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LinkedIn Doesn't Get The Social Media World

LinkedIn has experienced HUGE growth -- particularly in the business/professional sector of the social media space.  But recent experiences with LinkedIn have led me to believe that they are accidental recipients of that growth, and don't really get (nor are they interested in) the social media world and space.  There are things that made LinkedIn a great place for business and professional networking -- distinct from Facebook, MySpace or the other social media sites, and now I'm certain that they have no idea what made them a great fit for the business world.

Last March (2008), I started a Group at Linked in, called the B2B Online Marketing group.  I had a designer develop a logo for it (because back then, you could only have a little logo that would display on a user's profile, and your group could link to an outside URL -- there was no other ability for group members to participate with one another).  Because we wanted to foster conversation with other B2B Marketers specifically about online marketing and what was working, etc., we started the microsite called B2B Online Marketing Pros (http://www.b2bonlinemarketingpros.com) - and associated that with the URL for the group.  Each month (or every other month) we would aggregate topics from around the Net, relevant to B2B Online Marketers and send a newsletter out to our group membership.

LinkedIn made the name and email address available to Group Owners -- and tells the users who are joining a group that this will happen.  LinkedIn also provided a CSV download of those members or those requesting membership to the group owner.  So it was really easy to export that list, and import it into the tools we used to communicate and measure responses, so we could gauge how well we were hitting the needs of the group with the content we were featuring and aggregating -- because we're interested in providing relevant content that helps B2B Online Marketers put together winning strategies.

The group is growing at about 240 members a month -- which is a pretty good clip, and new members get a nicely formed welcome message that includes the last email newsletter subject (and link to the site).

Then, 2 weeks ago, LinkedIn moved out "new" functionality for Group Owners -- called an Announcement feature, and at the same time removed the ability to export group member information.  Never mind that the group owners have grown their groups using LinkedIn, that many of them brought their offline groups to LinkedIn to make the management of the groups easier and provide a more "social" framework for interaction of the folks in their group.  So being able to send a monthly newsletter out, and export all of the current email addresses of your group membership, is something that many of LinkedIn groups were built around.  LinkedIn's response was "now that we've given you the announcement feature, you don't need to export members information." 

Point #1:  Their announcement feature provides ZERO ability to format the email, removes all the formatting so it gets delivered in a big text blob that isn't readable at all -- it's NOTHING I would ever send to my membership -- here's a clip of what it looks like:

Note: it is sent from a "noreply" email at LinkedIn, so no one could just hit reply and type a message that would be received by anyone, and there are zero statistics provided about open, clickthrough, etc.

Point #2:  LinkedIn has it's own group called the LinkedIn Products Forum that has a lot of group owners in it, and we have provided feedback to LinkedIn re: their products, features, and capabilities consistently.  When this "upgrade" was released, there were immediate discussions that were started, and to-date, there have been 117 comments in all -- making this subject THE MOST talked about, with some group owners imploring LinkedIn to put the export capability back in place. 

What has been LinkedIn's response?  NOTHING.  NADA.  They are absent.  I think they figure they have the market on the professional social media space, or that the venture money they received has VC's pushing that they need to be more like Facebook -- so they are blindly going forward trying to somehow "catch up" with what's offered by the Facebook crowd, with no understanding or willingness to engage with those who have helped build LinkedIn as the professional social space that it is.

I'm reminded of how Dell treated the social media space, and got nailed -- and now they have a very social strategy.  But I expect more from LinkedIn.  The social media realm is where they live, isn't it?  Or are they just a traditional, lucky company that doesn't really understand the success they've achieved? (unfortunately, I now believe it's the latter).

Here's the email I send out (and it has a way for folks to unsubscribe -- or reply to the email so we can read it), and it has a way for us to understand what happened with that email -- BASIC marketing tools to help grow interest and provide more relevant content (i.e. GROW THE GROUP AND IT'S VALUE TO THE GROUP MEMBERSHIP).

 

Further, we have extensive metrics so we can gauge how the content was received, and if it provided value to our group membership:

Suffice it to say, our latest email, that went out with our focus on Social Media Marketing, got a 33% open rate and a 48% click-through rate, which is very high based on standard email metrics.

So, besides being inept at providing functionality, LinkedIn makes unilateral decisions about it's functionality without regard to the "free" labor they get by way of people organizing their groups (which LinkedIn sells targeted advertising for their group pages).  And when we do raise up and sound the alarm, and at times even plead with LinkedIn to respond and join the conversation, and engage with us, they remain silent. 

The only thing I can think to do is take it to the blogosphere -- and see what we can accomplish here.

Please post your comments!

Kim

Use Social Media to Gain PR Traction

I was at a coffee gathering for the local Business Marketing Association as a follow-up to a social media panel presentation that I was unable to attend the previous week.  It was a great conversation -- but there was this one idea that caught my attention, and I'm wondering who else out there is doing this as part of your online marketing strategy:

Get the editorial calendars for the trade publications in your industry or for your target markets, and plan your editorial calendar ahead of theirs, so you can have blog posts, videos, eBooks, etc., on topics that they will be covering, so they have a chance of getting picked up by the pubs when they're pulling together their content.

Given that we don't have a lot of time on our hands, it seems to me that this is an easy way to help establish the editorial calendar and schedule within your organization for specific target markets, to get out in front of those audiences, and help augment your search engine optimization for them as well.

What do you think?

Social Nets and Blogs More Popular Than E-Mail

Pulled right from eMarketer: "according to Nielsen Online, more people in the US and other leading digital countries worldwide are using social networks and blogs than e-mail."  This is interesting, because while I was in San Diego at the Online Marketing Summit in February, there was a terrific panel discussion about this very topic -- well sort of -- the question was, "Will Social Media take over email in effectiveness?" -- which is how some people might read the headline above.

The answer from the panel throughout the discussion was, No.  Think about it -- what is the ONE thing that all social media sites ask for when you set up an account?  Yep, email address.  How do you know that someone has asked to be in your network?  Yep, you get an email.

Just like in previous times, when people thought the TV was the demise of radio, it wasn't.  The uses are just different.  In terms of online marketing in a B2B world, email still provides the best ROI of the online media.  Targeted email and drip campaigns can increase those returns significantly, and can be measured through the sales cycle as leads convert to customers.

So don't go throwing the baby out with the bathwater!  We might be using social media more to connect and keep up with groups of friends and colleagues, but email is still hugely effective, and in many ways keeps us alerted to things happening within our social networks.

Here's the article at eMarketer: Social Nets and Blogs more popular than e-mail.

Is Your Company an Ostrich when it comes to Social Media?

A lot has been said and promoted about social media and the fact that companies need a social media strategy.  While I think there is a lot that might go into such a strategy, there is something to be said for exploring the media and learning how it might benefit your organization.

I monitor a lot of different forums and discussions, and recently a thread caught my attention.  B2B companies that are blocking access to Facebook and LinkedIn from their corporate networks.  The "liberal" ones are graciously allowing access before 8am, over the lunch hour, and after 5pm.

It wasn't just one or two posts that admitted this, it was plenty of them.  More interesting is that Marketing was fighting the ban.  (?? who controls the Internet and web access at your organization, the IT department?)

I call this the "Ostrich Strategy For Social Media".  And now for a little ranting...

I'd like to know WHO at these companies is establishing this rule. It's ABSURD! It shows how much of an Ostrich the company is (i.e. putting their head in the sand under some other guise of not wanting to disturb employee productivity or some other nonsense).

OK – never underestimate the executive who doesn't “get it” and the mandates they apply out of ignorance or fear -- but is that leadership?.

Is your company an Ostrich? It would be fun to find out which companies are actually blocking access to these sites and what the rationale is for doing so.

Possible rationale (figuring out why organizations would put such a rule in place):

1. Allowing access to social media sites will disrupt employee productivity. I find myself wondering about the effectiveness of the managers and leaders within the organization if they're unable to motivate their staff to continue to get their work done. Do these companies also confiscate all cell phones at the door when employees enter? Or prohibit any cell networks from getting a signal from within their walls?  Certainly leadership and management training would be a better investment.

2. Employees might say things about the company, and they're not 'cleared' as spokespeople. Again, I'm curious what morale is within the organization. Or what is the real 'fear' behind that sort of rationale?  I think companies would be surprised when employees speak authentically and listen/engage in social media.  Does anyone have examples of this going really badly for an organization?  I've only seen the cases where being an ostrich has cost a company enough to make them rethink and embrace the social realm.

3. ??? (i invite your input here -- help me to understand this...)

I'd welcome any insights that you have, but given that 25% of adults in North America who are online are participating in the social media, and given that if you're a B2C organization you might find Facebook useful for creating relationships about what your organization does, or if you're B2B then LinkedIn may provide some real value – putting your head in the sand and mandating action that deafens your organization to any sort of participation seems like a backward strategy no matter how it's conceived or why.

The New Marketing Resolutions...

Welcome to 2009, and as is the case with most sea changes, paradigm shifts, or whatever you'd like to call them, it takes something dramatic to cause changes to take effect beyond the early adopters, and 2008 delivered on that front!  The gas prices did a lot to push home the notion that we need to get independence from our oil addicted ways, and the economic situation has driven a lot of companies to streamline and be even more watchful of their budget and expenses.

Marketing must start to examine ways to get more done with less -- and it's completely possible when companies start to truly embrace online marketing and look at how to participate in the internet-savvy world where our customers and prospects are active.

Here are 5 "Resolutions" for Marketing as you move into 2009:

1.  Get Yourself Found!  Does your organization come up in the first page of search results for the terms that are used by your target market segment(s)?  If not, you better start paying attention to getting your organization dominant for those terms -- through natural and paid search strategies.  Get control of your websites, and the SEO.  Free yourself from dependence on IT (if they've got the control).

2.  Capture Lead Interest.  Does the information you provide help your target segments better think about the issues that your products solve?  Does it kindle their interest in learning more from you?  Build your reputation as a company that can help?  If not, then pay attention to the content you're distributing and how you are adding value -- a good question to ask yourself is, "So What?" as you read your content and see if there is a compelling "something" getting said that matters to your target audiences.

3.  Nurture Lead Interest.  Getting a lead to sign up for something is one thing.  Nurturing their interest with relevant messages, based on their activity and responses, can keep you top-of-mind with your leads, so when they are ready to buy, you're in the game.

4.  Focus on Delivering Value.  Not only with your products, but with every interaction you have with leads and customers.

5.  Get along with Sales (and Sales, get along with Marketing) -- you work for the same side!  Start behaving that way, and stop pointing the finger at each other (I know, easier said than done).  This one isn't trivial, but the rivalry and finger pointing takes a toll, and the companies that resolve this will be ahead of the game.  Technology can help bridge the gap, but nothing beats communication and teamwork - put all three together, and you could transform what it's like to work at your organization (if you're in one of those departments).

Employing these resolutions will take dedication and focus.  But it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg.

Welcome to 2009.  May this year be the breakthrough year for Online Marketing, Demand Generation, and Lead Nurturing!   

Being An Effective Marketer

I attended Seth Godin's Webinar yesterday, "The Future of Marketing: Being Remarkable And The Meatball Sundae", and if you didn't get a chance to attend, or haven't yet read his book "Meatball Sundae", I highly recommend you get it, read it, and take it to heart.

If you think about it, in today's economic reality, when the chips are down, and things aren't working, we return to what has worked for us in the past.  It seems to be how human beings are wired up.  When the pressure is on, we either give up, or we take control and resolve to "make it happen".

But be careful -- because the effectiveness of Online Marketing isn't the same as the Marketing you've done in the past.  You cannot take the strategies and tactics of traditional marketing and apply it to how you participate on the Internet.  When you do, that's what Seth has labeled, "The Meatball Sundae" -- it doesn't work.

He rationally points out that the old media was designed to sell ads -- because that is how you and I got access to our TV shows, and cheap newspapers -- the Advertisers paid the freight.  But in the online world, the Internet doesn't care -- Marketers can no longer interrupt, insist we pay attention, or have the power about what we know about their companies or their products.

Marketers need to fundamentally change their posture.  It's no longer about pushing your message, but about providing relevant content and creating a 'pull' for it from your target audience.  It's not about spamming your entire lead list, it's about paying attention to their interests and sending them things they'll value and care about.  It's not about YOU or your ORGANIZATION (what could be termed Selfishness of the Marketer) -- It's about the BUYER -- and their selfishness.

So this is a wake up call to marketers today.  Don't allow the controller in you, pressed for results at the end of the year, to spam your house lists trying to get your numbers for the year or the quarter.  The Online world is becoming the primary media for reaching our target markets -- but the game is all different.  You, as a marketer, will have to give up your obsession with control, embrace direct communication, and organize yourself and your organizations towards creating friends and relationships (stop burning your list).

I highly recommend reading Alan Wattt's book, "The Wisdom of Insecurity".  It is a great primer for the controllers who have got to completely re-orient yourselves for the new world in order to stay competitive.  Letting go may be the best, not only for your marketing, but for your living.  You'll be amazed at what opens up, what paths become available...  The key is to start now.

For more on Seth Godin, visit his page at Squidoo, http://www.squidoo.com/seth

Making Online Marketing: Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing Work

When considering what might be an obstacle in the adoption of online marketing tools (you know, marketing automation, lead generation, lead nurturing tools on the market today), what are the barriers to having greater adoption of these technologies?

I think that beyond executive management, and sorting through vendors, that it is really a matter of understanding how to put together an online marketing strategy (or a lead generation and nurturing strategy) and the content necessary to keep it effective and productive. Once you have that, you can select tools that will work for you.

So many of the companies that I talk to are grabbing leads, and tossing them to sales, and that is it. Companies are only starting to realize that there are much more effective ways to proceed that will yield higher results and improve the ultimate goal - increase revenues and contribute to growth.

Some of this is fairly simple to evaluate:

1. When your target markets search for your company -- do you come up in the search results? If not, there is work to be done -- because 80% of customers surveyed said they found their vendor, not the other way around. So either you will work to come up naturally given your high priority search terms, or you will use Paid Search strategies to put you on those pages. A combination of both is optimal.
(note: there are a lot of ways to get yourself optimized -- whether that's through a single site, or a microsite strategy, blog, etc), the key is to ensure that you are optimized.

2. Do you have relevant and engaging content at your site once a prospect finds you? Do you have eBooks, whitepapers for download, or webinars to attend that will enable you to capture lead interest? Can you easily manage the content and lead capture forms at your site?

3. Once you capture a lead, do you send them other relevant materials and track their response so you can determine whether they are more likely to be sales ready, or continue to nurture them until they fit the "sales ready" profile?

4. Do you have a way to easily segment your leads into their interest areas so they receive messages from you that are relevant and interesting to them? Can you easily create the drip campaigns so this is easy to accomplish?

If you have that sort of an approach laid out, then conversations with vendors, or free trials that you can utilize will provide you with the information you need to understand which vendor will deliver what you need, and which vendor will provide the best "bang-for-the-buck" given how you want to drive your efforts.

Should Marketers Shift From Brand Awareness to Lead Generation?

In the current economic climate, should marketers be shifting more budget from brand awareness to lead generation?

Focusing efforts on your web and online activities for lead generation can be well measured, and is in fact brand-building as well. I think the focus changing to relevant, interesting, valuable content is the important aspect when working online.  Activities on the Internet can be measured, and adjusted quickly and easily.

Think about your website (including any microsites). When your target markets search (any/all of them), does your website or microsites get found in the first page of results? If not, dollars spent with search engine optimization would be well-spent, since 80% of people interested in purchasing something start with a search online. Make it easy for people to find you by optimizing your web presence. This can be measured by increased traffic to your site and by keywords if you want to get it truly measured -- and you may not find out who each of those new visitors are -- but they will know about you while they work their way through the buying cycle.

Hence the focus on content -- providing useful, relevant, valuable content (in the eyes of your target market) -- will do more for people considering what your organization has to offer. And giving some of that away will be necessary without requiring any information.

People will volunteer information when what you are providing has a perceived value that is worth trading their information to receive. Provide a mix between totally available information and articles, and that which requires registration to receive.  If it's reasonable to offer a regular newsletter, provide a way for people to sign up for one.  As they view the relevant content at your site, they will sign up to receive communications from you. 

But once you have them, if you pass them directly to sales, or even call them right away (unless they have requested a call) - you've short circuited the return you can receive if you were to instead, engage in lead nurturing.

Nurturing leads, sending them an ongoing set of relevant messages based upon their interaction and ongoing responses can increase your lead-close ratio dramatically. Identifying pathways of nurturing based on distinct expressed interests can wok to keep you top-of-mind with your leads, so when they are ready to buy, you will be there to close the deal.

It will also allow you to identify those leads who are "more likely" to be sales-ready, so your sales force is much more focused in their activities and contacts.

Of course, an integrated set of online marketing and lead generation and nurturing tools makes this process a lot easier to implement and manage. Given the economic climate, using a lead generation and nurturing toolset that is well integrated and yet affordable, makes a huge difference, so your dollars can be spent putting that relevant and valuable content in place. 

In the Web 2.0 world, do email newsletters really make an impact any more in business to business sales?

With the advent of blogs and social networks, are 'newsletters' still relevant... well, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater -- I think there could be a really powerful blending of things that could still have 'newsletters' be relevant, if not slightly modified and better given the effort that goes into them... read on...

By all accounts email marketing is by far the highest ROI channel that marketing has available. That said, there is an opportunity to couple your email marketing with a blog or a microsite that contains the newsletter topics, subjects and articles.

We have taken this approach with a microsite we sponsor, that goes along with the B2B Online Marketing Group at LinkedIn. We maintain a microsite for that group, that has a schedule of topics (editorial calendar or focus), and we send an email each month to members and direct them back to the microsite. That site is focused on B2B Online Marketing Strategies and Tactics.

The benefit is that we can provide the information on the site, and people can bookmark the things they find of interest (rather than having to keep an email around or in a folder within their email), and the email is only a quick overview of what's contained, with a link to the site. We can also get the site search engine optimized, and the information is there and available for use in a variety of ways that provides much more value over the long haul - both for the members of the B2B Online Marketing Group, and those who are searching the web for content that they'll find at the site given the search results. These are people we don't even know about.

We use our own company's products to manage the microsite, send the emails, and measure response. We have very high open and click through rates - and we've had people 'subscribe' on the site itself based on the value of the information contained. Genoo's B2B Marketing and Lead Management tools have made this really easy.

So I would suggest a hybrid approach -- email marketing is still, indisputably one of the best ways to engage your target market. The key is to have permission to engage them, and then to provide relevant information. If you can use a microsite or blog to hold that 'newsletter' content, then you've opened yourself up to gain far more value from the content you're putting together for that newsletter, and can use it for Search Engine Optimization strategies - which are critical in today's environment.

How effective is internet marketing for generating leads?

I participate on LinkedIn a bunch, and I ran across a question similar to the one above, from a small business owner -- but I think that a lot of companies, both large and small struggle with this question -- not because they don't know the answer, but because the devil is in the details -- "How do we implement this?"

Here's some thinking on the subject, and what I've seen -- and at the bottom is a link to an article at ClickZ about tremendous success that one organization is having and the ROI or cost-per-lead that should make people sit up and take notice!

Having your website work for you and be effective at generating demand for your services includes all of the above content ideas you have mentioned.

In the world today, 80% of customers interviewed (2007 research) said they found their vendor, not the other way around.  Having a website that is search engine optimized is critical, and the content that you have a desire to add, if done with search engine optimization in mind can be very effective at getting your site near the top of natural search results.

In addition, having lead capture forms that allow visitors to express interest in what you offer -- either by signing up for an e-newsletter or completing a contact form requesting specific information from you, allows you to capture the interest generated by your site.

Having the ability to easily add landing pages, so you can also engage in targeted PPC campaigns might also be of interest to you in terms of generating demand for your products and services.

If the interest of visitors (by completing a form at your site or on your landing pages) is captured into a lead database that can trigger specific communications (targeted emails), and then send additional information based on the visitors response and activity at your site -- now you are nurturing that relationship, and adding value that keeps you appreciated and top-of-mind when they are ready to buy or engage.

Thinking through your content strategy with articles, etc. so you can feed that nurturing process with relevant information is critical to it's success, and continues to keep your website fresh and relevant as well.

Having tools, that make it easy to add the content, create the lead capture forms and place them onto your pages, capture the leads (without duplicates) into a database, and have integrated email marketing, full response tracking, and nurturing capabilities --without require 100% of your time and attention is critical to having your web presence work for you, and help you grow your business.

The sorts of integrated tools I've outlined above are what my company offers (at a very affordable price point), but how ever you accomplish it, it is all important to achieving your goals of getting found and generating demand by leveraging the web.

Nurturing the demand that you generate, because not everyone is ready to buy when they sign up for a newsletter or request more information, or exchange their information for an eBook or white paper, is the CRITICAL piece. It allows you to build a relationship and keep your organization top-of-mind with leads as they engage with and consider their options.  It's what can pull them through the sales cycle, while building an activity interest profile that lets you understand what they appear to be most interested in, and how they've engaged with your site -- so you have far more than their basic information -- and that arms you with relevant information to assist in your sales efforts.

For an example of a GREAT lead generation campaign, take a look at the article on ClickZ, called "A New Chapter in Low Cost Lead Generation."