Elevate B2B Marketing News Weekly Roundup: Longer B2B Buying Cycles, AI Marketing Usage Study, & WhatsApp Gets Screen-Sharing

Improving Conversion Rates Continues to be the Top B2B Revenue Marketing Priority
66 percent of B2B marketers have said that improving account and lead conversion rates have been a top priority at their business during 2023, with other priorities for the year having included demand generation, better measurement of marketing impact, and content alignment with the customer lifecycle, according to newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts

Tighter budgets are extending the B2B purchase cycle
38 percent of B2B buyers have been conducting more stringent return-on-investment (ROI) analysis during 2023, with 31 percent having increased the research time they spent surrounding purchase decisions, while 31 percent said they have had to postpone potential purchases because of budget freezes — three of numerous findings included in recently-released survey results. MarTech

AI Stats and Trends Small Businesses Need to Know Now [Report]
When it comes to how small-to-medium size businesses have been utilizing AI, 58 percent have indicated that they expect to save at least $1,000 over the next 12 months, with 33 percent reporting a time savings of more than 40 minutes each week on marketing efforts because of AI — two of many statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published AI survey data. Constant Contact

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“As AI continues to reshape the marketing industry, one thing is sure: adaptability and creativity will be the keys to success.” — George B. Thomas @GeorgeBThomas
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LinkedIn Tests Microsoft Designer Integration to Enable Generative AI Image Creation In-Stream
The integration of Microsoft Designer’s AI prompt-generated imagery has undergone limited testing on Microsoft’s LinkedIn (client) platform, bringing some of the software’s advanced image editing and creation tools to the professional social network, and Social Media Today recently took a look. Social Media Today

Most marketers are experimenting with AI but feelings are mixed, survey says
Over 40 percent of marketers have said that AI will improve creativity and work quality, while nearly 30 percent noted that they expected decreases, with 87 percent of marketing and communications professionals having indicated that they have used or experimented with AI-related tool, according to newly-published survey data of interest to B2B marketers. Marketing Dive

WhatsApp Adds Screensharing for Video Calls in the App
As Meta-owned WhatsApp has sought to expand the reach of its app in Western markets, the addition of a new screen-sharing option has aimed to entice more business users and brands to the communications platform, WhatsApp recently announced. Social Media Today

6 New ChatGPT Features Include Prompt Examples & File Uploads
OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT large language model-based chatbot has rolled out an array of helpful additional features, including keyboard shortcuts, longer allowable session times, and the ability to upload multiple files — all part of ChatGPT’s newest update, OpenAI recently announced. Search Engine Journal

Americans Held Dim Views of Twitter Prior to Its Rebrand
Some 40 percent of U.S. adults have said that they consider Twitter — recently rebranded as X — to be dominated by unpleasant people who hold extreme views, with a scant 12 percent considering the platform fun to use — two of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-published social media platform survey results. MarketingCharts

TikTok Adds New Required Labels for AI-Generated Content
TikTok in March implemented rules requiring the identification of AI-generated content on the social platform, and it recently rolled out greater enforcement of those rules, aiming to more prominently label AI-generated realistic scenes, TikTok recently announced. Social Media Today

OpenAI’s ChatGPT New Web Crawler – GPTBot
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has set its own new web crawler in motion, with the launch of its automated GPTBot, which has begun indexing the web’s vast array of information, and Search Engine Roundtable recently took a look at how webmasters have adjusted to the new crawler. Search Engine Roundtable

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “Beyond Gen Z” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

The 1990s Amiga with Video Toaster has a VFX cool factor that endures today — IEEE Spectrum

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• TopRank Marketing — 56 Influencer Marketing Agencies to Work With in 2023 — Business of Apps
• TopRank Marketing — Top Influencer Marketing Services (2023) — Business of Apps
• Lee Odden — 68 SEO Experts To Follow On Threads — Search Engine Journal

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

Shruti Deshpande @shruti12d
George B. Thomas @GeorgeBThomas
Kelly Hungerford @KDHungerford
Lisa Marcyes @lisa_marcyes
Purna Virji @purnavirji

Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry.

Have you a top B2B marketing news item we haven’t yet covered? If so, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope you’ll return again next Friday for another array of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post Elevate B2B Marketing News Weekly Roundup: Longer B2B Buying Cycles, AI Marketing Usage Study, & WhatsApp Gets Screen-Sharing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

The Soul Of B2B: Tactics For Making Marketing Connections That Endure

If our connections are truly the soul of B2B marketing, how can we ensure that we’re doing the best we can to nurture our existing network while simultaneously seeking out and building the right new business relationships?

In 2023 we have more opportunities than ever to reach out and initiate new business connections — almost a daunting number of options from new social platforms such as Threads to traditional email and others — yet doing so in a meaningful way has become nearly a lost art.

Similarly, the channels we have today for nurturing and growing the business relationships we already have are greater in number than ever, yet taking the time to utilize them and actually strengthen our existing network has also fallen by the wayside in some cases.

B2B marketers can turn this situation around and reach new heights of stronger connections both old and new in a few simple steps.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways to supercharge the soul of B2B marketing: our connections with the people we know and our strategies for making new business relationships.

Finding The Right New Connections For Your B2B Marketing Objectives in 2023

Whether it’s building brand recognition, increasing brand awareness, finding relevant industry influencers, or seeking new potential customers, finding the right connections has grown increasingly important in 2023.

Some of the newer places where B2B marketers have turned to seek out new connections include:

• Meta’s Threads Social Platform
• Mastodon
• Post
• BlueSky
• CounterSocial
• Spill
• Reddit
• Twitch & Kick
• Discord
• LinkedIn Live Broadcast Audiences
• Substack

We’ve recently explored several facets of Threads and what the platform can offer B2B marketers, in “Thread Count: 4 Key Opportunities For B2B Marketers On Meta’s Threads Platform,” and “Threads vs Twitter – What Does The Battle Mean for B2B Marketers?”

We also looked at Mastodon and other Twitter alternatives in “B2B Twitter Alternatives: Mastodon, Post & Others Offer New Marketing Opportunities,” and with the platform’s shift to “X” branding, another round of B2B marketers have left the longtime short-form content staple, following an earlier exodus brought about during its ownership change.

Real Connections From Digital Channels Old & New

In the B2B marketing world, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the “X” turmoil has been Microsoft’s LinkedIn*, which has seen its user base steadily climb towards the one billion mark, hitting the 930 million mark in May, 2023.

As the longstanding king of the business side of social media platforms, LinkedIn has simultaneously sought to gain new users by expanding on its core capabilities while also remaining true to its traditional B2B roots, with a wealth of data-backed reports, frequent infographics, and ample amounts of both short and long-form video content specifically for B2B audiences.

We recently took a look at one such report, in “What B2B Marketers Need to Know from LinkedIn’s New Benchmark Report,” and examined some of LinkedIn new profile features in “15+ Top Tips For B2B Marketers To Optimize & Humanize LinkedIn Profiles.”

Where you look for new business connections — whether it’s one of the newish digital hangouts we’ve looked at or a tried-and-true channel that’s been around forever in Internet years — will depend on the audience demographic you’re targeting and where they a likely to most often spend time online.

Demographics only tell part of the story when it comes to who prefers which social platform, however, so it can sometimes pay dividends to spend at least a little time looking for relevant new B2B connections in unexpected places.

Whatever the channel, giving your time and attention to someone in a meaningful way — and making a difference in a connection’s professional life and helping to overcome roadblocks — often naturally earns enduring trust in an unforgettable way.

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“People will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
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Nurturing B2B Relationships New & Old

Taking the time to truly nurture your business relationships means different things to different people, however one universal element is making a dedicated effort to strike up new conversations and to show that you are genuinely interested in dialog, and not simply checking names off of a list.

Going to the next level and helping others find key connections using the power of your own network not only helps those you connect with one another, but helps you become a business connection matchmaker.

Part of the expanding power of B2B influencer marketing comes under this heading, as the sharing, co-collaboration, and support that industry subject matter experts and creators provide for one another are proven ways to elevate business efforts for everyone involved.

For a more comprehensive deep dive into some of the fundamental elements of engaging connections, check out our “Enduring Engagement: 5 Easy Ways To Build New B2B Marketing Connections & Make Them Last,” and we hope that some of the tactics and insights we’ve shared here will come in handy as you make your 2023 the year of making and nurturing connections.

If you’re looking for help with your own marketing, contact us and find out why major brands such as LinkedIn, Adobe, Dell, 3M, and others have for more than 22 years turned to TopRank Marketing.

*LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post The Soul Of B2B: Tactics For Making Marketing Connections That Endure appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Beyond Automation: Why Hybrid AI is the Future of Best-Answer B2B Content

What does a hybrid of human and artificial intelligence look like for B2B marketers, and why is hybridized AI becoming one of the most important and powerful combinations for building brand trust in 2023?

Generative AI’s meteoric rise has left nary a sector of society unaffected by the technology’s touch, however when it comes to marketing, it’s a different kind of touch that is standing out — the human one.

“Humans build trust and nurture relationships. AI cannot do that,” our own CEO Lee Odden suggested in his keynote presentation during BtoB Summit Paris 2023 — an observation that has increasingly held true as B2B brands look for ways to both utilize the power of AI while enhancing it with uniquely human qualities.

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“Humans build trust and nurture relationships. AI cannot do that.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden
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Let’s examine this type of hybrid AI and how it can propel B2B marketing efforts far beyond rudimentary ChatGPT prompt-generated output, instead augmenting AI with the human features that build trust and nurture business relationships.

Hybrid AI & The Digital Disconnect

For B2B marketing to truly thrive during what has become AI’s prime-time spotlight, the expertise of the human touch needs to augment generative AI tools and form a new hybrid AI.

Recent research from Gartner revealed that 64 percent of marketers surveyed had already either deployed or begun pilot programs testing AI or machine learning utilities, while 53 percent of consumers said they thought that AI will either strongly or somewhat negatively impact society — two of numerous recent survey findings pointing to growing concern about AI’s potentially negative consequences.

It’s not only consumers who are concerned about AI’s possible trajectory, as executives at some of the top players in the AI landscape have called for a closer look at how the technology’s rapid growth will affect society.

“Companies creating AI technology have a responsibility to ensure that it is safe, secure and remains under human control,” Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft, recently noted as Microsoft and other major stakeholders in the AI world announced the creation of a new forum.

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“Companies creating AI technology have a responsibility to ensure that it is safe, secure and remains under human control.” — Brad Smith @BradSmi of @Microsoft
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Next-generation AI models — increasingly called frontier AI models — will become the focus of a new industry forum that has initial members including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and others, and will examine how to ensure the safe, secure, and responsible use and oversight of forthcoming generative AI large machine-learning models, members of the group recently announced, as we covered in a recent edition of our weekly Elevate B2B Marketing News.

The forum’s creation comes at a time when brands are being held more accountable for the responsible use of AI.

Some 69 percent of U.S. and Canadian chief marketing officers recently noted that brands should disclose branded content that’s been created by AI, a sentiment shared by some 75 percent of consumers, while 60 percent of CMOs noted that brands should limit their adoption of AI over the next five years to help protect human jobs, according to 2023 data from Dentsu.

So why is hybridizing AI with the human touch key for B2B marketers in 2023? Let’s take a look.

Trust & Relationship-Building Stymie — & Augment — AI

There are inherently certain qualities that humans possess which AI may never be able to synthesize:

• Trustworthiness
• The warmth of a hearty handshake
• Creative innovation
• The reassurance of the human relationship
• The unique life history we each have

Generative AI technology certainly has its own impressive list of fundamental specialties, from vast data analysis to various types of automation and numerous abilities to swiftly create content using text, images, video, audio, or any manner of combination.

There’s a nuanced spot where B2B marketers will find just the right amount of AI technology — too much and the potential for backlash grows — too little and the risk of being considered a foe of innovation rises.

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“There’s a nuanced spot where B2B marketers will find just the right amount of AI technology — too much and the potential for backlash grows — too little and the risk of being considered a foe of innovation rises.” — @lanerellis
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Hybrid AI includes the best of both worlds, and B2B brands have much to gain from defining and implementing their own best practices when it comes to just what hybrid AI means in their organization.

Humankind and society are ever-evolving, and so too does AI change — on the technological side at a much faster pace most would agree — and marketers utilizing hybrid AI need to keep optimizing and iterating their strategies in this rapidly-changing landscape.

Focus On Human & AI Hybrid B2B Marketing Partnerships

via GIPHY

How can B2B marketers forge the best hybrid AI strategies that will enrich human business partnerships and allow for the creation of a next generation of best-answer content?

In some ways, one of the most exciting opportunities the AI of 2023 has given us is in its ability to help us find the precise answers to the questions and challenges we face — as B2B marketers, buyers, consumers, and as humans.

AI offers the technical power to crunch huge amounts of data to pull out critical information, and by combining this into hybrid AI, our human touch offers the ideal way to take that information and personalize it into a new dimension of trusted, best-answer content.

Best answer content 2.0, as it were, will incorporate hybrid AI along with search and any other place where people seek answers.

“By optimizing the search experience for both findability and credibility, B2B content marketers can help their brands be the best answer for the questions that drive customers to use search engines. And not only search, but any source of information discovery,” our CEO Lee Odden noted.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief introductory look at hybrid AI. At TopRank Marketing we specialize in harnessing the power of both human influence and AI in creating best-answer B2B marketing content for some of the largest brands in the world, and through publication of resources such as our “BIGLIST: 100+ Generative AI Tools For B2B Marketers,” and our all-new “Influence at Scale: The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing for B2B Brands,” we hope to help B2B marketers continually innovate.

If you’re looking for help with your marketing, don’t hesitate to contact us and find out why major brands such as LinkedIn, Adobe, Dell, 3M, and others have for more than 22 years turned to TopRank Marketing.

The post Beyond Automation: Why Hybrid AI is the Future of Best-Answer B2B Content appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Elevate B2B Marketing News Weekly Roundup: B2B Buyers Refocus On ROI, Meta’s New Audio AI, & More Marketers Increasing Budgets

B2B Buyers More Thoroughly Evaluating Purchases
When it comes to the new processes that B2B buyers have added for purchase decisions, some 38 percent have said they are conducting more rigorous analysis of return-on-investment (ROI), with 31 percent noting that they are taking more time researching buying decisions, and 24 percent focusing on adjusting decision timelines to reflect changing business needs — three of numerous findings contained in newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts

Marketers Upbeat About 2024, But Still Worry About Inflation: Study
58 percent of marketing and communications professionals have said that they are increasing budgets during 2024, with 69 percent expecting business to pick up during the year ahead, while 53 percent cited inflation as their most sizable obstacle, according to recently-released report data of interest to B2B marketers. MediaPost

Meta releases open source AI audio tools, AudioCraft
Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta has rolled out an updated and open-source addition to its AudioCraft generative AI audio suite of utilities, including the ability to produce a variety of sound effects and music from text prompts, opening the door for more widespread use of the technology among developers and ultimately marketers, Meta recently announced. Ars Technica

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“We are releasing three more foundation models, for music and audio. It’s been fun to play with these models, and generate a variety of new outputs.” — Joelle Pineau @jpineau1 of @MetaAI
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The US B2B Media Market is Forecast to Surpass Pre-Pandemic Levels This Year
The size of the overall U.S. B2B media market is expected to see 4.7 percent growth during 2023, totaling some $85.04 billion — a figure that would top pre-pandemic marks — with expectations to reach $91.19 billion by 2027, with smaller growth forecast for the coming years, as the trade show sector represented the fastest B2B market segment, according to newly-published report data. MarketingCharts

B2Bs Consider Mobile-Only Threads’ Biggest Limitation
Meta’s Threads social platform, which set a record for the swiftest rise to 100 million users, has set sights on ultimately topping the one billion user mark thanks to the eventual rollout of mainstream advertising options, yet challenges for B2B marketers remain, as 45 percent noted that the present mobile-only incarnation of Threads was its biggest disadvantage, with 39 percent citing the platform’s lack of direct messaging features, according to recently-released survey data. MediaPost

Marketing uses for generative AI that will outlive the hype
83 percent of global executives have said that chatbots were the AI app type that was the most relevant to their business, with 75 percent pinpointing data-oriented tasks, 71 percent citing text interpretation and content creation, and 70 percent AI-powered search marketing insights — some of the findings included in newly-published survey data. Insider Intelligence

How the Pandemic Changed Marketing Channels
A mere 6.7 percent of organizations have reported that their face-to-face (F2F) marketing channels have shifted entirely to digital, while some 28 percent of companies noted that they were still planning on opening new F2F channels, and the Harvard Business Review recently took a look at the increasing importance of finding the marketing channels that will have the greatest brand impact. Harvard Business Review

Facebook surpasses 3 billion monthly active users
Including its Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads properties, Meta-owned platforms now account for some 3.88 billion active monthly users, with flagship Facebook reaching 2.064 billion daily active users in the most recent quarter — an increase from 2.037 billion, Meta recently announced. TechCrunch

Instagram Experiments With Range of Generative AI Elements
Instagram has undergone testing of an array of new generative AI utilities, expected to eventually roll out to user content feeds, including more advanced AI-assisted visual editing and chatbot tools, while also adding new ways to denote AI-assisted content on the platform, Instagram recently announced. Social Media Today

In challenge to TikTok, YouTube Shorts gains new creation tools like Collab and Q&As
Google’s YouTube has begun rolling out an expanded array of video creation tools, including a new side-by-side Collab tool that allows for recording Short videos alongside other YouTube content, in a move to offer more video creation option as the firm seeks to differentiate from the TikTok platform, YouTube recently announced. TechCrunch

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “The CMO Role” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

The Soviet-Era, Z80-based Galaksija Dared to Be Different — IEEE Spectrum

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• TopRank Marketing — Top Influencer Marketing Services (2023) — Business of Apps
• Lee Odden — 68 SEO Experts To Follow On Threads — Search Engine Journal

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

Gini Dietrich @ginidietrich
Brian Solis @briansolis
Katrina Neal @katrina_neal
Janine Wegner @JanineWegner
Debbie Friez @dfriez

Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry.

Have you found your own leading B2B marketing news item that we haven’t yet covered? If so, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope you’ll come back next Friday for another selection of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post Elevate B2B Marketing News Weekly Roundup: B2B Buyers Refocus On ROI, Meta’s New Audio AI, & More Marketers Increasing Budgets appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Shape the Future of B2B Influencer Marketing: Participate in the 2023 Survey!

The ever-changing landscape of B2B marketing demands continuous adaptation. Amidst the influx of competitors, new products, mediums, and challenges, one strategy stands strong: influencer marketing. As businesses strive to effectively reach their target audience, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful solution. To truly understand its effectiveness and impact, we need your valuable insights. Join us in the 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Survey and be part of shaping the future of the industry!

2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Survey

Share Your Insights Now

At TopRank Marketing, we boast deep roots in SEO and content marketing. We take pride in our pioneering role in bringing influencer marketing to B2B tech companies. As early as 2012, our own esteemed thought leader, Lee Odden, began blogging and speaking on the topic of influencers for B2B brands. Our commitment to learning from industry leaders and serving businesses drove us to launch the first State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report in 2020, followed by the 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report. 

The past reports have been a treasure trove of insights, with contributions from professionals across mid-market to large enterprise brands in marketing, advertising, content, and digital roles. The comprehensive reports featured interviews with global B2B marketing leaders, case studies, industry trends, and future predictions, providing invaluable resources for B2B marketers.

Our 2020 data uncovered the need for a documented influencer strategy as well as the benefits of an always-on influencer program; while the 2022 research report examined the impact of influencer marketing for B2B brands in a post-pandemic world and proved the importance of growing influence from within, explored the role of collaboration with influencers and creators, and showcased success stories from LinkedIn, Mitel and others.

Key Insights From The 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report:

• 1/3 of B2B brands report influencer marketing has directly led to increased sales/revenue
• 86% of B2B brands consider their influencer efforts successful
• 65% say internal executives have been effective at increasing influence of the brand
• 85% of respondents said they believed interest in working with influencers would increase in the next 12 months
• 100% of B2B marketers who reported having an always-on influencer program said it was successful
• Employee shares get 8x more engagement and 561% of the reach brand messages do
• 87% of responses said that having an audience’s trust and reaching a relevant audience were must-haves for their influencers

As we gear up for the 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, we invite you, the esteemed members of our blog community, to contribute to the survey. Your expertise and perspectives will shape the trajectory of influencer marketing for B2B brands, shedding light on what works, what doesn’t, and the future of influence beyond 2023.

The survey delves into critical areas such as influencer types, relevance in B2B marketing, effectiveness of collaborations, investment levels, and more. Designed for B2B marketers, digital experts, and business leaders involved in B2B influencer marketing campaigns and decisions, the survey aims to grasp current trends, challenges, and opportunities in today’s digital marketing landscape.

Your contributions will be analyzed to create an extensive report shared with all participants. The report will feature essential findings, insights, and practical tips for incorporating influencer marketing into your B2B strategy. Also, as a survey participant, you will receive early access to the 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report when it publishes later this year. 

We invite all B2B marketers to be a part of the 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Survey and help shape the future of the industry. By joining forces, we can pave the way for more effective marketing strategies and valuable insights for businesses worldwide. We eagerly anticipate your participation and can’t wait to share the results with you later this fall!.

Don’t miss this chance to make a difference. Take the survey now and be a key player in the evolution of B2B influencer marketing!

2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Survey

Share Your Insights Now

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Thread Count: 4 Key Opportunities For B2B Marketers On Meta’s Threads Platform

At the beginning of July, Meta did something that was sort of genius. Instead of just launching a new social media platform from scratch, they made it so users could sign up with a few simple steps directly from their Instagram account. Any hesitation about joining yet another platform inevitably lost out to the impulse-accommodating ease of a streamlined signup process.

Threads has a lot going for it, but it’s not yet fully baked. It lacks many features that seem standard for a modern social platform: things like hashtags, a chronological timeline, and, oh yeah, ads! This all may give marketers pause when considering whether or not to create their own Threads account.

While Threads may not quite be ready as a platform for event marketing or crisis management, there are still a few valuable opportunities marketers shouldn’t skip over.

1. Brand visibility

If you want your audience to see your message, you have to make sure they can actually see it. That means having an active presence on the platforms they use—and these days, that platform is Threads.

The massive user base on Threads means it’s an ideal place to amplify important events, product launches, and thought leadership. Conversations are happening every day on Threads, and being present in these conversations is an effective way to be visible and helpful.

Being active on Threads now also means that when your rivals realize the power of Threads and sign up late, you’ll already be an old pro. Plus, when you’re the first one in your industry there, you’ll have already captured a larger share of the audience—and their attention.

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“The massive user base on Threads means it’s an ideal place to amplify important events, product launches, and thought leadership.” — Art Allen @punsultant
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2. Real-time customer interaction

Unlike Instagram, Threads allows brands to interact directly with customers in real-time. This conversational environment means you can make an outsized impact whenever you have an opportunity to talk directly to a follower on the platform. That impact is then magnified when other users see the interaction.

Positive feedback on Threads also serves as social proof, bolstering your brand’s reputation and enhancing trust with potential customers. On the flip side, addressing negative feedback and helping customers resolve issues publicly demonstrates transparency and a customer-centric approach, which also goes a long way to improving brand perception and loyalty.

Direct, real-time communication between brands and followers has proven effective on Twitter for creating stronger customer relationships—and it’s clear that a direct line to brands is a huge selling point for Threads too.

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“Positive feedback on Threads also serves as social proof, bolstering your brand's reputation and enhancing trust with potential customers.” — Art Allen @punsultant
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3. Influencer marketing

Just as you need to be where your audience is, if there are influencers in your industry who are using Threads, you need to be there too. The platform may be new, but tens of millions of people are using it daily, which makes it an ideal platform for influencer marketing.

Even without paid advertising functionality, you can collaborate with influencers to showcase your offerings. These partnerships help you leverage the influencer’s reach and credibility to help you connect with a larger audience. For both brands and influencers, it’s important to remember to mark any paid content as promotional, either with a hashtag or in the text of the post.

Threads is also a good place to identify influencers for potential future collaborations. Keep an eye out for accounts that talk about subjects in your field that get a lot of engagement. You can even get the potential partnership rolling—and gain valuable visibility for your own brand—by starting to participate in those conversations yourself.

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“Threads is also a good place to identify influencers for potential future collaborations. Keep an eye out for accounts that talk about subjects in your field that get a lot of engagement.” — Art Allen @punsultant
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4. Content marketing

As a popular social media platform, Threads needs to be incorporated into your content marketing strategy. Because it’s already so widely used, you should be using Threads to share your content and to position your brand as a thought leader.

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“Threads needs to be incorporated into your content marketing strategy. Because it’s already so widely used, you should be using Threads to share your content and to position your brand as a thought leader.” — Art Allen @punsultant
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But don’t keep it to just text. Visual content like infographics, videos, and even memes are all effective and shareable ways to convey complex information. It’s also a lot easier to catch a user’s eye with colorful and interesting visual content than it is with yet another text-only post.

And don’t be afraid to repurpose your best performing Twitter content. Threads and Twitter have a lot in common, but the audience on Threads is coming from Instagram, so it’s likely they haven’t seen your Twitter account’s greatest hits. If it works, use it and reuse it!

Threads is a work in progress, but the future for the platform looks bright. Keep an eye on our blog for more insights into how best to use Threads—and whatever other new social media platforms pop up!

Whether it’s through social media, influencer, or search marketing, TopRank Marketing is in the business of elevating B2B marketing for global enterprise brands — contact us to get started.

The post Thread Count: 4 Key Opportunities For B2B Marketers On Meta’s Threads Platform appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

What’s the Secret to Influencer Marketing for Enterprise Brands? SCALE!

As an unapologetic Star Trek nerd, I can’t think of the word “enterprise” without imagining this:

via GIPHY

The Enterprise is a massive ship with a wealth of resources and a host of crew to make it run. It may not be as maneuverable or quick as a shuttlecraft, but it makes up for it in power, stability and longevity.

For anyone working in an enterprise-level business, that description should sound familiar. There are advantages and disadvantages to being one of the biggest companies in the world, just like being one of the biggest ships in Starfleet.

When our team at TopRank Marketing talks about B2B brands, we think of enterprise brands as the biggest and most influential global brands that have 500+ employees and/or annual revenue of $1B+.”

– Katelyn Drake, Director of Agency Marketing

Our crew has been working with top B2B brands like this for decades now. We’ve helped flagships like Adobe, Dell, and LinkedIn to develop influencer marketing programs tailored to their specific challenges and opportunities.

We’ve distilled all that experience into a new handbook, for B2B marketers:  Influence at Scale: The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing for B2B Brands.

Here’s a quick overview of what SCALE means for influencer marketing for B2B brands:

• S is for Strategy
• C is for Collaboration
• A is for Authenticity
• L is for Long-Term Relationships
• E is for Experience

S is for Strategy

For B2C marketers, influencer engagements tend to be one-off endorsement deals. In B2B, influencer marketing needs to be as strategic as everything else you do. With the right strategy in place, influencers can drive results across the entire marketing funnel, all the way to generating revenue.

In our survey of B2B marketing leaders, 41% said they generated leads with influencer marketing, and 28% can directly attribute sales and revenue to their efforts. These numbers may be low now, but they prove what’s possible.

A full-funnel influencer strategy should create a logical progression from influencer-promoted social messages to ungated assets to lead gen forms (or demos) to revenue.

Our client Adobe saw a 150% boost in form completion rates on LinkedIn with their influencer co-created content—proof positive that lead gen and influencer marketing go together.

C is for Collaboration

The most successful influencer marketing programs are collaborative efforts. That means co-creating content with influencers to make something awesome that everyone is excited to promote. True collaboration helps influencers feel a sense of ownership with what they’re sharing.

Large brands have a unique opportunity for collaborating with influencers: In-person events. In our research, enterprise marketing leaders said these events were their most successful tactic.

You can collaborate with influencers during your own event, or one your brand attends or sponsors, by:

• Inviting them to lead a panel or discussion
• Conducting live interviews with speakers or attendees
• Liveblogging or live-posting on social media platforms
• Providing expert analysis after the event

A is for Authenticity

For B2B marketing, your most influential experts aren’t necessarily those with the highest follower count. You could pay Taylor Swift to promote your supply chain logistics solution. But your target audience isn’t likely to be swayed by her endorsement.

Resonance and relevance are more important than raw follower count when it comes to B2B influence. It takes special effort to find genuinely influential thought leaders who are meaningful to your potential customers. Influencer identification tools can help with the process—as can working with an agency that has established relationships with dozens of B2B influencers.

It’s important to look within the company for influential folks as well. In our report, 72% of respondents say they work with their internal executives to grow thought leadership.

L is for Long-Term Relationships

It takes a lot of effort to launch an influencer campaign. You have to identify influencers, get their attention, and nurture a relationship before you can begin to create content together. An always-on, long-term program reduces the overhead for each campaign or asset you launch.

Our research found that 100% of those with ongoing programs reported success, with 31% reporting their program was very successful. For comparison, 24% of campaign-based folks said their programs were not successful, and only 19% said they were very successful.

Look to build a community of influencers as part of your long-term plans. That means providing a platform for influencers to network with each other, as well as interact with the brand and your audience.

E is for Experience

There are unique challenges to influencer marketing that most B2B marketers haven’t faced before. These include qualifying and activating influencers, securing C-suite support, and making the business case for investment in the program.

One way to overcome these obstacles: work with an experienced agency. TopRank Marketing (for example) helped shape B2B influencer marketing into a discipline with strategies, tactics and best practices that make it more effective. We have long-standing relationships with dozens of B2B influencers, experts and thought leaders. And we can help you make a business case with proven results from major B2B brands.

Ready to get started? Contact us today.

Ready to learn more? Grab your copy of:

Influence at Scale: The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing for B2B Brands

The post What’s the Secret to Influencer Marketing for Enterprise Brands? SCALE! appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.