Chris Koch

MARCH 19, 2010

I’d like to create a guide for how to use social media in B2B that does not involve talking about the specific tools—as least not in the top line. I think it’s important to try to do this if we’re going to get social media integrated with the rest of marketing. Find and track the relevant conversations in social media and online.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Media 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 18, 2009

In a recent post, I offered some hard research data to support the growing importance of social media to B2B. But this time I want to address the legitimate concerns that ITSMA clients give us when we talk about the wonders of social media. What’s really different with social media? Social media is different.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Social Marketing B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 12, 2009

We’ve all heard a lot of debate lately about whether social media is an evolution or a revolution. Look at it this way and social media inevitably becomes evolution, as social media researcher Josh Chasin convincingly argues here. But I think we lose sight of the revolution by looking at social media in isolation.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Paid Search Agency Viral Marketing 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

Social media experts often chide marketers about control. The experts say that in the new era of social media, marketers need to stop delivering tightly-scripted, one-way messages and start engaging in uncontrolled, transparent conversations with customers and prospects wherever those conversations happen.

Social Media 100

Social Media Forrester Media Transparency 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

One of the cornerstones of a social media strategy is having a clear set of corporate social media guidelines or policies. Here are some recommendations based on a cross-section of social media policies from B2B companies, including social media policy examples from some leading B2B companies. This [Choose. Blog, Space.]

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Guidelines B2B 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 8, 2011

I was thrilled to run a social media workshop this week with a large B2B technology and services provider (and ITSMA member). The great thing about the experience was that this company is already doing social media. This company has established a highly visible presence in social media—indeed, it has won an award for it.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Paid Search Agency PR 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 13, 2010

But we’re in the era of social media now, so there are breadcrumbs in the forest that lead us to a fuller explanation of who Slater is and why he did what he did. Social media fills in the background to the blowup. You can do that on a social media site called Glassdoor. And until Hurd was fired, his picture went next to that 2.4

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B SME 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Despite all the breathless hype about social media these days, what I hear most from B2B marketers is frustration. For these marketers, the pool of customers and prospects is small and many of them do not want to engage publicly in social media or are simply ignoring it altogether. I think that’s the right decision—up to a point.

Social Media 100

Social Media Allocation Media Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Despite all the breathless hype about social media these days, what I hear most from B2B marketers is frustration. For these marketers, the pool of customers and prospects is small and many of them do not want to engage publicly in social media or are simply ignoring it altogether. I think that’s the right decision—up to a point.

Social Media 100

Social Media Allocation Media Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 8, 2010

There is too much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth about social media objectives and strategy these days. We all assume that our organizations are unique and that we must devote great sums of time and money to figuring out what our particular motivation is for social media and how we will carry it out. Now don’t get me wrong.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Media 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 30, 2009

We just wrapped up our ITSMA Annual Marketing Conference this week and the strongest current driving the river of conversation was social media. Specifically, frustration over how to use social media to reach the C-suite. In fact, it’s hard for most of us to imagine these people using social media at all.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Enterprise Management Media 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 26, 2009

In my last post, I hope I convinced you why you should establish a personal presence in social media even if your company hasn’t done so yet. That was the why of social media. I’m going to attempt to explain it by humbly offering my own initiation into social media as a guide. Social Media B2B. Conversations.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Personalization 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

We’ve all been reading a lot about the social media horse race. For marketers trying to figure out where to put their resources into social media marketing, the horse race looks more like a crapshoot. That’s because unlike Microsoft Windows, all the different social media tools are based on universal technology standards—i.e.,

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 22, 2010

I wish I could say that social media leads to sales. So when we think about social media ROI, we need to make a leap of faith. To make ourselves feel a little more comfortable with this idea, we may need to categorize social media with something whose hazy ROI we’re more familiar and comfortable with: PR. Return on media impact.

Social Media 100

Social Media ROI Lead Ranking RSS 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

We’ve all been reading a lot about the social media horse race. For marketers trying to figure out where to put their resources into social media marketing, the horse race looks more like a crapshoot. That’s because unlike Microsoft Windows, all the different social media tools are based on universal technology standards—i.e.,

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Salespeople remained dependent on marketers for information. Social media changes sales enablement. But then social media came along and it really did change everything. But then social media came along and it really did change everything. The internet didn’t make it easy for them to enable each other.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Wiki Marketing Management Internet Marketing 100

Chris Koch

MAY 21, 2010

If you go to Facebook and look at your profile, your immediate reaction is going to be that it’s asking for too much information. Social media is beginning to teach us that long qual forms are going the way of the dodo. Facebook has built its business model around gathering as much personal information about us as possible.

Privacy 100

Privacy B2B Marketing Lead Ranking B2B 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 22, 2010

In part it is being driven by social media. ITSMA’s annual survey of IT buyers found that this year, for the first time, a majority of buyers in the US—and 75% when you include other countries—are using social media in the purchasing process—especially the younger ones. And finally, the trade press and general business media are dying.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Marketing Management Automation Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

As social media becomes more prevalent in marketing, we’re going to have to rethink how we gather information from prospects. We’re starting to see social media have a positive impact on driving traffic to websites and on lead generation. Social media and lead generation go together. In our recent Web 2.0

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

I won’t be focusing on B2B marketing in the broadest sense anymore; I’ll be narrowing things to idea marketing (and the role that social media play in it). Mostly what we do with thought leadership is educate and inform. It disregards social media. Thought leadership and social media can’t be done in isolation.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Social Media Twitter 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

Social media are growing up. Clearly, there’s a growing hunger for thought leadership in social media. Our prospects and customers want us to cut through the noise of social media just as they’ve wanted us to cut through the noise of every other communications channel that came before. Storytelling.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Thought Leadership Social Media Storytelling 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 5, 2010

We’re seeing mobile be part of an integrated approach to social media, not as a standalone. One company’s mobile application is tied to a wiki-based sales enablement website that lets salespeople generate actions and updates and get updated information from the road. I said that I haven’t seen any of those business cases yet.

Wiki 100

Wiki Urgency Marketing Mobile Marketing Content 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

For example, there is no way that the typical Webinar is worth as much as an in-depth research report, yet we make buyers give us the same amount of information for both—we charge them the same price. For example, research shows that Europeans value their privacy more than Americans—meaning that their information may cost you more.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

For example, there is no way that the typical Webinar is worth as much as an in-depth research report, yet we make buyers give us the same amount of information for both—we charge them the same price. For example, research shows that Europeans value their privacy more than Americans—meaning that their information may cost you more.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 21, 2011

Social media have created so much noise that it’s becoming more difficult for the good old white paper to stand out. The social media noise is personal. But let’s look at the social media noise more carefully. All through 2010, marketers have been telling us that they are having a harder time getting their content noticed.

Social Media 100

Social Media Budget Programs Paper PR 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 9, 2010

If your SME is a person who loves to collect information, then becoming an aggregator is a route to trust. People know that they can count on this person to provide or link to the most insightful information in the topic area—no matter where it first appeared. Aggregator. Some SMEs are always looking to see what happens next.

SME 100

SME Aggregators Blogger Social Media 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 23, 2012

It’s an important part of social media management. That means lists and top tens and bullet points and lots of informative subheads. Let’s face it, there are some B2B executives who wouldn’t read a white paper even if you threatened them with lima beans (what, you like lima beans? Readers have to feel your commitment.

Paper 100

Paper Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 2, 2010

This may be the ultimate question in B2B, especially as we struggle to integrate social media into the overall marketing mix. And you never get any interesting assignments if you aren’t able to communicate information through a narrative structure—a story with a number of star characters and a beginning, middle, and end.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 28, 2014

Today, anyone can go to WordPress.com, set up a Web site, and begin publishing news and information to the world – for free. (I For example, we figure out how to get a free WordPress blog ourselves online or through word of mouth and then we learn how to collaborate with others through social media. It Won’t Stop with Virtual Goods.

Disintermediation 100

Disintermediation Word of Mouth Internet Marketing Cross-Selling 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 3, 2014

I would expect that most other similarly ill-informed, old-fart American Boomers who were raised on other sports like me might say the same thing (Stones fans, don’t look for a “London” team to root for because it doesn’t exist). Liverpool FC maintains 17 local language Twitter accounts. Fantasy sports.

Planning 100

Planning Paid Search Agency Work Management Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 26, 2010

One of the biggest challenges for B2B social media marketers isn’t creating content, it’s helping others create content. Marketing is the default head of social media management in most companies. so that buyers can consume the information in any form they choose. Have you noticed what’s been happening to the media lately?

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership RSS Enterprise Management Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Capturing this opportunity requires stoking fans’ passion not just during game days, but 365 days a year, through every conceivable channel – in person, on the web and through mobile and social media. Some teams have set up “war rooms” that monitor social media to engage with fans. Improving the in-game experience extends beyond apps.

Loyalty 100

Loyalty Eye-Tracking Mobile Marketing Stats 100

Chris Koch

JULY 22, 2011

Here’s the kind of pressure that social media puts on us: After not posting anything to my blog in nearly six weeks, I feel compelled to offer an explanation. Social media are like a school of sharks; keep moving forward or sink lifelessly to the bottom. Isn’t that sad? Hey, but that’s how it is. I was in heaven.

Work Management 100

Work Management Marketing Management Social Media B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2009

Use the Chatham House rule: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”. Limit the number of members—no more than 25 at each meeting.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Practices Thought Leadership Best Practices 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2009

Use the Chatham House rule: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”. Limit the number of members—no more than 25 at each meeting.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Thought Leadership Practices Best Practices 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 5, 2010

As the media melts away, companies can’t link to or highlight objective sources on the website. Most had no media training, and many spoke to me without PR people on the line. Today, the few remaining journalists don’t even have time to read the releases anymore. They do their research on the web. And customers never read the releases.

PR 100

PR Press Paid Search Agency Lead Ranking 100

Chris Koch

MAY 15, 2012

No doubt that number has continued to go up—especially with the rise of mobile and social media. But I don’t have access to that kind of information. A (fairly old) study by Forbes and Google found that 80% of C-level executives perform at least three web searches per day. That was in 2009.

FAQ 100

FAQ Custom Publishing B2B Sales Work Management 100