Social & Mobile

Despite huge increases in smartphone and tablet penetration, 70% of BtoB companies have yet to optimize their web sites for mobile users, according to research from IDG.

As mobile becomes a vital part of browsing and buying processes, industry analysts suggest BtoB companies must take cues from their BtoC counterparts to determine best practices for an efficient mobile strategy. “When it comes to considerations for mobile marketing, we have to think about it in terms of this is going to be the way that people use the internet,” said Karsten Weide, Research VP Digital Media & Entertainment, IDG. “It’s going to be mobile first!”

BtoB marketers are spending millions of dollars annually on social marketing programs, though nearly 30% are not tracking the impact of social media programs on lead generation and sales, according to a survey conducted by Pardot.  

The survey, which included input from dozens of companies, aimed to shed light on the developing role of social media in marketing.  Survey questions focused on social marketing etiquette, the influence of social media on lead and sales, the most useful social media tools and the cost to operate social marketing programs.  

The survey found that social media use among BtoB marketers is on the rise —95% of respondents indicated they use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or corporate blogs to reach prospects.  Yet despite the increased use of these services, only 70% are monitoring the return on spend for these programs.  And among those who do, about 42% of marketers replied that zero or an uncertain number of sales leads resulted from social media programs.  

Eloqua is officially in a “quiet period” following its September 2011 IPO filing, but the company managed to make a lot of noise during its user event this week. Eloqua Experience drew more than 1,200 attendees to San Francisco, CA, an increase of 42% year-over-year, according to Eloqua’s CEO Joe Payne.

Although Payne could not highlight specific forward-looking statements due to the filing, he did note the company’s continued growth acceleration. Eloqua reported it is growing at nearly 40% year-over-year through Q3 2011. The company serves more than 80,000 individual users in more than 40 countries, and now supports more than 6 billion transactions a day.

During the kickoff keynote, Payne emphasized the company’s strategy to address the shift to “SaaS 2.0” — where mobile, social and apps are driving the new models for delivery, engagement and integration.

Marketing automation vendors reported another healthy quarter of growth in revenue and new customers in Q3 2011. Driven largely by the increased adoption among SMB organizations, the category continues to grow and industry analysts point to more telling developments in the space.

 “We’re still seeing strength in the market; vendors are announcing Q3 quarter sales rates similar to second quarter,” noted David Raab, Principal, Raab Associates, Inc. “The market is beginning to stratify more clearly by client segment: microbusiness vendors (Infusionsoft, OfficeAutoPilot, Genoo, MakesBridge) have more clearly separated themselves from SMB systems (Pardot, Act-On, Net Results, SalesFusion) and from Enterprise vendors (Eloqua, Aprimo, Neolane).  HubSpot and Marketo are straddling: still largely SMB but looking to penetrate the Enterprise. I’m not sure they can serve both.”

Responsys, Inc., a provider of email and cross-channel marketing solutions, announced the irelease of Responsys Interact Fall ‘11, the latest version of the Responsys Interact Suite.

Responsys Interact Fall ‘11 features extensions to the Responsys Interact Suite including a new application designed to allow organizations to effectively coordinate and manage local marketing campaigns.