Flickr | Alex Proimos
We’re three months into what has already proven to be a very busy year for marketing professionals. As social media advertising costs increase, technology continues to evolve at an alarming rate. The ways in which users interact with digital products and services are all models that call for aggressive and creative marketing solutions. In the frenetic world of digital marketing, it’s pretty easy to make rookie mistakes. I’ve compiled the top 3 no-nos for B2B marketing professionals to avoid in an increasingly digital age.
1.) Underestimating the Impact of Original Content
If you’re like me, you might agree that the push for quality content is all anyone can talk about these days. Content marketing was the golden child of the marketing disciple, but like any marketing strategy, it starts to lose it’s strength when more and more companies catch on and chime in with their voice.
When trying to stand out among the noise, aspiring and established bloggers get a little more colorful with their opinions and data. Statements like “guest blogging is dead” might cause a shockwave through the marketing community and gain some attention, but they simply aren’t true. Run content by your peers, back it up with proper link citation, and ask yourself: “Does this positively enhance our brand when it reaches the intended audience?” Don’t underestimate your original content, or you’ll find yourself backpedaling after it gets published.
2.) Failing to Recognize Mobile Platforms
On a tight budget, a savvy business owner can get a decent website cooked up in a week or two for very little expense. E-commerce, blogging, and online promotions soon follow suit. But this year, simply having a web-only strategy will leave you far behind. The phone and tablet market is looking to hit 30 billion users in the next seven years. It’s not just important to mobilize your marketing efforts to reach relevant businesses. It’s an essential, strategic move and a major asset for reaching the right decision makers when handled properly.
We consume content on our mobile devices more than on our desktops. For maximum mobile impact, make sure your web pages are designed responsively and optimized for mobile browsing. Accept the fact that the mobile is the new frontier. You owe it to yourself to learn as much as possible about enterprise mobility and mobilizing your content while there is still time to adapt. Great sites like Mashable, Moz, and Fast Company can get you up to speed.
Flickr | Ralph Paglia | CC BY 2.0
3.) Committing Social Media Redundancy
Everyone is guilty of a little social media ignorance once in a while. Misuse stems from the mundane, to unintentionally funny, to downright racist. So it’s crucial to have a social media policy as well as a sense of professionalism when it comes to crafting that clever tweet or trying something different in an effort to stand out. What many B2B social media managers overlook is redundancy across a broad landscape of social media channels.
Facebook. Instagram. Snapchat. Twitter. Linkedin. Google+. The list goes on. Look at your brand’s positioning and audience and determine where the right users are actively engaging with your social commentary. If you’re lucky enough, you are behind a product or brand that people love to talk about and are open to discuss through hash tags and long threads. But many of us find ourselves in a position where word of mouth still needs to be generated; awareness needs to be raised. Do not post the same status across every social network at lunchtime and expect new leads to come swarming in.
In an opposite vein, do not post statuses once and walk away. Conversations and new content need to be shared several times if you want new faces interacting with your brand. It’s great that you want to elevate your product/service, but make sure the conversation isn’t one-sided. It’s tiring when others only talk about themselves, so why apply a different philosophy in digital marketing? Create and share content that is valuable and relevant to the audience you are trying to sell to. Tweak your message so it isn’t the same, and exercise humility when name-dropping your products. Engagement with your audiences is where the value of social media really comes through.
B2B Common Sense
The preceding points should be common sense and I hope this serves as a good reminder of what not to do. Take some time and evaluate your digital marketing strategy and readjust in the areas where you see yourself committing these B2B no-nos.
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