Chris Koch

MAY 6, 2011

Measuring influence is the new obsession in the social media world—adding another layer of anxiety to the dark cloud of existential dread that is marketing ROI. Social media present us as individuals seeking status within a community, which is something that humans have been working at since our days as monkeys. Image via Wikipedia.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing Work Management Media 100

Chris Koch

MAY 15, 2012

No doubt that number has continued to go up—especially with the rise of mobile and social media. In a recent ITSMA survey, 88% of B2B buyers said that ideas are important or critical for providers that want to make it to their short lists. That was in 2009. What does online search have to do with selling?

FAQ 100

FAQ Custom Publishing B2B Sales Work Management 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. No, there’s something bigger going on here.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Marketing Management Automation Marketing Automation Services 100

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

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. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Enterprise Management Media 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 29, 2009

Even if we believe deeply in the power of social media, we all have that gnawing feeling deep in our guts that says that there’s little reason for a busy, intelligent person to want to receive frequent updates about our brands when those brands produce complex services and products with two-year sales cycles. The research confirms it.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Marketing Management 100

Chris Koch

MAY 14, 2010

Social media creates the need for marketing to lead within the organization. At least that’s the conclusion we reached at ITSMA recently when we did our social media survey (there’s a free summary if you’re interested). We mean that within the organization the leadership of social media is falling to marketing.

Organic Leads 100

Organic Leads Social Media Social Marketing Organization 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. It’s why our latest ITSMA marketing budget survey shows (free summary available)that thought leadership has risen to a higher priority level than in any recent year. It’s the same in B2B. These guys are smart.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 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.

Peer-to-peer 100

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

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 16, 2009

Earlier this year I surveyed B2B marketers about their approaches to corporate blogging. Meanwhile, social media technology is changing constantly. Corporate-hosted blogs won’t be able to take advantage of the latest social tools that complement blogs without going to IT and getting some custom coding. Life sentence.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Blogger Thought Leadership Word of Mouth 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 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 15, 2010

Pledging to do more with social media isn’t the answer. Getting into social media really means getting into publishing. I think the suspicion that we see of social media, which is justified, is mixed with fear. This is where social media tools are helpful. And if I do, what am I paying for? The model needs transforming.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch. Make it social. Take advantage of social media platforms to create information sharing groups for salespeople. Bring in the experts.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch. Make it social. Take advantage of social media platforms to create information sharing groups for salespeople. Bring in the experts.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. What types of thought leadership vehicles (councils, conferences, white papers, social media, etc.) Doing research first allows you to set goals using reliable, objective data.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing Paper 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. What types of thought leadership vehicles (councils, conferences, white papers, social media, etc.) Doing research first allows you to set goals using reliable, objective data.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing B2B Sales 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 16, 2010

How to use social media to create thought leadership. In the nearly three years I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve been relentlessly chronicling my pursuit of the developing story of social media for B2B marketers and absorbing your comments and real-world stories. But it’s also more than the sum of its parts. Create new IP.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. What types of vehicles (councils, conferences, white papers, social media, etc.) There is only one objective in social media: create learning networks (christopherakoch.com). Create a calendar.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Gartner Planning 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

When people ask about how to use social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, I suspect that they are really asking about how they should sound in those tools. But developing a social media voice is a more complicated proposition. A good starting point is to create a social media policy for the organization.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

When people ask about how to use social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, I suspect that they are really asking about how they should sound in those tools. But developing a social media voice is a more complicated proposition. A good starting point is to create a social media policy for the organization.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

We’re all getting constant advice—hectoring, even—about how we need to make social media a key part of our B2B marketing strategies right now. Two main threads underpin the logic behind these urgings: Your customers are becoming more active in social media, so you’d better get with it. How strong do you think the arguments are?

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Work Management 100

Chris Koch

JULY 29, 2011

McKinsey recently learned a difficult lesson about what happens when the world takes your thought leadership marketing seriously—and when you lack the ability to respond in the moment through social media. When a blogger for Time asked for more details on the survey methodology, she says McKinsey stonewalled.

Social Media 100

Social Media Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Companies 100