Beware of DocStoc or the Reason why Slideshare is the Market Leader

document hosting sites, document sharing sites As many marketers and businesses I use Slideshare, DocStoc and other document hosting sites to upload content to make it available to different audiences.

For a couple of years now I used DocStoc to upload more than hundred documents for the reason of content marketing which in exchange brought me a small amount of interested visitors to our website and blog.

Today I went again to upload information to several document hosting sites and also on DocStoc. After I have done my upload successfully I discovered that only thirty documents are visible in my documents library.

I try to research what happen with the other documents which I have uploaded in the past years. Because all documents uploaded on other document hosting sites are still there, visible and deliver targeted traffic to our blog and website.

I was not able to find my remain articles so I decided to send an support request to DocStoc to clear what happen with my document where I have put time and effort to produce ant to upload to DocStoc.

Here is the email I have sent to DocStoc:

document hosting sites, document sharing sites

 

Several hours later I received a response mail from DocStoc:

document hosting sites, document sharing sites

Yes, you read it right. By the way you are able to read, obviously “Jane” from DocStoc was not…

DocStoc deleted my account!

Nobody asked them to do so. “Jane” from DocStoc didn’t answer my support request but deleted my work.

When I started out with document hosting sites, my first choice was the market leader Slideshare, which has been acquired from LinkedIn several weeks ago. After some research I discovered further document hosting sites and registered there to spread the inBlurbs content, like whitepapers, articles and press releases.

We use a paid Slideshare account which offers also a lead generation and analytics feature. As I used Slideshare and the other document hosting sites like issuu.com and scribd.com I never discovered any problems.

Marketing Tip: Ensure that sources where you invest time and effort to spread content are reliable to not waste your time.

Did you had the same experiences with DocStoc? Post them here in the comment section below.

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UPDATE 06/22/12: DocStoc Restored my account. Thanks DocStoc.

document hosting sites, document sharing sites, business lead generation, content marketing

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b2b marketing articles,b2b marketing solutions,b2b marketing plan template

5 Ways How To Gain A Huge Profit From Facebook Sponsored Stories

facebook marketingWe all heard about facebook ads. Rumors out there stated that paid ads in facebook do not work. And also there have been rumors that Facebook ad revenue decreases.

Ok, rumors are one thing and facts are another!

Marin Software an advertising management company proved that Facebook ads work. Especially Facebook’s new ad units, Sponsored Stories which work in a social context are doing very well for social media marketing.

The simple reason why firms are not successful with their Facebook marketing is they do not understand that people go online to research and not to buy thing. In the case of Facebook marketing the people go to Facebook to connect, exchange ideas and to communicate. They go to Facebook to discover new things (research).

Companies which do Facebook marketing do some major mistakes when performing paid campaigns.

One major mistake is they attract the Facebook user to click on their Facebook ad and lead him or her away from Facebook. This is a bad idea as the people on Facebook want to communicate and learn about new things on Facebook and they do not want to be led away.

To avoid this mistake companies which perform Facebook paid ad campaigns should be creative and lead these ad attracted visitors to their Facebook page, for example with an exclusive offer. This would for sure improve the marketing results.

Another major mistake when businesses do Facebook social media marketing is, they do not take the opportunity to communicate with those ads attracted new visitors of their Facebook pages. Social media is about communication and connection with people. It’s not about selling and sales pitches.

Businesses should take the time to communicate with their network and carefully listen to them. This can result in a massive revenue growth when done right.

Also a major mistake is to think, to be on Facebook as a brand is enough and the audience will follow. Why should they follow your business page on Facebook? Do you have something remarkable, valuable and interesting to share with your audience? Did you take this chance to build trust and position you as a professional resource there?

A great way how you can position your business and your brand in social media sites like Facebook is to publish and share remarkable, valuable and interesting content!

You can expand your brand reach very easy and quick by expanding the reach of your content through “Facebook Sponsored Stories”. So your content reaches wide more people and the best thing is it reaches the right people. The way of social targeting helps to reach the right persons and attract those future customers to a business page.

This way you build trust and brand awareness the smart way.

The success of “Sponsored Stories” is huge. An increasing number of advertisers are using this smart marketing way to expand the reach of their custom created content.

Infographic: A Brief Insight Into Facebook Marketing

Facebook Sponsored Stories, Facebook marketing, Facebook social media marketing

Here are five ways how you can make Facebook Sponsored Stories work for you:

1. Start a corporate blog and create and share content in social media like Facebook in which your audience is interested in

2. Create eBooks, whitepapers, how-to’s, etc. and offer a free download in exchange of the visitors contact information on a landing page. This way you generate targeted leads

3. Set this landing pages under Facebook apps, so the user never need to leave Facebook

4. Start “Facebook Sponsored Stories” and direct the ad link to one of your Facebook landing pages

5. Encourage your audience to give you feedback regarding your content. This way you start the conversation

 

How about you, did you use “Sponsored Stories” yet and how is your opinion?

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How Content Marketing Helps Demonstrate Thought Leadership and Boosts SEO

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketingContent marketing has established as a powerful way to engage customers. An increasing number of B2C and B2B marketer are faced with the challenge to produce and publish buyer persona oriented interesting and remarkable content to attract customers to their products and services.

A seriously executed content marketing strategy can be responsible for 25x times more business leads and boosts your revenue by up to 40%!

In a March 2012 poll of more than 400 US marketers and agencies content curation services provider Curata found that 95% had curated content in some way over the past six months by sharing a link, blog post or other content type with their target audience.

Curata results also showed that 85% of those marketers focus their main objective of content creation to establishing a thought leadership, 80% of those marketer see also brand building and buzz as a goal of their content creation strategy.

Content marketing social media copywriting,content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketing

Main content marketing objectives of marketers are:

 

One of the most difficulties when doing content creation is the time investment. About 70% of marketers say they did not have enough time to devote to the process of content creation and content marketing. Also the marketers stated that is difficult for them to create original content to share with their audience.

Main content marketing challenges of marketers are:

  • Creating original content
  • • Having the time to do it
  • • Finding high quality content
  • • Allocate staff to do it
  • • Difficulty to measuring results
  • • Securing senior level buy-in
  • • Understanding how it fits in overall marketing strategy

 

The most popular channel to share content is social media. About 76% of marketers say they used a social network as the main channel for content distribution.

To share published content in social media is not enough. Content creation and content marketing as a holistic strategy must be performed on regular basis to gain measurable and profitable results on the long term.

Only those activities performed on a regular basis pave the way to get found online by an increasing number of future customers and keeping them coming back to company offers and information.

Infographic: The Rise of Content Marketing

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketing

Companies utilizing content marketing strategy report an up to 2,000% lift in blog traffic and 40% boost in revenue.

How to jumpstart your content marketing?

The easiest way to jumpstart your content marketing is to start a corporate blog. Blogging has great advantages and here are the most important:

  • 1. Blogging companies get up to 55% more Traffic
  • 2. Blogging companies get up to 97% more Inbound Links
  • 3. Blogging companies get up to 434% more indexed pages in search engines
  • 4. Blogging companies get up to 25x times more business leads

 

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B2B Marketing Social Networks for more Business Leads

b2b viral marketing,marketing tips for new business,small business b2b marketingSocial Media Marketing has been one of the successful marketing strategies for marketers and companies online in recent years.

There are some major social media communities and emerging social media communities that can help business to improve their marketing strategies online. These social media networks help in providing b2b marketing solutions and generate quality marketing tips for new business online.

This article discusses about using 6 top social media communities for b2b marketing best practices and an eye of b2b marketing data giving a glimpse of the power of these social media communities.

Top 6 social networks for B2B marketing solutions

Social Networks have changed the marketing strategies for businesses online with wide range of advantages and quality leads for their business. There are quite a few social networks that help in providing b2b marketing solutions. This article focuses on top 6 social networks that had a major impact on small business b2b marketing.

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube

 

Infographic: Social Media B2B

b2b marketing automation,b2b marketing data,b2b marketing blog,best b2b marketing strategies

Given below are some of the key points on using these social networks for b2b sales strategies.

Using Facebook for b2b Viral Marketing

Social Media is viral and if your business is successfully promoted in social media, you are very much successful in generating quality leads for your business online.

One of the major social media networks that have a huge impact on b2b marketing solutions is facebook. Given below are some of the b2b marketing best practices with facebook

Build your brand presence in facebook

If your brand presence in facebook is successful, you are likely to generate quality leads through facebook. Some of the best ways to generate b2b marketing leads through facebook is by bringing more visibility for your facebook page and generate quality leads using latest facebook apps.

Use Latest features of facebook for optimized lead generation

With the new facebook timeline, you can now share the latest updates regarding your business thus bringing more engagement for your facebook fans. Use the latest features such as pins and stars to bring more visibility for your lead generation pages.

Use the popular features such as open graph to know your visitors approach which is one of the key points for your b2b sales strategies.

Build your business community

It is important to build your own business community to stay ahead of your competitors. For this it is very much necessary to brand your facebook page and update it with the latest happenings. Use your page to provide useful information for your community.

Using Google+ for B2B Lead generation

Google+ is one of the popular social communities which are just started receiving popularity with Google indexing and prioritizing it in search results. Millions of users have already started using Google+

There is huge potential for B2b marketers to generate leads through Google+. Some of the best ways to use Google+ for business are

  •  – Use the feature of Hangout to create live stream of your business hangout. The latest feature allows up to nine people to hangout using the video function of Google+
  •  – Use Circles to share your content. It is very important to generate business specific content that is interested by users in your Google+. The best information that can be shared through your circles are virtual conferences, events, interviews and webinars which are very much useful for B2b marketers
  •  – More is your content in Google+, more is the visibility of your content is search engines especially Google+.

 

Using twitter for B2b Marketing

Twitter is another top social media community that helps in B2b Viral marketing. Given below are some of the ways b2b marketers can use twitter

  • – Use B2b Marketing with your blogs and share your blog content in twitter. This increases visibility of your business in twitter.
  • – Increase reach of your business in twitter by increasing your followers. As your business reach increases, more people know about your business which is one of the key B2b viral marketing strategy.
  •  – Another way of increasing reach and visibility is by asking your employees to tweet your business content. Sharing buttons for your B2b Marketing blogs and allowing your employees to share your business content brings more visibility for your business.

 

Using LinkedIn for B2b Marketing solutions

LinkedIn is one of the powerful social networks for b2b marketing solutions. As it is professional network, you have major chances for generating b2b marketing leads with LinkedIn.

Some of the best B2b marketing practices of using LinkedIn are

  •  – Index your B2b marketing blog in LinkedIn and share your latest contest in LinkedIn. This brings more approach for your business in LinkedIn.
  •  – Use Applications like Slideshare to share your business presentations in LinkedIn.
  •  – Create your own company page and share business updates through your status updates and group updates. You can also promote your business products through the products tab in LinkedIn. Show your creativity in generating impressive business promotion strategies through LinkedIn.
  •  – Another important feature of LinkedIn is email marketing, one of the important B2b Viral marketing strategies. Mail your LinkedIn members with email marketing feature of LinkedIn.

 

Using Pinterest for B2b marketing solutions

Pinterest is another powerful social network for generating B2b marketing leads for new business. Given below are some of the best ways to leverage your b2b marketing solution with Pinterest

  •  – One of the best ways to promote b2b marketing through Pinterest in developing quality boards and creating pins in suitable boards. This gives members flexibility to find useful information through boards.
  •  – New product offerings, services can be pinned through suitable boards which increase interest in readers to visit the boards and thereby generating leads.
  •  – Use Pin info graphics, data and charts to know more about your business reach and thereby optimizing your marketing strategies in Pinterest.
  •  – Share useful E-books and content information through your pins.

 

Using YouTube for B2b Marketing solutions

YouTube is one of the popular social media networks which can be used for quality B2b lead generation. Some of the ways of using YouTube for your b2b marketing are given below

  •  – Share your top level management and interviews in YouTube.
  •  – Share informative videos related to your business products, new launches and reviews of your business products in Youtube.
  •  – How to videos, product tours and optimized YouTube search are some of the ways to generate b2b marketing leads with YouTube.

These are some of the best examples of using social networks for b2b lead generation. Consult the inbound marketing experts in optimizing marketing strategies in these social networks thereby increasing profits.

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How to reach B2B Executives? Get mobile!

mobile marketingNew studies of Google and Compete found out that that 28% of US B2B C-level executives used mobile devices to research business purchases.

By the growing use and demand of mobile apps companies also become more dependent of them. Popular services like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yelp, Foursquare, Groupon and other are using apps to stay in touch with their audience.

A new way of search has emerged where B2B executives to look out to find future business partners the more efficient way. Mobile devices have spread around the world and statistics show that about 260 million devices are in use actually and this number will grow by 2014 to more than one billion.

The peace of mobile use among B2B executives is much higher compared to consumers, as they are always looking for ways to do their purchasing process easier and cost efficient.

When B2B executives are on their mobile device they do not go to the web browser to research for products and services your business also as to offer!

According to research data from Oracle and Endeca, from November 2011 one-quarter of B2B ecommerce professionals worldwide agreed that mobile is one of the most influential to get in touch with their customers.

By taking into account the complete penetration of mobile devices among B2B marketers, it is logic they use these devices for their purchase decision making process. They use these mobile devices during their purchasing process to save time.

The trend shows that search engine search traffic will decrease and companies who are active on mobile devices, social media and location based services will get an increase of traffic as B2B executives use them preferable.

Here is a great opportunity for businesses to get in touch with these B2B executives to establish a relationship which can help to make business together. Companies should establishing a mobile web presence and optimizing their communication to reach those B2B executives.

 

Infographic: Mobile Marketing

mobile-marketing-infographic

If you are not active in mobile marketing than you miss a large opportunity to make B2B executives aware of your company. Take action before your competitor does.

 

What can you do to get in touch with B2B executives the mobile way?

1st Register with all important location based services like Yelp, Foursquare, Neer, Loopt and SCVNGR. Engage here with your audience, build and customize these digital outposts.

2nd Be active in social media sites like Facebook, Linked, Twitter and others important to your audience.

3rd Jump start your mobile marketing the smart way. Collect the mobile phone numbers from your customers. Establish a database where you store all important information about them to later have the ability to custom tailor personalized messages to reach them the right and human way. Look out for a two SMS marketing software which enables you to do and to control your messages.

4th Optimize your website be reachable in mobile devices and give those interested B2B executives the opportunity to get with in touch quick.

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How Content Marketing Works For You Too To Get Business Leads? Give to Get

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketingThe tremendous success of content marketing is the result of giving away valuable information – remarkable content for free to attract people to your business like a magnet.

Companies utilizing content marketing strategy report an up to 2,000% lift in blog traffic and 40% boost in revenue.

This marketing system works 100% for any business!

 

 

Video: What you can learn for your Marketing from the Greatful Dead

 

Infographic: Content Marketing

content marketing, corporate blogging, whitepaper creation, ebook creation, social media content marketing

Here is how content marketing can work for you to attract new customers to your business like a magnet. To empower your content marketing you should start with a corporate blog.

Some facts about the power of blogging: Blogging companies get…

1. …up to 55% more Traffic
2. …up to 97% more Inbound Links
3. …up to 434% more indexed pages in search engines
4. …up to 25x times more business leads

 

The next steps you should do are to craft further buyer persona oriented content like:

– Press releases
– Pictures
– Whitepapers
– HowTos
– EBooks
– Video

Take care to include a call to action in each of your content pieces. This ensures that the user exactly will discover what to do next.

Each of this these pieces of content are outposts of your business which increase your visibility, brand reach and can direct more future customers to your business.

You should also distribute these pieces of content to social media and sites like y Prweb.com, Flickr.com, Pinterest.com, Slideshare.net and YouTube.com to increase the reach of your message.

 

Buyer Persona Sheet:

 

To get the most out of your content creation and marketing efforts you should think of a strategic way to measure and improve your efforts. Inbound marketing is the way to get the most out in business leads and revenue for your business.

 

Presentation: Inbound Marketing

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9 Easy Steps How to Generate Business Leads on Google+

google girlThere’s major buzz in the marketing space regarding Google’s addition to the social media madness, “Google Plus (+)”.

“If Facebook and Twitter had a baby, they’d call it Google+” – Olaf Wempe

Some believe Google Plus will quickly replace Twitter, as it provides an easier way to manage and communicate with friends.

Others believe that Google Plus will be a valuable addition to their personal connections, and for marketers, it offers a whole new way of reaching out and networking with other entrepreneurs in your niche market.

In just a few weeks of beta launch, Google+ has amassed more than 12 million users, with over a billion pieces of content being posted throughout Google+ every single day.

While Google+ has rolled out its services to focus on the average user and individual, they have created extensions within Google+ primarily for businesses.

Still, thousands of Internet Marketers and entrepreneurs have already started using Google+ to further their outreach, connect with their target audience and develop relationships with new partners and networking opportunities.

Since November 2011 brands are able to create company pages on Google+.

Recent numbers show that brand engagement on Google+ is increasing but is still far away behind players like Facebook and Twitter.

A recent report from Simply Measured which was released on May and shows results of Top 100 companies of which 64 of them have verified Google+ pages.

An increasing number of consumers are adding these companies to their Circles. At least 5,000 people had added 35% of these Top 100 brands to their Circles until May. This is a 21% increase from February. About 22% of brands Google+ pages had been added to Circles by more than 100,000 Google+ users. This is an increase from of 13% in February to May.

The 15 best performing industries on Google+ are:

1. Automotive
2. Electronics
3. Luxury
4. Internet Services
5. Beverages
6. Apparel
7. Restaurants
8. Sporting Goods
9. Business Services
10. Computer Software
11. Media
12. FMCG
13. Financial Services
14. Diversified
15. Transportation

Infographic: Who Is Usig Google+

Google+ Infographic, Google+ marketing, Google+ lead generation

 

How can you profit from Google+?

1. If do not have a Google account, go an register one
2. Go to Google+ and complete all necessary information for a personal profile
3. Create a Google+ Page and complete the businesses profile regarding your business, like a logo, address, phone number, address, link to your website and blog, etc.
4. Search for business partners on Google+ and add them to your circles for your Google+ Page
5. Link from your website to your Google+ Page
6. Start the interaction by +1 posts of your circles and by republishing your blog articles or other content on your Google+ Page
7. Listen and learn what your audience is interested in
8. Craft a how to on base of the information you have collected on Google+ and offer it for download on a landing page
9. Setup landing pages which specially are dedicated to Google+ so you will know for sure that these leads are from your Google+ Page

 

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4 Steps How Closed-Loop Marketing Can Help you Grow your Revenue

Closed Loop MarketingOnline Business has developed tremendously in recent years. To promote business online, there are many important marketing strategies adopted by companies to generate revenue for their business. Closed loop marketing is one efficient marketing strategy that is key point in generating quality business leads and revenue for organizations.

About Closed Loop marketing

A successful company online is the one which manages its Closed Loop Marketing effectively and strategically. For large companies, inbound marketing experts help to maintain stability over their Closed Loop Marketing strategies and thereby generating Quality Leads for business. But what is this Closed Loop Marketing which helps businesses to develop faster and securely? This article gives a glimpse of Closed Loop Marketing and advantages of using it with the help of marketing experts.

In every business there is competition and company’s invest huge money in generating quality leads. While generating leads is one part of the marketing strategy, the other part is to maintain the marketing budgets by using latest technology and marketing tools.

4 Phases of Closed Loop Marketing

Closed Loop marketing is one of the effective online marketing strategies that help companies to decrease marketing budgets by providing strategic lead generation reports and giving powerful tools for the sales team to increase their lead generation capacity.

One advantage of Closed Loop Marketing is that it increases the Sales of the company as well as giving more freedom for marketing team to generate Quality Leads through proven marketing tools.

There are 4 phases of Closed Loop marketing which in simple words are

  • 1. Managing your Visitors and track them
  • 2. Check visitor’s requirements and interests
  • 3. Generating visitors and leads database using powerful marketing software’s
  • 4. Converting leads into customers through a lead nurturing process using powerful Customer Relationship Management software.

 

Let’s briefly discuss about these four essential steps that helps in a successful inbound marketing strategy.

Step 1: Managing your Visitors

Every company online have lead capture pages and useful content that drives traffic to their website or business online. There are many marketing software’s and tools available online that help you to identify and track the visitors location, source of visitors and give information related to your visitor information.

Marketing experts advise using tracking URL’s for each of these sources so that it is easy to identify the main sources of traffic to your business. This is the first step of closed loop marketing that would be helpful in generating list of visitors who are interested in your business.

Step 2: Identifying visitor’s interests

One of the important parts of closed loop marketing is to identify the difference between the visitor and lead. Many visitors arrive through blogs, social media, pay per click campaigns and other ways of marketing as they are interested in your business.

Once they have a good impression and re-think of visiting your business, they provide their information either subscribing or giving information through lead capture forms.

Step 3: Generating visitors and leads database using powerful marketing software’s

These leads are potential for revenue growth of your business and for increasing customers for your company. By generating separate database for your leads and visitors through powerful marketing software’s, you can concentrate more on sources which have maximized your visitor to lead conversion.

Step 4: Call to action using powerful CRM software

Once you have your lead database, it is up to the CRM software’s and the sales team to put their efforts into action in the final step of Closed Loop Marketing.

Customer Relationship management software’s helps to do lead nurturing and in maintaining synchronization between the sales, marketing and customer support teams which are the critical part of customer’s interaction. There are many CRM software’s that are available in the markets that are recommended by inbound marketing experts according to the business niches.

Infographic: Social CRM Evolution

Infographic, social crm evolution

Start using closed loop marketing for your business by hiring inbound marketing experts who can help you in increasing business revenue and potential leads.

inbound marketing assessment us

Who get you more business leads Google+ or Pinterest?

lead generation google plus, lead generation pinterestSocial Media marketing has influenced the marketing strategies of business organizations online in recent years.

Almost all of the niches are now using social media marketing for their business promotion online. There is heavy competition in these social media sites as well on grabbing advertisers to market through these sites.

Newly emerged social media sites Google+ and Pinterest have been the major social media sites to watch in recent days. Many say Google+ is ideal for business where as there are experts describing Pinterest as one of the major social media competitors for business online. This article gives a glimpse of using these two social media marketing sites for business.

Identifying the right Social Media Sites for business

Everyone in the marketing world online knows about the advantages of social media marketing and how it can cut your marketing budgets if identified correctly. Previously there were very few promising social media sites such as facebook and twitter which are used by businesses for social media promotion.

But as days went by, top Internet organizations such as Google came up with Google+ with wide range of features for business organizations. Companies are now trying to cap their market share from these fast emerging social media statistics. Inbound marketing experts are now planning to use these social media sites for business lead generation.

Not only recent statistics suggest that Pinterest has also been used largely by organizations for their business promotions. All these social media marketing promotions for lead generations are only started after indepth analysis by marketing experts online. But what are these analytics which led to these decisions? Well an overview of the next paragraph will let you know why Google+ and Pinterest are valuable for business online.

Generating business leads with Google+ and Pinterest

Google+ has brought interest of millions of people online with the type of launch that they have made. Google has taken some of the best steps to create interest in users while launching Google+. Likely within the first 3 weeks of the launch 20 million users started using Google+.

Moreover Google+ profiles and stats have been remarkable and Google started indexing Google+ content. Another interesting stat is that 63% of Google+ users are male and sites that use Google+ started getting 3.5 times more traffic than the sites that haven’t used Google+ for their sites.

Google+ has been prominently used by software developers and college students which brings into the fact that Google+ has a wide range of influence on students and working software professionals.

One important stat that is very much useful for businesses is that 40% of marketers suggest Google+ as prominent tool to promote their business as it is expected to reach 400 million users by the end of this year.

Another prominent social media site Pinterest also managed to gather 10.5 million users as on February 2012. This made businesses eye on Pinterest to promote their business.

Not only for the number of users, Pinterest has prominence for re-use as 80% of pins which are done in Pinterest are re-pins. This means if you are successful in bringing interest to a small group of people using Pinterest , your business many go viral.

Also Pinterest has the power of retaining users similar to facebook and twitter which can be observed from the stat that users have increased by 145% from the month of January.

Another stat that is surprising is that 80% of Pinterest users are female and this is one of the successful social media sites that have brought female interest. If your business is a trending topic, then your business is likely to generate quality leads.

Another important stat that will generate interest in advertisers for business lead generation is lead conversion rate. Lead generation conversation rate in Pinterest is 15% compared to 9% from Google+.

Infographic: Pinterest

pinterest for lead generation, b2b leads from pinterest,

Infographic: Google Plus

Google Plus for lead generation, b2b leads from Google Plus

So putting altogether you should be strategic and take expert opinion while promoting your business through Google+ and Pinterest. Take the expert opinion while make social media promotion through these social media sites. Generate quality business leads from these emerging social media sites and stay ahead of your competitors.

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Video and Social Media on the Rise Say 79% of US Marketing Professionals

Clicky, facebook social media, Google analytics, Lead Capture Pages, lead generation social media, linkedin, marketing analytics, twitter for marketing, WoopraAn eMarketer study found out that 79% of US marketing professionals said they plan to increase spending on social media marketing and 24% of them said that social media will be the most-used tactic in the ad industry this year.

 

 

ad marketing spending in 2012

As the number of areas and activities increase marketers are confronted with various platforms and various ways to use and measure those platforms. Marketing tools and automation are the most seen challenges.

“In the Marketing Tools Study 2012 from digital marketing technology and services company PointRoll and Kelton Research, US marketing professionals reported using multiple tools in each campaign they execute. More than half of respondents used more than five tools in a single advertising and marketing campaign, with 33% saying they averaged five to six, 15% saying seven to nine and 13% saying they used an average of 10 or more.”

marketing tools used by marketers

This results show that marketers come closer to paralysis through analysis! The more tools have been used the more time is spend on them.

Instead of to improving their marketing marketers are bound in tools mess!

Marketers should focus one tool which helps them to get found online and in social media by more qualified visitors, helps them to convert more visitors into leads, to close those leads efficiently and which provides analytics to help make smart marketing investments.

Watch this Video!

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New Data Shows: Social Media Is Getting Results for B2B

social media marketing roiSuccessful companies use every possible communication channel to get in touch with their target audience. They are interested in what their recent and future customers are thinking and communicating about them.

This communication ability helps them to better understand and to serve their audience, which sets them apart from their competition and gives them wide advantages in their business field.

Businesses which are willing to communicate with their audience in blogs and social media show that they care about the people who spend their money with them.

Businesses which avoid an open and authentic communication in blogs and social media show exactly the opposite. Why should the customer than care about to make any further business with them?

Successful businesses in B2C and B2B have embraced the wide opportunities which blogs and social media offers to them to spread the word and to reach their audience where there are around.

Recent data show that B2B marketers are very satisfied with the benefits of their social media marketing:

  • — Over 56% of B2B marketers acquired new business partnerships through social media, compared to 45% of B2C
  • — 60% of B2B marketers saw improved search rankings from their social efforts, compared to 50% of B2C
  • — 69% of B2B marketers are more able to gather marketplace insights from their social efforts, compared to 60% of B2C
  • — But B2C marketers are better when it comes to developing a loyal fan base (63% of B2C vs. 53% of B2B marketers)

 

Where are Marketers going in 2012?

LinkedIn

  • • 76% of B2B marketers will increase their use of LinkedIn
  • • 55% of B2C marketers will increase their use of LinkedIn

 

Blogging

  • • 71% of B2B marketers plan to invest more time in blogging
  • • 65% of B2C marketers plan to invest more time in blogging

 

Facebook

  • • 68% B2B marketers will increase their use of Facebook
  • • 76% B2C companies will increase their use of Facebook

 

 

Infographic: How Engaged is Your Brand?

brand-marketing-with-social-media-infographic

The 2012 topics of interest for Marketers are:

Marketer B2B and B2C are mostly interested to learn more about ways on how to use Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter for Business.

Marketers are also interested on how to measure the effectiveness of social media, how to converting activities to sales and to learn the best social media tactics.

Do you have position your business for an open and authentic communication with your audience in blogs and social media yet?

inbound marketing assessment us

How do you protect your Business from Time Thieves?

time thieves in businessWe all know them they request information or better a quote for products and services, you invest time and enthusiasm to help them and they do not come to the point or even to a deal!

When you have this kind of situation than a special sort of criminal is approaching your business, times thieve! 🙂

But don’t panic and remain calm.

Sure he is not a real criminal in the sense of law, but he steals your valuable time, and time is money, so on the end of the day he steals you the opportunity to talk to a really interested future customer, right?

You protect your home from thieves but do you protect your time?

Here are some tips how you can protect your valuable time from time thieves:

  • Ask them to register on a landing page to get more info. So you sort out the most of them and save time on lead qualification.
  • If you need more info and other than you can ask on the landing page, sent them a questionnaire to complete and to return to you. If they do not do it, they are not serious and would never do business with you. You safe your time on evaluating his stuff.
  • When they send you the questionnaire back, but not complete try to get the missing info from them and ask by email. If they are serious, they will reply, if not you safe time again and have not to try to convince them of anything, because they are not serious and will never buy from you.
  • Ok, now all questions are answered from the lead, but the leads brings up new excuse- doubt, when the last was cleared from you through facts, so you get the feeling “time thieve” than he is probably one.
  • At this point the time has come to say him good by. You can say to him “Your ideas are interesting, I will keep them in mind” that is how to end a conversation with a time thief.

Infographic: Lead Generation

busines lead generation infographic

How are your experiences with time thieves? I am looking forward to your comment.

Further valuabel sources:

 

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How to Multiply Marketing results the Smart Way? Combine In and Outbound

inbound.marketing componentsWhen it comes to led generation than “nothing beats the inbound marketing strategy”!

Inbound marketing builds you trust before the sale. Means your audience learn about your business and your products before they are looking to buy from you and without pushing them.

This increases your chance they select your company when they are ready to purchase.

Studies from the past five years revealed that a seriously executed inbound marketing strategy results in up to 62% lower cost per lead an in an up to 55% higher lead conversion rate.

Inbound marketing consists of content creation, content distribution, content marketing, Social Media communication, Lead generation, Lead Nurturing, Lead Conversion, and Closed-Loop Analysis to refine and improve the activities.

Companies who execute an inbound marketing seriously build trust, their brand and are recognized as a reputable source on the web. They get found on the web when future customers are looking, instead of pushing them with dump old fashioned sales pitches.

Infographic: The Inbound Marketing Multiplier

Marketo-Inbound-Marketing-Multiplier

 

What do you get by executing a professional marketing strategy?

A. Save up to 62% of your marketing budget.
B. Stand out of your competition.
C. Generate a massive amount of leads.
D. Get up to 55% higher lead conversion rates.
E. Increase your customers and sales.

When you feel that you need help to execute this combined marketing strategy just let us know. Request a free custom quote today!

 

 

How B2B Marketers Can do Social Media Lead Generation the Smart Way

social media marketing roiAny B2B business can use social media as a source of unfiltered information and as powerful business intelligence tool to predict trends, for support and product development. Social media has proved in the past years that it can bring positive ROI when done right.

A recent study from Sagefrog Marketing Group shows how companies have learned to leverage social media.

Leveraging social media for branding and building awareness helps B2B companies.

4 Ways how companies can leverage social media:

  • • Increase brand awareness
  • • Humanize B2B companies
  • • Establish as thought leader
  • • Connecting with customers and prospects

 

An increasing number of companies like Intuit, Sysco, Cisco, GE Healthcare and AT&T are using social media for effective business lead generation.

What sites, tactics and strategies are B2B marketers including in their social media outreach?

To do their social media outreach B2B marketers include professional networking sites like LinkedIn which have proven to be an effective way to generate business leads. Furthermore they utilize social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube also which are helping them to reach customers in new ways.

Some numbers about Social Media Lead Generation

“67% of B2C and 47% of B2B companies report to have acquired new customers through Facebook.” “47% of companies who use Twitter report to have acquired new customer through it.”

Content marketing social media copywritingOnline Marketing strategies like banner ads have been replaced through proven buyer persona oriented content creation which also brings better ROI than pay per click marketing (PPC).

A corporate blog has become the number one content marketing tool for companies. The importance of blogging is growing and people are adding nearly 3 million blogs per month. [Technorati 2011 State of the Blogosphere Report]

Studies show that companies who operate and update a corporate blog frequently have 55% more website visitors. From those companies 57% which operate a corporate blog report to have acquired new customers through their blog.

There is no question content marketing, corporate blogging connected with social media distribution is definitely a revenue driver for B2B companies.

Infographic: B2B Social Media on the Rise

b2b-social-media-marketing-infographic

Further resources:

 

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How to Master Your Lead Generation Challenge with Social Media

social media for businessSocial Media has proven to be a source of targeted high quality leads for B2C and B2B. An increasing number of marketers see lead generation as their greatest online marketing challenge.

Marketers which experienced the business value of social media marketing know that social media is one of their most successful and cost effective marketing channels.

Studies show that companies which relying on online lead generation are two times more profitable than those who do not. Those companies achieve an up to 62% lower costs per lead.

In social media B2B marketers are focusing mostly on LinkedIn which is the most successful channel for B2B lead generation followed by corporate blogging.

A study from Wildfire Interactive shows that social media helps grow brand awareness, increase sales and partnerships and helped to reduce marketing costs.

How can you profit from this trend?

  • 1. Start a social media presence. Complete your profile there
  • 2. Research for industry related B2B groups and people. Become a member and invite those people to your network
  • 3. Listen to their discussions. If you have something valuable to contribute than do it, otherwise go on listening
  • 4. Start a corporate blog. Write about topics your B2B audience is interested in. Share your blog articles in social media and ask for feedback for your publication
  • 5. Build landing pages and offer exclusive and valuable content for download. So you generate laser target high quality industry related B2B leads
  • 6. Measure your activities
  • 7. Improve your activities and repeat

 

Read this article also: Get social to get found from your future customers

 

Infographic: Digital Marketing Budgets

digital-marketing-budget-trends-2012

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