It was great to be a part of this week’s #B2BChat. The topic was about creating great (if not yet viral) videos for B2B. The conversation was frenetic, informative and fun and it was indeed quite exciting to partake in an event such as this. There were several key points discussed and, as expected, the answers kept coming in at a hectic pace.
The chat revolved around several topics like scenarios where B2B videos can go viral, the advantages between slick or raw production styles, the differences between in-house and out-sourced content, techniques and “secret” recipes, etc.
This is a summary adapted from the complete transcript and if you want to read it you can just drop by here. Here are some highlights.
When and where do we use video for B2B marketing?
@billrobbSAP : My gripe is that u can’t “create a viral video”. u create a compelling video that hopefully ur community makes viral.
@martinehunter : training, testimonials, factory tours, case studies, product demos, production schematics, should be short, concise
@fearlesscomp : I believe customer videos need to be front and center on websites
@asuthosh : when video tells a compelling story, when customers are willing to be featured. When authenticity is key
In-house development versus out-sourcing … what works best for video content?
@prdreamer : Depends on style. Slick corp. video should be outsourced to co. w/ skill set. Quick testimonials can B done in-house w/ Flip.
@chevypham : outsource for creative content, editing, production, but in-house editorial for appropriateness and relevancy.
@billymitchell1: Production value is driven by type of result desired – and budget limitations. Some of the best B2B video is very basic
Are there any secret recipes that fuel B2B video content?
@jeremyvictor: Same as with any other content – connect with your buyer personas rationally, emotionally and logically
What are the tools and techniques that you use or can suggest for pre and post production?
@SpideyJo : Tools – can be as simple as using Windows Movie Maker up to Adobe Premiere. Techniques : Good planning
@billymitchell1 : Voice, personality, humor, passion, sincerity, knowledge of subject and confidence. Video camera sees all.
Where can you post your B2B videos? White label hosting … YouTube … etc. And why there?
@prdreamer: Post em where the ppl are. I say YouTube. It’s easy and free for the video hosting. #b2bchat
@fearlesscomp: TubeMogul.com is a good site that posts to all, including YouTube
@b2bento: YouTube embed in webpage – pump up the SEO
To round it all up, it was a nice session as expected. Thanks to all who participated. Join us for next week’s #B2Bchat, Thursday, July 22, at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger:Anol Bhattacharya (@B2Bento) is CEO of GetIT Comms, a marketing and communications consultancy for hi-tech and telco’s, where he helps clients (Cisco Systems Inc, IBM, IDC Asia Pacific, HP, Datacraft etc) in the field of B2B marketing, demand generation, lead nurturing, social media strategy & implementation, interactive digital media for marketing initiatives and user experience design.
Anol is one of the key contributors at B2Bento.com and has had his articles published in various media in the region.
You must be living in a vacuum if aren’t aware of the buzz surrounding the latest Old Spice videos that have gone viral. Earlier this week on Facebook, I responded to a question posed by Social Fresh about whether or not the viral ads will sell more Old Spice.
Will the Old Spice viral video campaign sell more Old Spice? Yes or No?
Here was my response:
Of course it will. As consumers we may not realize it consciously.
But, when standing in the aisle in front of all the brands – even if you are loyal to another brand – you will see Old Spice. Don’t think for a second that this is not a coordinated retail effort.
Pay close attention to product placement in the next few weeks – Is there more end cap placements for Old Spice, more Signage, etc. What may seem like a social only event – is certainly tied to a set of specific retailing strategies at the store level. The brand owner of OLD Spice is a former Proctor and Gamble exec. More will be sold. Lots more. ·
Correction: At the time, I posted the comment, I failed to remember that OLD Spice is a Proctor and Gamble brand. – So better said:
Remember, the brand of owner of Old Spice IS a Proctor and Gamble executive. What does P&G do? BUILD BRANDS.
is much more thought through than the blogosphere is giving Old Spice credit for. This is a well planned, coordinated, measured effort to increase revenue.
There are a lot of super smart, creative, innovative and intelligent marketers in this world. Nothing that is happening with Old Spice brand right now is happening by chance. Nothing. Market share, and more importantly, MIND share is be gained every day.
In a few short months, we will see the same come true in B2B marketing. My bet is that SAP has some super things in the works. Have you seen SAP’s Facebook Friend Optimizer? I bet they have much more on the way. Watch them. Here is an interesting interview with William Robb, Director, Social Media Marketing for SAP. SAP will be a B2B brand that continues making waves in the social web.
Remember, the recession slowed everything down. The creative juices are following everywhere. I am excited for the future of B2B marketing, are you?
Editor’s Note: Please join Andrew, Ksenia and I as we welcome Anol Bhattacharya (@B2Bbento) as a new co-moderator to #B2BChat. Anol is one of the leading B2B marketers in Asia and serves as the CEO of GetIT in Singapore. We look forward to his international perspective and leadership on our moderating team. Anol takes Kent’s place who plans to be joining us frequently each Thursday, but has stepped away to focus on other exciting endeavors like,Social Media Marketing (SMM) Magazine.
Recipes for Great Viral B2B Videos
Social media is littered with countless “close encounters of the viral kind”, with most of these encounters being videos that transcend cultural barriers and achieve both cult and pop status. B2C businesses have exploited this for several years now and reaped mostly positive results.
Which leads us to ask, can B2B video achieve the same impact as their B2C counterparts? And if so, then how can we make our videos go on to become viral hits – the Old Spice man being the most recent wild success?
In this week’s #B2BChat, we will attempt to answer those questions and more. Our conversation will delve into why B2C videos go viral and how can we adapt these aspects to our B2B content.
Here are some snapshots of our topics at hand:
When and where to use video for B2B marketing?
The pros and cons of in-house development versus out-sourcing
Are there any “secret recipes” that fuel successful B2B content?
Tools and techniques for pre and post production
Tapping the right distribution channels: answering “where” and “why”
Bring your opinions, experiences and questions for a lively discussion with other B2B marketers.
Join us for this week’s #B2Bchat on B2B Podcasting and Video, Thursday, July 22nd, at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger:Anol Bhattacharya (@B2Bento) is CEO of GetIT Comms, a marketing and communications consultancy for hi-tech and telco’s, where he helps clients (Cisco Systems Inc, IBM, IDC Asia Pacific, HP, Datacraft etc) in the field of B2B marketing, demand generation, lead nurturing, social media strategy & implementation, interactive digital media for marketing initiatives and user experience design.
Anol is one of the key contributors at B2Bento.com and has had his articles published in various media in the region.
Jeremy: Hi, My name is Jeremy and I’m a social network addict.
Group: Welcome, Jeremy.
Jeremy: In May of 2009, I opened an account on Twitter and shortly thereafter I found myself launching a business. The barriers to entry and costs were so low; I was just going crazy getting started up. After 13 months, I realized I was using social networking sites 43% more than I used to. I discovered how easy it was to connect with people I hadn’t talked to in years. And I was like “connecting” with them, becoming “friends” again. I know crazy, right. Even learning things like how many kids they have (and seeing pictures of them), the businesses they were starting and running.
From a business side of things, I even connected with a CMO of a major corporation via of Twitter. I interviewed him. I became part of a community of B2B marketing executives contributing to advancing the discipline of marketing. I have established thousands of online connections and hundreds of in real life meetings.
But like I said, 43% more than I used to. That was when I found you, SNA (social networkers anonymous). You helped me see the error of my ways. Now, it’s me, my newspapers, and land line. Thank you.
Group: Thanks for sharing. Keep coming back, it works if you work it.
And well, frankly it just frustrated the heck out of me! I really, really struggle with the label of “Addiction” on the increased usage of social networking technology. Here’s a passage:
Experian Simmons is out with a new package of stats that document the incredible growth of social networking in the US. (Experian is an Edelman client.) Here are some of the notable highlights…
First, some 66% of online Americans use social networking sites today, up from just 20% in 2007. This has been covered a lot before. However, what’s notable is that it’s an increasingly additive activity – 43% visit multiple times each day.
source: Experian Simmons
Advancements in technology have ALWAYS improved the lives of Americans. It’s never been easier to connect with, stay up to date with, and communicate with people. It’s never been easier to meet, find, and start relationships with new people. Using social networking technology to do this is a problem? An addiction? A dependency? Because I do it multiple times a day?
As more people discover the ease of use of the social web, as broadband and wireless reach more people, as new devices, (someone released something called an iPad, no?), and as Moore’s law continues to make it more affordable, is it right to use a term like “Addiction?” Isn’t doing so going to make the end result far more likely to turn people off to it, rather then having them embrace it?
Wouldn’t it be better to focus on the greater impact the social web is having on our society – like bringing us closer together, improving our economy, helping us quickly respond in times of crisis, and bettering our position in the global marketplace.
I wonder if back in the 1930’s they were saying, “43% Americans Addicted To Driving – Going to more places, getting further away from their homes”.
What do you think? Am I off my rocker? And simply justifying my social networking addiction in my own mind? Or is it time to stop with the “Addiction” label?
BtoB, The Magazine For Marketing Strategists, just completed a B2B Twitter Research Reportanalyzing B2B companies using Twitter as part of their marketing programs. Over the next few posts, I’ll present and expand upon some of their key B2B Twitter Research Report findings. To start, BtoB discovered that:
B2B companies who invest in using Twitter for business marketing and use it more frequently, experience greater success and satisfaction with Twitter.
Reminds me of growing up on the Gulf Coast of southern Alabama. Back when the beach sand was white and the water crystal blue, our family would go to the beach on the weekends. We’d often go to the “still water” side where the fresh water lakes were. Dad would launch our boat, attach the ski lines, toss out the flotation devices, and splash the skis in the water to the waiting skier.
The first time I clamped the skis to my feet, gripped the ski rope, and leaned back in the water waiting for the boat engine to roar to life, I was scared to death. Any second the 185hp Evinrude motor would jump from idle to full power in just a few seconds. When it did, all of that power would flow into the ski rope and into my 11-year old body, violently yanking me to the surface.
To successfully ski, I would have to focus that energy away from what felt natural—my upper body, arms and hands, which were clinging to the ski rope for dear life—and toward what felt quite awkward—my feet. I had watched many other beginning skiers go through the same routine. They’d get in the appropriate posture, signal they were ready, the boat engine with roar, thrusting the boat forward and yanking the ski rope out of the would-be athlete’s hands.
The boat would circle around and we’d go through the process all over again. Eventually, the skier would transfer the energy, rise up out of the water, briefly. They’d look like a catapult springing to fire but never releasing its payload. Just as the catapult would smash the unlaunched projectile straight into the ground, the sudden force of the boat engine would propel the skier face-first into the water.
It’d make my story better to tell you I went through the same thing. However, because I studied other newbie skiers from the time I was six, just waiting (and begging) for my chance to ski, I was determined to get up the first time. When my chance finally came, I leaned back against the natural flow of energy and refocused it into my feet. At first it was unbelievably awkward. It was far from natural. I didn’t know if it would rip my arms out of their sockets or simply drag me through the water.
After the few eternal seconds of awkward resistance, I came up out of the water and was soon gliding effortlessly along the surface.
Many B2B companies jump into the Twitter water right away. Though they may have watched a few other firms jump in, they probably haven’t seen too many succeed. They’ll try out Twitter just long enough to have the rope jerked out of their hands—maybe they’ll experience a Twitter storm of angry customers posting negative tweets or links to embarrassing content about the company. When they quit Twitter, they’ll say, “Twitter is a waste of time,” or “Twitter just doesn’t make sense for our company.”
Those that hang in there longer maintain their grip on the rope but begin to feel the unnatural energy of social media pulling them along. The natural energy for them has always flowed out from the marketing department into a mass market. That’s the way they’ve done things for generations. It’s the way the PhD professor in grad school told them (and still tells them, sadly) the world works. (Don’t believe me? Watch any political campaign, for example. Count the number of times a candidate says, “We just need to get our message out.”) Because the friction of the water is so intense, and the movement through the water feels so unnatural, many first time skiers and Twitter newbies purposefully let go before they reach the surface.
Successful skiers hold onto the rope and keep the tremendous energy of the boat engine focused on their feet—the leading edge of contact with the water. The resistance is intense and feels like it won’t go away. I remember feeling that if my arms did stay in their sockets, then my legs would probably snap in two. Eventually all the energy and forces of nature aligned and I enjoyed the exhilarating sensation of water skiing.
BtoB’s B2B Twitter Research Report suggests companies who hold on long enough, and stay focused on giving value to recipients, not only experience greater satisfaction with Twitter, they also get new customers and make money!
If you want to be successful with Twitter for business:
put more into it
stay with it longer
focus on your audience and away from yourself.
If you do, you’ll:
get more out of it
enjoy it more
be more successful.
It really is just that simple.
[The learning to ski story is adapted from my upcoming book Spitball Marketing: Using what you’ve got to get more of what you want.]
About The B2Bblogger: Trey Pennington (@treypennington) uses technology, marketing, and stories to connect businesses with the people they seek to serve. With an educational background in marketing, including an undergraduate degree in marketing management and an MBA, combined with a masters in education, Trey understands the need for businesses to discover and develop their core story and to engage their marketplace in making the story their own.
His book, Spitball Marketing: Using What You’ve Got to Get More of What You Want is due out in 2010. You can read more from Trey now at his blog www.treypennington.com.
Mayday – a distress signal used to signify an emergency and need for help
Caffeine – something I use to give myself a boost quite regularly
Seem like harmless words that have nothing in the world to do with B2B social media and content marketing, right? Think again.
In recent weeks, Google completed two rather significant changes; one, Mayday, is related to how Google handles search queries and the other, Caffeine, deals with how Google indexes the web. If you are outside the world of search engines, the only Google changes you may have noticed over the past couple of weeks were either the Google Pacman doodle or the day Google choose to be like Bing.
However, Mayday and Caffeine have meaningful impacts on search results, both from a relevance and real-time perspective that in my mind further solidify the need for you to begin participating in B2B social media and content marketing.
Without getting technical, I’ll do my best to highlight the changes and why this is important to you as a B2B marketer, who may be either struggling with the B2B social media decision yourself, or working to gain executive buy-in for your B2B social media strategy.
MAYDAY
Think; search quality. Think; provide users a better search experience by improving results through better matching of websites with user’s search queries.
The project was completed by Google’s search quality team and is independent of Caffeine. A wee bit of technical talk – it is a change to Google’s algorithm – i.e. the code that determines the relevance and ranking of a page. It was rolled out April 28th – May 3rd (around May 1st – hence the name – credit to Webmasterworld).
It’s been tested, and there is no turning back. This is a permanent change.
Here’s Google’s Matt Cutts with an explanation:
CAFFIENE
Think; search timeliness.Think; provide users a better search experience by improving results through providing the freshest, most recently published content about the user’s search query.
Source: The Official Google Blog
This project was completed in an effort to better enable Google to handle the increasing amount of content (video, images, news, blog posts, etc) that is being published every minute and make more of it available as close to possible when it is published.
Today, we’re announcing the completion of a new web indexing system called Caffeine. Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index, and it’s the largest collection of web content we’ve offered. Whether it’s a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before.
Why it matters to you as a B2B marketer
Mayday and Caffeine is Google’s way of telling us that quality, relevant, real-time content is what matters to their users (and your buyers) and content published today is far more meaningful to their users (and your buyers) then content published months if not years ago.
Kinda makes you think about your static HTML website that was last updated a few years ago, no? Adds a bunch of weight to the need to be producing regular, ongoing content too, right?
If or When
That’s the question. I think you know my answer, what’s yours?
Let’s just remember that during the #B2Bwebinar we defined community as:
A group of like minded people that share common interests, feelings, situations, and experiences.
So you want to use search terms and phrases, and pick categories of topics, that define your community. Once you do that first step, the question is where to go?
Twitter bio search. That is the easiest and best way to describe the Followerwonk. It offers very specific advanced search options to allow for very targeted searching of Twitter bios– including by location. The creators are located in Portland, OR. Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Twellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts, and a service of WebProNews. With hundreds of categories and search features to goal is to help you find people who matter to you. Rating: Personally unrated as I have never used it, but colleagues have found it to be very useful.
wefollow is a Twitter directory and search to help you find like minded people with common interests created by digg. Excellent UI on this site and you very easily can add your Twitter account to the categories most important to you. Rating: 4 out 5
From the Listorious About page, “Listorious has the best Twitter people search on the web so you can find anyone by topic, region or profession — powered by data from the tens of thousands of list curators.” I REALLY enjoy using this site since it focuses on the “Lists” that have been created by Twitter uses. It was created by Sawhorse Media. Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Of course, let’s not overlook the awesomeness of Twitter itself. The advanced search functionality offers loads of options – including attitudes, date range, places and more. Even better, for any search, you can then grab the RSS feed and add it to your favorite reader. I love it, I use it every day, and quite honestly, it’s led the way in real-time search and Facebook, Google, and Bing all changed as a result. Rating: 5 out of 5 <- start here!
Some final advice on how to find your community of like minded people that share common interests, feelings, situations, and experiences –
Mine the list of followers of your competitors
Mine the list of followers of trade publications in your industry
Mine the list of follower of industry associations and events
Before, during and after an event that was your industry– find the Hashtag that was used – and search. If the tweet contains the hashtag, you know you at share that in common.
Have any other tips or advice to share with the community?
You’ve just been handed the job of setting your company’s B2B Social Media Strategy and gaining executive buy-in across the leadership team. The job is often handed to the PR pros, online marketing executives, customer service managers, or anyone who recognized the power of social media early on.
Early on you saw the potential power of social media through direct engagement with customers – and now you’re tasked with setting the social strategy and direction for your company. After all, who else can lead your company down the path to social media success but you?
The good news is that you are not alone! There are numerous articles and tips out there to help you. In this post, I will try to break it all down to help you get started with a step-by-step approach.
Step 1: Help them see the new reality.
The world has changed – almost overnight. Social media is powerful in its numbers, influential in its reach, and has gone beyond the so-called “Tipping Point” according to this latest eMarketer report.
Executives like hard numbers and facts but they also like to be entertained. Show them the popular video Socialnomics: The Social Media Revolution, now in its 2nd release.
Are they still unconvinced? According to this Hitwise Intelligence report, social media is now bigger than search. And according to Morgan Stanley, social media users surpassed email users in July of 2009 but social media usage surpassed email in November of 2007 (based on time spent). Bottom line message: social media is important, is here to stay, and your company risks falling behind.
Step 2: Demonstrate that social media is influencing business decisions.
The discussion should not be about the technologies or the tools. It is about relationships. And because of the connections they are making online, your customers are using social media now more than ever to make business decisions, according to this report from Forrester. Or you can check out this report Inside the Mind of the B2B Tech Buyer from Chris Herbert, B2B Specialist & Founder of Marketing Integration firm Mi6. In the report, Chris condenses research from Forrester, IDG, and others on the influence of social media on B2B buyers.
Step 3: Be ready to answer the hard questions.
A good pitchman is ready for the standard objections: “Yeah but where’s the ROI?” is usually the first. You can see my answer to this and more in The 7 Burning Social Media Questions but don’t take my word for it. Show this B2B example: How IBM Uncovers “Millions of Dollars” Worth of Sales Leads with Social Media. It is important to convey that the opportunity cost of not participating in social media is real, but the bottom line value is in what can be gained from customer interaction and engagement.
Listen – Report the news by monitoring the conversations as they are happening on social channels.
Respond – Be prepared to mitigate brand risk and employ crisis management, resolve customer complaints, or even deliver on a request for a proposal.
Amplify – Gear up your internal teams to share good news, success stories, or customer passion about your brand.
Engage – When ready, begin to orchestrate across all departments to incorporate social media into the fabric of all customer outreach in campaigns, events, sales, and support.
Step 5: Social media adoption.
The biggest leap of all may be convincing your executive team to not only embrace the power of B2B Social Media, but to use it themselves to bring a more open and authentic image to your company and brand. You can cite Altimeter Group’s founder Charlene Li who has recently written a book on the subject called Open Leadership expertly reviewed by Jeremy Victor. Or better yet, invite Charlene or Jeremy to work with your company. Nothing can humanize your brand more than getting the top leaders of your company to speak in an authentic way straight to your customers.
With executive buy-in of your b2b social media strategy, you are now on your way to becoming a social media rock star.
You will certainly have many more questions along the way. So for additional support, I have included some of my favorite experts’ tips in the links below:
About the B2Bblogger: Michael Brenner is the author of the B2B Marketing Insider blog and serves as Regional Director of Online and Social Media Marketing for SAP, the worldwide leader in enterprise software. Michael has been working in marketing and sales for over 16 years in various roles with companies such as the Nielsen Company, software start-up FullTilt, and International Communications Research (ICR). Michael’s sales, product development, online, search and social media marketing expertise provide him with the unique perspectives that today’s market requires.
This post is brought to you through a partnership between B2Bbloggers.com and the B2B Search Strategy Summit.
LinkedIn is just one of a myriad of popular tools available in today’s rapidly growing and evolving social media world. So how do you justify the effort required to sow and nurture your presence on LinkedIn, especially the time and resources that could be invested elsewhere?
In this week’s #B2BChat, we’ll share ideas and thoughts about LinkedIn. To help lead the discussion, we’ll be joined by three leading LinkedIn pros, Lewis Howes (@lewishowes), Viveka von Rosen (@linkedinexpert), and Eve Orsburn (@linkedinqueen). Some questions we’ll pose to help guide the conversation include:
Do you have a LinkedIn strategy?
How much time do you spend on LinkedIn each week? Is it enough?
Do you maintain both a personal and company profile on LinkedIn? Why or why not?
Do you use LinkedIn for prospecting?
What automation tools do you recommend using with LinkedIn?
Has your investment in LinkedIn (time, money, or other resources) paid off? How?
What’s the greatest benefit of your activity on LinkedIn?
Do you plan to increase or decrease your LinkedIn activity in the coming weeks and months? Why?
What’s your best advice about how to get the most out of LinkedIn?
Join us for this week’s #B2Bchat about LinkedIn on Thursday, June 10 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern (5:00 p.m. Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger: Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless, America’s only nationwide wireless equipment dealer and integrator. Kent is the Co-Publisher of a new digital publication for marketers, Social Media Marketing Magazine. He is a published author and has been featured in Forbes, Marketing News, BtoB, Computerworld, and Texas Technology magazines. Kent also serves in advisory roles for the CMO Council, MetricsBoard, and Social2B. You can follow him on Twitter at @KentHuffman.
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Hi, I'm @jeremyvictor, the founder of Make Good Media and Editor In Chief of B2Bbloggers.com.
B2Bbloggers.com is an online magazine for B2B marketers. Our goal is to engage, educate, and make it easier for B2B marketers to find the information they care about to do their jobs successfully.
As a publisher and new media marketing agency, Make Good Media advises businesses how to integrate social media and content marketing with traditional marketing tactics to attract, nurture, engage, and convert customers in the brave new B2B world of the social, mobile web. How can we help you Make Good Media?
About the B2Bblogger:Anol Bhattacharya (@B2Bento) is CEO of GetIT Comms, a marketing and communications consultancy for hi-tech and telco’s, where he helps clients (Cisco Systems Inc, IBM, IDC Asia Pacific, HP, Datacraft etc) in the field of B2B marketing, demand generation, lead nurturing, social media strategy & implementation, interactive digital media for marketing initiatives and user experience design.
About the B2Bblogger: 
About the B2Bblogger: Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless, America’s only nationwide wireless equipment dealer and integrator. Kent is the Co-Publisher of a new digital publication for marketers, 
