The social media boom has presented new opportunties for paid-for marketing. Alex Blyth examines some of the options available, as well as key factors you should consider when choosing to invest
Think back to 2008 – a time before any of us had even heard of, much less been afflicted by, sub-prime mortgages, the age of austerity or wholesale cuts to marketing budgets – and you may recall how sceptical many B2B marketers were about social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. On the whole they tended to view these sites as little more than diversions for the under-employed. They were certainly not serious marketing tools.
Fast forward three years and suddenly social media is all any marketer seems to talk about. A six-country study by publisher NetMediaEurope, of IT decision-makers across Europe, recently found that 51 per cent use Facebook, 45 per cent use LinkedIn, and 39 per cent use Twitter. Crucially, 23 per cent use social media in ways that support their buying decisions. Dominique Busso, chief executive of NetMediaEurope, points out, “Respondents tended to talk about using advice from experts and other individuals, without focusing on the fact that the advice is increasingly brought to them through social media.”
It is important that B2B marketers remain up to date with all the different types of advertising and paid-for marketing opportunities that the various platforms offer, so here are five opportunities you should consider.
1. Sponsored LinkedIn groups
Many B2B marketers are already vigorous contributors to LinkedIn groups. If you have something useful to say, then doing this can produce good results. However, as data and voice network provider Qwest Business found, sponsoring a LinkedIn group can improve these results exponentially. The company set up the SMB IT Connection group for IT decision-makers at small and medium-sized businesses, and as the sponsor, was able to make use of the space to disseminate educational videos, whitepapers and a live RSS feed from its own blog. It publicised the group through display ads on the site and through invites to key people selected by LinkedIn. It energised the debate by running polls and posing questions. This built an active group of 1400 potential customers.
2. CPC campaigns
The most obvious place to start with any online advertising campaign is usually a traditional cost-per-click (CPC) campaign. It allows you to see your own budget. Start your campaign quickly and then build it over time. Social media sites can be very useful for B2B marketers who have always struggled with the difficulty of isolating business searches on Google Adword campaigns.
Nick Rhind, MD of web development company CTI Digital, says, “B2B advertisers using Google Adwords have always had the notoriously difficult task of targeting B2B customers who use similar search terms to B2C. Social media advertising uses demographic, psychographic and more accurate geographic targeting so that B2B products and services can be targeted more efficiently.
“Social media advertising is also a much cheaper option than search-based advertising platforms. Google Adwords has seen continual increases in CPCs that have started driving many businesses out of the market. I would advise marketers to take some of their Adwords budget and test it on sites like Facebook.”
3. Contextual advertising
Last August, Facebook announced Facebook Places, which lets users easily post their location, and so allows marketers to more accurately target by geography. In March 2011, the site began trialling real-time advertising that allows it to serve up ads based on users’ status updates. For example, if someone says they are doing their year-end accounts, you could offer them your online book-keeping service.
It is this sort of innovative geographical, behavioural and contextual advertising that has helped social media display advertising to take off so dramatically in the past year. According to the latest figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), online display advertising grew by 27 per cent in 2010 thanks to a nearly 200 per cent surge in display advertising in a social media environment.
4. Promoted tweets
Just over a year ago Twitter unveiled its commercial plan and there was a lot of excitement around the idea of the promoted tweet. The idea then seemed to go a little quiet, but there are three reasons why we can expect to see it resurface in a big way.
Firstly, they seem to work. Last September, the Wall Street Journal, reported that about five per cent of web visitors who see promoted tweets interact with them, and that even though advertisers are spending “upwards of $100,000” on the ads, 80 per cent have been so happy with the results that they have renewed the campaigns.
Secondly, Twitter is innovating further. In April 2011, it released the Follower Dashboard, which shows how a company’s followers have increased over time, breaks down their gender and location, and displays what interest they have shown. Thirdly, up until now, Twitter has been trialling promoted tweets and during 2011 it will be rolling it out to all of its users.
5. Video ads
Video is one of the fastest growing elements of online advertising, and as the recent campaign by Cisco Systems demonstrates, social media is an effective vehicle. With its IPv6 campaign, Cisco wanted to show service-provider clients how it could help them shift to the new Internet protocol IPv6. A YouTube video had a tongue-in-cheek look at this ‘impending disaster’ and allowed viewers to select from various endings. This was pushed on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and in Cisco’s own support forums. The video received more than 50,000 views in the first three months, exceeding its goal by 400 per cent.
Investment decisions
It is essential that you use these five new opportunities in the right way, so here are a few questions to ask before investing your marketing budget.
• Is social media right for us?
There is great potential in paid-for social media marketing, but before you spend your marketing budget you must be certain it is right for you. Christian Howes, head of solutions engineering at analytics firms Webtrends, offers this advice, “Marketers shouldn’t be wondering if social media is right for advertising, but if it is right for them. B2B activity may not always be welcome on social networks, in which peer-to-peer activity dominates proceedings. Would a concrete company offering discounts on bags of sand blend in to the informal nature of the social media landscape?”
• Have we found the right platform?
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the big ones to consider, but they are not the only ones. Richard Wood, MD of Internet marketing agency Gillisa, says, “There are many opportunities to expand your visibility, and it is essential to research the market fully to ensure you have found the right platform for your campaign. Aside from the obvious ones you should consider Hedgehogs.net, IOrbix, KaBlog, Sphinn, Tipd, Tvinx, TypePad, WordPress, Xing and Yammer.”
• Are we integrating our channels?
Network storage company EMC’s campaign could have just stopped at an online video about the storage record it broke – it was a compelling story that would have made its audience sit up and take notice – but it did more. It developed a Facebook game; a ‘Breaking records tour’ travelled to more than 50 cities and it also held an open, live Q&A session with engineers.
The results were impressive: more than 700,000 views on YouTube, more than 40 posts by influential bloggers, 2500 participants in the community event and more than 1500 tweets. The company’s fan base on Facebook more than doubled in two weeks.
Integration is truly essential with social media advertising. By following EMC’s example, and delivering a consistent message across the full spectrum of on and offline channels, you will be able to use the full potential of social media to build genuine buzz around your brand.
• Do we own our community?
“It is clear that social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook all now offer paid-for marketing opportunities and advertising,” says Frank Joshi, founder and CEO of online communications agency Mvine. “But it is less clear what happens when the advertiser decides to end the relationship. Some sites will be able to place competitors’ ads in the community you have spent time and money building. I’d advise marketers to consider carefully who owns the community and all the associated data and analytics.”
• Are we personalising our messages?
“Social media allows marketers to personalise messages in a way that resonates with the individual, while also pitching those messages hundreds of times a minute,” says Simon Mansell, CEO of digital marketing company TBG Digital. “However, it can be daunting to achieve this scale and depth of personalisation, and marketers need to invest in the right technology to help them get the most from the medium.”
