We decided that the usual approach to displaying agency credentials can be a little hum drum and dry, no real personality and often cluttered with information which agencies believe is vital to the reader. Out of this frustration was born the Essential Credentials Infographic, an “at a glance” view of our agency. Highlighting our best bits and incorporating QR codes for those who want to know more, this Essential infographic serves to give a more lighthearted and interactive medium than ever before. Check it out and let us know your thoughts and give us any feedback you feel we should hear.

I’ve often been vocal about Google’s half baked attempts to enter the social space, however Google+ brings a lot more to the table.

Positioned as a direct competitor to Facebook, Google+ sets to leverage the massive influence of parent company Google to become a key player in the ever growing social space. Having just hit 25million visitors, it is well on its way to making its presence known and by creating a ‘Beta’ stage where users must have been invited it has not only added to the exclusivity, and dare I say excitement, but also created the ideal platform for a global launch.

Current visitors to the registration page will be greeted with the following message:

“At the moment, we’re testing with a small number of people, but it won’t be long
before the Google+ project is ready for everyone. Leave us your email address
and we’ll make sure that you’re the first to know when we’re ready to invite more people.”

Is Google+ the new Facebook?

I’ve been pondering this question over the past few weeks as Google+ has grown rapidly (faster than any other social network’s rise) and I believe we’re seeing an additional platform rather than an alternative and here’s why.

• Those who are on Facebook are already familiar with its interface and mechanics
• Facebook still has over 500 Million users
• Integration of Facebook functionality is already widespread across the web
• Existing Facebook users already have their circle of friends
• Digital social dynamics will have been formed amongst online friends and groups of contacts

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Google+ will wither away and be forgotten, but I don’t believe that it will suddenly be taking the Facebook user base away. As we have become more accustomed to the concept of social networks, individuals are more experimental, happier dabbling with other options. Personally I believe that it is this intrigue and “want” to be part of something which everyone is talking about which has driven the rapid adoption and exploration of this new platform. Just as we saw for twitter during its “summer of love”, the growth is rapid, the drop off is quick and what remains are millions of unmaintained accounts.

In an ecosystem which is potentially saturated with social networks and options for every imaginable interest, I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see how Google+ sells its USPs to the masses. The Google+ “Circle” function which allows users to select which members of their community receive which updates is indeed ingenious, but is it really enough to be a deal breaker?

Google, I’ve enjoyed your starter but I shall wait for the main course before passing my final verdict. Bon appetit!

As we find ourselves immersed in the digital age, we’re becoming increasingly obsessed with insight and analysis of user interaction, visits, page views, downloads, goals, conversions and any other metric you care to name. Focusing on blogs the one very important interaction mechanic and function is the ability to comment.

As a content creator and blog editor I look forward to, and get that warm feeling, when someone comments on a blog post with kind words or an alternative point of view.

If I didn’t want people to comment I’d turn off that functionality. Making it a black and white decision either you can manage comments effectively (a great post on the trials and tribulations of trolls can be found at Econsultancy) in which case you read each and every comment and post anything as long as it adheres to your guidelines or alternatively you can turn it off altogether.

However, I’ve recently noticed that blogs which I regularly read – which are by no means big players – are simply not nurturing those who try to participate in commenting on their blogs and in my experience my comments (which contained nothing but kind words and a potential extension to a piece) often don’t even appear. My delightful colleague @richard_turrell has joked that it’s because my opinions are boring, but the whole reason for allowing comments is so others can share their opinions, as a result of this apparent neglect I have become strangely irritated and widely disillusioned by certain blogs.

There is one blog in particular which I can no longer read as none of my comments have ever been posted, which to me is counter-productive, lazy or just plain bone-idle, which has ultimately lost them a reader and an engaged one at that.

In summary: If you’re keen to write content online and you have a comments section on your blog, then manage it in a structured and timely fashion. If you believe you don’t have the resource or time to handle them, then I suggest you turn commenting off. But whatever you do, please don’t neglect your readers who are trying to have some input, they have invested time reading your content and replying, the least you could do is do the same.

In all aspects of marketing, we’re forever discussing how content should be tailored to the audience, not out of a desire to multiply work, but because getting the right content to the right people really matters. From a social media perspective, the easy mistake is to stretch resources by jumping on board each and every platform that your target audience may be on and instead of taking the time to strategically review where best to focus your attention it can instead turn into a game of profile survival with content syndication becoming many marketeers’ saviour.

By syndication, I mean the automatic sharing of content from one social profile to another; for example you post a tweet and it appears on your linkedIn news feed. A fairly innocuous activity at first glance, simply sharing that one piece of information with all your contacts… But is it so innocuous? For all our talking about leveraging the social space and ensuring that what we’re saying is relevant, is this syndication a direct violation of our own social morals?

Before the ‘social explosion’ email was (and very often still is and for good reason) a primary channel for targeted communications. Databases can be analysed and segmented in any manner of ways, ensuring that the emails are relevant to each of the partitions. Now imagine a database which is divided into four groups, potentially each group is at a different stage in the buying cycle or have different responsibilities within an organisation so have different pain points and touch points. To satisfy these four groups, we would need four different emails, each tailored to the specific group ensuring maximum relevancy and ROI. Now put all these four groups together, they still all buy the same product just in different ways, but instead of receiving one email they now receive four. What’s the outcome? A very low ROI and potentially complaints about the spamming of their accounts.

Despite the obvious flaws in this strategy it is the same dynamic that content syndication in the social space can follow if not used effectively. Look at your profiles and see how they’re linked up, see where you could cut the link and consider leveraging your content in a more aligned manner.

I’m not saying “never syndicate”, adding #FB or #in to your tweets once in a while is no bad thing and some sites such as Instagram are ideal for linking to a Posterous, Tumblr or Twitter account, but not all social platforms are so versatile.

Look at your audience, look at your content and consider who would benefit from having access to it. A successful social media strategy can be as tailored as you want it to be, and you really want it to be as tailored as possible!

Our online presences are increasingly the first point of call for potential customers, contacts and leads, but is that site able to handle a dramatic traffic shift. With the ever increasing use of corporate blogs, it’s easy to imagine how a single article may become your most valuable asset. Creating something which resonates with your audience is a vitally important aspect of writing a blog and whilst you hope it will be shared across the social web and read an inordinate number of times, have you considered the ramifications of what may happen if you’re a little more successful than you thought?

In my spare time, I write and manage a road biking blog which has now been running for almost 2 months. My existing community base (built up via twitter) helped support the blog launch and create a readership for my content, driving a regular base level of traffic. However, I began a discussion with an individual via twitter who was planning a trip away and was an ideal candidate for guest blogging. To cut a long story short, we posted her content upon her return and she let her community know. Little did I know that her community included the global press officers for one of the top pro cycling teams. Before I knew it I was being bombarded by emails asking if the content could be posted on team fan pages, pro teams were retweeting the content and the exclusive video and pictures were spreading like wild fire!

This was fantastic, what great exposure for the blog. The usual 15-25 visits a day we’re being over shadowed by the 150…200…250…300…visits it was now receiving. I couldn’t complain, I had been handed a silver platter of exclusive, high quality content. But I had made one oversight…my infrastructure. No sooner had I been high on the elation than I had an emergency email from my web host saying I had reached 98% of my traffic quota for the month. By the time I had logged in and upgraded my hosting package, my site was down. Visitors were met with dead pages, traffic was reaching a dead end. This looked bad, on both me and the author and every other person whom had shared the link!

If this had been a business scenario, these visitors could have been potential customers and all they would see is an error page. Hardly the ideal landing page solution! It’s hard to plan for traffic spikes, but it is something which should be carefully considered when carrying out publicity or running traffic driving campaigns.

Let me first set the scene. I recently read “Has Twitter abandoned small businesses?” over at The Wall UK which looked at how the high costs set by twitter are pricing the small businesses out of the game, unlike AdWords which allows every person no matter how small their budget to have a go!

With pricing starting at $5000 on Twitter’s marketing platform for its “promoted tweets” I am inclined initially to agree that small businesses are unlikely to be able to part with that kind of cash…but this did get me thinking about the whole concept of twitter’s newest evolution!

We are now in an age where individuals are becoming more savvy to the efforts made by marketers to tempt them, their web knowledge is greater than ever before, navigating the internet is second nature. All of this means that advertising in any format online is becoming increasingly approached with scepticism by the user. This scepticism can be seen with AdWords where users are clearly identifying them as marketing, where historically they were increasingly seen as “relevant results provided intelligently by Google”! But don’t get me wrong, in a search engine I believe that the interactive nature of the user and their reason for being there aligns perfectly with AdWords, and I believe Adwords can be a hugely powerful tool.

What I am picking at however is that in an environment where people are looking to discover and share content, is there really a sound business case for the promoted tweet? If there is, is it more powerful than trying to become an integral part of the conversation?

Whilst the new business model for Twitter could potentially alienate smaller businesses, it does have the potential to showcase larger businesses who do adopt it as being no more “connected” with their user base or customers than before on these social platforms. This will in effect just be another banner ad but in a social environment. That alone does not make them any more social than running an AdWords campaign!

On a personal note, I’ve had promoted tweets in my twitter streams, and have as yet not clicked on one. Why? Because when I see something that says “Promoted” I’m generally discouraged from interacting.

As a real world example, think about the last event you went to. Do you remember who sponsored the event? Maybe, maybe not, but what’s important is that I’m sure you got more value out of someone you met at the event and remember them much better than the sponsors logo which was put on every asset you were handed. That’s essentially what promoted tweets are, they are simply another impersonal (however targeted) advert which serves to gain exposure through paid media.

So, where does this leave the small businesses? Well having realised the financial implications of the promoted tweet option, they should look to leverage what they are good at:

• Treating their customers on a personal level
• Adding value by listening to their customers
• Building their users and customers into their programs

Small businesses have the ability to work on a much more granular level to build a network, not of “Facebook likes” or other half-hearted interactions, but of real relationships that matter. They are much more capable of creating a self sustaining community which brings valued customers and prospects together!

In a massive corporate enterprise, the infrastructure for managing such communities can be huge and often doesn’t have the time required to shake the hands of its members at the individual level. I can see how large enterprises would like the concept of the promoted tweet, it plays by their rules on their terms, they do not have to rely on employees engaging in conversations, they can simply follow their traditional paid media model in a brand new & evolving environment.

Only time will tell how this chapter of the monetisation of the social space pans out, but I will be very interested to know how long will it be before the users become savvy enough to the promoted tweets that their value to any organisation diminishes, large or small? And then, what strategies will we see coming to change the game once again?

TFM&A is the UK’s largest & longest running multi-channel marketing, media & advertising event. Covering everything from direct mail and digital to data and CRM, TFM&A is a great source of information and an ideal means to see how the marketing and advertising industry is evolving as technology progresses.

This year, Charlotte Olney (who previously shared her findings here on the blog) & myself set off to the event in search of industry developments and hot topics…and a lesser spotted pink T-Shirt, but that’s another story!

1. Data is everything.

Marcel Holsheimer – VP Marketing, Unica

Boots: CRM – Advantage card.

In order to make this work Boots had to be clear on what they wanted to achieve from all the data they were soon to be capturing. To make sure they were targeting their promotions and communications correctly they needed to be thinking about:

Who are their customers? – Age group, parental status, sex…
What is being purchased? – Cosmetics, medication, electricals, photo processing…
When do they shop? – Lunch, after work, weekends…
Where do they shop? – Close to work, near home, along their journey…
Why do they purchase? – Range of products, quality, availability…

To the above you could also add “How are Boots’ customers purchasing?” Online, in store, cash, card…

From signing up and using the Advantage card, Boots are able to gather all the above information, log it in the CRM and analyse it. All of this information forms a rounded view of each customer, allowing for targeted promotions to be created and appropriately distributed. If you understand your customers’ buying habits, you can leverage that to benefit your organisations bottom line.

As a result of having the database of information, Boots were able to launch a very successful integrated campaign via 6 different channels:

• In-store product campaigns
• Targeted email campaigns
• In – store kiosk offers
• Corporate campaigns (for their ‘own brands’ like the No 7 range).
• Clubs for customers aligned to certain core demographics (eg: new mums).
• Statement mailings both online and via post, as a reminder to customers what they have accrued and more importantly what they could save.

All of the above were tailored and targeted to specific customers, which was all possible as a result of the data they obtain during the initial sign up process and use of the Boots Advantage Card.

As a result of this data collection process, Boots now have a staggering 82% of the UK female population on their database, and can define the buying habits of those women on an individual or demographic basis.

Now who here wouldn’t like a customer database like that?

2. How Social Media is a relatively untapped source of marketing.

Emma Roffe – Director Marketing/CMO European Markets Cisco
Aaron Kahlow – CEO, Online Marketing Connect

Everyone is shifting to “digital”, everyone is experimenting with social media and the few who aren’t are certainly considering it. Different digital channels provide different opportunities to marketers and meet a different set of criteria, the key is to finding the right ones. Marketers and companies need to first gain a better understanding of how their target markets are consuming their social media and acting in the digital space.

This digital shift is clear to see at Cisco, where it currently manages;
19 Twitter accounts,
16 YouTube Channels,
12 Facebook pages,
…and that’s Europe alone.

Using more than one social platform is critical, they each offer a different interaction style and opportunity. In order to create a better campaign you need to be reaching out on as many Social media channels as possible. However, it is worth remembering that “as many as possible” only extends as far as your audience or strategy compliance, joining every social network for the sakes of it is simply a waste and can actually devalue your content.

Emma Roffe also informed us that;

“Companies engaged in social media saw an increase of 18% revenue last year.”

Another point which really stood out to me was that:

“Just because it is social does not mean companies can afford to be causal about their social media strategy.”

Thanks to the rise in social media marketing, the opportunities to leverage the consumer seem to be a never ending challenge. As social media is still a relatively new way of marketing in the digital space when compared to other strategies, you need to be willing to take a slight risk in exploring. Thinking like this led Yahoo to approach Cisco and create a social media campaign which would invite David Beckham fans to post questions for him and the best ones from around the world would actually be put to David Beckham in a live webcast. Yahoo had concerns about this strategy, but Cisco was confident as it holds events like this (though with fewer world famous figures) every six weeks, but even they had to start somewhere!

Cisco have also deployed social media in other areas of their business:

NetPro community: Customers helping each other via a social media site set up by Cisco. This has lead to a result of 70% help call avoidance

• Cisco I-Prize: Social media that lets customers pitch Ideas to Cisco for new products
• Cisco I-Zone: Internal version of the above
• Cisco Live: Originally an offline event, Cisco Live has launched via online channels as a result of demand from individuals across the social space
• Cisco Social Miner: Application set up to allow Cisco to catch and track non specific tags on Twitter (ie: without an @ or # tag)

The main points from this seminar were:

• Keep your posts relevant
• Companies need to take the leap into the social space
• Have a social media strategy in place
• Have a contingency plan in case something goes wrong
• Get stuck in! Explore and experiment with social media

Social media is an online reflection of traditional human behaviour. If you can predict how someone will behave you can target them with great precision and, thanks to social media, you can retain them for the future through valuable engagement.

3. New School Marketing

Jon Stanesby – Senior Strategic Consultant, Responsys

The reason behind the term: The increase in device diversity & technology has enabled the usage of a much wider selection of media we’re able to utilise.

There is a noticeable shift from “aiming” a campaign at a consumer demographic to developing a relationship with them via their online activity & profiles. The consumer is being empowered to levels never before considered.

The advances in mobile technology have changed the entire game. With everyone’s life connected all the time and synchronised via the mobile web, individuals are inherently more contactable, but are also more savvy to the traditional strategies employed by companies. The trick now is to identify the best way to engage with consumers through non-invasive yet high value methods.

Data is critically important to everything which I have covered here it forms the basis of every activity carried out online and offline, without it we’re just stabbing in the dark. We are now able to automate the process to a certain extent, but there will always be a requirement for human intervention, especially as we increasingly have to consider human conversation and emotion online through multiple media types.

As digital marketing continues to evolve and shape our everyday world, companies need to work in ‘Harmony’ with consumer, enriching their daily lives, not shouting at them. Throughout all of this, ensure all your marketing efforts are supportive of one another, that they integrate into a seamless experience for the consumer which remains relevant from start to finish. Remember, the relationship with the customer now extends far beyond the point of sale!

4. Why people use their social media platforms

Patrick Kelly – Relationship Manager, Exact Target

From this seminar I gained a greater understanding of which social networks consumers are using and how they use/perceive them. Twitter and Facebook are the two leading social networks in terms of market share and users.

Patrick, also referred to a term called the ‘Digital morning’ or rather where your consumers begin their day (and when/where best to catch them). 58% of those surveyed began their morning on their Email client, and 11% went direct to Facebook.

This did get me thinking briefly about my own ‘Digital Morning’ here at Essential:

1. TweetDeck
2. Hotmail
3. Facebook.

Key factors of what users base their social networking activity on:

Email
Discounts, Promotions, Product information, Cross Promotion.
Exclusivity: This is becoming increasingly important, what are they getting in return for their address?

Why do they unsubscribe?
Too frequent, too repetitive, same information available from other sources

Facebook
Connection with brands they choose in a non-aggressive manner
Entertainment
Discovery of content from friends and groups
Discounts, promotions from brands via their profiles
Support company, self-expression.
Content needs to be entertaining and fun.
Personal space – you can talk to whomever you want and block whomever you want.

Why do they stop following brand via Facebook?
Too many posts, clogged up newsfeed
Repetitive – Same content being pushed over and over until something new comes along.
One time offers as a reward for joining, leaving no reason to stay!
Don’t offer enough value, either emotional or financial…

Twitter
Influence – Users are 3 times more likely to have influence on a brand/product
Brevity – Quick/Easy/Instant
Accessibility – can contact anyone (challenging social boundaries)
Interaction – The whole conversation is open to participate with
Versatility – Constantly changing topics, users can interact across multiple point of interest simultaneously
Able to see true Brand personality as conversations are open for all to see

Why do they stop following?
Content becomes boring and/or repetitive.
Becomes too crowded and begins to be a place for noise rather than conversation, especially in hot topics.
Too Frequent – If it’s not worth hearing they’ll stop listening.

This seminar was particularly enlightening as the findings above are based on quantitative research which has finally given real insight into the causes of engagement failure where previously it was predominantly based upon speculation.

This year’s TFM&A was my first, and having just entered into the world of digital marketing it was enlightening and exciting to see just how big, challenging and fast changing the industry is. There was certainly a strong focus on the shift towards social media, though the elements of data collection and usage remain critical factors for email marketing which is still a driving force in digital marketing. I look forward to next year’s event, where I’m sure that once again the rule book will have been entirely re-written…

I want to start this post by saying “Hello”. I’ve not written for The Essential Blog before so this has been a long time coming and it was a great experience.

My main role for Essential is to create, distribute and report on client emails. As writing is not in my everyday role, I had forgotten how much fun it can be. I found it helped me to evaluate my thoughts in greater detail and discover ideas I would not have otherwise.

Anyhow, enough about me, you’re here to hear about the TFM&A exhibition, so here goes…enjoy!

The Technology for Marketing and Advertising show (TFM&A) is the UK’s largest and longest running multi-channel marketing, media and advertising event. It is held yearly at Earl’s Court in London. Having previously exhibited at the event it was great to be a visitor and attend all the seminars on offer. I attended day 2 of the show; Wednesday 2nd March, 2011. Below I have outlined my 5 key findings from the day.

1. Hesitation to use social media marketing methods

There have been many advances in the digital world in recent times, with social media making a drastic shift; from a personal channel of expression to a very effective channel for companies to send their messages to the ready-built audience.

Talking to people at the show, it was apparent that many of them were unsure how to take their first steps in utilising the business opportunities available to them through Social Media. One delegate described it, quite aptly, as a “minefield”. This attitude seemed to be shared by individuals in all positions from Marketing Executives to Company Directors.

There are clearly, as we were shown at the show, many positives to using Social Media in Marketing Campaigns. However, the single biggest reason for not taking the first step seems to be fear. I have outlined the pro’s and con’s below:

Pros

• Ready-made audience
• Message can spread quickly
• Easy use of different mediums. I.e. – video on YouTube.
• Free!

Cons

• Not targeted

Both

• Can reply in public domain if agree / disagree. Reputation of company effected.

2. Relevancy

The key is relevancy. Firstly when considering Social Media as a marketing tool always use the most relevant channel to suit the message. Secondly make sure the messaging suits the audience. A great example of Social Media fulfilling a campaign is Icelandair* who, during the ash cloud saga of 2010, reached out to their customers through Twitter. They used it as a way to feed information about the flights to their stranded passengers. No promotional messaging was used and this was a free and timely way to show that they were doing all they could in a difficult situation.

*1 Source: Social Media Marketing Seminar / Tying Social Media and Marketing Together: Designing a multi-channel campaign / Archna Trivedi, Head of Relationship Management, ExactTarget.

3. Be Prepared / Be Surprised

The main concern when channelling a campaign though Social Media is the risk to a company’s reputation. This does not mean a campaign should not be actioned, but it is essential to have a plan in place should bad feedback be received. This happened and was tackled, by a cosmetic company when confronted by an animal rights campaigner on Facebook*. Rather than ignore the issue the cosmetic’s company responded with a letter outlining their reasons and also published it online for all to see. This resulted in the campaigner publicly stating that it was great to hear a real response from such a large company and also ensured the public could see the truth.

The power of the social platform can also boost a company profile unexpectedly. This was showcased by the Facebook campaign (completely initiated and pushed by Facebook users) centred around bringing back the Cadbury’s Wispa. Cadbury saw that this was a popular demand and after 4 years off the shelf, the Wispa was bought back into production in 2007. In this instance the customer stated what they wanted and steered the business accordingly. Cadbury could also be confident of the success due to the demand and passion shown by the public.

* Source: The Future of the Social Web: Facebook’s vision for brands being social / Stephen Haines, Commercial Director, Facebook UK.

4. Email Marketing is not dead!

The new methods should not mean that email should not be used as a marketing tool or that it is being replaced. It is a highly effective tool for targeted messaging and even though the audience will (generally) be lower than the Social Space, the recipients have opted-in or are part of a targeted database, making them highly relevant to the mailing. This means chances are that the conversion rates will be higher than social media when measuring the percentage converted with the number of messages sent.

5. Reporting

We can assume that, as stated above, when targeting a campaign the more relevant the data the better the results. However with social media campaigns there is no concise way of measuring how many people have viewed the campaign or delved further into the details. This is in stark contrast to email marketing. Many email tools are available to create and send campaigns and sophisticated reports can be generated instantly. These at the very least cover open rates and click rates as well as manage opt-outs and bounce data. Additionally most of the tools can then be plugged into a web analytics system and track the customer journey once they have clicked through an email. This is particularly important in a B2B company where our clients rely on us to deliver campaigns and provide detailed feedback and insight into the success

Weighing everything from the show up, I believe social media is a great channel to market in, albeit a new and emerging one which is not 100% understood / utilised in many cases. It is also important to remember that established channels such as email marketing are still alive and kicking and make interesting campaigns from build to reporting. All in all choose the best channel for your needs and budget; or indeed use them all in sync. Most of all don’t be afraid to try something new (as long as you are prepared for all eventualities) and have fun with your campaigns.

How convenient would it be to have your favourite blog just one simple touch away on your smartphone? To sit on the train or in a coffee bar and not have to remember the URL or trawl through endless bookmarks within your mobile browser? Well wonder no more as you can now access our blog directly from your mobile desktop by clicking on our shiny new desktop icon.

To download the icon directly to your mobile desktop you’ll need to bookmark the page to your home screen on your phone. The screens below show the three quick steps you need to follow to set this up for an iPhone,

The Final Icon	Navigate to The Essential Blog via your mobile browser letting the page completely load. Then click the highlighted icon at the bottom of your screen	Select “Add to Home Screen”	Choose an appropriate name e.g. “Essential Blog” and you’re done. There is now a beautiful icon awaiting you via your home screen!

There’s one word which has probably dominated and distorted the social space for many years; Viral. It resonates with so many people in so many ways, and evokes a whole array of emotions. When I hear it, my blood runs cold and my eyebrow is raised. The cause of this used to be solely the concept that viral is a result of something, not a certainty identified during planning, but now, in the B2B environment the reasoning has been amplified.

I have recently spoken of the differences of buying cycles between B2B and B2C environments, and this post is something of an extension. In the B2C space the focus is on exposure, on creating content which more people see than that of your competition, which is remembered by customers more emotionally and shared more freely. But this is simply not a dynamic which can be directly translated into the B2B environment.

Where numbers are vanity in the B2C space, they are almost entirely redundant in the B2B space. Sharing is carried out in a very different way which is why strategic content plans are so vitally important to the audience. It’s not about the creation of content and the distribution across social media, it’s about leveraging the content with specific audiences. For anyone who’s ever worked with white papers and case studies, you’ll know that they are in fact not for distribution, a registration is required to act as a data collection point, helping build a possible lead generation base.

The reality is that in the B2B world, it’s not about the number of people which see something, the critical aspects are getting the individuals to DO something. Be it fill in a registration form, book an appointment or simply pick up the phone. Companies are looking for a competitive edge over the competition, so why would they give that away so freely, why would they share a solution which took time and money to identify, test and implement? OK, so maybe this is a little extreme a perspective from me but I think you see my point.

The relationships that need building in B2B are just that, relationships. They are not fleeting interactions, they are not another single view on a YouTube video which has accrued over a million hits. What value are those million hits if it didn’t lead to anyone continuing through the buying cycle? This fixation with numbers has warped the entire social media space, often because they are the most easily measureable; retweets, followers, views, visits, traffic delivery, downloads…but what do they really mean. In a B2B environment, the value comes from building a rich relationship, one of the biggest motivators for a purchase completion is trust; a term which is still hugely underestimated in the social space. Trust shapes everything, without it there is no worth in any of the words written, audio broadcast or video watched, trust between individuals changes everything.

Try looking at your B2B social environment, identify those whom you interact with, identify how you would carry out real world communications and how you would like to be ‘tended to’. Then translate this into the online environment and make people feel valued and catered for. Selling another PC in the consumer world won’t change anyone’s life, but sealing an enterprise deployment of technology…now that’s potentially a very different story!