Social media has become a basic requirement for marketing communications programs. While B2B marketers may feel pressured to immediately be a part of popular communities and outlets, slapping Linked In and Facebook features on a web site and getting a few enthusiastic employees to tweet, isn’t a strategic way to begin participating. Many B2B marketers have jumped into social media with me-too tactics without thinking about strategic objectives and goals.

Although the hype is impossible to ignore, many B2B marketers are still trying to determine how to use social media to aid other established B2B communication channels. Researching and monitoring is an essential first step and can yield ongoing valuable information, (Download the Social Media & the Art of Listening White Paper PDF) but it’s not something that drives business and sales.
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On December 4, 2009, Google announced that they were rolling out personalized search to everyone, whether you are logged in or not. Your personalization will be based on your past 180 days of search activity, using information stored in an anonymous browser cookie.

Have you noticed personalization yet? If you are unsure, here’s how you can tell if your results are personalized or not. Note: Not all results are personalized.

I ran a Google search for “cars," and directly above the search results there is a link that says “View customizations.” This tells you that the results you are seeing are personalized. So far, I have only noticed the personalization on broad searches.

There are a couple ways to turn off personalization:
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I remember taking a journalism class back in college where the professor harped on using the same adjectives more than once in a story. He urged us to be more creative to come up with different adjectives, and would even dock points if we duplicated words. Since then, I’ve always had a thesaurus at my desk.

Admittedly, this was before today’s search engine revolution, with its emphasis on keywords. Now, instead of using a thesaurus to help write a press release we turn to the Keyword Tool on Google AdWords, which allows you to test keywords or phrases and see how often they are being searched. You don’t want to select words with poor search results.

This presents a dilemma for many writers who like to use their official company lingo, abbreviations, or even generic wording (e.g., the word
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Being connected to customer needs and desires should be a key aspect of shaping your B2B brand. But the engine of growth needs to include creativity, something many B2B executives don't spend much time on. Others like Google stake their reputation on creativity. They walk the talk: All engineers are allotted up to 20 percent of their time to work on their own ideas. The result? Products like Gmail and Google News, seeds of which began as personal endeavors.

According to MIT Media Lab, a hotbed of creativity, the secret sauce for business creativity is developing an environment where different people from different areas and disciplines of an enterprise, work together to share ideas to innovate.

Dr.
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Direct Marketing has seen a good deal of change over the last few years. As online technology continues to evolve, procurement of information becomes quicker and easier. Over the next few weeks I will overview three major changes that have changed how many companies are approaching their direct program.

In this post I will discuss the ability to selectively grow your database and approach prospects, future posts will focus on Co-Registration and Post Click Marketing.

Purchasing one name at a time:
If you’ve spent time planning or managing direct marketing programs then you’ve probably been up against minimums of 5,000, 7,500 or even 10,000 names. Or maybe you have leaned more towards the compiled (multi-sourced) list solutions that require monetary minimums. In a previous post I focused on getting the most out of these minimums, but what
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There is a running joke around the office about my "love" of twitter. So, it was not surprising when my colleagues asked if I will run out and buy a Ford after the news that twitter will be incorporated into future Ford Motor Co. vehicles. (And, the answer is no, by the way.)

But, in all sincerity, as a public relations professional who loves to connect with people and needs to stay tuned into the latest industry news, twitter has been very helpful. Here are a few simple examples of how you can use it:

• Follow publications that are relevant to your space to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the industry. On my personal twitter account (@ABBYBUTT), I recently started a B2B publication list… check it out – and if you are an editor or a publication and I missed you on the list,
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Like most service industries, over the past few years HVAC contractors have seen an explosion in online social directories like Angies List, ServiceMagic and InsiderPages.com. As these new social directories take hold, and consumers begin to learn from each other, share stories and rate contractors, their popularity has made other archaic directories like the yellow pages a thing of the past. In fact, according to a recent Decision Analyst study, the Yellow Pages have seen a decline in usage by more than 24% since 2002.

So are these new social directories the preferred advertising medium of the future? The jury is still out on that question. All of these companies are trying to capture that Holy Grail of endorsements that have traditionally only come from word-of-mouth opinions of family, friends, and co-workers. Have they successfully accomplished that…not yet.

Studies show that over 31% of respondents still report that they seek the advice of friends,
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Recent posts by Stacy Whisel and Jim Everhart provide good reasons WHY B2B marketers should consider adding social media to their marketing communications programs.

As we engage marketing people about B2B social media, the conversations usually starts with HOW, whether it's externally (the technologies and channels) or internally (the company policy that governs social media participation).

Both of these are important, but what tends to be a secondary conversation is WHAT should be communicated. Maybe that's assumed, although the "wild frontier" nature of social media brings with it a lack of focus, so we don't like to assume away the need for a solid messaging plan. It's an essential part of brand guardianship in the social media arena.

What's more, there isn't much conversation about how to ensure that core messaging is conveyed in an effective manner.
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If you have already read J.Leigh Brown’s post about adapting your thinking regarding social media, but are still not convinced that you should include a social media strategy as part of your 2010 marketing initiatives, please consider the following:

Ten Reasons to develop a social media strategy in 2010

1. Real time search results – Google and other major search engines have incorporated Twitter into the results. You could potentially be bumped in the rankings by an outside party tweeting about your company or products.

2. Reduced marketing spend in 2009 – If budget cuts forced you to go dark in 2009, a social media strategy can help you reconnect with your customers and prospects.
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In the late 90s, The Cluetrain Manifesto, one of the more incendiary books on the new media, made the statement, “markets are conversations.” The truth of that observation has become apparent in the rise of social media in this decade.

Perhaps more importantly for B2B marketing strategy, B2B social media (yes, it was necessary to repeat “B2B”) are quickly becoming the medium where thought leadership is established.

There’s one important reason why social communities are displacing brochures, PR articles, and white papers as the medium of choice for B2B thought leadership messaging: as lawyers put it, you can’t cross-examine a piece of paper.

Social media give readers a chance to talk back, ask questions and start a conversation. And it is in those conversations where B2B thought leadership is now being established.

So how can a B2B marketer use B2B social media to establish thought leadership? We recommend
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