Question

Topic: Research/Metrics

Stats Needed. Social Content For B2b Marketers?

Posted by Anonymous on 9/14/2013 at 9:05 PM ET 125 Points
Need help convincing a client of the need for social media content to be valuable and engaging. Their entire content strategy is publishing the latest updates to their software, webinars (about their software) and offers (around their software).

Any links to stats that can demonstrate the need to provide more engaging and non-promotional content?
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  • Posted by Moriarty on 9/15/2013 at 6:14 AM Accepted
    Social media is a tricky issue with some clients. This has more to do with their own personality than the business they're in. That this business is publishing software updates doesn't strike me as the most socially aware business strategy. It's not very engaging.

    Because I grabbed a coffee on the way home last night, and there being little space in the restaurant, meant sharing a table with a gentleman. Being the brazen hussy that I am, this meant that I chatted him up. Guys in Germany don't mind this, by the way. Only being chatted up by me is like being blinded in the headlights. Some people don't like it. Anyway it turned out that he was in IT and his website wasn't doing much. I asked if he had a newsletter, to which the answer was no. So I suggested he sort one out, and find what people liked - post that to a Facebook page and tweet about it. Not much work, a lot of relevant social activity. More to the point, keeping possible customers in his sphere of influence.

    Only I wonder if you could convince your client to have a newsletter that had nothing to do with software updates. Just plain ol' information about what their stuff does. Even better, how his customers have used it to make their businesses more effective. Keep his potential clients in the loop?

    Now most of my stuff is anecdotal, but then, I'm best one-on-one. If I can't convince them in five minutes flat, it isn't going to happen for me. My bet is that you're in the same position, if they're not interested, statistics isn't going to help you much.

    What successes have you had with social media? My point is that this will be far more convincing to them.

    More to the point is why they don't want to engage. Some simply don't know - others prefer the security of having a desk between them and the world. The first will simply grasp the idea - like my gentleman last night - the others will take months of coaxing from out under their desk.

    However, since you asked, and I'm in trouble with the moderator for not answering questions properly - here's

    https://www.knowledgenetworks.com/news/releases/2009/052009_social-media.ht...

    https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akXzD_6YNHCk

    Hope this helps!

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 9/15/2013 at 10:36 AM Member
    Repeat after me: Thou shalt not convince. Thou shalt not engage.

    Instead, seek to entertain, educate, move, touch, and inspire people through informed and logical persuasion that first connects on an emotional level and that then creates justification through logical deduction and decision making.

    Social media is NOT about engagement and sadly, engagement does not happen until several other factors have been established first: search, attention, attraction, desire, knowing, liking, belief, bonding, and trust. Would you ask someone to marry you, to get engaged, on the first date? No, you would not. Or at least, it's unlikely.

    Marketing is about romance and courtship, DURING WHICH the relationship blossoms, FROM WHICH the engagement happens of its own accord, not as a result of being forced—which is what happens in the case of convincing someone of something when that thing one seeks to convince someone of is against that person's emotional balance, or agains their logical train of thought or belief structure.
  • Posted by koen.h.pauwels on 9/16/2013 at 3:30 AM Accepted
    uncertain they are general stats, but these case studies may help:

    1) content-integrated marketing has over 2x the effectiveness of content-separated marketing online:

    https://www.msi.org/publications/publication.cfm?pub=2094

    2) Beyond tweets and likes: how conversation content drives business performance

    https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~atakos/centerresearch/likesandtweets.pdf

    Cheers

    Koen
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