion I realized that we’ve actually moved pretty close to agreeing on things.
Last night I attended an event by Digital Alberta in Calgary – the Mobile Madness and Crowdsourcing Mixer. It was one of the monthly themed networking events put together by the association. Here’s the synopsis of the event from Digital Alberta’s website, which, by the way, is true to what the event delivered.
Paul Poutanen and Stephen King of Mob4Hire have enjoyed tremendous success from creating a business that harnesses the power of the crowd and their mobile devices. Jon Lam of Ph03nix New Media spoke of his plans of raising $2 Million for the iPho3nix fund to develop 133 iPhone Apps. Tapium’s Richerd Chan, who makes iPhone Games and cool applications and Michelle Sklar, host of BNetTV, moderated this insightful look on the industry.
Here are some event highlights from my perspective about the mobile industry:
- Mobile web is experiencing huge growth. Smart phones are in the mainstream.
- Problems with mobile distribution remain. Companies like mob4hire use the power of crowds to test mobile technologies before they get introduced to market.
- Most of the talk at the panel was from a developer’s standpoint. That is, things discussed were: how to build? is the market ready? how to monetize? how to fix operational problems.
- The industry is still relatively new. As a result a lot of problems are coming not from developers but from a lack of infrastructure of mobile networks and carriers and lack of technology standards.
- According to Paul Poutanen of Mob4Hire there close to 100,000 mobile applications on the market right now. paul predicts that within 5 years there will be 5 million mobile applications. Application personalization will play a huge role in the growth of mobile application market. We will all have a personalized application that fits our mobile needs.
- One of the questions from the audience was: how do you promote your Mobile Application? A collective answer from the panel was along these lines: 1) you have to promote where the consumer is (i.e. at app store properties), 2) external marketing vehicles are of great importance too.
- As pointed out by Jonathan Lam of Ph03nix New Media, mobile developers should not be afraid of a market of 100,000 applications. Most of them are developed by amateurs, not by professional / for-profit developers. So, there’s definitely an opportunity rather than threat.
Stay tuned as Sarah Blue of TechVibes reviews the event in greater details.
A lot of small business owners feel as though a salesperson on 100% commission is a panacea. Common thinking is that with no base salary there’s no risk; you only pay them when they produce. Wrong.
Risk #1 – Reputation
When you hire a commissioned salesperson (or anybody for that matter) they become a representative of your company, regardless of what you pay or don’t pay them. They’re out there pounding the pavement on behalf of your company. For most prospective clients, this person is the only person at your company they’ve ever met, so this person is your company. You better be damn sure that they’re well trained and well versed in your company’s offerings and ideals.
Risk #2 – Winning the Right Business
If a salesperson is on 100% commission their goal is to close quantity, not quality. They don’t care what the project should cost. They need that commission to put food on the table, so they’ll happily close a $100 deal for $50. The onus is then on the rest of the salaried team to deliver at half price.
Risk #3 – Loyalty
A 100% commission salesperson has no incentive to stay with you. If they get an opportunity to sell more somewhere else, they will. So all the effort you’ve spent training this individual goes out the door.
What should you do?
Ideally, a salesperson should have a mixed compensation package: A base salary plus commission/bonuses. This works to ensure that they’re properly invested in your company, and properly incentivized to close the right kind of deals.
This past August, a new CMS (content management system) was officially released in its first version. The MODx system has been in development since 2004 but just recently was deemed safe for production use.
The reason for my interest is the demos seem to have taken user experience into account in the design of the system. From a business perspective that means less time holding new user’s hands. Secondly, the framework behind MODx has been very strong. This is important when we’re considering the life of a piece of software and our abilities as developers to customize its functions.
It does concern me a bit that the recently released version 1.0, titled Evolution, is in the process of being completely rewritten for a production release titled Revolution, scheduled for a release date of late 2009. According to the FAQ, an upgrade without an MODifications shouldn’t be a problem but when has an upgrade ever been without problems?
Overall I am quite excited and will give my own install a try shortly. But I am truly more excited for the next release. Until then, it may be able to fill a need for clients than need simpler a CMS that doesn’t need the power (and weight) of Drupal.
Screen shots:
I just came from an event hosted by CMA in Calgary. Presenter: Darren Barefoot of Capulet Communications, titled Deadly sins of Social Media Marketing (Social Media Campaign Killers). Below is a list of the main takeaways from this event and Darren’s presentation.
Disclaimer: Although I will be using the first person in points below, please note that these are just my notes from the event.
- Do it, don’t just talk about it. Social Media marketing does not heal all wounds. Use social media marketing as a tool in combination with other marketing channels, both traditional and digital.
- Measure what you do, review the results, and adjust. Do not be afraid if Social Media does not work for you. It’s not for every business or product.
- Show, don’t tell. Use traditional communications principles such as “a picture is worth a thousand words” to communicate your message. Also show example of how others benefit by using your product.
- Watch your conversational tone. Make sure your conversations are happening in the tone consistent with your product and target audience.
- Don’t launch campaigns on Friday afternoon. By the time you are back in the office on Monday, your client / brand / product will be severely damaged. Online communities are not taking weekends.
- Know your audience. What they are, where they are, what they want.
- Don’t spam, don’t broadcast, play by the rules. Spam and you’ll suffer.
- Observe what the web says. First monitor and listen, then analyze and react. Things to consider when reacting: be honest and use the same channel that was used to talk about your company. For example, post a video response on YouTube. Make a campaign of it.
- Monitor all the time, not just once a month. Create Alerts and make sure you are notified about every mention of your brand / product / company online.
- Find great community managers, champions. Can’t find any? Create them. Don’t assume that interns are the best people to enhance your reputation online. Champion needs to have the following qualities:
- Passionate about your business, company
- Aware of brand issues and social etiquette
- Great at knowing the audience and talking to them
- Great at soliciting feedback from the audience
- Digitally savvy, technology, social media
- The Internet is made of people. Put your people in the center on your website and social profile as they are the ones that deliver the value to the client.
- Don’t abandon blogs. Although it’s time consuming, keep at it. Allocate enough resources to talk about your company’s people.
- Don’t bullshit. The web will know. Even after the campaign ends, the info is still there on search engines. The web is the “archive”.
The next big thing according to Darren Barefoot, is Foursquare and communities like it: Location-based social networks where people interact based on game rules. Google Latitude is another example of similar service.
