Integrated Marcom Minute Blog

Will B2B Ever Get the ROI of Social Media?

2009-07-07T11:30:00.001-04:00

The question of ROI in social media continues to perplex many B2B marketers. Assuming you have a strong marketing communications strategy, you may need to adjust your metrics to effectively determine the ROI of social media because it isn't cut and dry. In fact, in many cases we're using web 1.0 metrics (clicks, conversions, etc.) to measure web 2.0 tools. While sales is the ultimate driver of B2B online marketing initiatives, measuring the interim effectiveness of the tools takes a different metric that revolves around engagement and brand affinity.

Robin Grant of the agency We Are Social wrote an interesting post on measuring the ROI of social media including a good slide presentation embedded below from Jon 'yongfook'Cockle.

Social Media ROI

View more Microsoft Word documents from yongfook.

Real B2B buyers use long-tail keywords...

2009-06-30T11:30:00.001-04:00

Long-tail keywords refer to more specific phrases vs. a general term or phrase. For example,

ERP software for discreet manufacturing in automotive industry
vs.
ERP software.

Testing has shown that the long-tail (more specific) search is usually a good indication of a higher level of interest, which leads to better conversion. That said, the total number of clicks will be much lower for long-tail phrases than for a general term, but conversions drive sales. See an older post PPC Copywriting vs. SEO Copywriting... they're inverse.

So how can B2B marcom pros boost conversion with long-tail keywords?

Go back to the B2B buying cycle. Prospects who are further along the buying cycle, in the consideration phase, are looking for more information to help them make the right decision. In the consideration phase, you may find long-tail keyword phrases more effective, because that's when B2B buyers begin narrowing down their searches. They may often search on solutions to specific problems instead of product categories. For example, they may search for reliability maintenance analysis using the Barringer methodology, At this stage an effective B2B marcom mix could include a white paper, webinar, online video (with complementary white paper), and blog posts--all discussing the details of reliability maintenance analysis using the Barringer method.

Taken a step further, your marcom mix should also use the long-tail keyword phrase, reliability maintenance analysis using the Barringer method, in the drivers to the previously described content--drivers being the banner ads, email blasts and Twitter tweets that drive visitors to the content. So your subject line in the email blast should include the keyword phrase as well as the twitter tweet, banner ad, etc. (In the case of a subject line, you may need to truncate the long-tail phrase slightly.)

So when you identify a long-tail keyword phrase that your prospects are searching on, develop an integrated B2B campaign around it to help move prospects closer to the buying decision. You won't get lots of clicks, but you will get more conversions.

Here's a good article from Julie Joyce, How to Use Long-Tailed Keywords in Your Linking Campaign.

If Your B2B Marcom Plan Doesn't Include SEO, You Could Be Driving Leads to Your Compeititors

2009-06-23T11:30:00.001-04:00

If you're generating leads and you don't have an SEO program, or at least a website that's optimized for search, when a prospect searches for products and services, he or she will likely find your competitors (assuming your competitors are using SEO techniques).

I mentioned this in another Integratd Marcom Minute blog post on online video. Many B2B marketers don't think their B2B clients & prospects are searching online. That couldn't be further from the truth. Back as early as 2004, a StatMarket report indicated that 64% of B2B users turned to search first when researching new products.

Here's a common B2B marketing example. Let's say you offer a white paper on your latest technology. You position yourself as a leader in the field. The prospect downloads the white paper then later conducts a search to see other companies in the same space, and you're nowhere to be found. The fact that you don't show up contradicts what you say in the white paper--that you're a leader in the field.

And given the lengthy and complex B2B sales cycle, search becomes even more important as the prospect moves closer to buying. Prospects may download the white paper in the awareness and consideration phases, and then months or weeks laters, as they move closer to purchase, conduct a few more searches. Is your company showing up in the results?

Searches tend to become more specific (longtail) the closer the prospect is to buying. The bottomline for B2B marketers is this... SEO is an integral part of B2B online marketing. Without it, you could be generating leads for your competitors.

Marketing Profs' Roxanne Lott wrote a good article on the impact of search on the B2B sales cycle "The Power of Search within a Complex Sales Cycle."

At the very least, your website should be optimized for search.

Online Marketing Summit - Joe Pulizzi on Content and Social Media

2009-06-16T11:30:00.003-04:00

Here's a good presentation on why B2B marketing communications professionals need a content marketing strategy as part of their marcom strategy.

B2B marketers can benefit from a content management strategy because it can help engage and move prospects further through the complex B2B buying cycle. Tell us what you think about content marketing.

Online Marketing Summit - Joe Pulizzi on Content and Social Media

View more OpenOffice presentations from Joe Pulizzi.

The End of B2B Marcom As We Know It...

2009-06-09T11:30:00.003-04:00

I don't usually make predictions, but As a B2B marketer, I predict that social media is as big, if not bigger, than the internet was back in '94 when everyone was scurrying to put up a website. I see it happening all over again with social media. It happened to a lesser extent in '02 with blogs, and now many B2B companies are seeing results from blogs including improved search ranking, higher engagement, etc. The fact is, social media has already impacted B2B marcom.

B2B Marcom: The New Enabling Function

Call it a disruptive technology, but social media has definitely shifted the perspective from which marketers operate. I'm referring specifically to B2B marketing communications (marcom). Marcom is not only a driver or conduit for getting the marketing message out, but also an enabling function that provides the platform for clients and prospects to engage with the brand, provide feedback and spread the word. Marketers can choose not to influence how they're enabling clients and prospects to spread the word, but the word will still be spread.

B2B Social Media and the Buying Cycle

Thanks to social media, B2B marketing communications has become an enabling function for the buyer--particularly in the consideration phase of the often lengthy B2B buying cycle. The role of marcom in the consideration phase is to enable the buyer to connect with the communities where he or she can conduct research on the product beyond what marcom says the product will do for the buyer. The B2B marcom role is to facilitate the conversation with and through other users of the product so that the buyer can make an informed decision. Then, once prospects convert to clients, marcom needs to enable satisfied buyers to evangelize about the product within their communities of influence.

Stop Pushing Your Prospects & Clients Around

Perhaps social media hasn't completely rid marcom of its role in pushing communications out to the market, but we should certainly look at the ratio of push to pull. (Hint: there should be more pull.) And we should also be asking ourselves how well our push communications are guiding buyers to the communities that will pull buyers into the conversation and further along the sales funnel. Remember... by itself, social media isn't going to directly drive revenue. However, as part of an integrated marketing communications strategy, social media can influence the buying cycle.

Do B2B Marketers Have Time for Social Media?

The question is... how much time are you willing to invest in social media to have an impact? As a general rule of thumb, you'll need to spend a minimum of one hour per day listening to the social sphere and a minimum of two hours per day to participate. That excludes the up front time researching your communities of influence, which can take as little as two or three hours to several hours. Take a look at the social media time chart below from Beth Kanter.

Remix this Chart Please

View more OpenOffice presentations from kanter.

Social media is here to stay

So I don't think social media is a fad, and I think that many of the tools that work on the social media platform may in fact be fads, but that's what happened back in the late '90s when numerous websites and companies that were built on the internet platform didn't make it. The same will happen with social media sites--some will make it and some won't. But the platform itself is here to stay and has already changed the role of B2B marketing communications. What do you think?

More resources on B2B Social Media:

Social Media Tools

Wall Street Journal's Conduct for Social Media

How Much Time Does Social Media Management Take?

Social Media Marketing Report

How B2B Marcom Departments Can Add Social Media Skills...

2009-06-02T09:04:00.001-04:00

If you're like most B2B marketing communications departments, you probably don't have in-house social media experts. And you probably don't have a budget for hiring FTEs who are adept at social media. Your options are to leverage your agency, if they have a social media group and to build the skills in house using your own marcom team or leverage social media enthusiasts from other departments who can evangelize the brand.

Your job, as the marcom manager, is to understand and clearly state your marcom objectives first and foremost, and then allow the social media folks to present how social media can be integrated effectively into your marcom mix. B2B marketing communications is moving past the experimental phase and into a planned program approach to integrating social media. The following provides helpful advice and insights into how marcom departmentss need to transform to capitalize on social media and help their companies remain competitive.

John Bell, who heads up Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence team, offers good advice from a recent blog post 3 Trends in Integrating Social Media

Bell explains that marcom departments need to undergo a transformation to "think, plan and execute digitally." In Integrating Social Media into the Marcom Team, Bell tells us why a marketing communications transformation needs to occur and how it will benefit future marketing programs.

B2B Marcom: Making the Business Case

2009-05-26T09:15:00.000-04:00

It's still sketchy for a lot of B2B marketers, but social media marketing has earned a permanent spot in the marketing communications mix. Here's how other B2B marketers are approaching B2B and integrating it into their marcom mix.

Remember... social media is a tool not a strategy. You still need to understand your objective and carefully consider how social media can help you achieve it.

Here Lee Odden interviews Dave Evans on Dave’s new book (good read… btw) Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/01/social-media-marketingan-hour-a-day/

Online Marketing Connect: Good article on the use of social media and its impact on the business http://blog.onlinemarketingconnect.com/2009/03/25/social-media-in-the-enterprise-context-key-solution-areas-and-use-cases/

Another good post from Online Marketing Connect about social media from a recent summit. Skip down to the bulleted list for good input on “Is Your Company Social” from a presentation by Michael Weisfeld. http://blog.onlinemarketingconnect.com/2009/03/20/online-marketing-summit-lessons-learned-about-social-media/

Another good site from Peter Kim lists ~50 companies and the social media marketing tools they’re using. http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html

My own article on B2B Tweeters http://www.jdamico.net/resources/How-B2B-Marketers-Are-Using-Twitter.shtml

What's your business case for integrating social media into your marcom mix?

Is your online content relevant to the marketer or the market?

2009-05-19T09:01:00.000-04:00

Perhaps it's a B2B marcom thing, but all too often B2B online content fails to be relevant to the market. What's worse is some online marketers "dress up" the content with images that further emphasize irrelevant content.

A good example of this is content that focuses on a feature rather than a benefit. For example saying that your baby bottles are BPA-free is less relevant than saying your baby will be safe from harmful chemicals.

Your online content could offer a unique angle on the product. In the BPA example, your content could focus on products containing BPA that you didn't know contained it. Not only is this relevant, but more engaging; and the more engaging the content, the more likely you'll draw more prospects into the sales funnel.

For more tips on writing good online content, see Chris Brogan's article, Make Media Work for You- Elements of Good Online Content

146 million people viewed online video... is it part of your B2B marcom mix?

2009-05-12T08:30:00.000-04:00

The more I read about online video, the more convinced I am that it should be part of the B2B marcom mix as part of an integrated B2B marcom campaign. Aside from cost, the key objection that I hear to online video in the B2B space is that "my audience isn't really online savvy." You don't have to be "online savvy" to conduct a Google search. And video is increasingly becoming important to SEO. In fact, November 2008, YouTube surpassed Yahoo in search queries. That's right, Yahoo, the number two search engine, was outflanked by YouTube.

So with 146 million people viewing online video--that's 77% of the U.S. online population--can you afford not to try online video? OK... let's just assume that only 10% of the population is in the B2B space. That's still 14.6 million people.

My YouTube search using the terms RFID based inventory tracking systems and the results were everything from how RFID works to a video on how RFID technology is being used by a linen rental company. (Full disclosure... one of the videos is my client).

Then, I conducted another search on enterprise collaboration software and a range of software providers appeared... all B2B.

If you're a B2B marketer who thinks that online video and YouTube are just for pop culture or B2C marketers, then you may want to rethink. As part of an integrated B2B marketing communications strategy, online video can help:

boost organic and PPC search results

drive qualified traffic to your website or landing page

move prospects further down the sales funnel closer to purchase

Your audience is probably viewing online video content. Take a look at these statistics from Media Post in Kerry Manaster's Interactive Angle Blog

Should Twitter Be in Your B2B Marcom Mix?

2009-05-05T11:30:00.000-04:00

My customers aren't on Twitter, or My customers don't really spend much time on the internet. I hear this from B2B marketers all too often. And I'm not sure on what they're basing these statements. I think that a number of B2B marketers would be surprised at just how many people in the B2B space are participating in social media such as Twitter.

My gut reaction is that when B2B marketers approach social marketing as a push medium, then of course, it's not appropriate. Banner ads and emails do a fine job at pushing content. But where many B2B marketers miss the the point is in the value of having the conversation or continuing a conversation that may have started with an email, sales visit or other marketing communication. This is where social media adds value--particularly in B2B marketing where selling cycles can be lengthy.

Social media enables B2B marketers to listen to, participate in and further engage their prospects throughout the selling cycle. Social media is an effective tool for pulling prospects into the conversation or directing them to other content that's available from your website or elsewhere to help keep them engaged.

When you find yourself thinking, My customers or prospects just aren't "internet people." Then think again. The following article has some surprising demographics about who's twittering. It may not be who you think.

If you're thinking about adding Twitter to your marketing communications mix, here's a good article, Five Considerations Before Companies Dive Into Twitterville Thanks to @TomPick for the Tweet.

Here are a few more links to articles on the influence of social media in B2B marketing:

The Rising Power of Social Media to Drive Traffic

Finding the Right Brand Voice on Twitter

Brands That Tweet

Four Ways B2B Marketers Are Using Twitter

Are You Like the Fortune 500... Failing in Organic Search?

2009-04-28T11:30:00.000-04:00

Despite spending a collective $51 million/day on PPC, Fortune 500 Still ‘Largely Invisible’ In Natural Search says a Search Engine Land article by Matt McGee

I had this conversationw with a B2B marketing colleague of mine and we both agreed that organic search is still an important part of an integrated marcom plan. It should start internally by optimizing your website, and then turn to external options for improving organic search results with a linking strategy, publishing good content that gets bookmarked, a social media strategy, PR, etc.

Here's another good article on a few organic search optimization basics from Biz Report.

What skills do B2B marketers need most?

2009-04-21T10:30:00.001-04:00

Not surprising, social media skills and the ability to identify key influencers in the social media sphere were noted as important according to a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council annual survey. The good news is that more tha 60% of companies surveyed plan to invest in training their own staffs.

See the survey results here.

I'm curious, what are you doing to expand your skill sets into the social media and digital marketing sphere... especially with training budgets being cut.

B2B Marketers Integrate SEO for Customer Retention

2009-04-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

It's true, Search marketing is effective at generating leads and acquiring new customers, however it's also effective when it comes to customer retention. It makes sense. B2B marketers have such a long selling cycle, that it would be a shame to spend time and money to get customers, only to lose them because they can't find your value-added services like training or post sales support. Here, Shellie Foriska shares 4 ways B2B marketers can use search to improve customer retention.

Integrated Marketing Communications Obama Style...

2009-04-09T10:04:00.004-04:00

Here is one of the most effective case studies for integrated marketing communications--the 2008 presidential election. What's really interesting is that it didn't start with a grandiose message and slick creative. Instead, the focus was on a simple message and integrating the message within the fragmented communities making up the country. Enjoy the AdAge article, The Secret to Obama's Success: Mixing Old Media with New.

Should B2B copywriters write meta data?

2009-04-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

I had this discussion with an online marketing manager at a major consulting firm and she and I both agree that copywriters--with training in copywritng for SEO, of course--should write the meta title and description. They are in the best position to convey the relevance of the page to search engines. (Assuming that they've also written the page content.)

Good SEO copywriters know that copywriting for search is more than just incorporating relevant keywords and phrases in all the right places. Good SEO copy follows direct response marketing tenets of creating awareness, interest and a call to action. Doing that while incorporating keywords gives you killer content.

BTW... If you're a copywriter or marcom manager who writes a lot of web content or even offline pieces, brush up on SEO, and learn how what you write can really influence whether or not your prospects and customers can find you. Here are some quick SEO copywriting tips from one of my previous blog posts. Or just type "SEO" into the search field of my Integrated Marcom Minute blog and get more tips on SEO for B2B copywriters. Good luck!

Keyword Selection Mistakes... Are You Making Them Too?

2009-04-06T01:00:00.000-04:00

B2B marketers can be especially inclined to making these common keyword selection mistakes. Aa B2B copywriter and former B2B marcom manager, I've seen technology and industrial companies make these mistakes time and again. You've probably seen them too--using internal technical words that folks just aren't searching for or being a technical purist and using the proper term when the external industry is using another term.

Fortunately Laura Centore can help with her article Don't Damage Your Brand with the Wrong Keywords

If you need help getting started on your keyword list whether you're branding or generating leads, my free worksheet will help you develop an effective keyword bank.

What tools are you using to determine your keywords for branding and lead generation?

Here are a couple of free keyword analysis tools, courtesy of Laura Centore:

Google Adwords keyword tool

Google Insight trend tool

Microsoft’s AdCenter
Labs Keyword Forecast tool

Quick-Start Guide to Monitoring Your Company's Online Social Status...

2009-04-01T08:35:00.000-04:00

B2B integrated marcom programs should also include a social status monitor. By that I mean monitoring your online reputation. Do you know what others are saying about you online?

Whether your PR agency is monitoring this as part of their retainer or you plan to monitor your online reputation in-house, a popular place to start is Google. Set up a Google alert for your company. (You may need to set up a free Google account.) Then check out social sites:

create a watchlist on Technorati
conduct a search on Twitter (remember to search hash tags too for general category searches e.g. #CES or #followfriday)
conduct a search on YouTube (although your Google alert should pick up videos too)
search your newsfeeds (I use NewsGator, but your browser can also be used to aggregate your newsfeeds)
set up a social bookmarking account and monitor your company or industry on delicious, digg, reddit and others. (Go to ShareThis for a complete list and other social media features.)

And just for fun, see how your Twitter feed stacks up to others using Hubspot's Twitter Grader.

The bottom line is that whether or not you choose to participate in social media, the conversation is still happening and it may involve you. At the very least, you should be aware of what's being said.

Social Media Marketing... How much time does it really take?

2009-03-25T17:41:00.008-04:00

I attended a Powered webinar, Social Marketing: This ROI is Too Good to Be True!, and two messages were clear:

social media marketing is more about giving than receiving
social media marketing doesn't take a lot of financial resources, it takes a lot of human resources

Whether you're a copywriter, marketer or outsourced marketing resource charged with social media, you quickly come to the conclusion that it takes a lot of time. How much time depends on the influence you're trying to reach. So I conducted a poll on LinkedIn, and although it's not statistically valid, it does show a trend.

Most marketers are spending 0-5 or 6-10 hours/week on social media (41% & 35% respectively), there were a number of marketers spending 16-20 and 21-25 hours/week (11% each). See graph of results.

Social media guru Chris Brogan admits that he doesn't get much sleep and I can see why. But he's puting out great content and is influential in social media ... some say he's even more influential than the potential Prime Minister of India!

So what does all this have to do with Integrated Marcom?

Integrating social media into your marcom mix is essential to your company's success. However you have to plan to spend a lot of time on it. Time spent posting on other blogs, creating your own content, tweeting, managing a Facebook and bookmarking content. But the participants at today's webinar agree that ROI is there eventhough it's not as directly measurable as say a banner ad in terms of clicks and conversions. You're looking for a lift in engagement... the sum total of interactions with your brand or company such as subscribers, followers, fans, diggs, etc.

One of the companies at today's webinar, Hubspot, has a six-person shop and each of the six is responsible for one social media channel i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. You could also hire out the social media, but that could be tricky if that person doesn't know your brand or voice. You could also enlist the support of other innovators within your company such as innovative product managers who don't mine putting in an extra hour a day to get the word out.

How do you integrate or plan to integrate social media into your marcom mix?

Integrated Marcom Mix: How Social Media Fits In...

2009-03-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

In an older blog post--pre mainstream social media--I dicussed the B2B integrated marcom campaign and how the marcom mix shifts based on the buying cycle phase. Now that more B2B marketers are adding social media to the marcom mix, the question I'm often asked is, "Where does social media belong in the B2B marcom mix?"

The answer lies in the sales funnel. Gven the lengthier B2B selling cycles, social media works well in the consideration phase. It's also effective in the retention and loyalty phases. In fact, that's what social media is all about. People are looking for validation of what you, the marketer are saying. Who is using your product? What do they think about your product? Does it do what you say it will do? If your customers are satisfied, they're happy to evangelize. But you need to provide them a means by which to do create the feedback cycle.

That's where social media can help.

Provide a wiki forum or blog for feedback.

Add a Facebook or MySpace page.

Provide social links on your case studies and white papers to social bookmarking and tagging sites.

See more info on social media's effectiveness in the consideration phase of the buying cycle.

Also see good Search Engine Land article on B2B SEO and customer retention by Shellie Foriska.

SXSW09: The Future Of Social Networks

2009-03-18T13:59:00.001-04:00

Social networks... where is all of this heading and how will this impact marketers? View Charlene Li's presentation from SXSW09.

SXSW09: The Future Of Social Networks

View more presentations from Charlene Li.

How Much Time Per Week Do You Spend on Social Networking/Marketing?

2009-03-16T11:29:00.004-04:00

I'm curious... social networking/marketing takes a lot of time to do it right. But how much time should it take? So here's a link to a LinkedIn poll I'm conducting to try to make sense of how much time is enough. Thanks in advance for participating. and feel free to add your comments.
Click here to take the poll.

Integrated B2B Marketing on a Lean Budget

2009-03-12T06:57:00.008-04:00

The message I took away from yesterday's B2B Magazine Netmarketing Breakfast was that B2B marketers can still market effectively--even with flat or reduced budgets. It's all about optimizing the marcom mix that you already have.

Most of the marketers in the room agreed that trying something new--even on a frugal budget--will be part of their 2009 marcom mix. And trying something new doesn't necessarily mean spending a lot of money. In fact, the three marketers at yesterday's meeting dug deeper into their marketing communications mixes to tap more value from existing marcom tools.

Melinda Snow Welsh, director of Internet Marketing for consulting firm, Towers Perrin, mined their existing knowledge vault and quickly pieced togeher a microsite to help execs deal with the financial crisis. Their quick and comprehensive marcom mix, which included podcasts, white papers, banner ads within their own site, web 2.0style discussion boards with their thought leaders among other marcom tactics, gave their website and brand a significant boost.

Greg Richards, director of Online Global Strategy for Pitney Bowes, says he's being "ruthless" about the way marketing dollars are being spent, ensuring that his marketing projects have a charter that makes sense and more importantly have a good ROI. Richards says his plan optimizes resources that are already trying to do more with less.

Stephan Heeke, head of Interactive Marketing for Siemens Corp., is taking a closer look at the metrics when it comes to the website. He says that time spent on the website isn't indicative of engagement. It could be frustration in finding what you're looking for. So his team is looking for further insights from the metrics to ensure a positive user experience for web visitors.

One Tactic Every B2B Marketer Should Use...

2009-03-10T09:34:00.006-04:00

Integrated marketing communications is ripe with tools from basic printed materials to social networking. But the one tool that B2B marketers are integrating into their marcom mix is video. Why? It's enagaging. It lets you convey messages in 3D, which means you can have greater impact than you could from just a single print or online message even with a tightly integrated campaign.

Including video in an integrated marcom campaign has tremendous synergy.

It's effective in boosting brand awareness and recall. A MillwardBrown study indicated that TV and DVR viewing resulted in 54% brand awareness compared to 82% for online viewing.

It's an effective way to boost web traffic. With iTunes, YouTube, and other video sites. your video can be seen by even more potential clients. And search engines are now indexing videos, which gives online video even stronger impact.

It can actually save you money. Production costs have come down over the past few years, so the price of a single video can allow you to leverage that spend and even reduce spending in other areas. e.g. One client was able to reduce space at a trade show and instead rent a large monitor to display a product. It also reduced shipping and set up costs.

Here are two examples of integrated B2B marketing campaigns that included video along with written case studies. Emerson includes radio, TV, print and other online media.

Large scope integrated marcom campaign:
Emerson It's never been done before campaign.
See the video on YouTube

Smaller scope campaign included internet and event marketing
Datamars client testimonial
See the video on YouTube

Here's a good article from AdAge on the Do's and Don'ts of Online Video Advertising.

B2B Marketers Slow to Adopt Web 2.0...

2009-03-10T08:32:00.004-04:00

A recent survey says that B2B marketers are slower to adopt Web 2.0 and social media than their B2C counterparts. The survey says that 15% consider themselves "pros" at Web 2.0 technology, while 54% are trying to learn it.

The survey indicates that increasing reader engagement is the primary purpose of B2B websites. The tactics that B2B marketers rank highest in accomplishing reader engagement are video, searchable content archives and discussion boards/wikis.

Not surprising, email marketing still ranks high for generating traffic along with search engine optimization.

Note: the survey had 57 responses and nearly 75% were from American Business Media members.

Read the American Business Media white paper, Leveraging Web 2.0 for B2B Media--Ideas and Best Practices and tell me what you think. I think that B2B marketers have usually lagged behind B2C marketers. However, it also depends on the market. B2B marketers in technology are typically at the forefront of the latest marketing tactics. Your thoughts?

Social Media Checklist Every Marcom Manager Should See

2009-03-09T16:46:00.004-04:00

If you're a marketing communications manager who's involved with or wants to become involved with social media, then Overdrive Interactive's Social Media Map is a must-have tool.

It includes everything from social bookmarking and B2B social networking sites to social networks, video sites and more--complete with links to each site.

Thanks to my Twitter Tweep @MichaelGass for uncovering this handy social media map.