52% of CEOs who are active in social media say that it helps their companies rise in search rankings, and 48% say that social media has generated qualified sales leads.  ( 41 Stories ). 45% of consumers have unsubscribed from emails due to irrelevant content, and on the B2B side, IT buyers say that 58% of vendor content is not relevant to them, and that this lack of relevance reduces the chance of closing a sale by 45%. Though social media marketing is now used in about 90% of companies, techniques, platforms and best practices continue to evolve.  Increase use of video marketing? MORE >>

How to Use Your Blog to Drive Social Sales by Social Media Examiner. “The ultimate goal for many businesses is profit, not engagements, retweets or Facebook likes,&# as Nathan Hangen points out, so he offers a four-step plan to making a blog into an effective, non-pushy sales tool. experts on how to turn social media into sales by Social Media Today. Use your community to help you promote your products…Customer advocacy drives sales.&#. Adoption soared. 85% of Inc. With that rapid adoption came a great deal of learning. Mistakes were made. Magazine. MORE >>

Hailing from San Antonio, Alicia is founder and CEO of Sanera, a professional development and training firm for sales and business leaders. Director of Sales for @ klout. B2B marketer, strategist, writer and Author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. Connecticut-based Elise is active in social media, an enterprise technology sales and business development pro who is passionate about inside sales and sales strategy. What is it? The answer may come from the email marketing field. That is what has driven social media adoption. Jennifer Aaker. MORE >>

David Edelman shares a presentation from McKinsey’s Lareina Yee on the Social Enterprise, which includes five ways  social is shaping B2B customers, among them “DIY prospecting” (where customers conduct significant research before ever entering the sales cycle), peer influence, and “click to compare”–conditioned to price transparency in their consumer lives, B2B buyers are coming to expect it from business product and service vendors as well. How can marketers make more productive use of their time on social networking sites? Research] by Heidi Cohen. MORE >>

Noting that “While 49% of marketers surveyed by MarketingSherpa think Facebook is very effective at brand awareness only 12% think it increases sales revenue,&# Daniel Flamberg presents statistics and real-world results from leading brands suggesting that whatever the benefits of Facebook marketing, it generally isn’t producing “the kind of results the reach, usage and loyalty of Facebook would otherwise suggest.&#. Facebook is an extraordinary phenomenon. Depending on the day, it’s either the #1 or #2 most-visited site on the web. It’s inspired a movie. MORE >>