Silverpop Highlights 11 Strategies For The Move To “Mocial” Marketing During Agent ROI Tour In NYC

“Social networks aren’t going away,” noted Bryan Brown, Director of Product Strategy at Silverpop. “As marketers this is not a problem we can look away from. We have to be strategic in knowing what we want to do and where we want to spend our time. Social isn’t just about Facebook. It’s a concept where people want to engage in content, share it and have discussions to see what other people like, and be informed by relevant people. It’s this idea of making what you have ore shareable and accessible in this new social world.”

Brown pointed to the rapidly growing tablet market, which is expected to implode in 2012 — selling more than 100 million units. These devices, Brown said, are changing the way people interact with brands.  The surge of location-based capabilities, downloadable applications and user-driven content has created a shift in the way BtoB organizations go to market.

That said, shifting strategies must enlist tactics that cater to the conversational nature of social media. It’s important for marketers to remember that social enables prospects and customers to learn out their own pace in an unobtrusive way. Moreover, BtoB buyers are increasingly finding out about solution providers and services through social networks rather than the traditional company web site.

Brown cited research findings from 360i, which highlighted that consumers only spend about 5% of their online time searching and the remaining 95% at their destination, and social media is quickly accounting for a large portion of that 95%.

“Companies are seeing more traffic to their site come from social domains, than people who were on a search engine — that’s a meaningful shift,” Brown said. “Years ago the majority of marketers would say Google sends the most traffic to their web sites, which is why they spend a ton on SEM and search rankings.”

Because buyers are going to social channels before visiting a vendor’s web site, marketers need to bridge the gap between these by utilizing content marketing, Brown said. According to Brown, the foundation of effective “mocial” strategies that drive ROI is email. Brown pointed to the following 11 “mocial” tactics for consideration:

1. Add Email Opt-In To Facebook- It’s crucial that information and content assets are easily accessible. Email opt-ins make it easier to access content on the buyer’s terms via Facebook.
    
2. Offer Social Sign-In- If buyers are learning socially, and someone they follow recommends a resource, they can easily be directed to a form that allows them to identify themselves on their preferred channel (Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Twitter). “You actually get a deeper relationship with them because you know their social identity,” Brown said. “This tactic has been shown to increase form conversion by 10-15%. More importantly, 66% of people who see a form with social sign-in say they prefer the social opt-in process.”
    
3. Use QR Codes To Drive Offline To Online- Using QR codes on printed collateral, tradeshow booth signage or other materials, enables prospects to access brand  information easily and on-the-go.
    
4. Capture Opt-Ins Via Tablets/Kiosks- Brown pointed to applications that enable organizations to collect prospect information, including Silverpop's Pop-In application, which supports remote data collection via an iPad, allowing marketers to grow their contact databases while in the field.
    
5. Create Standalone Emails To Be Shared- While many emails ask recipients to take multiple calls-to-action, Brown encourages marketers to consider standalone messaging, such as a holiday-oriented greeting card, to encourage recipients to share. This builds brand perception and extends sharing.
    
6. Promote Likes & Follows- Encourage visitors to become a follower or like a brand by providing special offers or incentives to those who opt-in. For example, “Like” to receive a special white paper or other valuable content asset.  
    
7. Drive User-Generated Content (UGC) and Engagement- Many BtoC companies have encouraged followers to post their own videos or pictures to demonstrate how they’ve used a product. BtoB organizations can capitalize on this by asking users for their success stories. Additionally, offers, contests or sharing doesn’t have to be limited to brand-oriented content. Ask followers to post pictures or content that relates to their every day lives.
    
8. Share Throughout BtoB Content Process- Rather than limiting share opportunities to a landing page for downloading content, embed share links in the content asset itself. For instance, make a quote from an E-book easy to share by adding a link to Twitter, including a company handle and hashtag.
    
9. Repurpose Content Across Channels- Leverage social networks and other channels, such as Slideshare, to extend the life of content collateral and encourage more sharing on multiple platforms.
    
10. Get Personal- Brown highlighted the need for organizations to avoid the corporate sales speak and get friendly with customers. Additionally, the blast and batch strategy is no longer a viable practice as buyers demand relevant, targeted content.
     
11. Marketing Automation- Automation tools help marketers add that personal touch by leveraging behavioral profiles based on key activities and actions, including a web site visit, a blog post comment, a community opt-in or downloaded white paper. By mapping content offers to the buyer journey, marketers can provide more relevant information that helps support the value proposition.