That holds for B2B firms too, we’d argue.  Maybe it’s even more important, because most B2B categories rely on a more personal level of interaction between company principals and prospects and customers.

From an employee engagement standpoint, the results are clear: 82% of employee respondents said they’d trust their company more when its CEO and leadership team use social media.

Any communication between company insiders and your target audience should, of course, be subject to a planning and execution process that makes even a CEO’s participation one element in an overall engagement strategy.  Rupert Murdoch’s recent proclivity for Twitter celebrity isn’t necessarily a good example to follow.

Social media may be one of the best tools out there for taking the pulse of your stakeholders and customers.  Peter Aceto, CEO of ING Direct Canada, is a noted user of social channels, and he points out how using social media allows him to gauge how employees and consumers alike view his company and products.  “We saw it as a competitive advantage for us.”

Mention that to some clients and you can see the barriers start to rise.  “Sounds like a lot of work,” they say, and they’re right.  So it’s important to sell them on the real impact of social media, on the fact it’s not always a direct response strategy but a long, gradual play that pays off in a host of ways that go beyond leads and sales.  But there are tools out there that are beginning to redress the ROI side of the equation, too, in ways that play to social media’s strength in allowing marketers to precisely gauge and target people’s real interests.

But there again, the issue is all about execution: you’ve got to engage with a message or offer that’s meaningful to the target.  Content is king in social media, even when it’s intended as part of a selling strategy.

1. It’s hot.  Through June-December 2011, Pinterest traffic rose 4000%.    Consumer retailers like Nordstrom and, Whole Foods are leveraging the site, but Mashable and Time Magazine are using the site, too, to post art and articles.  You can trust  there’ll be other B2B social marketing acolytes on this bandwagon,  seeking ways to leverage the channel, even if only for a means of  posting event photos or product sheets.

2. Visualizing your story. There are precious few “face-to-face” opportunities to impress, and Pinterest gives you a
chance to visually show off your products, people or culture in a way that’s uniquely engaging — because they’re pictures, and because
there’s a refreshing informality and ease about the user experience on each board.  Post product shots – or shots of customers interacting with
your products.  Or striking infographics that demonstrate ROI, or videos of tutorials and conferences.   Or photographs, naturally, of
events, meetings, parties, the office dog…anything that takes advantage of this chance for positive visual engagement.

3. For SEO lift. Pinterest uses stored links with its image, so users can follow them back to their original locations.  Those links
are considered inbound links to a site, which pumps up SEO.  So post away with product info, blog posts, infographics, videos and more –
because it’ll help you in search.

4. To prove your category leadership. Social channels are becoming increasingly servicing individual industries.  So create an
industry-specific Pinterest board accessible to all users, customers and competitors alike, to post their interests and content. 
That’ll position you as being a high-minded leader within your category who’s all about shared knowledge and community.

5. Friendly persuasion. Pinterest’s ease of use allows you to create bulletin boards where you can share important (or
not-so-important) information readily.  Whether it’s a photo gallery from an industry event, or sharing how-tos and hint guides about
everything from upcoming conferences to category news, use Pinterest to make yourself out as the good guy on the block — by facilitating
others!

6. The power of push. Pinterest is sort of a refreshingly laissez-fairechannel: you don’t need to create a page that needs constant updating
or maintenance.  You can simply push out content at your leisure.  Just make sure to tag and keyword your Pins to draw searches, or pin them to other boards with a signature that can lead users back to you.

Any branding agency that pretends otherwise is lying.  “The product or service is the source of the power,” as I saw it put recently.  You can’t raid customer’s wallets — at least not for very long — with swashbuckling branding and advertising.  Even the big guns behind established brands can get it spectacularly right, and appallingly wrong.  Because brand perception is the aggregate of a lot more than anything a marketer does in terms of design, or advertising, or clever consumer engagements.

The flip side of that?  You do need good branding, because in the continuum of considerations that go into a buyer’s process, how your brand looks and communicates itself is crucial.

For small to mid-sized marketers, especially in B2B, there are a few simple points you can take into consideration as you go about re-branding your company, product or service that can help you put branding or re-branding in proper perspective:

• It’s not a cure-all, but it’s critical care. A strong brand that serves to draw attention and help position you in the mind of your target audience is crucial — it’s that “visual handshake” that’s part of a first impression.
• Will a new brand really change anything? Don’t fool yourself into thinking a new name, logomark or communications strategy is automatically the solution to your business ills.  There may be other factors you’ve got to address first.  Good luck with those whalebone corsets!
• Think it through — thoroughly. Talk with your own team about what you mean to accomplish with a new look or logomark; it should be about more than how awesome your letterhead looks.  Branding is something that should run deep in the organization, and it can serve as a strong rallying point and motivator.  So give it long, hard consideration.  And make sure to screen and hire a true branding resource that’s about more than just creating a pretty look.
• Fix it and forget it. Once you’ve created and launched a new brand design, or re-branded, resist the urge to tinker.  If you’ve covered the point above, you should be set.  Concentrate on how your overall branding  and positioning “walks and talks” in sales, customer service, employee behavior and beyond.
• But don’t let it lie fallow. Definitely take account of how customers and prospects react to a new logo, or identity suite, or graphic grammar.  But don’t panic if they’re not all on board — there’s no such thing as a perfect brand that’s loved by all.  If you find it’s really not working for you, over time, then accommodate that.  But a key strength of a brand is consistency, and that should be reflected in its look and feel over time.  So don’t futz with it unless it’s absolutely necessary.

1. “Like” like you mean it. Don’t use the “Like” function on Facebook just to capture mass lists.  Because social media users will come to resent it, and won’t ever believe in the sincerity of your brand or message if you’re spamming them with coupon offers.

2. Lay off the auto-directs on Twitter. If you’re going to use social media as a direct marketing tool, at least try to individualize your messaging.  Undifferentiated auto-directs make you look lazy, impersonal and crass.

3. Abusing LinkedIn. There are two facets to this: Trying to make connections without any kind of personalized message, first of all – but that’s not as egregious as spamming Discussion Groups with pitches that, more often than not, have nothing to do with context.  If you’ve got a worthwhile POV or build on the existing discussion, or can launch an interesting thread, you’ll do yourself a thousand times more good than with intrusive spamming.

4. Don’t advertise – connect. What’s the difference?  Social media allows connection and true dialogue, not one-way message or promo blitzing.  Do those, and you’ll impugn yourself with social media users.  And, frankly, if you want to advertise…there are much more cost-effective

5. Don’t call yourself a guru, unless you are. And if you’re truly a guru, you don’t have to blow hard and hot about your expertise: you’ll have a community of followers who can attest to your competence, and a quiver full of superb insights and counsel you can lay on the rest of us to prove your value.  Beware the “guru” whose primary soapbox seems to be all about proclaiming his or her guruhood.

6. Hit the reset button…regularly. Social media, mobile media and online media are evolving at an exponential rate.  So it’s worthwhile for each and every brand, in each and every category, to re-examine their assumptions, their toolkits and their digital marketing strategy at the onset of every year — and don’t even rest on your laurels quarter-by-quarter.  Innovations and striking new platforms, apps and tools are reaching marketers and consumers nearly every day, and staying on top of them — and in step with your competition — requires constant due diligence to install and coordinate these tools, and to make sure the messages you’re putting out aren’t past their refresh date.

So marketers for major consumer brands are increasingly turning to product placement in films and television programs, to the Web, to social media and viral tactics, to experiential and WOM strategies, to try to reach their audience.

But we’d argue there’s a different dynamic at work in how B2B marketers interact with their audience — it’s a very active, versuspassive, group.  Even when they’re leafing idly through a trade magazine, it’s usually during working hours, or at a point where their attitude and attention is engaged in “workthink.”   In many cases, they’ll be searching for solutions to issues…or they’ll file away your brand and product particulars for later recall, if they’re in your category, even if they’re not buying quite yet.

But it still mandates digital and experiential complements to that trade advertising presence.  And for SMEs, there are still “traditional” options that make sense.  Local radio and TV buys can be highly effective, especially if they’re tagged with a resounding call-to-action.

What we may see in the not-too-distant future, especially as video-0n-demand gains (especially if Apple’s “iTV” happens), is that traditional broadcasting is defunct, replaced by personalized streams.  If these are linked to your social network profile, the ads could be absolutely customized to your particular wants and preferences, which may give advertisers a leg up in reaching audiences with 30-second spots that aren’t just relevant to the viewer…but even sought out.

Mobile media formats will make the selectability even more individual.  Given the power to screen out messages they’re not interested in seeing, consumers will be able to erect some formidable walls against advertising.  Permission will be key, and gaining that permission will mandate levels of authenticity, interaction and value-to-users from brands that will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.

More and more B2B firms are using Facebook to engage users, both through outbound promotions, advertising and newsletters, and as a complement to other sales and CRM channels.  Here’s an at-a-glance infographic that smartly delineates how Facebook users range from potential fans on up to what they consider “Super Fans” – or as you may consider them, Brand Evangelists who not only give you permission to directly interact with them, but spread the word among their own various clusters and circles.

That makes them incredibly valuable to you, and that’s why reaching and converting them must be a key strength of any social marketing effort a business might attempt…efforts that should follow these four “best practices”:

Don’t “Carpet Bomb” – Engage!

Once you’ve identified potential “heavy users” who can be converted into “Evangelists,” your social marketing platform needs to target them with ads and offers that are truly relevant to them.

Many Facebook marketers are good at generating static that actually gets in the way of building real relationships with users.  By “carpet bombing” the social Web with low-end offers to drive Likes, they may capture casual users…but that does nothing to engage and convert true evangelists and loyalists.  In some cases, it might even drive those users off.

So make sure to target users with engagement ads that can include offers or calls-to-action that speak to their specific needs.  Engagement ads drive promote links within Facebook — such as your own page – to users you’ve identified based on the sorting and targeting tools Facebook itself provides.  “Like” links embedded in the ads let those users easily pull your updates into their own News Feed.

Remember to include a strong call to action that resonates with your targeted user, and you’ll be engaging truly-interested users who you can turn into potential evangelists before you know it.

Other hints?  Use a photograph, ideally of real people.  That works far better in the social milieu of Facebook than a logo ever will.  And measure performance using your tracking tools, so you can make on-the-fly adjustments based on which ads or offers are pulling best!

RELEVANT contests build qualified contacts!

Using your social marketing platform to promote contests on Facebook is an excellent strategy for generating viral and word-of-mouth advertising among fans, and ladder them from “prospects” on up to “enangelists.”

Each time you launch a contest to your fans, you’re creating a viral opportunity.  Just give them means to “Share” the experience with their “Friends”…but to get them to follow through on that and network qualified leads, you’ve got to provide the right incentive.

Think hard about what’s going to drive real engagement and virality with “Absolute Evangelists” – not just casual fans.  What kind of prize is going to appeal most resonantly and directly to your particular audience?

Awarding cash, for example, is a great draw – but if you’re in the business of marketing a specific widget, wouldn’t it make more sense to award a prize that’s specific to the interests of your niche widget user, rather than a prize that’ll draw mobs of users who’ll likely never engage with your brand again?  Casual users who may Share your program with equally casual entrants who aren’t really interested in what you’ve got to sell?

When you try to follow up with casual users who were only attracted to your contest for the sake of the winning something – rather than having a real interest in your category or brand – you’ll find it’s tough to mine evangelists and loyalists out of that pool of entrants.

Land them upon landing.

Facebook marketers typically can create their own landing pages for each social media promotion.  You may already have a welcome tab – a landing page for users who haven’t yet Liked  your product or service.

You need to embed a call-to-action on that page that provides incentive for them to “Like” you.  Use compelling copy, a special offer, a video, valuable content or whatever it takes to get htem to engage with you more directly.

Calls-to-action create engagement.

Brassy salesmanship doesn’t work on Facebook.  What does work are targeted, compelling and relevant reasons to engage, usually offering content that’s perceived as valuable or resonant.

Short, clickable calls-to-action are a good place to start.  “Click here!” to get to a blog post, a white paper, a video, an infographic.  All of it offering engaging value that build affinity with users, and steers them into your sales funnel.

Does all of the above seem ridiculously simple?  Yes…because a little common sense and practice, it simply is.

For small to mid-sized businesses who might be using or searching for a marketing agency, it’s important to understand the revised landscape of the advertising and marketing communications business, in terms of the relationship between agency and client.  It’s changed profoundly, driven by the Web, social marketing, the economic travails of the past few years and more, and it’s affected every Chicago agency and client.

The big advertising holding companies and multi-nationals, the boutique design agencies and Web pure-plays and every 360-degree integrated agency.  The demand for better, and more measurable, performance and ROI is the norm, now – and with good reason.

What’s the new normal? It starts with these key points any marketer should bear in mind as they contemplate working with an agency:

1. Invest in a real relationship. Some marketers, especially smaller ones or B2B marketers, view agencies strictly as vendors, not partners.  They’re handicapping themselves by not making use of an objective, creative and business-building asset that can deliver returns far in excess of outlays.  Sometimes it takes patience to see the impact, but if you’re working together, appreciating each other’s input and staying the course, agency and client alike will love the result.
2. Collaboration matters more than ever, so if you’re shopping for an agency, make sure they’re not prone to retreating to an ivory tower and dispensing “genius” as though their work were Sermons on the Mount.  They need to intimately understand your business challenges, the nature of your own customers and prospects, and be able to workshop concepts and ideas with you as a matter of course, not as an exception to the rule.  They can learn from you – and you should be opening to learning from them, too.
3. You all need to look at the bottom of the funnel first; it’s customer/prospect contact and engagement where the money happens, where analytics can give you insight about what works and what doesn’t.  So you and your agency need to understand what drives consideration and purchase first, and make every marketing or communications decision accountable to it.  If it doesn’t move the needle, you’re wasting time and money – and you need an agency that’s willing to play there, not simply deliver clever/pretty/award-show-worthy creative.
4. Look for a solutions partner, not an ad agency: my friends at Biersma Creative, for example take pride in supplying “transformative” solutions to business problems, not just ads or Web sites.  Too many agency-client relationships get submerged in confabbing about font choices, or background colors, or other minor elements, and don’t tackle the need to deliver holistic solutions to pressing problems.
5. Ask if they can deliver business intelligence and insight, because if they’re halfway strategic, they should be able to give you some fresh insights about your business.  And build programs that can generate valuable feedback and hard data.
6. Develop an ROI measurement plan that’s realistic and comprehensive. Start out by making sure you’re both on the same page about what constitutes “ROI.” Don’t assume your agency isn’t interested in metrics – even the smallest shops, if they’re truly invested in the work and in your success, want to see what results they’ve pulled for you.  Surprisingly, even the largest brands sometimes don’t share that information with their agencies (until the pink slip, that is) which makes no sense at all.How can the work be improved without some idea of its effectiveness in the first place?
7. Nothing beats face-to-face. Get together regularly; not just for lunch or presentations, but for workshopping or ideating.  You’re part of each others’ teams now, and need the personal touch that makes for real enthusiasm and spirit.

Netflix learned the same when it went through the tortuous gymnastics of splitting its business and creating the short-lived Quikster brand. About the only good to come of that move was whatever billings the branding agency involved got for coming up with the name. What happened to Overstock is just another reinforcement of how potent and powerful effective branding can be. Going to “O.co” made very little sense, in the first place.

There’s a certain impulse toward finding (and owning) the most elementary and fundamental branding possible; if you can make your brand synonymous (”Kleenex”) with some aspect of basic existence, that’s great. But trying to “own” a letter of the alphabet will probably work out no better than trying to make your brand reducible to a single word (Pizza Hut as “The Hut,” or Radio Shack as “The Shack”) when the effort actually suborns effective branding.Language and naming work they way they do for good, concrete reasons.

Names succeed because they provide a cognitive shorthand for us — so “Overstock.com” makes all the sense in the world, because it’s a capsule that perfectly encompasses the intent of the brand. But “O.co” or “The Hut” are simply coy and contrived by comparison, and don’t serve the needs of language, either. There are plenty of synthetic brands out there, of course, but they’ve most often got the advantage of belonging to startups or companies that are changing their scope in profound ways. In the case of brands like Overstock.com, the stake in the ground may be sunk too deep to move.

What’s the lesson for small businesses and startups? I’d say there are two:

1. A simple and direct brand or name works wonders. It’s just plain truth: consumers won’t buy on the basis of your brand, but on the basis of what it represents. So make sure that shows up clear and plain. Can you be funny, punny or whimsical? Sure — if it helps drive identity and a cogent idea of what your business is all about in the mind of your target audience.

2. Don’t get tricky. It’s easy to outsmart yourself. But you’ll never outsmart your audience. The sooner you learn that lesson, the better.

3. Change your identity only with great caution. Don’t futz with your name unless you’ve got a very, very good reason to do so — a reason that’ll show up in the bottom line, first and foremost. Even if you think it’s a good reason, be sure to test your new name or identity concept first, to gauge reactions and likely responses.

4. Don’t do anything out of boredom with your branding. That’s not a good reason to change an identity. If it’s truly affecting your business in an adverse way, you should consider a change. But don’t try to “energize” or “re-invigorate” your business by making a branding change — there are better and more salient ways to improve your marketing than that.

5. Change for the right reasons. Those can include a brand being visually archaic, or off-key for your evolving business, or not well-thought-through in the first place. But once you’ve got a sharp, well-developed brand in place, approach changing it only with the greatest of trepidation.

It’s your brand, and it’s your toehold in the minds of your customers — don’t mess with success unless it’s absolutely necessary!

Eastman Kodak is an interesting case, as I know them as a former client; for a firm founded on innovation, they’ve been hard-pressed to keep up with the tides of change, as we all know.  But they and others like Harte-Hanks and Pitney Bowes are rolling out marketing efforts and product innovations that leverage digital in some exciting new ways.

Even firms in that bastion of conservatism, the financial services sector, are budging on social media implementation, to either drive new services — or, in the case of Bank of America, to attempt to salve its damaged reputation.  Even so, they’re still playing catch-up.

Generally, however, financial services organizations are lagging in social adoption.  According to B2B, “only 57.8% of financial services respondents said they have adopted social media marketing, versus 95.2% of advertising companies, 80% of consultancies and 71.6% of technology businesses.”

A well-considered, authentic and open social media initiative might be just the medicine for some of these firms, frankly.  The more you can humanize the people behind the brand, especially in these tough times, the better the connection you’ll create with your customers.  And that connection works both ways — in keeping customers informed, and making the marketer more cognizant of what the real concerns are among users.  Would BoA have made the blunder of proposing debit card fees if they’d had any kind of serious feedback loop and two-way social presence in the social media world? I don’t think so.