Wp socialmedia

[ A B2B Marketer’s Guide to Social Media ]

Six Simple Ways
to Get More Out of Social Marketing
A white paper by Pardot

Pardot.com | 950 East Paces Ferry Rd Suite 3300, Atlanta, GA 30326 | P - 404.492.6845 | F - 887.287.8952 | © 2012 Pardot LLC. | All rights reserved worldwide.

Executive Summary
Social media may have began as personal communication tool, but today it is an integral
part of most businesses’ marketing strategies. Social media is an invaluable tool for B2B
marketers for several reasons:
• A variety of free tools make social media a relatively inexpensive way to generate leads and increase brand awareness

by quickly distributing your message to a large number of people through a wide variety of channels

• This fast-paced form of communication enables you to receive free, instant feedback on your product, gather ideas for

content and, most importantly, show your customers you care by quickly responding to their ideas and concerns

• Following your competitors helps you stay on top of the industry and keep your product up-to-date and relevant by

capitalizing on the ideas of others as well as your own

Six simple ways to improve your social marketing:
The following white paper will outline six tips for developing and improving your social
media strategy, and explain how using marketing automation software to integrate your
social media efforts with other online marketing initiatives can generate leads and save time.
1. Define a social media policy 4. Use information from social media in sales calls

2. Examine your etiquette 5. Utilize multiple touchpoints

3. Schedule posts to establish a cadence 6. Measure social marketing ROI


Best Practices: The 3Rs of Social

...But first, some general best practices.
If you’re among the 95% of B2B marketers* already using social media, chances are

Which outlets you’re already doing these things to some extent. But here are three general best
practices that even the savviest social media guru should keep in mind.
are B2B brands using?
• Remain Neutral If you use social media strictly for self-promotion, you risk losing your
credibility as a thought leader within your industry, so be sure to talk about non product-
specific industry issues as well. If you see someone tweet about a problem for which your
product would be the perfect remedy, point them in the direction of a non-biased industry
expert. This communicates that providing prospects with information is your first priority and
helps to establish trust.

• Respond Social media is a dialogue, not a monologue, so interact with clients and prospects
whenever possible. Follow them back, thank them when the “retweet” or “favorite” your tweet,
and always respond to both positive and negative feedback. Also consider setting up a search
trend on your name as well as key terms in your industry. Responding to a tweet from a client
with a concern about your product is impressive; responding to a concern without being
directly addressed is even more impactful.

• Relax Social marketing is just that: social. Add a little life to your posts! Social media is
a great opportunity to show off your company culture and give your company a more
personable feel. Leave the dry, factual writing to press releases and white papers and add
some personality to set your company apart. Just be careful that your social media activity is
consistent with the personality of your brand.


TIP #1: Establish a Social Media Policy
Less than 12% of companies have a formal social media policy in place.*

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re well-established in the social sphere,
creating a defined strategy and establishing policies provides needed structure
to your social marketing and helps you get the most value from your efforts.
How should different
outlets be treated? Four important questions to consider:
Facebook is very much a personal tool, so • Who Establish which team member(s) will be responsible for your
initiating interactions with prospects could be seen social posts. Make sure everyone is using a voice consistent with your
as intrusive. Instead, focus on showing off your
company culture with pictures from events. company’s culture and brand across all social media outlets.

Following someone on Twitter is a far less pushy • What Focus on posting valuable content and engaging with others:
way of connecting with a prospect, and the let your product speak for itself. Develop an editorial plan of themes to
constant stream of conversation allows you to
tweet often without being seen as a nuisance. cover and agree upon which topics and keywords are off-limits.

Blogs are a great way to distribute a variety of • When It’s a good idea to establish a rhythm and consistency to
content. Discuss industry trends, announce product your social postings. Avoid being absent for weeks at a time and then
updates and post webinar recordings – and don’t
forget to promote your posts through other outlets. inundating followers with ten postings – this could lead to some drop-
off in fans and followers.
In our recent study, 32% of B2B marketers found
LinkedIn to generate the most leads of all the • Where Each social outlet is unique, and should have a distinct
social media outlets, so get involved in groups and strategy. For example, Facebook is regarded as more of a personal tool.
discussions that relate to your product.
“Friending” every prospect is not only ineffective, it’s intrusive.


TIP #2: Examine Your Etiquette
Etiquette is one area of your social media policy that deserves a second look.

Social media is a relatively new concept that has emerged in the past five or six years, and
Is it it’s function as a business tool has evolved even more recently. Understandably, there are
appropriate to... still some aspects of social media that are not well defined, and etiquette for businesses in
the social sphere seems to be one of those grey areas. For instance, a recent study* revealed
that slightly more than half of business-to-business marketers believe that it is appropriate
to contact a lead generated by social media via phone or email without invitation to do so.
Clearly, marketers disagree on what’s appropriate in many situations, but two rules of social
etiquette that remain fairly universal are:

Don’t be creepy.
Social media can provide you and your sales team with a wide array of (sometimes personal) facts
about a prospect instantaneously. While it is certainly beneficial to use this information to drive
conversation in a sales call, it’s important to mindful of privacy when using this information – you
don’t want to leave clients feeling stalked. Also be careful with how you reach out to potential
prospects: following someone on Twitter is low impact and non intrusive, but adding someone to your
network on LinkedIn just because he or she showed an interest in your product can be seen as pushy.

Keep it classy.
About 70 percent of marketers* agree that critiquing a competitor via social media is inappropriate, so
avoid product comparisons. Acknowledging that a competitor’s product is valuable and encouraging
prospects to shop around can establish a trusting relationship -- and this trust can be invaluable when
you do approach a prospect with information on your product.


TIP #3: Establish a Cadence
Schedule your social posts with marketing automation software.

Once you’ve defined what you want to distribute, where and how often
in a formal policy, consider integrating your social media outlets with a
marketing automation software. Marketing automation can give your
social media efforts much needed rhythm and consistency.

Social media is a 24-hour news stream that
never sleeps.
Staying active on social media can be overwhelming: many companies utilizing
social media are maintaining four or five separate outlets at once, with some
maintaining as many as eight or nine. Marketing automation platforms (as well as
some social media dashboards) allow you to automate posts according to a set
schedule, enabling you to maintain a consistent social presence no matter what’s
going on at work. Your prospects and clients are active on social media outside the
office, so schedule posts to go out over weekends and holidays. Many platforms
also allow you to post via multiple accounts and channels simultaneously, saving
you a significant amount of time.

However, don’t forget that social media is a spontaneous, human interaction tool
Scheduling and you’ll need to engage manually a few times every week, especially if you want
posts in advance to develop relationships and track activity around your brand.


TIP #4: Enlighten Your Sales Team
Let your sales team benefit from the information gleaned from social sites.

Information from social media can be extremely useful in preparing for a sales call.
Marketing automation and CRM software can give your sales team quick access to data
from social sites, including public profile data on prospects and activity logs of their
interactions with your brand. For an example, you can provide a link to a prospect’s
Connect sales LinkedIn profile, Twitter page and other networking sites and display it right within the
and marketing CRM interface. The sales team can use profiles to learn more about their prospects and
research potential connections, both of which can help advance a relationship.

Starting the conversation.
Again, don’t forget to be mindful of how this information is used – you don’t want your
prospects to feel like they’re being stalked. A good example of using social media information
properly: if you see that a prospect went to Duke via his or her LinkedIn account and you
know that Duke won an important basketball game last weekend, you could easily start off
the conversation with “Hey, big weekend for college basketball, did you catch any of those
games?” without revealing the fact that you’ve accessed their social profile.

Determining selling points.
Marketing automation platforms do more than provide links to a prospect’s social outlets
in their comprehensive profile – many systems also track a prospect’s interactions with your
social postings. This information can be invaluable to your sales team by allowing them to
see the aspects of your product that were most interesting to the prospect, and determine
important selling points to emphasize in a sales call.


TIP #5: Utilize Multiple Touch Points
Clients may prefer different outlets, so employ various channels.

Now that you’ve formulated a strategic social media plan, fallen into a consistent
Cross-sell pattern of posting and let your sales team in on the deal, it’s time to take closer look at
your channels a successful social media interaction and the multiple touch points involved.

If you’re not already doing Introducing “Social Media Mining.”
this, cross-selling your social
media channels is a great way Consider the following example of social media lead generation: you receive a notification that a
to encourage your prospects potential prospect has posted on a discussion in LinkedIn, asking for help deciding between your
and clients to interact with product and a competitor’s. Following the link to the prospect’s profile, you immediately access
you through multiple touch his or her job title and company. Clicking on the link to the company’s LinkedIn page, you are able
points. Announce a new to see the number of employees on LinkedIn alone. Consulting a third-party source (for example,
photo album on Twitter Jigsaw) where you obtain the company phone number and employee count, you determine that the
to drive followers to your company is a perfect fit for your product. You have determined that this is a qualified lead, and waste
Facebook page, link your no time in making the following three touchpoints:
Twitter account to the
company blog, or consider • Touch point 1: You immediately alert a member of your sales team, who places a call
to the company to set up a free demo.
adding links to all your social
sites to your email signature. • Touch point 2: You respond to the LinkedIn query with the names of two industry
experts who have experience with both your product and your competitor’s.
• Touch point 3: You follow the prospect on Twitter (note: you do not add the prospect
to your network on LinkedIn or “friend” them on Facebook).

You have now made contact with the prospect through three very different outlets -- practically
simultaneously – without being overbearing or intrusive.


TIP #6: Calculate your Social Marketing ROI
Measuring ROI on social media efforts is easy with marketing automation.

As with any marketing campaign, it’s important to measure the return on
your social media efforts and tailor your campaigns accordingly. However, a
Calculating recent survey* revealed that over one-third of marketers are not measuring
social media ROI the results of their social media efforts. Considering the fact that business-
to-business marketers are spending a significant amount of money and
resources on social, this statistic is surprising, but also understandable.
Procuring 14,000 follows on Twitter is impressive, but simply knowing
this number leaves you with no concept of how many of these followers
converted to qualified leads, or how your interactions on Twitter may have
influenced their decision to purchase your product.

Using marketing automation to track ROI.
With marketing automation software, a prospect’s interactions with your social
posts are tracked in the same way as their activity on your landing pages and
forms is tracked. In addition to providing you (and your sales team) with more
information on a prospect’s interests, this information can also help you to
draw conclusions on which social media campaigns drew the most attention
and potentially led to a purchase.


Conclusion

Implementing these six simple changes in
your social marketing strategy can organize
your efforts, save time and drive lead
generation.
More than likely, you are already investing significant time and money
into social media marketing. Formally defining your goals, frequently
updating your outlets, measuring your results and reevaluating your
campaigns are all simple changes that can help your business get more
out of your social marketing efforts.

*Statistics based on a survey of B2B marketers conducted by Pardot in October 2011. For more details on survey results, please
see the press release on our website: http://www.pardot.com/press-releases/many-marketers-dont-measure-social-media-impact


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About Pardot Contact Us
Pardot is an on-demand marketing software company that increases sales Tel: 877.3.B2B.ROI
and maximizes efficiency for companies with complex sales cycles. Tel: 404.492.6845
Fax: 877.287.8952
Pardot offers an industry-leading marketing automation product that
Online: www.pardot.com
manages prospect interactions such as site visits, email, forms, and more. The
on-demand suite solves the integration challenges faced by B2B marketers
Pardot LLC
today by allowing you to control formerly disparate online and offline
marketing tools one central interface. Pardot syncs with select CRM vendors 950 East Paces Ferry Rd
and is available on the salesforce.com App Exchange. Pardot was founded in Suite 3300
2007 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Atlanta, GA 30326

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