B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

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12 Tools to Help You Optimize Your Social Media Marketing Results

Friez and Cleary at #SMMW15

Strategy gives you direction, but tools help you get there quicker, says Ian Cleary, founder, RazorSocial at Social Media Marketing World. Once you have a strategy, then you need tools to help you save time and provide value.

Twenty-six percent of marketers spend 6-10 hours a week on social media. Let’s explore twelve possible problems and the tools that can help solve those problems and make you more productive.

12 problems and the tools to solve them

1. People not seeing your content? Consider using PostPlanner, which was just a Facebook planner up until it recently added Twitter. You can –

  • Schedule content
  • Decide what type of content to share
  • Discover new content
  • Allows you to create a queue of content

12 Tools to Help You Optimize Your Social Media Marketing Results

How to Create and Repurpose Content That Customers Really Want

Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing CEO

According to Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, 50% of marketers say that producing content consistently is a top challenge. Our clients at TopRank Online Marketing verify this statistic every day – as does our own team. Substantial content that answers audience questions in an authoritative way doesn’t grow on trees. Good content takes precious time and energy to create!

You’ll be happy to hear that marketers don’t need to create more content – they just need to create smarter content. This is where the idea of repurposing comes in – and Lee Odden is a big fan.

If you’ve never abided by the three “R’s” – “reduce, reuse, recycle,” then you might be wondering why would I want to repurpose my content? What good will that do me?


How to Create and Repurpose Content That Customers Really Want

How Big Brands Measure and Communicate Social Media Success

L-R: Susan Beebe, Chuck Hemann, Christopher Penn and Dan Gingiss

L-R: Susan Beebe, Chuck Hemann, Christopher Penn and Dan Gingiss

We have all struggled with what to measure to show how our social media program is performing. Additionally, how do you best communicate the results to executives, managers and other stakeholders? At the Social Media Marketing World conference, experts from Discover Financial Services, Tyson Foods and Intel Corporation reviewed tactics for showcasing their successes.

Steps to Measurement Success
The first step is to find the stakeholders across the organization, which might be an internal audience of executives or managers or an external audience of consultants, partners and customers. Susan Beebe, Manger, social media & online communities, Tyson Foods says to then find out what matters to them.

Things to consider when measuring:

  • Reputation metrics
  • Competitive landscape

How Big Brands Measure and Communicate Social Media Success

How Content Marketers Can Tell Better, More Strategic Stories

Storytelling around a campfire

As a marketer, are you a good storyteller? Do you have a content marketing strategy that guides your storytelling?

Maybe you already know how to build a content marketing strategy, but you’re curious to know how to improve it.

Jason Miller, senior manager of content marketing for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, is a natural storyteller – and he has awesome storytelling tips for marketers. (Disclosure: LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client)

In his session at Social Media Marketing World 2015 in San Diego, Jason kept the audience captive, sharing what seemed like a million excellent insights on storytelling to inspire and motivate marketers.

In addition, he gave key insights on how to better use LinkedIn (his area of expertise) for more effective content publishing and promotion.

Tell stories in your voice.


How Content Marketers Can Tell Better, More Strategic Stories

Facebook Marketing: Hidden Tactics and Tricks from Leading Brands

L-R Michael Frenech, Cameron Partridge, Matt Gentile and Joel Price

Michael Frenech, Cameron Partridge, Joel Price and Matt Gentile

How are successful brands like Century 21, Western Union, Roadtrip Nation and the San Diego Chargers building and sustaining their Facebook communities? This Social Media Marketing World panel touted engagement as a key to a great community.

Facebook Marketing Planning

One key to great content goes back to planning. Joel Price, manager of new media, San Diego Chargers, says they review the week’s Facebook performance each Monday and plan posts for the weekend (and the week ahead) each Friday. In addition to engagement, the team is looking to drive traffic to their online assets.


Facebook Marketing: Hidden Tactics and Tricks from Leading Brands

How To Encourage Employee Advocacy on Social Media: Citrix, Adobe, Cox

Justin Levy, Maria Poveromo, Martin Jones

It’s a seemingly small ask to get your employees moving and grooving on social media. Yet many marketers have experienced the pain of creating social activity from within. While it might seem like a no-brainer for employees to get socially involved, many obstacles can prevent them – whether a lack of time, lack of know-how, or even fear of doing something wrong.

If you want to raise a workforce of social media champions, you can – with some strategic effort. Sure, you might be able to bribe your employees with doughnuts, send “please share this” emails high importance, or write social media activity into their performance reviews, but there are more positive, powerful ways to solicit social sharing.


How To Encourage Employee Advocacy on Social Media: Citrix, Adobe, Cox

Twitter Marketing – How Brands Rise to the Top of the Stream: Microsoft, BMC Software, Renaissance Hotels

L-R: Rob Wolf, Nicole Taylor, Pam Moore, Tyler Anderson, and Eric Tung

Rob Wolf, Nicole Taylor, Pam Moore, Tyler Anderson, and Eric Tung

What are brands doing to rise to the top of the Twitter stream? Marketers from Microsoft, BMC Software and Renaissance Hotels at Social Media Marketing World (#SMMW15) explained what has been working in their social media world.

Every Brand has Different Goal
Twitter is to inform, says Rob Wolf, social media manager, Microsoft. He manages the corporate Twitter account, which is used to break company news, along with some engagement with customers and influencers. They look to Facebook more as an engagement tool.

Renaissance Hotels, a division of Marriott International, looks to Twitter to distinguish themselves in a crowded brand market. Nicole Taylor, senior manager, digital marketing, says she is challenged to work with the local hotels to help them understand why Twitter is relevant.


Twitter Marketing – How Brands Rise to the Top of the Stream: Microsoft, BMC Software, Renaissance Hotels

How to Get Results You Can Measure with Influencer Marketing

Douglas Karr

Marketers salivate dreaming of attracting attention from “influencers” – be it celebrities, established experts in a particular field, or talking heads. Convincing an influential industry leader to promote your brand would feel like a major win any day, as that kind of exposure can dramatically increase your brand’s reach and influence.

So let’s say you nail a pitch to a Coveted Influencer. You create a partnership. How do you measure the results of that outreach?

Not only has the team at TopRank measured the impact of influencer marketing and seen incredible results, but so has the popular blogger and speaker I’m listening to today at Social Media Marketing World 2015 (#SMMW15).


How to Get Results You Can Measure with Influencer Marketing

Social Media Marketing World 2015 – What We’re Looking Forward to Most

SMMW15

by Debbie Friez & Brooke Furry of TopRank Online Marketing

One of the best ways to succeed in social media marketing is to not be afraid to test and fail. The landscape is ever changing, and as marketers, we need to adapt quickly and learn from others. Social Media Marketing World (#SMMW15) this week in San Diego is just the type of conference that can provide marketers this opportunity.

If you’re not able to attend, don’t worry. Brooke Furry and I will be attending #SMMW15 in order to learn, network and create content (live blog) many of the most important presentations. We’re committed to providing you with social media marketing insights and highlights to inspire you to succeed.


Social Media Marketing World 2015 – What We’re Looking Forward to Most

Wrap Up: Waves to Remember from Social Media Marketing World 2014

Social Media Waves

Social Media Marketing World (SMMW14) was quite a ride for over 2,000 people from 40 different countries that attended, especially the team at TopRank Online Marketing.

From an opening night reception on an aircraft carrier (The USS Midway) to surfing lessons to over 120 different speakers presenting across 5 to 6 different tracks, this event was one of the biggest mackers of social media conferences. (macker is surfer for “big wave”).

I’m happy to share that TopRank was actually the first and sole media sponsor for SMMW14 and our CEO Lee Odden gave a captivating presentation to a packed room as you can see below. Lee’s talk focused on how content plus an influencer network can help grow your business using the SMMW14 conference eBook he co-created with other speakers as a practical example. Both the eBook and the presentation were mentioned throughout the conference by other speakers, attendees and of course the lightning-paced conference Twitter stream.


Wrap Up: Waves to Remember from Social Media Marketing World 2014

Measuring Social Media ROI – Brands Pull Back the Curtain

A panel discusses social media ROI

Marketers are increasingly faced with the challenge of proving the monetary value of social media marketing to the C-suite. Since social media is typically less of a sales tool and more of a means of nurturing new leads and maintaining a relationship with current customers, putting a price tag on social media can be a difficult thing to do.

The C-Suite will always be concerned with profit, so it’s imperative that marketers can either prove that social media is making their brand money by generating new leads or saving their brand money though customer retention.

Nick Robinson of SAP, Scott Gulbransen of DSI (formerly of H&R Block) and Lewis Bertolucci of Humana were all faced with the challenge of measuring social media ROI for their respective companies. At Social Media Marketing World, these big-brand marketers shared their secrets for measuring social media ROI in a session moderated by social ROI expert Nichole Kelly:


Measuring Social Media ROI – Brands Pull Back the Curtain

24 Social Media Tools To Boost Your Marketing Performance #SMMW14

Ian Cleary SMMW14

It appears that Ian Cleary is the King of Social Media tools. With new social media marketing tools coming on the market just about every day, Ian is one of the people you can rely on to test them all – from free to paid.

We’re thrilled that he shared his knowledge of tools with us at Social Media Marketing World this year and now I’ll share them with you.

Tools to Target the Right People

As Ian says, don’t sell hot dogs at a vegetarian conference. You have to know your audience before you can market to them successfully. The social tools below will help you identify and engage with active fans, influencers, and industry relevant people to follow.


24 Social Media Tools To Boost Your Marketing Performance #SMMW14