How many social media sites do you update on a regular basis?

Perhaps it would be better to rephrase the question as: How many social media sites would you like to update on a regular basis?

Ping.fm is a useful aggregation service which allows you to do just that: post content simultaneously to a large group of social media sites. It covers dozens of sites and includes these better known social networks:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• WordPress
• Tumblr
• MySpace
• LinkedIn
• Delicious

With ping.fm, you can also direct an RSS blog feed to all of your social networks.

There are other services, such as the popular Twitter client Hootsuite, that allow you to post to the biggest social networks. But if your social media strategy involves reaching audiences on a diverse set of social networks, ping.fm is definitely worth a closer look.

I’d like to share this fantastic presentation by French consulting firm faberNovel, a study on how Apple has maneuvered itself successfully in the market against Microsoft and Google.

Here is a new, must-see video for B2B marketers interested in social media. It has been prepared by our friends at Earnest Agency in the UK.

Of the stats presented, here some which are especially noteworthy:

1. CIO’s could well be the biggest blocker to social media adoption. Fifty-four percent of CIO’s prohibit use of social networking sites while at work.
2. The use of social media by B2B companies is validated by business purchasers. 93% of business buyers believe all companies should have a presence in social media.
3. If you think C-level executives aren’t active online, you’re sorely mistaken. The Internet is the C-Suites top information resource (74% of C-Level executives say it’s very valuable)
4. 89% of journalists make use of blogs while conducting their online research and 96% turn to corporate websites.

To read more on the data presented here, check out Earnest Agency’s accompanying blog post which contains further detail and sources:http://earnestagency.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/vital-statistics-for-every-b2b-marketer/.

More and more B2B marketers are turning to lead scoring as a way of optimizing lead management. Many of us will remember when we used to process raw Excel lists, handing over hundreds of names with job titles and companies to our sales department, only to find that leads weren’t being followed up on. It wasn’t possible to know which leads were the most interested in your company, and wasn’t easy to see which matched your target buyer.

Recent advances in marketing automation and sales CRM software have made it easier to streamline the whole process. Marketing and sales professionals can apply lead scoring algorithms to leads, effectively sorting and prioritizing them for nurturing programs and sales follow-up.

In a recent episode of the weekly #B2Bchat on Twitter, we dug into questions surrounding lead scoring. Here is a summary of the questions and comments, compiled:

Q. What is lead scoring?

• There are a lot of online resources on the topic lead scoring. We’ve posted a couple of articles on lead scoring including The 5 Basics of Lead Scoring on B2Bbloggers.com.
• Here are a couple of definitions of lead scoring in 140 characters or less: Lead scoring is assigning a probability/weight to a lead based on its online behavior while interacting with your digital assets (via @joezuc) and Lead scoring is giving a rating system to prospects so more time spent with qualified leads (via @NuSparkMktg)

Q. What do you need in order to get started with lead scoring?

• A marketing automation system. Vendors that were mentioned by name in the session included Marketo, Vtrenz, Eloqua, Genius, Marketbright and Silverpop. @jepc referred us to a comprehensive list of marketing automation systems that he has compiled.
• You need a list of the possible paths/interactions a customer can have with your digital assets. This can be quite complex, depending on the type of product/service.
• A target audience definition is needed, and an understanding of your buyer personas.
• You need to understand your customer buying behavior. Talk to sales in order to learn buying behaviors, and look at previous activities associated with closed deals.
• An agreement on the definition of a lead is essential. Sales and marketing need to come up with the definition together. Any discussion of lead scoring helps sales and marketing connect better with goals.
• Executive buy-in from sales & marketing leadership is needed.

Q. What advice would you give to marketers that want to take lead scoring to the next level?

• Normalize job titles to get better scoring, or restrict job titles to a pick list.
• If possible, include consideration of offline activities as well.
• The following high-value interactions should be weighted accordingly: E.g. “How We Help” page = higher score
• The combo of product page w. case study or contact us page = bonus points
• More visits from more people in one company within a shorter time frame = bonus points
• Use negative scoring for certain job titles, e.g. consultant, student and assistant.
• Review lead scores of closed sales to assess the validity of your scoring assumptions

This post appeared originally at b2bbloggers.com.

The product managers at Google TV released a new video today explaining what Google TV is and what it may mean to you.

On May 20, 2010, Google announced the launch of Google TV, a service which brings the Web and TV closer together.

Here are some of the main features that Google TV will offer:

• Tune to channels or specific shows by conducting a text search
• Record and play back shows
• Browse the Web
• Multi-task on the same screen, i.e. browse a web page while watching a TV show
• Download and use apps from the Android market

Read Google’s official announcement for further details: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/announcing-google-tv-tv-meets-web-web.html.

YouTube has reached a couple of milestones recently, including:

• more than 24 hours of video uploaded per minute
• over two billion video views per day (see the Mashable post)

YouTube also turned five years old a couple of weeks ago, and here is a video which celebrates its remarkable short history and growth.

Over the past couple of weeks, a storm of angst has been gathering over Facebook’s new Instant Personalization Program. The program has been criticized by privacy advocates as many Facebook users are unaware that it now shares your personal information with partner websites, by default.

Here’s how you can opt out of the new instant personalization program:

In the top right hand corner of your Facebook page, click on Account and then Privacy Settings.

On the privacy settings page, click on Applications and Websites.  At the bottom, you’ll see Instant Personalization Pilot Program. Click on the Edit Setting button.

Un-check the tick box beside “Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites.”

That should do it.

How do B2B marketers tackle the question of marketing campaign value? Do we make strategic decisions based on real, actionable data? With the firehose of data that is available to marketers now-a-days, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find the information that truly matters. And this is especially true for B2B with their typically complex, drawn out sales cycles.

In our latest episode of #B2Bchat, we dug into questions surrounding metrics. Here is a summary of the questions and comments, compiled:

Q. Which components of your digital marketing campaigns are delivering the best results? E.g. Search, Email, Display Advertising, Social Media?

• Search (PPC and SEO). These are most effective when in used in conjunction with great landing pages.
• Email
• Mediums are secondary, success depends on the contextual relevance of the message.

Q. Why do campaign budgets get cut? Poor performance or lack of tracking?

• Both: poor performance due to lack of clear objectives. and lack of tracking because no analysis properly done during campaign
• Most of the time the problem is poorly defined goals and metrics
• Budget cuts can also come due to lack of well defined baselines.
• Lack of commitment to the campaign. Unreasonable expectations of sales impact.
• On social media budgets: Shyness with social media due to it being unproven, thus high risk. Execs are holding back.
• Measuring metrics a science, but knowing how to explain them can sometimes be an art. e.g. convincing your boss to keep budget.

Q. What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to marketing reports?

• First Dashboard reports need to be customized (management level) and meet biz needs…focus on actionable metrics!
• A lot of people over-do it with reports. Too much data and too complex = danger of focusing on wrong metrics.

Q. How do you assess the value of a digital marketing campaign? Where do you start?

• Have specific goals and objectives
• Start with the dollar value of new sales and work backwards
• Measure the number of sales-ready leads and wins
• A good marketing dashboard is fundamental

Q. What metrics (Key Performance Indicators) do you track? Which matter most?

• “Actionable” metrics, data which will allow us to make better decisions and take action
• PDF downloads, newsletter subscriptions, sales leads, e-commerce transactions
• Clicks, conversion, leads
• Customer retention
• Qualified leads, Reach, Buzz, Sentiment
• Engagement: comments/replies
• Predictive actions: signups, downloads, resource access

Word art of transcript from April 29 #B2Bchat – Measuring the Value of Digital Marketing (courtesy of Wordle.net).

This summary was originally posted at www.b2bbloggers.com.

Thought-provoking insight on the contemporary workplace from Jason Fried, co-founder of 37 Signals and author of New York Times bestseller, Rework.

I saw this image as a blog post comment yesterday and unfortunately can’t remember where I found it. If you know the copyright owner, please let me know so I can attribute it accordingly. This was just too funny to not share.