New Resources Showcase Results Of Wikipedia, Other Social Strategies
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It’s no secret that social media is the popular new kid on the block in marketing circles, but few companies have cracked the code as marketers have struggled to quantify ROI and establish the ultimate value of social media.
BtoB marketing thought leaders are aiming to remedy the need for social strategy, as new social media resources have recently emerged. Eloqua recently released its Social Media Playbook, a 42-page guide dubbed, “Everything Your Company Needs to Know to Succeed on the Social Web.” The e-book is available for free to marketers striving to deepen their company’s social media presence.
The report found that every third visitor to a BtoB web site is an enterprise visitor, a term the company uses to describe leads in the marketing automation space. Nearly 15% of enterprise visitors to a web site are from social media sites.
Broken down by popularity, the report found that Wikipedia is the most effective social media channel and brings in the most relevant and serious leads. LinkedIn accounts for the maximum number of visitors from any social media site to a BtoB web site; however, the visitors who come in from LinkedIn are more interested in finding out who the company is than what they do. Web site visitors that came to Wikipedia were found to be in the research stage, as more than 16% sought out features pages and product pages.
The report found that its vendor-neutral platform makes Wikipedia the number one source for enterprises looking for neutral content on any probable vendor or solution.
Facebook and Twitter are not viable lead sources, according to the report; although they can be used as channels to engage with existing customers, media, or other stakeholders, or for nurturing existing prospects. The two social networks bring people to web sites where prospects are looking for company information. 4.25% of visitors go to the “about us” page first, followed by the blog page. Twitter and Facebook however, were found to bring in the most visitors (over 63% each) from a link provided on the social networking sites.
When researching a company, enterprise visitors prefer content that’s balanced and neutral and presents facts to marketing jargon. The maximum number of visitors to any site is direct visits, people who key in the web site address, the report said. LeadForce1 said this could be a result of word of mouth endorsements or brand awareness campaigns.
SEO optimization is the least a company can do to ensure it has a constant flow of leads to its sites, as search engines continue to be the most popular medium of finding a vendor in the research stage.
Eloqua’s “Steal Our Playbook” campaign follows the company’s release of The Content Grid, an infographic depicting who in an organization should be responsible for content creation and over which channels content should be distributed for maximum sales lift. The Playbook and Content Grid were developed in collaboration with web design and data visualization firm, JESS3, the company behind The Conversation Prism and The State of the Internet video. Platforms covered in the Guide include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Wikipedia, Delicious, Flickr, Google Buzz, Foursquare, Gowalla and blogs.