These are not the people we imagine Twittering about their need for complex enterprise IT services. However, CEOs did show a specific preference for the range of social networking sites—LinkedIn, Facebook, and Plaxo—over Twitter or blogs. There are two rivers of content at conferences. One is the river of planned content—the conference theme, the presentations, etc.; the other is the river of conversation that flows through the event at breaks, meals and receptions. This is where you get the dope on the shared challenges of the attendees. This has big implications for marketers. MORE >>

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. You need a second hand on your watch to track how long it takes to set up a Twitter account, for example. In social media, buyers can connect synchronously with you and with their peers, they can react instantly, and they can do so through easily accessible tools like Twitter. After all, the tools themselves are dead simple. But developing a social media voice is a more complicated proposition. Communal. MORE >>

in their marketing—fewer than 35% of marketers in our survey have been using blogs or podcasts for more than one year, and just 3% have been using social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) 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. In our recent Web 2.0 efforts so far (by 67% of respondents). Increased lead generation” was farther down the list—24% are seeing it. for at least that long. MORE >>

keep waiting for Facebook to buy LinkedIn or Twitter and just put an end to the business vs. consumer distinction. Latest Post Social Media B2B marketing Business-to-business Cisco Company EMC Corporation Facebook Intel LinkedIn marketing social media management social media strategy TwitterRecently, I was preparing a workshop on social media for an ITSMA client. The marketer in charge of the company’s social media effort gave me a clear edict: “Look, I don’t want you focusing on Facebook, okay? We don’t see the value of it for B2B and we want it off the table. Why not? MORE >>

know because I have a column in my Twitter dashboard that searches the term. Idea Marketing Latest Post leadership marketing SAP SAP AG Social Media Subject matter expert Thought leader TwitterYou may have noticed that I’ve changed the name of my blog. I’ve changed it for two reasons. First, because I’ve left ITSMA and joined SAP , where I will focus on marketing the good ideas of the many subject matter experts there. don’t know of another marketing term that gets so much hate mail. It’s a set up for failure. Truly great ideas are rare. It’s bastardized. MORE >>