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5 Fresh Features: What LinkedIn’s New Learning Hub, Ratings & Reviews, Live Events & Page Article Updates Mean for B2B Marketers https://ift.tt/2Xx6H45 What do B2B marketers need to know about LinkedIn’s* new full-length articles, profile ratings and reviews, Live Events, Learning Hub skill-building platform, and updated accessibility features? The world’s largest professional social media platform — with more than 774 million users — has rolled out an impressive assortment of new features throughout 2021, including five recent additions that bring a goldmine of new opportunities for B2B marketers. For the first time, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn saw annual revenue topping the $10 billion mark, Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft announced in July, with quarterly revenue up 46 percent. This growth has been accompanied by a number of powerful and fascinating new feature roll-outs that are poised to make a change in how B2B marketers utilize LinkedIn. Let’s jump right in and look at five of the key new LinkedIn features and how they’ll affect B2B marketers. 1 — Publish Long-Form Content Using Page ArticlesLinkedIn has launched a new feature that gives company pages the ability to share long-form content on the professional social platform. Unlike personal LinkedIn accounts, until this addition business pages had faced a limit in the length of the material that could be organically posted. In addition to allowing articles of virtually any length, LinkedIn’s new Articles For Pages feature offers a variety of analytics information about the people and businesses reading and interacting with that long-form content — helpful for businesses to learn more about their target audience. LinkedIn has made the process of publishing detailed articles intuitive, with an interface that’s familiar to anyone who has posted a traditional update on its platform, conveniently available to page administrators as “Write article” as an always-visible option beneath the “Start a post” prompt, as shown in yellow below. Editing options for articles include the ability to highlight quotes, incorporate links, and include calls-to-action such as linking to a company website, encouraging readers to become followers of the page, or even downloading a related digital asset. Firms using the new feature will face the issue of determining just how much to publish on LinkedIn versus on their own websites. Through experimentation, company’s can look for a mixture that produces the best engagement and maximum impact for the unique needs of each business. With more B2B brands making significant use of discussion in the form of comments on LinkedIn, the new long-form article feature provides fascinating options for firms to consider when it comes to where they want to engage clients and prospects. Learn more about this new feature at Articles for Pages: Build Community with Long-Form Content.2 — Share Customer Praise With Ratings & ReviewsLinkedIn also recently began offering review and rating features to user profiles, as part of a new more robust services profile element that can now include a range of past client reviews and ratings. When LinkedIn initially rolled out the ability for individual users and small businesses to create a no-cost service page, the feature was primarily a static list of services — now however, the updated services page optionally allows reviews from past clients to add real-world feedback. Creating a service page on LinkedIn helps users and small businesses make the services they provide more discoverable both on the platform and through third-party search engines, and allows all LinkedIn users to make contact inquiring about the services listed. Learn more about how to create a LinkedIn Service Page, explore frequently asked questions, find out how to invite clients to review a service page, and check out our own "5 Stars: 20+ Tips to Invigorate Your B2B Marketing Using Testimonials & Reviews."3 — Enhanced LinkedIn Live ExperienceAnother area that has recently been enhanced by LinkedIn is an updated LinkedIn Live Events experience, allowing users to create more robust virtual events. LinkedIn Live is the platform’s live video feature, and recent updates have combined many of its abilities with those of LinkedIn’s separate event experiences. The integrated offering now automatically creates a public event post for each scheduled live-streaming event, which then appears in the LinkedIn feed. Users who have chosen to attend a LinkedIn Live event will also now receive helpful reminder messages, and LinkedIn will additionally notify certain followers of the company page hosting the event. Another change has made it possible to have more lead time than the previous seven day limit when scheduling LinkedIn Live events. Learn more about the updated integration between LivedIn Live and events, and check out our own "Livestream Marketing: 5 B2B Brands Rocking LinkedIn Live."4 — Utilize LinkedIn Learning Hub Skill-Building PlatformLinkedIn has just launched its LinkedIn Learning Hub, a robust skill-building platform looking to expand on what is available from traditional learning experience platforms (LXPs). As Amy Borsetti, senior director at LinkedIn Talent Solutions announced yesterday in “With LinkedIn Learning Hub, a New Era of Skill Building Starts Today,” the new LinkedIn Learning Hub is part of a movement that’s fundamentally changing the way people learn. Savvy B2B marketers know that the ever-changing industry requires ongoing education, and with its new LinkedIn Learning Hub, a wealth of learning and development (L&D) offerings are on tap for marketers seeking to make learning a lifelong pursuit.5 — Lighten The Load On Your Eyes With Dark ModeIncreased accessibility, inclusivity, and reduced eye-strain-inducing blue light are among the aims for LinkedIn’s new dark mode option, being rolled out to the professional platform’s users. LinkedIn has taken a measured approach to carefully implementing its dark mode, which is a part of its move to make the platform more inclusive and accessible through the use of upgrades making the visual elements of LinkedIn as clear and eye-strain-free as possible, including support for the free Be My Eyes app for blind and low-vision users. Learn more about LinkedIn’s new dark mode and other accessibility updates.B2B Brands Work Smarter With LinkedIn’s New Featuresvia GIPHY With its latest updates including full-length articles for pages, profile ratings and reviews, LinkedIn Live Events, a new LinkedIn Learning Hub skill-building platform, and new features for accessibility in the form of a dark mode, LinkedIn has made it easier than ever for B2B marketers to create meaningful engagement on the world’s biggest professional business network. Crafting award-winning B2B marketing with a skillful mixture of influence takes considerable time and effort, which is why many firms choose to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Talk with us about how we can help, as we’ve done for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others. * LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.The post 5 Fresh Features: What LinkedIn’s New Learning Hub, Ratings & Reviews, Live Events & Page Article Updates Mean for B2B Marketers appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh September 22, 2021 at 05:39AM
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Starcom Is Global Pitch King For First Half 2021 https://ift.tt/39wHtp3 Publicis Groupe’s Starcom is the top global media agency in net new business activity for the first half of 2021 according to a new analysis from agency research firm COMvergence. The net new business figures cited below are billings numbers and include retentions and also factor in business that was lost. During the first half of the year COMvergence assessed 1,940 media account moves and retentions across 46 countries totaling $13.2 billion, an increase of 27% over the same period in 2020, when review activity was suppressed by the pandemic. The US accounted for 38% of the total spending assessed. For the period Starcom won $2.2 billion in net new business. That includes $1.2 billion in retained business where the agency was an incumbent in reviews. The agency’s biggest win was auto giant Stellantis--formed earlier this year with the merger between the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group. advertisement advertisement Stellantis consolidated its estimated $2 billion media account with Publicis Groupe in April. Starcom was one of the incumbents. Initiative ranked second with net new business of $1.4 billion, including the T-Mobile win in the US with estimated billings of $1.2 billion. Zenith and OMD tied for third place, each with $872 million in new business billings. Mindshare rounded out the top-5 with nearly $500 million in net new business. By holding company group, Publicis Media landed the top spot with $3 billion in new business in large part due to the Stellantis consolidation pitch. But it also notched several other big wins including Nomad Foods and Lindt in Europe and the $500 million Inspire Brands account in the US. IPG’s Mediabrands ranked second with nearly $1.5 billion in new business. In addition to T-Mobile, wins included Cigna and Enterprise. Omnicom Media Group ranked third with over $720 million in new business. Wins included Philips ($150 million), Home Depot ($330 million) and Yili ($120 million) in China. Havas Media ($480 million) and GroupM ($255 million) rounded out the top-5 ranked groups. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 21, 2021 at 02:38PM
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Apple iOS 15 Gets Mobile Cashback Rewards Custom-Label Extension For Merchants https://ift.tt/3hVr3eF Wildfire Systems, a Solana Beach startup that helps people to earn cashback for online shopping and product recommendations, now offers a customizable mobile Safari extension that works with Apple's latest operating system -- iOS 15, which rolled out Monday. The iOS extension helps merchants initiate a cashback and rewards program, allowing consumers to earn perks similar to those for Bing, Rakuten, and others. Acorns, the saving and investing app, became the first to leverage Wildfire’s platform for the mobile Safari browser. Wildfire will power Acorns’ Safari browser extension for Acorns Earn, enabling customers to earn more money from thousands of brands while they shop online. A percentage of the purchase goes back to the consumer through rewards programs. Wildfire works with about 130,000 merchants. “The Discover Card was ground-breaking decades ago, when they started giving cashback on the card, and now every card does it,” said Jordan Glazier, CEO of Wildfire. “PayPal and Capital One have both launched independent services, something similar to what I’m describing. It’s become the central battleground to reward the consumer for their purchase.” advertisement advertisement Consumer data comes along with it for merchants, not Wildfire. PayPal did it by acquiring Honey for $4 billion in November 2019. Capital One also did it through an acquisition. Rakuten bought eBates for $1 billion in 2014. Offering mobile cashback programs has not been easy. Most are used on desktops. Previously, because of its privacy focus, Apple made this process so difficult that users often would give up before they had a chance to use a mobile Safari extension. In some cases, the onboarding process is eight steps long. Time spent with mobile increased by an average of 31 minutes per U.S. adult in 2020 -- reaching 4 hours and 16 minutes, according to eMarketer, which added that it will grow 2.5% in 2021. U.S. retail mobile-commerce sales grew at 41.4% in 2020 and will grow another 15.2% in 2021 to reach $359.32 billion. Annual sales should nearly double between now and 2025, eMarketer projects. “Until now we have not been able to offer the mobile extension through iOS,” Glazier says. “With the latest update, Apple is offering this service. They are leapfrogging Google Chrome, which does not offer this through mobile. We’ve seen this in Samsung for mobile, but they have relatively small market share.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 21, 2021 at 10:15AM
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Equilibrium: 10 Tips to Balance Creativity and Process in B2B Content Marketing https://ift.tt/3hQl4Yo Marketers have to continually earn and reward people’s attention. If we fail at that task, there are plenty of other content options out there. People — yes, even B2B buyers — want engaging, entertaining and valuable content. That’s great news for those of us on the content side! It means we should be regularly exercising our creative muscles, breaking free of boring B2B, and coming up with new ways to delight our readers. How cool is it, for example, to make Ghostbusters references… for your job? But as fun and creative as the work can be, there’s a cerebral and analytical side to marketing that we can’t neglect. If you came into marketing through creative writing, not the other way around, you may need to develop the left-brain part of the job:
1 — Embrace Keyword ResearchFor too long, content creators treated SEO like an add-on — something you sprinkled in after the content was done. It wasn’t part of the creative process. It was just a thing you had to do to make sure the bots recommended your content. But now we know better. Keyword research should be part of the content planning process. And not because it makes bots like your content better, either. A high-volume keyword means it’s a keyword that real actual people are searching for, because they have a need that must be met. Every keyword is a statement of desire. For a creative content marketer, it’s the next best thing to a telepathic bond with our target audience. And speaking of which...2 — Learn Your AudienceIf you’re a creative writer, you probably have an audience you’re used to addressing. When I was writing for my online comedy game, it was nerds like me — people who lived and breathed Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, et al. At TopRank Marketing, however, I’ve written for CFOs, CEOs, cybersecurity experts, small business owners, millennials in the job market… in other words, a lot of people who aren’t a lot like my default audience. So I had to learn what each of these groups wanted, loved, hated, were afraid of, and needed. That means a lot of research to underpin your creative content.3 — Involve Diverse VoicesHow can you make absolutely sure your content will resonate with a broader audience? Bring more people into the creation process. That means bouncing ideas off of both the millennials and boomers in your office. It can mean talking to people in other departments, too — if you’re writing for CFOs, take a meeting with people in the finance department. But beyond the internal collaboration, look for ways to highlight both respected industry experts and potential clients in your content. All of which requires you to... [bctt tweet="“How can you make absolutely sure your content will resonate with a broader audience? Bring more people into the creation process.” — Joshua Nite @nitewrites" username="toprank"]4 -- Release the EgoThere’s nothing wrong with taking pride in your work, of course. But we writers tend to be protective of the things we write — we don’t like too many people meddling about with our precious words. When we’re writing for personal expression, that’s fine. But when it comes to marketing, we have to make sure the content is the best it can be for the target audience. And that means plenty of editorial oversight. It’s important to get feedback and quality checks on your work, and to keep your eye on the ultimate goal: Content that serves the brand, no matter whose name is on the byline.5 -- Read Other People’s ContentStephen King famously said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” That’s true in marketing as much as in thousand-page novels about killer clowns from outer space. There are three absolutely vital reasons to read other marketing content, especially content targeting the same audience you’re aiming for:
6 -- Don’t Confuse the Garnish for the MealAbout a month into my time at TopRank Marketing, I finally got to really flex my creative muscles. We were writing a superhero-themed eBook for a client. I went all out — each section had a full page about a superhero, followed by a page comparing the superhero to the client’s subject matter. So there was a section on Batman, and his methods, and his utility belt, and then a section tying in the metaphor to the cloud software we were writing about. That first draft was one of my first lessons in letting go of ego and collaborating, too. My colleagues gently informed me that people wanted to learn about the technology, not the superhero stuff. I was giving people too much parsley and too little steak. The creative theming in your content should provide a hook for your audience and liven up the subject matter. But it shouldn’t get in the way of the information you’re trying to get across.7 -- Have a Clear Next StepMarketing content should compel your reader to take specific action. No matter how creative and fun your piece is — and it should be plenty of both — at the end, there should be a logical, meaningful, and measurable next step. You should plan out the content journey and the calls to action before you write a single paragraph of content. Keeping the focus on the customer and their journey will help make sure your content is doing the work it should be. [bctt tweet="“Marketing content should compel your reader to take specific action. No matter how creative and fun your piece is, at the end there should be a logical, meaningful, and measurable next step.” — Joshua Nite @nitewrites" username="toprank"]8 — Get Invested in ResultsWhen you have measurable calls to action, the logical next step is to — wait for it -- measure them. As a creative writer, my impulse when I’m done with a piece is to release it into the world and never look at it again. As a marketer, we have to do the opposite. Don’t just check in on your content’s performance from time to time. Get into those results — who is reading the content? Who is bouncing off of it straight from the search page? How long are people spending with it, and how many of them are clicking your CTA link? A larger organization might have people whose full-time job it is to look at those results. But you should be fixated on them, too; these metrics are an ongoing performance review from your target audience.9 — Collaborate with Analytics FolksAs much as content marketers want to be invested in results, it can be hard to collect, analyze and visualize the data. That’s why we should be partnering up with people who eat, sleep and breathe data. Those analytical types who are writing queries and building pivot tables are indispensable allies for quality content marketing. Talk to them, make friends with them, buy them cookies and take them out for the beverage of their choice. The more you learn about each others’ disciplines, the more effective your marketing will be. And speaking of learning...10 -- Continue Your EducationI came into the marketing field with one very particular skill: I can write stuff people want to read, and I can do it quickly. But I only stayed in marketing because I kept learning about all the other aspects of the business. We’re in the era of the T-shaped marketer now. If you’re a content specialist, you should also know a little about SEO, be conversant in analytics, and even take a lunch with the sales team from time to time. Everything you learn will inform your content and make you a better marketer — and will enable you to explore your creativity and still get meaningful, measurable results. Looking for creative B2B content that inspires action? We’ve got you covered.The post Equilibrium: 10 Tips to Balance Creativity and Process in B2B Content Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh September 21, 2021 at 05:33AM
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The Worm In The Apple: Mail Privacy Protection Takes Effect https://ift.tt/3hNPoDi It’s here — the day email marketers have been dreading for months — the day Apple is rolling out its iOS Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). Starting now, senders will no longer be able to use open rates as a metric. In technical terms, MPP will prevent senders from using invisible pixels to collect open-rate and geographical-location information about their recipients. All emails going through Apple will register as opened, even if they were not really opened. It is not known how many consumers will opt in to this service. Roughly 35% to 40% of email subscribers open their mail through Apple clients. Whatever the number, email vendors are stepping up to help brands cope with the situation. For instance, Validity on Monday announced it will expand the engagement analytics within its Everest platform. "With our latest update to Everest, users' existing data will be reorganized for more efficient and actionable insights to ultimately help marketers understand the accuracy and takeaways from the data that's available," says Greg Kimball, senior vice president, global head of email solutions at Validity. advertisement advertisement Everest will help marketers get a more complete view of campaign performance, including inbox placement rates and sender reputation signals, the company claims. Combined with click-through rates, conversion rates and other metrics that are “deeper in the conversion funnel,” brands will get a picture that goes beyond open rates, it adds. In addition, Everest will segment inflated open rate data stemming from Apple Mail and other proxy services from more accurate open rate data originating from other mail client and mailbox providers, Validity continues, These segments will include Apple Privacy Proxy, Google Proxy, Yahoo Proxy, Desktop, Mobile/Tablet, and others. Validity warns that this will have a sweeping impact on the industry. But one Validity client is hopeful. "I'm very pleased with what Validity has shown us," says Fons de Waard, Head of Data & Platforms at Samsung UK. "This works similar to how we measure our web visitors. I think this is a perfect implementation and solution in terms of meeting sender's needs against what Apple is trying to provide." That’s not the only new service: As previously reported, Litmus has introduced Apple Audience report, which allows marketers to see a baseline of Apple Mail usage by email subscribers, including various engagement metrics. Meanwhile, other observers see positives. “We see it as an opportunity,” says David Greenberg, CMO of growth marketing automation platform Act-On Software.”We’re focused on personalized email, triggered across the lifecycle. So the thing we won’t lose is the clicks and what they’re engaging with and what content they’re reading.” But what about the rumor that MPP will be the death of BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification, the security standard that allows firms to display their brand logos alongside authenticated email messages? “I don’t know it’s going to have an impact on BIMI, says Todd Herr, the senior technical program manager at Valimail. “It has taken marketers’ attention away from BIMI because they are now focused on how to measure open rates.” Herr is not alarmed, although he admits he might be if he were working in email deliverability. In fact, MPP is “complementary to the mission of BIMI, which is to make email better and safer for the consumer.” “There are other ways to measure user engagement,” Herr says. “Marketers will have to find a new normal, whether click tracking, or how many sales am I making.” People have long said that “open pixels were never a pure measure, anyway,” Herr notes. Herr notes that there was a similar uproar years ago when Gmail announced it was going to proxy all images. “That was terrifying to the email industry for a few months, then it all died down,” he laughs. In conclusion, Herr says, “I’m sure a lot of smart people are looking at this problem.” Finally, it pays to note that none of the individuals quoted here are actually denouncing the Apple move. "We are strong advocates for ethical marketing and support initiatives that promote and protect consumer privacy,” Kimball says.
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 20, 2021 at 05:19PM
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Barclays US, Xerox Land New CMOs https://ift.tt/39kse2A Not all companies are going the route of Bank of America in eliminating the CMO title and disbursing duties. Both Barclays U.S. Consumer Bank and Xerox named new CMOs today. Lili Tomovich, who takes on the role at Barclays, will oversee brand, customer experience and lifecycle management, marketing technology, product marketing, marketing communications, and customer and market research. She joins Barclays from Grove Collaborative, a direct to consumer e-commerce platform for natural home and personal care products where she served as its first CMO. Prior gigs include chief experience and marketing officer for MGM Resorts International, a $15 billion global hospitality and entertainment company. advertisement advertisement At MGM Resorts, she oversaw the repositioning of the brand. She led the launch of MGM Digital Ventures, the center for digital innovation for the company, which doubled ecommerce revenue and spearheaded mobile check-in and digital key initiatives. The charismatic leader spoke at the ANA Masters of Marketing in 2017 a few days after a gunman on the 32nd floor of the MGM-owned Mandalay Bay resort opened fire on a crowd of people at a country music festival killing 58 and injuring hundreds. Tomovich eloquently pivoted her talk to detail how the company pulled its new marketing campaign in light of the tragic event. Marketers must understand and appreciate their brand’s heritage and DNA, define their brand’s purpose and role, she said at the event. “Repositioning a brand is the entire organization’s responsibility,” she told the audience in Orlando, Florida. “Before you tell your brand position to the world at large, you better damn be ready to deliver it.” Prior to MGM Resorts, Tomovich was senior vice president of consumer marketing for MasterCard in New York where she led the award-winning “Priceless” campaign. Meanwhile, at Xerox Holdings Corp., Deena LaMarque Piquion takes over as CMO. Previously serving as senior vice president and general manager of Xerox’s Latin America Operations, Piquion brings 20 years of experience leading sales, marketing and operations teams for industry-leading information technology companies. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 20, 2021 at 04:58PM
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'Emmys' Sees Surprising Viewership Growth - Up 16% Vs. 2020 https://ift.tt/3tXPGw7 After many downturns in viewership, the “73rd Emmy Awards” on CBS had an uptick -- 16% more viewers versus a year ago, according to Nielsen’s fast affiliate measure of 7.4 million viewers. It was the show’s largest audience in three years. The national TV advertising spend for the awards show was estimated at around $67.4 million, according to iSpot.tv. In terms of the top individual brands' spend, Kia came in at $7.8 million, followed by Eliquis with $3.2 million, Rybelsus, ($2.7 million); Amazon Prime Video ($2.7 million); and Samsung Mobile ($2.6 million). The biggest categories were automakers ($9.7 million); video streaming services ($6.9 million); pharmaceuticals - diabetes/blood disorders ($6.4 million); pharmaceuticals - cancer ($3.6 million); and credit cards ($3.5 million). Looking at entertainment advertising, TV networks (including on-air CBS promos) had a combined paid TV spend/media value of $12.6 million (14 spots, 32 airings); streaming services: $9.2 million (seven spots, 13 airings); and theatrical movies: $2.5 million (three spots, six airings). advertisement advertisement CBS had 26 airings of on-air promos (16 equivalized 30-second units), while ViacomCBS’ Paramount+ had four airings (three equivalized units). ViacomCBS touted shows including CBS’ “Survivor”, “The Late Show,” “The Neighborhood”, new show “Ghosts”, and Paramount+’ “Queenpins” and “Mayor of Kingstown”; as well as Showtime’s “Dexter: New Blood”. Among media companies' movie studios and TV platform services: 20th Century Studios, Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, FX Network, Showtime, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock TV, Disney+, Netflix, each had two 30-second spots. Amazon Prime Video had four equivalized 30-second units. HBO Max had one 60-second airing, profiling a number of its shows. The average cost per 30-second unit ranged roughly from $360,000 to $680,000, according to iSpot.tv. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 20, 2021 at 03:04PM
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Net Differences In Time Spent Vs. Ad Spending Across Media https://ift.tt/2XMr5P0 It's been a while since someone sparked a good Mary Meeker-esque debate about the relative values of time spent with media vs. the advertising share allocation of those media, but a new analysis from BMO Capital Markets could very well do that. The analysis, published as part of an update to the securities firm's model for marketing industry through 2030, shows the explicit shares of time spent -- as well as ad spending -- across the major media, including ones you don't normally see delineated this way: search and direct mail. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 20, 2021 at 11:17AM Inside B2B Influence: Brian Solis of Salesforce on the Future of Influence in B2B Marketing9/20/2021
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Inside B2B Influence: Brian Solis of Salesforce on the Future of Influence in B2B Marketing https://ift.tt/3Asmqjp If this is your first time, Inside B2B Influence is a podcast series that goes behind the scenes of B2B marketing and highlights insights with top business executives on influencer marketing for B2B companies. At TopRank Marketing we're doing our best to connect readers and listeners with B2B marketing insiders on strategies, trends, tactics and the future to elevate the practice of growing influence within and outside of B2B brands. In Episode 17 of Inside B2B Influence we have a returning guest who needs little introduction given his accomplishments and yet, we'd all be missing out if I did not mention that Brian Solis is Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, an 8X best selling author, global keynote speaker, digital pioneer and has been a good friend for over 10 years. [caption id="attachment_30272" align="alignnone" width="500"] Lee, Valerie, Brian - 2008 (Photo: Brian Solis)[/caption] As someone who has been at the forefront of studying, innovating and practicing influence in the B2B business and technology world, I reached out to Brian for his thoughts on what the future holds for influence at B2B organizations inside and out, what to look for with business influencers and thoughts on how to scale influence. Highlights of episode 17 include:
Transcript – Inside B2B Influence Episode 17: The Future of Influence for B2B MarketingIn the first ever research report on B2B influencer marketing, you shared that "in a time of darkness, chaos or confusion, B2B brands have an opportunity to be the light for their customers." As we finish off 2021 and head into another year of the pandemic, what kind of advantage does influencer marketing bring for B2B brands?Brian: I think it's more important than it's ever been and kudos to you for launching that first report. I understand that it was incredibly successful, so thanks for letting me be part of that. I'll try to connect the dots this way for those who are listening. At Salesforce, our mission is to help businesses, not just transform, but to be relevant and to thrive in what's going to be what I call, a novel economy. It's the word novel, like in novel coronavirus means new and unusual, and that means that we're heading into new years, a new genre of business without a playbook. When we take that stance, that means that we have to have a very solid position on how we're going to help you. What does business look like on the other side? What does every function look like on the other side? Marketing, sales and service? How do they all come together to essentially create the enterprise of the future right now? And so that's going to take a lot of work, a lot of thought leadership, a lot of content, a lot of video, a lot of articles, a lot of social media to reach those looking for insights - to connect the dots between valuable information and actions to those who need them. In that regard, you can't just have the ideas. You can't just have the solutions. You also have to have the ability to connect the dots between those ideas and people who need them. So, in a sense, we have all become marketers now. And I think that's a good thing. I think marketing itself becomes a much more value added, it rises in the ranks of helping to serve, I guess, is the best way to put it, Not just to market or promote or to gain eyeballs, but to serve people. I think it's like a call to arms or this enlightenment that gives us a greater sense of purpose, a more noble sense of purpose. So with that said, I have a lot to read, a lot to learn and relearn in these times because there's certainly a lot of really smart people out there. I'm just hoping to continue to, not just think about ways to help companies, but to also think about ways to reach people their way. And that has me "control alt deleting" a lot of assumptions, that's for sure. B2B marketers have learned many lessons from our B2C counterparts including what makes an influencer. B2B influencers are more than experts with industry credentials. They are increasingly creators as well. What are the qualities most important in an influencer that brands should look for? Brian: Oh, man, let's start with the question of what makes an influencer. You know, I think back to some of the conversations, how many years have we been having these really these awesome conversations? I really appreciate how long we've known each other. We've done a lot of really cool things together. I think this is a time where it's almost as exciting as when we first met. You remember? Social media was just coming together. It was just chaos. It was the wild west. And I think this is that time. I don't know that people are going to pick up that it's that time, but it really is. I want to call it out for this reason. What is an influencer? Because coming into 2022 I think we could all have these visions of some beautiful human being on a beach in Thailand. Somebody walking and seeing their back with their hand extended holding their hand. You know, that's what I think a lot of traditional marketers think about in terms of influencer marketing. I'm not going to knock it. It has been, for B2C, some of the most innovative, creative stuff that I've seen in a long time. There's nothing to say though, that when it comes to B2B that you can't be human being either. I think that's really where we should start thinking about this. I too, have been the recipient of these types of requests. Every single day I get emails, "we need you to be part of this. We want to give you some content to publish. Can you make a video? Can you do this?" And it's simply because of the number of people who follow my work. Very rarely does someone take the time to read my work and then reach out and talk about ways that we might be able to collaborate, because there was some idea that they felt could help them connect the dots of markets they're trying to cultivate. That's where it starts: who are you trying to reach and why? And then building bridges between those people who have earned the trust of those that you're trying to reach, whether it's a macro influencer, certainly in the B2B world, there are people with a lot of followers, more followers than I'll probably ever have. And at the same time they have reached the micro influence that is so critical right now. The people that you trust because they will tell you something specific that you need to do and you believe that their insights are going to help you succeed in how you're measured for success. I'm a big believer in experimenting. So I'll experiment with the wide swaths and the big audiences. But I also want to experiment with direct outcomes. If we can together, do some work that helps people make better decisions or move markets or launch products that help other companies, then that's what I'm talking about. For example, I remember some of my greatest work in the past, aside from what I'm doing right now. So I don't know that I've ever had so much fun while having such an impact, was back in the day with Google when we launched, we introduced the concept of micro-moments. Micro-moments was our way of helping marketers understand that a mobile first customer does not go through the web journey like a traditional customer sitting in front of a big screen or a laptop journey. You have to think about TikToK or Snapchat versus amazon.com, right, in terms of how you go through that. The work that we did cast a wide net because Google is very good at that. My responsibility was the micro stuff. Can we beat the drum of micro influence by talking about micro-moments in every single aspect of how a customer goes through the journey and what they're missing and what they need from marketers, from digital marketers, from web marketers to create that ideal journey. So, we talked about micro-moments, we talked about mobile first things. We talked about stats, we ran all kinds of research. We did micro-moments for travel, micro-moments for insurance and micro-moments for auto sales. I was a mad man during that first year to 18 months, every single day developing new content, putting it in the places that were going to reach those people. If I didn't have that audience, I would go build that audience. That was my life for a year and a half. And I think the result of that is that everybody knows about micro moments and it's still important after all of these years today. But that was the hard work, dedicated work of cultivating those communities, not just relying on somebody because they had the numbers. I think that in this post pandemic economy that's going to start taking shape, as soon as we can get people vaccinated, that the new world, that next normal needs more work like that. Not just intention to promote stuff, but to build stuff, to help those who are looking for insights, understand that we can build that playbook together. I think there's a lot of people asking questions. There's a lot of people looking for help. For those influencers who are going to take the time to think about it, not just promote or say something, or try to get a lot of views or clicks or what have you. But to think about like honestly think about, what is your problem? How has the world changed and how can I help you? And then go create around that. That's the answer to your question. That's what makes an influencer and it's not even an influencer at that point. That's a business partner who's helping you and helping others solve problems and create opportunities. One of the significant trends we've seen with many enterprise B2B brands is growth of investment in building influence from within. This comes in the form of employee advocacy programs as well as building thought leadership and influence for key executives by collaborating on content with industry experts. How important is it for B2B brands to grow influence from within? Brian: Such a great question. I joined this company because I wanted to be part of this culture. The Ohana, it is a very special culture, They, we, I should say, believe in that employee advocacy and empowerment. Because the frontline for us are those individuals who are having to help our customers solve some pretty big problems and transform overnight like most companies that got hit in March, 2020 with remote work and e-commerce, and chat bots and automation, and all of the things that had accelerated roadmaps, digital transformation roadmaps by 10 years. So Mark Benioff, at our big corporate kickoff get together, he talked about how we all need to as individuals, as employees of the organization, not just sell technology, which is a really big thing for a CEO of a hyper-growth company to say. He was basically saying, he wants all of us to think about the outcomes that our customers are trying to solve for and the things that they don't know, that they need to solve for and go be that go be that person, go be that resource so that they can trust you beyond just being a sales person or a service person. That's a big call to all of us, right? Not just me and my colleagues who do this every single day, but for everybody. That's employee advocacy. It's the belief in your people that they can provide solutions and help, not just the things that are going to hit the bottom line. To build relationships, as my colleague Henry King, and I have written about it in a serious this last year, we talk about relationship transformation. What do you want the employee to do, or employees do in aggregate and as individuals? Well, essentially it's to build relationships. You know this better than anybody. You build relationships by adding value and consistently adding value. To do that, it means you have to understand what value looks like. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Then you train, you empower, you re-skill or skill to help people get there. And then you measure that because we're all in the relationship business. You measure the relationships that you want to see come to life. Then business outcomes are natural byproducts of investing in those relationships. So then it's not just a conversation. How can we empower employees to create, to share, to answer questions that maybe haven't been asked and to answer those questions en masse so that a lot of people find those answers. Essentially you build an infrastructure that can help create that type of advocacy. I think that's a pretty big deal, going beyond all of the apps to see, hey, what is it like to work there? You really start to invest in the culture where part of that culture is, you have smart people who are sharing smart things. I think that's part leadership, but also you need a program that isn't just about ghost writing for executives. It's really about giving a voice to the executive who actually believes in those things and scaling them. Thank you Brian! You can find Brian on Twitter, LinkedIn, his website and you can watch Brian along with his co-host John Kao and special guests on their Intersections show every Thursday morning at 10:30am PT. Be sure to stay tuned to TopRank Marketing’s B2B Marketing Blog for our next episode of Inside B2B Influence where we’ll be answering the B2B marketing industry’s most pressing questions about the role of influence in business to business marketing. Have you taken the 2021 B2B Influencer Marketing Survey?Help elevate the practice of influence in B2B marketing by sharing your experience and opinions about B2B marketing and working with influencers in our latest research project. The survey takes just 10 minutes and you'll not only get an advanced copy of our research report featuring insights from Brian Solis and an incredible mix of B2B industry experts, but we're also giving away some sweet incentives. Take the survey today though, because we'll be closing it down soon.The post Inside B2B Influence: Brian Solis of Salesforce on the Future of Influence in B2B Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh September 20, 2021 at 07:09AM
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Streaming Content Discovery: Word-Of-Mouth, Ads Are Top Drivers https://ift.tt/3koBKbr As the number of streaming service options — and the numbers being used by consumers — have multiplied, content discovery challenges are consistently cited as one of the top drawbacks of the streaming experience. Now, Conviva has released a study that digs into how consumers actually go about discovering content. It was conducted June 10-14 by Dynata among 2,502 consumers who are over 18, use social media, watch television or other video content through internet streaming, and also watch linear (non-internet-streamed) TV. General “word-of-mouth” was found to be the top discovery source — cited by 59% — followed by advertising (52%), social media (49%) and recommendations from streaming services (43%). However, those topline results overlap somewhat, since the study’s definition of word-of-mouth included social media: “chatting with or seeing social media posts from friends, family, or influencers.” advertisement advertisement When sources were broken out more finely, absent the broad word-of-mouth option, the top sources were “discovered by chance,” TV ads, friend and family recommendations, streaming service recommendations, in-person conversations, media reviews and social media ads. Various forms of social media word-of-mouth were also cited by significant percentages, including friends talking about content on social media (20%), recommendations by a friend on social media (18%) and recommendations by a celebrity or influencer on social media (11%).
Social Media Termed Most "Important” The report also presents other results in support of its argument that rather than being a competitor, social media is the “most important” source of content discovery. One key finding: While not in the top ranking across the full sample, social platforms are the top information source among consumers 18 to 34, with two-thirds agreeing that social media has useful information about TV, movies or shows. The survey also found correlations between high social media use and high streaming video consumption. The average number of social media platforms used by heavy streamers was 3.9, compared to 3.4 for the “typical” consumer and 2.3 for non-streamers, according to the report. Heavy social media users were more than twice as likely to say they spend more than eight hours per day streaming. And consumers who agreed that “social media has “a lot of good information on shows and movies” were also 78% more likely to discover content by engaging with shows on social media.
Fully 93% of heavy social users report streaming on Netflix, and more than half of those users report streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max. Looking at which platforms are used on a weekly basis, Facebook and YouTube were by far the most-cited by these respondents.
Advertising: Mix of Media Recommended Given that 34% of consumers say their content discovery is influenced by TV ads, 20% by social ads, 10% by podcast ads and 10% by printed publication ads, publishers should maintain a varied media mix in their overall marketing to maximize content exposure, say the researchers. A finding that up to 65% of long-form video is still consumed on the big screen suggests that 30-second ads remain viable, while 5- to 10-second ad units are better for smaller devices, where 42% of shorter content is consumed on mobile phones. Given that general web browsing is still the most common activity among consumers (75% said they browse the internet for more than an hour per day and 38% for more than three hours per day), the web “should remain a dominant part of the paid ad mix,” say the researchers. Nearly as many respondents (71%) reported spending more than an hour per day on streaming, compared to 61% saying the same about social media, 57% about linear TV, and 30% about reading print. In addition to 43% of streamers discovering content through recommendations from streaming services, 41% said they frequently watch what’s recommended to them when they start up their services, and 47% agreed that recommendations by streaming services are “usually very good.” The report also highlights the growing competition between gaming and streaming for consumers’ time, clusters of streaming consumers as defined by how they discover content, and most-watched genres of content. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 18, 2021 at 03:32PM |
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