Is your content marketing increasing revenues?
Are you choosing the right platforms and strategies?
The amount of content B2B marketers are creating is expected to drastically increase in 2016 and beyond. With this amplified emphasis on content marketing, these marketers have evolved in their approach and strategies.
No matter the reason, content marketing delivers results, especially when it comes to the more traditional end goal: generating leads to feed the sales funnel.
LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME
One of the best ways to stop worrying is to live in “day-tight compartments.” Live one day at a time. Much of your stress is a result of worrying about things in the future, most of which never happen anyway.
Cross the bridge, whenever possible, when you come to it, not before. And not repeatedly.
MEANING & PURPOSE
What is the meaning and purpose of your business? Surprisingly most businesses don’t know. They think that it is to make money, but it goes beyond that.
What’s your mission?
What are you passionate about?
Most have no clear goals to which they are committed.
In business, a major source of stress is poor time management, which is almost invariably caused by a lack of clarity concerning goals and priorities. 
You can’t plan & organize your time efficiently and effectively if you are unsure about what you are trying to accomplish.
Perhaps 80% of all the problems and unhappiness that you experience occur because you are unclear about where you’re going and what your want to accomplish.
What do you want to accomplish with your business and brand?
The very act of selecting a major definite purpose, and making a plan for its accomplishment is often enough in itself to snap you out of the feeling of negativity that you experience in the absence of a goal.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Has the fast pace of business today left you paralyzed?
Is there unfinished business that is still hanging on?
Unfinished business is often the result of hanging on to the old way of doing things, rather than moving forward with your new B2B goals and objectives.
What’s holding you back?
TYPES OF B2B GOALS TO SET
When it comes to social media, there are two types of goals that marketers should be setting.
- Broad goals which help you and your team understand the purpose behind your social media campaigns
- Specific, measurable goals to help track your progress.
They both go hand in hand.
Choosing broad social marketing goals is perhaps the easy part, but it still requires careful consideration.
The top 5 goals of B2B marketers are, in order:
- Brand awareness
- Lead generation
- Customer acquisition
- Thought leadership, and
- Engagement
All of the above goals can be accomplished with a good social media campaign. Depending on the market position of your company, you might select just 2 or 3 of the above goals for now, and focus on others in the future as company needs dictate.
For example, if you choose brand awareness and thought leadership, you’ll focus your social media efforts on achieving those two objectives.
- First, focus on creating social content that’s helpful, shareable, engaging, and uniquely styled to give definition to your brand.
- Secondly, for the thought leadership component, make sure your social posts on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook link to your comprehensive guides, ebooks, and white papers on important industry topics.
TOP PLATFORMS FOR B2B MARKETERS
While Facebook is the top choice for B2C marketers, it’s in third place for B2B Marketers.
LinkedIn is far and away the leader in B2B, business to business.
Why?
- All fortune 500 CEO’s are on LinkedIn.
- The highest graduation rate.
- The highest income per user of any social media platform.
- More business oriented.
EFFECTIVENESS OF B2B PLATFORMS
LinkedIn is still #1 in turns of effectiveness. Facebook on the other hand drops significantly down to fifth!
Where you spend your time and plan your B2B content marketing is key to your brand success and effectiveness. We live in a time starved world. Not enough time to go around, so be wise with the time you have. Plan and execute accordingly.
B2B CONTENT OFFERS
Most would think that email is dead.
In fact it’s actually increasing in demand. Still works as frustrating as it can be.
Even the most effective marketers and those whose content marketing level is sophisticated/mature tend to focus most on eNewsletters and blogs.
Content marketing works because it starts with what your prospects need to know instead of what you need to tell them.
That’s why content is the way you succeed in lead nurturing, search, social media, email and outbound marketing. It’s what works. The best way to find and influence fans of your brand is to be passionate about the content you’re creating.
“Heads up to all businesses: Content moments are everywhere. You just have to know to look for them.”
About Blair
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
The Race is ON! | PREPARE | Get into the Game and WIN!
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