B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

Get Ready For Video In 2021: Watch 5 Creative Examples of B2B Marketing on YouTube

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Sep 16th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Video, Visual Marketing

Smiling man against a creative colorful background image.

What’s new at YouTube, and how are B2B marketers using the world’s largest video platform in creative and engaging campaigns?

Let’s take a look!

Google’s omnipresent YouTube brought in revenue of over $15 billion in 2019, has over two billion monthly active users (MAUs), and by some estimates is considered as the world’s number two search engine, making it nearly inescapable for B2B marketers seeking to host and promote video content. While not necessarily out of this world, YouTube’s orbit casts a wide swath in the B2B marketing universe.

Planets VisualCapitalist Image

During the pandemic, video and webinar content has seen the largest increase in views according to recently-released PathFactory survey data, leading the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) to suggest that “Now Is the Time for B2B Content.”


Get Ready For Video In 2021: Watch 5 Creative Examples of B2B Marketing on YouTube

Livestream Marketing: 5 B2B Brands Rocking LinkedIn Live

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Jul 1st, 2020
B2B Marketing, LinkedIn, Video

Excited smiling woman at laptop image.

How can B2B brands benefit from using LinkedIn Live, and what are some examples of businesses rocking their LinkedIn Live marketing?

LinkedIn* has seen its live-streaming LinkedIn Live feature being used by more major firms all the time, and we’ll take a look at five top B2B brands that are rocking their LinkedIn Live game.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to how B2B brands can use LinkedIn Live. Here are 12 to get you started:

  • Interviewing a Member of Your C-Suite
  • Answering Frequently-Asked Questions
  • Streaming a Keynote or Session
  • Highlighting Special Events
  • Streaming “Ask Me Anything” Episodes
  • Introducing Various Team Members
  • Deep-Dive Interviews
  • Showcasing Behind The Scenes Workplace Culture
  • Unveiling New Innovations
  • Launching Episodic Content

Livestream Marketing: 5 B2B Brands Rocking LinkedIn Live

What B2B Marketers Need to Know about Optimizing Content with Video Analytics

Tiffani Allen
Tiffani Allen on Apr 16th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Video, Web Analytics

Video analytics concept image.

Between stay-at-home orders and the manic Minnesota weather, I’ve found myself at home for the last four weeks looking for something, really anything, to occupy time. One can only take so many walks in a day. Naturally, I turn to YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and all of the other video streaming sites for entertainment.

As a marketer, this makes me wonder what those streaming sites are seeing in their analytics. Obviously, views must be up by an unbelievable amount. But, what about engagement? How many people are completing the videos they start? Are they watching more? Unless it’s Tiger King, the answer is unknown (it’s impossible to look away from Tiger King). But those streaming sites aren’t the only ones that might have some fascinating new data to look at.


What B2B Marketers Need to Know about Optimizing Content with Video Analytics

Break Free B2B Series: Adam Dunn on Creating Blockbuster Video Content in B2B

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson on Jan 9th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Video, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Interview with Adam Dunn

Content has many aims. It should inform. It should assist. It should entertain.

But as B2B marketers, doesn’t it seem like if we don’t deliver on the latter – immediately, and convincingly – we don’t really get a chance to deliver on the rest? 

Given that our job is dependent on earning and keeping an audience’s attention, marketers are wise to take cues from entertainment-focused content formats like films and music videos. Even more so, we’re wise to take cues from the creators behind them. In a nutshell, that’s why Adam Dunn offers a particularly valuable perspective for people in our line of work.


Break Free B2B Series: Adam Dunn on Creating Blockbuster Video Content in B2B

Margaret Shepard Shares How Mayo Clinic Built its Facebook Live Broadcast Strategy #DSMPLS

Debbie Friez
Debbie Friez on Aug 19th, 2019
Digital Summit, Facebook, Influencer Marketing, Video

The Mayo Clinic, one of our nation’s most renowned hospitals, believes in being social. More than 100 years ago, the Mayo brothers got the social ball rolling by inviting other surgeons to come to its facility in Rochester, MN to talk and learn from one another.

Today, that sharing and learning principle continues through social media, particularly Facebook Live.

With the hopes of helping patients learn more about their health care options, Mayo Clinic knew that research showed that word-of-mouth and expert insight could make an impact. With that in mind, it began its foray into live video on social media with Periscope and eventually moved to Facebook Live.

The hook of the broadcast? Leveraging the expert insights of experienced physicians.


Margaret Shepard Shares How Mayo Clinic Built its Facebook Live Broadcast Strategy #DSMPLS

Content Marketing Interview: Andrew Davis on Showing, Not Telling #CMWorld

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson on Jul 31st, 2019
Content Marketing World, Video

One of the most fundamental requirements for content marketing is also one that unfortunately tends to get overlooked most: It needs to be entertaining. As marketers, we can get so caught up in conversions and funnels and business outcomes that we lose sight of this imperative. If your content doesn’t hook someone and draw them in, it isn’t going to accomplish anything. 

Andrew Davis is someone who doesn’t need to be reminded of this because he launched his career in the entertainment industry. Now a cherished keynote speaker and best-selling author, Andrew got his start as a program producer for WABU-TV, a local station in Boston. He later served as Workshop Production Manager for the Jim Henson Company, helping out with brands like The Muppets and Sesame Street.


Content Marketing Interview: Andrew Davis on Showing, Not Telling #CMWorld

Making the Case for Video at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Anne Leuman
Anne Leuman on Jul 8th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Video

Video Marketing Statistics for Each Stage of the Buyer's Journey

It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: Video across the digital landscape is what buyers and consumers alike crave.

The average U.S. adult spends 5 hours and 57 minutes a day watching video. Compare that number to the average amount of time someone reads each day (16.8 minutes), and you’ll find that people watch videos over 21-times longer than reading text. Video informs, engages, and entices audiences, which means video can and should have a place within your B2B content marketing strategy.

But when and how should you leverage video? It’s not just a top-of-funnel tactic reserved for B2C brands. And here are the *stats that showcase it’s potential.

15 Video Marketing Statistics for Every Stage of the Buyer Journey

Attract

  1. 84% of marketers credit video with increasing traffic to their website. (3)

Making the Case for Video at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Spotlighting Organic Social Media Video Success: Your Guide to Metrics and Specs

Debbie Friez
Debbie Friez on Jun 17th, 2019
Social Media, Video

Social Media Video

Native social media video is a marketing darling, with emerging new formats and increasing availability across platforms. Mainstays like Facebook prioritize native video posts over other content types. But how can marketers showcase the impact of native video tactics to clients? With variable analytics available for the different platforms, setting a benchmark for reporting in advance is smart but complicated.

Today we’re giving you the ultimate native video guide to set you up for success. Let’s look at the primary social media channels, outline the specs for your video, and list the available metrics for measurement.


Spotlighting Organic Social Media Video Success: Your Guide to Metrics and Specs

Where Do Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Stand With B2B Video?

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Social Media, Video

Social Media Video Trends for B2B

Modern B2B marketers understand that the key to an effective digital content strategy is meeting customers where they’re at, and giving them what they want.

With this in mind, the appeal of social media videos only makes sense. We know that billions of people are on social networks, and we know (or at least research leads us to believe) they want video.

Then again, certain developments may cause us to question what we think we know. How meaningful is it, really, if X% of users are watching X% of a video while scrolling through their feeds? And how can we be confident this data is even accurate, after the whole inflated metrics fiasco?


Where Do Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Stand With B2B Video?

Twitter Has Renewed its Live Video Push & Here’s What You Need to Know

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson
Social Media, Twitter, Video

Once a pioneer in bringing live video to the social media world, Twitter fell behind the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn, and others as this format rose to mainstream prominence. However, the platform’s recent move to make live video more easily discoverable shows Twitter is recommitting to video.

But the question is: Can Twitter recapture the magnetic energy of live video?

When I attended Jane Weedon’s keynote speech at Content Marketing World last month, I was deeply struck by this remark from Twitch’s Director of Business Development:

“Authentic and real-time video can be better than immaculately produced when it comes to engaging an audience.”

Her company’s model serves as proof of this assertion. Twitch welcomed more than 15 million daily visitors last year, and continues to see explosive growth, largely because of this dynamic.


Twitter Has Renewed its Live Video Push & Here’s What You Need to Know

How to Select the Right Type of Video for Your B2B Marketing Goals

Types of B2B Video & When to Use Them

Mugatu is onto something …

Video Marketing is So Hot Meme

According Content Marketing Institute’s 2018 B2B Content Marketing Report, 72% of B2B marketers use pre-produced video content, 17% use video live-streams, and 4% create documentaries or short films. Combined, this makes video one of the hottest types of content among B2B marketers.

And it’s not without results, either. Video marketing boasts some impressive stats, including:

  • Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users. – Aberdeen Group
  • Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from SERPs. – Brightcove
  • Embedding videos in landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80%. – Eyeview Digital
  • Social video generates 1,200% more shares than text and images combined – Brightcove

How to Select the Right Type of Video for Your B2B Marketing Goals

Camera Shy: 7 Tips for First-Time Video Marketers

Video Marketing Tips for First-Timers

Video isn’t for the faint of heart. You need to feel confident enough to put yourself, and your brand, out there. But it’s a medium that a lot of marketers are exploring as it holds a lot of potential.

In fact, Cisco’s Visual Networking Index predicts that 82% of all internet traffic will be video by 2021. Video is a main source of content consumption, including everything from the news to YouTube tutorials. And as marketers looking to demonstrate thought leadership and credibility, video presents a unique opportunity to get in front of and educate your target audience. However, 64% of marketers agree that video is the hardest type of content to produce, turning many people away from embracing video.  


Camera Shy: 7 Tips for First-Time Video Marketers