What Is The Future Of The Social Media Role?
Recently, I’ve been reading how “the role of the social media strategist will be changing” to become much more operational and covering more “mundane” tasks. Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter is calling “2011: The Year of [Social] Integration” where we leave formation and organizational ideas behind. And I have already described how organizations need to integrate social media engagement into the marketing mix as well as into the DNA of our organizations.
All this got me to wondering about the future of social media marketing roles. I have friends and colleagues who I respect, admire and in some cases hired. They are fully entrenched in social media. So what does the future hold for them?
The Secret To B2B Social Media?
Today I presented on the Focus webinar titled “The Secrets to B2B Social Media Success Revealed” where I discussed how to integrate social media into your marketing mix.
The bottom line: the question is no longer “Should we?” but rather “How?” we begin to align our organization around the new/old social world. I speak about this paradox in my presentation which you can access below.
Finding The Time To Tweet or Blog?
Social media is intimidating to a large number of people. But the growth just keeps going for the users on the major social sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. And so I get this question all the time. Sometimes the question comes from sincerely curious colleagues and peers who also want to grow their connections and interact with our increasingly social world…
Other times it comes with that oh-so-subtle implication that I’m a slacker spending my day on Facebook, status updating about the loud talkers and bad dressers in the office. As all Gen Xers have to state at some point in our lives: I am not a slacker…
The Future of B2B Marketing: It’s Social
The Future's So Bright
I received a question on twitter yesterday from Billy Mitchell, Senior Creative Director at the MLT Creative agency: he asked me “What is the future of B2B Marketing?”
This got me to thinking. I’ve already published my B2B Marketing predictions for 2011 and while I think I captured a good mix of new and traditional issues, I realized that one thing was missing: a common theme. And so this led me to the conclusion that the broader future of B2B Marketing is Social! But what does that mean…?
A B2B Marketing Manifesto?
The folks at Velocity Partners think that this is a great (and a scary) time to be a B2B marketer. So they’ve written a manifesto (reg. required) to prove it. The eBook offers a call to action for all B2B marketers to take a different path from the traditional “tried and true” marketing practices of old. The manifesto also makes a “plea for ambition.”
Setting aside the common discussions about tactics and channels like social media, the web, or email, they claim that the new age of B2B marketing is about a whole new mindset because we live in a new world of buyer behaviors with completely new ways to address them.
B2B Marketing Predictions For 2011
Whenever I start to see Thanksgiving turkeys flying out of the grocery store and Black Friday ads start to appear, I know it’s that time of year to prognosticate. So here is my list of B2B Marketing Insider predictions for 2011.
2010 was the year social media moved from cutting edge to mainstream (right?). And what a wild ride it has been. While some have predicted the consolidation of Twitter and Facebook or the demise of Foursquare, I am sticking to the practical topics most B2B Marketers I know are talking about:
Top Takeaways From Blogwell Philly 2010
On Tuesday, November 9th I was fortunate enough to attend and participate in Blogwell Philly 2010. This was my first effort as a “Live-Blogger” and I hope the speakers feel that I captured their presentations well. Coming away from the event, I wanted to share some of my top takeaways from the amazing experience.
To review, Blogwell is an event sponsored by the Social Media Business Council, a ”community for social business leaders at large companies.” The event titled “How Big Brands Use Social Media” highlights 8 real-life social media case studies. Disclosure: The Philly leg of the Blogwell tour was sponsored and hosted by my employer: SAP.
Report: Blogs Are An Important Part Of The Marketing Mix
The proof is in folks: blogs are an important part of the marketing mix, according to Technorati’s recent ”State of the Blogosphere” report.
And even though bloggers stated feeling that they aren’t treated with the same respect as traditional media representatives, it’s the buyers who had the final say. They reported in a separate study by Technorati that blogs are right up there with many traditional media in terms of importance and influence on their buying behavior.
Integrate Social Media Into Your Marketing Mix
As a results-oriented marketer you want to only deploy your precious time and budget into marketing programs that work. At the same time, you know that social media has changed the marketing landscape: shouting to prospects with endless email offers may produce leads but you’re worried about the longer term implications to your market.
You may have heard that social media can improve not only your more traditional tactics but also allows you to engage with your prospects sooner in the buying cycle. It may even allow you to identify those influential network hubs whose recommendations can mean big referral business for you. So how do you incorporate social media into the marketing mix?
The 4 Cs of Social Media
Social media is a paradox: it is the physical representation of a revolution in the way consumers obtain (and create) information. At the same time, it is just another marketing channel. The reason I believe marketers are so confused about social media is because of this paradox.
And the reaction of many is to rush into the technology. This misses the point, of course, since social media is about customer relationships and not really about the technology at all. In the past, I have written about the challenges of Social Media and The Brand, the power of Integrating Social Media and Search and asked Why Do You Tweet? Social Media And Your Personal Brand. So I thought it was best to identify a clear framework for marketers to use to create successful social media strategies.
