IDG Knowledge Hub » Social Media News

3 Ways to Get B2B Social Media Value from Google+

tcardamone — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:41:11 +0000

Social Media B2B

Many B2B marketers have already been scratching their heads trying to figure out how to make use of Facebook and Twitter. Along comes Google+, another social network that the average B2B marketer just doesn’t have the time to learn and master. There are, however, reasons to believe that Google+ will be more valuable to B2B companies than Facebook and Twitter put together. And since getting in early is a big factor in determining long-term success, B2B companies should test the waters with Google+ right now.

Bing Gets Social Sidebar, Makes Google Look Bad

tcardamone — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:10:27 +0000

PCWorld

Microsoft’s Bing is about to get a major overhaul, with a new sidebar that shows information from Facebook and other social networks.

SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft’s Bing is about to get a major overhaul, with a new sidebar that shows information from Facebook and other social networks. The “new Bing,” as Microsoft calls it, consists of three columns on the search results page. The far left column is the widest of the three, and lists traditional search links. In the middle, a “Snapshot” pane shows relevant information directly on the search page, such as restaurant reviews, maps and hotel room rates. On the far right, a gray “Sidebar” shows social search results.

The Sidebar is the most interesting part of the makeover. Users can ask questions to their Facebook friends directly from the search page, and see a list of who might know about a given topic. From the Sidebar, users can add comments on Facebook and pin Bing searches to their posts.

Facebook launches app store, seeks iPhone magic

tcardamone — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:03:30 +0000

Gigaom

Facebook says it is launching an app store that will allow people to get access to social apps on the network, without much heavy lifting. The company made the announcement in a blog post today. The company is hoping that the new app store will make it easy for apps to be discovered on the platform. Facebook, lately has been trying hard to make the world aware of its role in the fast growing app economy.

Bitly data shows the best times to post links to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr

tcardamone — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:53:06 +0000

Poynter

Bitly, the URL shortener of choice for most people, has analyzed its click-tracking data to find the optimal days and times for posting links to social media. The results show interesting, distinct patterns among Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. On Twitter, the best window is 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Facebook was hot at 1 to 4 p.m. And Tumblr is a night owl, with posts doing best after 7 p.m. See the charts below for the full breakdown from Bitly.

Report: Smartphones, Not Computers, Drive the Most Facebook Use

tcardamone — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:45:49 +0000

Wired

According to comScore’s new Mobile Metrix 2.0 report released Monday, Facebook’s mobile usage is on the rise. In fact, the report revealed that Facebook users spent more time accessing the social network on smartphones than on computers in March. Facebook users spent an average of 441 minutes — or 7 hours, 21 minutes — accessing the social network via smartphones during the month. By comparison, users spent 391 minutes — or 6 hours, 31 minutes — checking out Facebook on PCs. The comScore report also revealed that smartphone users spent more time on Facebook than on any other social media network, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Foursquare. In fact, Facebook is the second largest mobile property behind Google. The social network garners more than 78 million unique monthly smartphone visitors, 81 percent of which access Facebook through its mobile app.

Tumblr Boasts Rapid Growth and New Advertising Opportunities Tumblr ads may provide a new, creative source of social media exposure for brands

tcardamone — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:18:47 +0000

eMarketer

In March, the number of blogs Tumblr hosted passed the 50-million mark. Last month, Google released search results forecasting that the search term “Tumblr” would overtake “blog” by the end of the year, meaning the platform could become the brand name stand-in for the generic web term. Needless to say, Tumblr is experiencing a healthy growth spurt—and now brands may be able to capitalize on it.

Is Your Social Media Strategy Global? North America is no longer the center of the social universe

tcardamone — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:56:28 +0000

eMarketer

As the worldwide social network audience soars well past 1 billion people, marketers are tackling the difficult task of coordinating their social media marketing efforts on a global scale.

A grassroots, organic approach may have worked in the early days, but many marketers now have dozens or even hundreds of social media profiles to manage worldwide. This requires a delicate combination of corporate oversight, to keep brand messaging consistent, and flexibility, to empower local managers who know their markets best.

Gartner Says Only 50 Percent of Fortune 1000 Organizations Will Get a Worthwhile Return From Their Social CRM Initiatives by the End of 2012

tcardamone — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:05:12 +0000

Gartner Press Release

Analysts to Discuss the Future of Social CRM at Gartner Customer Strategies & Technologies Summit 2012, June 11-12, in London, UK

Although the adoption of social applications by sales, marketing and customer service departments continues to grow rapidly, Gartner, Inc. said that, by the end of 2012, only 50 percent of Fortune 1000 companies will receive a worthwhile return on investment (ROI) from their social customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. “For the 50 percent of Fortune 1000 organizations not determining, or even measuring, ROI, ignorance will mean failed projects,” said Adam Sarner, research director at Gartner.

6 Ways B2B Companies Can Use Social Media Gamification

tcardamone — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:20:19 +0000

SOCIAL MEDIA B2B

A recent article on Marketing Sherpa discussed the idea of bringing gaming mechanics, or gamification, to the internal and external operations of B2B companies. One of several definitions in the article is using game-style systems of “goal setting, real-time feedback, transparency, competition, teams, etcetera — to motivate and engage customers and employees.” While not expressly tied to social media efforts, game-like rewards can be more successful when users have the ability to share them using social media, thereby amplifying the effect of the rewards.

Below are six tactics B2B marketers can use to drive internal and external engagement.

View the tactics

MARKETING MANAGEMENT IS HAPHAZARD AT BEST

tcardamone — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:15:20 +0000

MARKETING PILGRIM

A surprising number of people are still confused about social media marketing. They know it’s on trend and that it’s probably good for business but logistically, it’s still a bit of a mystery for most.

EPiServer recently surveyed 250 UK marketing decision makers and their thoughts on social media marketing were all over the board. On the upside, 77% of them said they were running some kind of online community and 35% said they’ve been using social media for more than a year.

Of those with a social media marketing strategy, 30% said it’s increased their customer loyalty, 25% said it increased web traffic and 21% said they saw a direct increase in sales. Bravo. But only 1 in 10 said they had an effective means of measuring the benefits and that’s crazy.