Digital Media for B2B brands

Devising ways to navigate digital technology for the benefit of consumer brands can seem somewhat easier than the task that lies ahead for B2B marketers. However, new research published last month highlights the growing use of social media for B2B brands and those marketing professional services. The study published by Citrix Online and MarketingProfs has found that online channels are receiving more of the allocated budget than traditional marketing activities. Around 44% of respondents to the survey also highlighted their intention to increase the level of investment made on social networks, with nearly 63% planning to make greater use of networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Meanwhile the use of blogs and microblogs such as Twitter is likely to increase for B2B brands of all shapes and sizes.

For us, one of the really interesting conclusions that can be drawn from the report is the gap between the challenges faced by B2B companies and the anticipated outputs of new digital media. Throughout the report, participants clearly identified two key challenges - lead generation and building brand awareness. Online marketing tactics were viewed as less effective in both of these areas in comparison to traditional challenges. Marketers have always struggled to measure and evaluate the value of campaigns - digital technology can and should provide far greater transparency regarding return on investment than ever before.

Here are our top tips for evaluating your investment in digital media:

1. Determine the level of success by which you will measure your involvement in digital media. It may be that you would like to host more events and see online meetings, forums or webinars, as an affordable means to communicating effectively with current clients and targets. Therefore, driving cost down, while at the same time reaching a wider audience without losing the quality of interaction might be one of your chosen outcomes. Create some metrics around these – for example the number of meetings generated, evaluate the cost of traditional events versus online activities and try to really pin down the value you are gaining.

2. Do not view digital media in isolation. The ability to blend social networking activities with physical marketing and/or sales campaigns can be have a more far reaching impact than discreet activities.

3. Focus on customer need. Traditional marketing concepts regarding building relationships with clients and prospects remains absolutely relevant in the digital environment. Translate these concepts into meaningful activities online – creating or contributing to existing communities and conversations where your clients are already interacting. Active community management, through blogs and industry forums is an essential part of the mix.

4. With the plethora of social media platforms available, you may choose to work with a digital agency that can help you develop a strategy and implementation plan. While this investment will be critical, the time you then put into executing the plan will be as important as the financial commitment you make.

5. Do not underestimate the value of the numerous free tools that are available to help you measure success. Tools such as Google Analytics, Social Mention and many more provide a really useful insight into the development of your digital footprint and the areas of interest for your visitors and followers. While all of these tools are great, the sheer volume of information you can glean can be overwhelming. Decide what is important to measure first, then ask your agency to help you select the very best tools by which to measure these. At mso.net we can also help aggregate this data from numerous sources and provide salient, practical analysis for the benefit of our clients and their ongoing digital development. For more information simply get in touch!