Student Post/ Content Marketing for B2B

What is content Marketing? Content Marketing is defined as the creation and distribution of content across the web that users find valuable and significant, and that could pour visitors to the website. In term of marketing, content are all the things on your website. Your web content must be great and useful information or tools that your visitors would find meaningful and helpful.

 With this definition in mind, we would like to discuss “Content Marketing for Business to Business (B2B)”.

 In B2B online marketing, content are used in different forms to inform and motivate customer. It could have and immense success through the long buying cycles. When prospects see useful content published by your brand through your website, and other social channel, they would devour them, and they would lead themselves through much of the initial phase of awareness, interest, and consideration.  Smarter and good content is more capable, and it could educate your prospect before you get to the sales discussion, and make the sales cycle shorter, and it could have an impact on order volume and referrals.

 

                                  

                                   Content Marketing is a building stones for B2B        

 

What matter in B2B marketing content is not more content, but thoughtful, creative and consistent information which is designed for a particular audience, specific outcome, an individual objective, and part of an overall strategy? Content is like a building stones to keep visitors on your website longer. Every word matter, and must speak volume that builds interest.

 

                                         Every Word Must Count

 

Here are 5 strategies of good content marketing for B2B:

1.    Planning – should be adaptable and capable of analytical input and interactive improvement. You must be opening minded and be willing to put in new and creative ideas.

 2.    Prospect Central- Understand customer needs, interests, goals, and pin points throughout the buying cycles. Seeing things from the prospect’s point of view will help B2B marketers to develop a content that echoes, engages, and gets shared.

 3.    Give to Get- You must give something valuable to expect in return. Give information that is valuable, useful and inspirational to consumers, and the brand’s business objectives.

4.    Promotion - Let the content be promoted through spokes or social channel among communities that are interested. Promotion can attract traffic, social shares, and links.

 5.    Analyze and Optimize – creating, analyzing and optimizing your content is effective and inspirational.

 

                                   Content Depth Compare with Prospect Engagement

 If a B2B brand could consistently create, optimize, socialize, and promote great prospect-engaged content, the community will respond with share, referrals, engagement, links, and even sales.


http://www.toprankblog.com/2012/04/b2b-social-media-content-marketing/

 

http://demand.eloqua.com/LP=3298?elqoffer=GGcontent&GoogleCampaign=ContentMarketing&sls=PPC_Google_ContentMarketing_2012&gclid=COnPh-y0n7MCFexFMgodawQAiA


Submitted By: THEOPHILUS A. KIADII

 

Landing Pages… convert the curious into the customer

A well crafted landing page should be focused and created to target your audience, and potential customers, for your business. It should be clean and uncluttered, easy to navigate, promote a concise message about the product or service your business offers and provides a clear CTA (Call To Action), a means (button or link) to prompt the viewer to follow a path (or convert) to a sale. The goal is to have a high conversion rate by prompting the curious, potential visitor to your page to register their information (to generate leads) or convert them into a buying customer.  But first you have to direct the curious to your landing page.

The landing page is reached though an existing link, often in an advertisement, or by way of an online search. You can boost the accuracy of that search for your business by implementing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques. These can easily be built into your site and landing page during it's construction and can play an important role in placing your site before competitors in search results.

Google, a leader in online search, offers suggestions to assist in landing page optimization. Search data is collected by way of "web crawlers" (or bots) that search the Internet to gather site data. You can assist the search bots and help push your landing page to the top of search results by following some simple page creation rules:

• creation of unique, accurate and descriptive web page titles (HTML <Title> tag)
• using the "description" meta tag in your HTML code (using words relevant to your business)
• short but descriptive page file names or links (URLs - Uniform Resource Locator), using hyphens as separators so bots can recognize the individual words (eg, dress-formal.html - yes; DressFormal.html - no, words not easily searchable)
• make site navigation and the Call To Action easy to find and access

You've help guide potential customers to your landing page through boosting search results, now the structure of the page itself comes into play. The following video provides 8 tips for optimizing your landing page.

Your business wants and needs a high "conversion rate" to be successful. Boosting the search results for your site through SEO techniques and implementing the design tips provided will greatly help convert the "curious browser" into a "buying customer".


References

SEO Starters Guide -
http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

Learn how Google discovers, crawls, and serves web pages - http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=70897

Landing Page Optimization - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_page_optimization

Examples of small business landing pages -
http://unbounce.com/landing-page-examples/8-small-business-landing-pages-critiqued-for-conversion/

What is a landing page -
http://www.vertster.com/landing-page-design/what-is-a-landing-page/

8 Tips video -
http://www.vertster.com/landing-page-design/what-is-a-landing-page/

Search Bot image -
http://seoyourblog.com

Submitted by Pamela Ramos Peraza

HTML5

HTML5

If a fast-paced server is being sought, then HTML5 is the solution to the entire problem. It is essential to be clear on the fact that HTML5 is not an XML or SGML language. However, on the contrary, XML can be used in a pattern of serialization which is called HTML5. There is not much difference between XML and HTML5 apart from the fact that the former uses a rather rigid syntax than the latter which is why most of the time, HTML5 is used instead of XML.

There is something of significant interest to the internet users which compels them to deal with HTML5. It has a much diversified semantics which means that it has a total of 30 additional semantics which could be used easily in any kind of static page. In fact, there are so many additional controls that could lead to a decline in the usage of java script altogether. There is also a revolutionized HTML5 structure which follows the pattern in this order :

•    Nave
•   Header
•   Footer
•   Aside
•   Article

One more thing that needs a lot of attention while dealing with HTML 5 is the meta tag. There are some users who are accustomed to using the XHTML version which is accompanied with longer meta tags unlike this version which has an advanced presentation of these. Html 5 does not make use of any kind of body elements unlike HTML4. However, there is still a version of this kind of browser which requires a lot more than just a body. (Lawson, 2011)

The HTML 5 has currently dominated the scenario. It has become a necessity to further knowledge in the semantics of computer. This means that any computer user will have to read up on HTML5 to comprehend better. A great place to understand HTML5 is www.brucelawson.co.uk

References

Lawson, B. (2011). Introducing HTML5. New Riders.

Pilgrim, M. (2010). HTML5: Up and Running. Mark O'Reilly.

Online Video - Who is Watching?

 Online Video - Who is Watching?

For a moment ponder how much online video you watch in a day. 5 minutes? A few hours?  I suppose it’s relevant to interests, and free time, however how frequently are we watching and who in fact is watching. The answers are pretty shocking, well moreover not what I expected which lead to generate an element of shock, and then to by nature sit and think on it for a moment.  First instinct is that children would lead the online viewers, you know through watching funny videos friend sent them, killing time before bed and even escaping homework.  To my chagrin, I found that only a small fraction of online videos are of that nature and targeted towards the younger demographic of middle school kids. This is where it gets interesting. 70% of adults watch online footage regularly. Regularly is considered to be daily. The number jumps nearly 90% for early adults of 18-25. In fact nearly twenty five million YouTubers’ have a college or post graduate degree. [i] And leading the way in the world with who is watching online video is as you may have guessed, China.  Currently (2012) in China they have approximately 527 million people constantly watching video on the internet. And by 2015 they estimate that number will grow to a whopping 712 million people. [ii] Below you’ll find a graph that shows the different methods and how frequently users in China are watching video online. Not only are the Chinese watching the most by population, but an astronomical amount in duration as well.

In fact watch the video below for a little of information how to make your video more successful so some of the millions of viewers in China can see your attempt to go viral, or in fact do the exact opposite as they tell you…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YJGSx_-ul0

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[i] http://www.fairfaxvideostudio.com/blog/who-watches-online-videos-you-might-be-surprised.cfm

[ii] http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/1214/online-video-market/

Who is Online (Canada)?

Who is Online? (Canada)

With an average internet usage almost double that of the global average ?, It would be ludicrous to say any one specific group of people in Canada use the internet, whether that be based on their job, ethnicity or age group, simply put every kind of person today uses the internet to some varying degree. Individuals under the age of 45 had the highest rate of use, at 94%, while 80% of those aged 45 to 64 used the Internet. Among seniors, about one-half (51%) of those aged 65 to 74 used the Internet, compared with 27% of those aged 75 years and older [1]. Many marketers and celebrities are online as well whether they be advertising on Facebook or Youtube, In recent years many politicians have come to use the internet as a means to spread their message and advertise their campaigns.  

What are Canadians doing online?

Canadians use the internet for a number of purposes, such as banking, many people find online banking as  being a lot easier than having to go to the bank and deal with the bank clerks and regulations that the bank may have, however many Canadians are still nervous about doing their banking online. Reading the news, online news continues to gain popularity as most news websites post all of the content that would be in the newspaper online for people to see, this saves Canadians money, and also helps eliminate waste, going on government websites, or searching for health and medical information. Social Media is one of the most popular online activities taken up by Canadians, websites such as Facebook and Twitter allow people to socialize with friends all from the comfort of their own computer and in 2010  CBC reported a 13 percent increase in social media website traffic[2].

 Thank you for reading my blog.
 Matt Bonwick
                                                                               

works sited 

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/111012/dq111012a-eng.htm [1]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/09/canadians-internet-most-active.html [2]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/tech-news/canadians-internet-usage-nearly-double-the-worldwide-average/article569916/

Brand Evaluation - Task #5

Each of the 4 brands you have to choose from could benefit from the use of social media marketing.  Investigate if/how your brand is using it to reach their goals.  Can you identify what you think their marketing objectives are?  Are they using social media effectively?  If yes, how so?  How could they improve their use of social media marketing?  Are they simply communicating or are they engaging, or collaborating with their audience?

This task is worth 10 points.

The Future of the Internet

Upon my seven year old nephew pulling out his mother’s smartphone this past Thanksgiving, I heard the remark from my brother, “When I was a kid, we had one computer in the whole school and everyone had to take turns on it.”

Some are too young to remember the computer at school with the built-in mouse on the keyboard or manually loading your video games onto the very exciting and stylish Commodore 64, but in actuality this happened not too long ago. Especially when taking into account the internet’s relatively short lifespan of forty years. The advancements that have since been occurring have met and exceeded even the wildest of imaginations from the early days. So what is in store for the future?

The Cloud 

You probably use the cloud in some form or another daily. Take for example uploading pictures to facebook so that they can be accessed from home, when on vacation or from your phone. Here is a video that explains the basics:

What does this mean for the future? Cloud computing is expected to make its biggest impact in the business sector. By bypassing the use of a server and minimizing IT services, cloud computing allows businesses to pay for the amount of information storage or software needed in a “pay-as-you-go” fashion thereby maximizing return on investment. The adoption of the cloud is gaining in popularity at a steady rate.   

Click here for more info: http://gigaom.com/cloud/the-tale-of-two-clouds-what-is-the-future-of-cloud-adoption-in-it/

Interactive Advertisements

According to Dr. Vinton G. Cerf , VP and chief internet evangelist for Google, a more interactive and consumer-friendly mode of advertising is the wave of the future. He gives the example of watching a movie on your big screen television. Imagine a scene where the actor is sitting at a table with an Apple laptop on it. Now imagining pointing and clicking on the Apple laptop using your remote control which then brings up a menu that provides information about the laptop, how much it costs, and where the nearest store is located to your proximity and even if you would like to purchase it right at that moment.

This idea applies a more consumer friendly mode of advertising. It gives consumers the ability to access the information when they need it by way of the web, instead of being bombarded with advertisements that you do not necessarily want to see. This could be applied to other means of advertising as well. Another example would be billboards that have the technology to interact with your smartphone for a more personalized experience.

If you would like to watch the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtSCCjXEqo

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media Marketing is a business’s use of social media to better understand customer’s wants and needs while engaging them and having them communicate their opinions. SMM can help increase a firms their search engine rankings as well as help generate qualified leads. Using SMM can help businesses achieve their business objectives.

Company's must carefully plan these websites and make them as engaging as possible for their customers. These websites are designed to keep customer's aware of the business and to keep them intrigued. Social Media websites can help keep customers updated with a business and keep them loyal to the company.

Who uses Social Media Marketing?

Social media has become such a strong tool in marketing for businesses in today's markets. Not only do B2C use these, but B2B as well as non-profit organizations use them as well. Although B2B firms have a larger present on Social Media sites than B2C, they do not have any more significant marketing.

Does Social Media Marketing cost money?

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS NOT FREE!

A huge misconception about SMM is that it is free. Yes, signing up for Facebook and Twitter does not cost us any money. However, maintaining a website does cost money.

Businesses must pay an employee to maintain their social media websites. Answering questions, updating information, and monitoring the websites must all be done by someone whether it is part time or full time, and minimum wage or a higher wage.

Blogging

Blogging is also a type of social media. When bloggers talk about a business, their opinions are seen as more trustworthy and reliable. Customer's like to hear about what other people have to say about a product or service rather than hearing it from the company itself. Why is this? Customer's believe that businesses will say anything to customer's to make a sale-even if the truth is bent a little bit.

Small Businesses and Social Media Marketing

Small businesses are beginning to use SMM more often in today's market. Many small businesses were scared of the feedback customer's would post about their products or services and would shy away from this type of marketing. However, studies are now proving that most reviews are positive. These positive reviews are because customers like to help other customers.

To help you better understand Social Media Marketing, take a look at the video I have popsted below!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Amanda Camara

The Future of Social Media

Social media has grown from a way to connect with your best friends to a commercial entity which allows regular people and businesses to build relationships, attract customers, and grow their product or service. We all understand the power that social media has today and the kind of prospects it has in the future, but what exactly can we expect in terms of personal and business oriented social media?

Social media and our Personal Brand:

                Social media can help any individual build their own personal brand. They can portray an ideal image of themselves to others so as to grow their connections and value. Much like LinkedIn currently, social media in the future will allow us to connect with the people we know and build connections in our chosen profession. Employers will also be able to check our work experience, our references, and even what kind of person we are based on our social media profiles. On a more personal note, our social media applications will let us see exactly what friends think of a certain restaurant or what they recommend to order and, much like this proposed product from Google, will let us see these things on the fly with a type of augmented reality.

A way augmented reality may work in the future.

The Future of Social Media in Business:

                Today, businesses can attract customers and increase sales with social media, but as it evolves, social media will help in a number of ways. Social media will be a great avenue for businesses to gain access to its customer’s activities and ideas. For example, businesses could further define their most frequent customers and target them over less frequent visitors. This increase in awareness of customer traits will also result in more personalized products and experiences. Also, because users can “check in” when they go somewhere just like in the Google video, the business will be able to see when a person enters their store and can send the customer information about sales or even directions to a specific product through their social media application. Essentially, the future of social media in business will allow companies to personalize the customer experience and gain further knowledge of its target markets.

An interesting video on social media

The future of social media is already happening today, such as the “check in” feature on Facebook, and these services will continue to evolve and change as time goes on. Eventually everything will be integrated and will let businesses and consumers expand their reach and gain access to other people’s opinions and thoughts on specific places or products. How do you think social media will change in the future?

Thanks for reading

Dusan Andic.

By the way, here’s an interesting article which interviews various people about their ideas of what the future of social media is: http://www.businessinsider.com/future-of-social-media-2011-11?op=1

Article Sources:

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/status-update/2012/may/9/charlene-li-future-social-media/

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/status-update/2012/may/23/liz-strauss-future-social-media/

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d9b331e0-9f7e-11e1-a255-00144feabdc0.html#axzz28jklnLuE

Social Media Marketing as a Strategy

Social Media Marketing as a Strategy

The question is no longer should we be doing social media, it's are we doing it right? - Eric Qualmann, Author of Socialnomics (http://www.expansionplus.com/impr/social-media.html) 

With Social Media being such a crucial aspect for today's businesses, companies need to make sure that they are implementing a social media marketing strategy to help better the success of their social media tools. By setting in place a social media marketing strategy it will help to send the correct message, and lead to deeper relationships with consumers. 

There are 5 important steps when developing and creating social media marketing for your business. 

1)      First you must find your best audience, with the web getting more and more crowded every day, you need to make sure you are spending your time and efforts on marketing in the right places. By networking with your target audience across the web you gain maximum exposure, also build relationships which will lead to loyal customers.

2)      Second important factor is to make sure you are using the right amount of content with your social media. What you say or expose on the internet is very important, you want to give your business a personality, be honest about what you say. This will help consumers to become more loyal in your business and products if you have gained their trust.

3)      Thirdly, you must do your research. Find out who exactly your target audience is, what do they want? What do they need? What keeps them coming back for more? And then give them more of it. Also it doesn’t hurt to do a little research on your competition, see what they are doing to help reach consumers, which could give your business a few ideas on how to better reach your audience.

4)      Next, you should give them more, with social media being so easy to reach your target audience, use that to help create better relationships. Ask them questions, answer theirs, this makes your consumers feel special to your company and that their opinions matter.

5)      Lastly, don’t limit yourself on social media sources. The more you get your business on the web the better. This helps your business connect with a broader audience and build your network. But keep in mind, the more social media sites you are on, the more you need to update and stay active on. Don’t take on more than your business can handle, quality trumps quantity. 

Companies and even small businesses use these steps to help better create and build their brand on social media sites. Since the use of social media has doubled in the past two years, it is an important marketing strategy for every business to gain exposure with social media. From start-ups to small and medium-sized companies Social Media is the greatest equalizer as it allows them to compete with competitors with much larger marketing budgets.

The link below is a video I found very interesting, it is filled with social media statistics that are quite fascinating.

TAKE A LOOK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACxGUowYcSk

By: Christina Gooding