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One of the primary reasons to use social media marketing is to increase your site’s conversions. And the fact that you can easily track your efforts in this type of marketing makes it more cost efficient, because you can quickly and easily change what’s not working.

Following are three effortless ways to increase conversions using social media marketing.

Make a List: Write down all the ways someone who visits your site currently interacts. Do they watch video, subscribe to a newsletter, sign up to your RSS feed, download a free industry report, etc.?

Market Your Actions: The reason you want to make a list of how site visitors interact is to see in black and white what you’re asking them to do. Now that you have this “action list”, market it.

For example, if you have instructional videos on your site, have you posted them to YouTube, added them to your Facebook page, gotten feedback on them from your LinkedIn group, organized them into a series and sent them to your subscriber list?

Sometimes, as a site owner you can get so busy producing material that you forget to actually get all of the mileage out of it.

Make Another List: On this list, you should list ways you’d like for site visitors to be able to interact on your site. For example, have you been meaning to start a group on LinkedIn? Do so, and invite site visitors to join you from your site.

This is the foundation of social media marketing – creating interaction. These tips allow you to see – in black and white – what you’re doing and what you should be doing.

We’d like to hear what is working for you in your  search and social media marketing efforts. Feel free to share your Social Media and Search Marketing questions, comments, thoughts here.

Ben & Jerry’s recently made what some would consider a ballsy move? They abandoned email marketing in favor of social media. While arguments can be made on both sides — ie, it was a good move or a stupid move – that’s not the point.

The lesson here is one every business can capitalize on. What is it?

Social media marketing is not a fad; it’s here to stay. And if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, you’d better bet your competition has, or plans to very soon. Proof?

50-75% of Businesses Worldwide Use Social Networks (eg, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

According to a July 2010 post on BizReport.com entitled, Survey: Small businesses find success with social networking” on BizReport.com:

Social networks are now actively used by between half and three quarters of companies worldwide for  various networking functions . . . [and] 40% of businesses globally have found new customers via social networks.

While some may argue that Ben & Jerry’s have gone a little far in their adoption of social media marketing, the argument could be made that pouring a company’s resources into a marketing method that works is just smart business.

Social Media Marketing: It’s Biggest Advantage

Social media marketing provides immediate feedback. While email can be pretty immediate, a newsletter, for example, may sit in a prospects mailbox for days or weeks before it’s read. With social media marketing (eg, Twitter), prospects are primed to respond to tweets immediately – and constantly.

Perhaps the brand manager for the giant ice cream change said it best, ie: “Developing friendship and a relationship is key for us and social media [marketing] is the best place for that.”

PPC Summit is dedicated to bringing you the latest strategies, insights, and techniques for Internet marketing.  Search marketing, search engine optimization, and social media practices are constantly evolving.  Stay up-to-date and learn about special offers with PPC Summit’s monthly email newsletter, and it’s free!

Last month PPC Summit presented the B2B Search Strategy Summit and brought together the top minds in B2B Search Marketing from Microsoft, Google, Business.com, Marketo.com, YouSendit, Enquiro, SEO-PR, TopRankMarketing.com and HubSpot during a full day of search marketing and social media strategy sharing sessions. If you missed it, you can check out the upcoming search engine marketing and social media two-day event presented by PPC Summit…Search Marketing & Social Media Success scheduled for Sept. 21-22, 2010 in Los Angeles. View press release in full here.

Nearly 150 marketers attended the B2B Search Strategy Summit to hear from search engine marketing (SEM) and social media’s elite practicioners who spent the day sharing closely guarded secrets to online marketing success. 

The strategy sessions kicked off with an opening keynote from Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro CEO, who shared findings from the comprehensive business-to-business marketing research study — the BuyerSphere Project. Later Hotchkiss, Patricia Neuray of Business.com, Frederick Vallaeys of Google and Valerie Bolduc of Microsoft answered top-of-mind B2B Search Marketing questions during the Expert Hot Seat panel discussion moderated by Bill Barnes of Enquiro. Jay Middleton, Adobe’s Senior Worldwide Search Marketing Manager, led the afternoon keynote on “The Future of B2B Search Marketing”.  

B2B Search Strategy Summit (San Francisco June 23, 2010) - Search Marketing & Social Media Elite Joined Together for a Full Day of Strategy Sharing Sessions.

The day was full of instructive panel discussions, expert Q&A and case study lessons delving into search marketing and social media topics from keyword research, landing page optimization, paid search, search engine optimization, press release optimization and much more. 

Essential B2B Search and Social Marketing Conference Takeaways: 

• Utilize Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Landing Pages and Press Release Optimization to boost Search Marketing ROI
• Get to know your audience and stay close to your customers
• Make sure sales and marketing teams are tightly integrated to ensure the sale
• Understand buyer behaviors and customer search habits to help optimize search campaigns
• Integrate Marketing and Social Media channels to further support lead generation and foster branding
• Diversify Paid Search campaigns to boost search engine marketing results
• Incorporate targeted keywords into all Marketing/Sales/Social Media communications
• Pay attention to analytics and focus on cost-per-customer rather than cost-per-lead

When most business stick their toes in the search engine marketing waters, one of the first things they hear about is search engine optimization (SEO), as it relates to content. Not a lot of talk revolves around images; but it should for, everything on your site (eg, videos, photos, etc.) can help it rank well in search engines. And, this is what search engine marketing is all about.

The first thing you should know is that search engine bots (ie, spiders) can only read (search) text. And this is why things like Flash should be kept to a minimum, or not used at all unless it’s really, really necessary to your industry (eg, you’re a web developer, animator, movie maker, etc.).

Following is a mini tutorial on how to name your site’s images so that it ranks higher in search results.

Name Images Using Keywords: For example, instead of naming a photo photo.jpg1, name it pay-per-marketing-tips.jpg (if PPC marketing is what your firm specializes in).

Use the “ALT” Tag in Your Coding: Piggybacking on the last point, add the ALT tag when you name images. This tag explains what an image file is. A completed coded image with this tag may look like this:
<img src=”images/pay-per-click-services.jpg”width=”250″ height=”135″
ALT=”ABC Firm pay per click marketing services”>

Text Surrounding Images: The text that immediately surrounds your site’s images is valuable real estate from an SEO standpoint. Hence, you should do things like put captions on all of them and use keyworded text (ie, SEO content) in this space.

If you do these three things, your images (just like your site’s content) will increase the effectiveness of your search engine marketing efforts.

One of the things that search marketing has done is shifted the power from retailers to consumers. As in, thanks to the internet, consumers are armed with much more information now. They no longer have to believe what a retailer’s slick website says, how their brochure reads or what a smooth-talking sales rep tells them.

They can listen to your spiel, then log on to see if what you claim is true. This is proof that while B2B search marketing has done wonders for business, it has also done wonders for the consumer!

And, this is what many retailers fail to understand. They haven’t considered what the new technology available to them has done for their potential customers as well.

B2B Search Engine Marketing: 3 Quick Tips for Converting Prospects to Sales

Woo, Don’t Sell: As in, don’t make every contact you have with a prospect a sales pitch. Send them info pertinent to their lives from time to time – with no sales pitch attached.

Stay in Contact Regularly: Every niche has a fine line when it comes to staying in touch too much, and being “out of sight and out of mind.” Figure out what this is for your niche – and “walk the line.”

Don’t Overwhelm: B2B search marketing can be expensive if you use paid methods, so many try to say as much as possible with each contact. Don’t!

Make each contact concise and to the point. Don’t confuse prospects by overwhelming them with too much information. A confused prospect doesn’t buy. An informed one does.

B2B search marketing is simple. Although it’s a “newfangled” way of doing business, old-school marketing wisdom still applies. 

If you are interested in taking a closer look at the latest Search Marketing and Social Media Marketing trends and strategies attend PPC Summit Presents…Search Marketing and Social Media Success coming to Los Angeles in September 2010!

In B2B search marketing, getting backlinks can be twice as hard when compared to B2C marketing. The primary reason is that there’s a smaller pool of prospects. But, that doesn’t mean that B2B marketers can’t be just as effective at link building.

One of the easiest ways to create backlinks is to create a company blog.  Following is an overview of how to create a blog that becomes a backlinking machine.

Update Your Blog Frequently to Get the Best Results

Many B2B search engine marketing experts lament over just how inefficient some companies are when it comes to updating their blog. Some companies do it once or twice a month, others every few months.

If you’re trying to build backlinks, your company’s blog must be updated much more frequently – a few times a week at minimum. The reason is, you want to keep visitors engaged.

Think of it this way, if you were a retail store like Macy’s and updated your windows every few months, how many new shoppers do you think you’d pull in? Not a lot.

But, if they passed the windows every day or every few days and saw a new outfit, it keeps passersby intrigued. Many will wander in – and buy.

Same concept applies to this B2B search marketing concept. Blog frequently to keep passersby engaged and interested – interested enough to stop and read what you have to say, then perhaps leave a comment, or link to the post, or recommend it to a friend.

B2B search engine marketing is not difficult. It just takes doing what’s necessary – day in and day out – to be successful. And this is where so many fall down. Don’t! Create your company’s blog, update it frequently – and start reaping the fruits of backlink success that much sooner.

Learn more about Search Engine Marketing and Social Media strategies at the B2B Search Strategy Summit (June 23) or PPC Summit Presents…Search & Social Media Success (Sept. 2010).

B2B search marketing is different than B2C search engine marketing because the sales cycle is a little more complex; hence longer. Following is how to shorten it to make the sale that much sooner.

B2B Search Engine Marketing: 2 Keys to Making the Sale

Information Rules: Because the B2B sales cycle tends to be longer, prospects need more information, not less. Many B2B sites don’t provide enough information for prospects to take the next step in the sales process, eg, ask for more information, request a consultation or make a purchase. While you may know your products/services well, remember, prospects may not. So each time a visitor lands on your site, there should be enough information there for them to get a clear understanding of what you offer, why, how, when, etc.

Data Mining: While B2C sites may be able to go after a sale directly, B2B sites need more insight into what prospects are doing once they land on the site. Again, this is because the B2B sales cycle is more involved.

Hence, it’s important to wade through your site’s data to understand where customers are in the sales cycle. For example, knowing things like which pages prospects spend the most time on, which pages get the most clicks, how many pages they view overall, etc. can provide a lot of insight into what potential clients need less or more of.

This can then be reflected in for example, your site’s content, its navigational structure and its offerings.

B2B search engine marketing is not hard; it’s just involved. And this is why relationship building is its very foundation.

B2B search marketing has changed how businesses interact with their customers. For example, instead of calling or sending handwritten thank you notes (still good ideas by the way), a firm may send an e-gift card or an email.
But, there is one thing that rules when it comes to customer service – making it personal. Following are two ideas on how to use video to do that in this high-tech, B2B search engine marketing world.

B2B Search Marketing: If You’re Not On YouTube, You’re Missing Out

YouTube is just five years old, but earlier this year it surpassed the 2 billion video views per day mark. Two billion!
Use this to your advantage to personalize – and broadcast– your message to your customers. For example, you can do a “Weekly Specials” broadcast; a “Daily Tips” broadcast, or a “Monthly Deals” broadcast. Instead of sending out a staid old email, send a video cast. It gets your voice in front of your customers.

As any B2B search marketing expert will tell you, customers who come to know, like and trust you buy more from you. Personalizing your messages in this manner completes this cycle that much sooner.

B2B Search Engine Marketing Made Easy: Create a Tutorial

Another way to use video effectively is to create tutorials and/or videos that offer more in-depth information about your product or service.

The vast majority of consumers – as high as 88% depending on the niche and/or product/service they’re interested in buying – conduct online research before making a purchase. The more info you give them, the better chance you have of making a sale.

What better way to do this than via video – which is one of the easiest B2B search engine marketing strategies you can use to get more traffic and sales.

Want to get the inside scoop on B2B Search and Social Media Marketing? Join the b2b Search Strategy Summit  fast approaching on June 23 in San Francisco, CA.

Many online businesses spend a lot of time and money on getting more traffic. But, B2B search engine marketing is not about traffic. Traffic is just a means to an end. What the focus should be on is conversions.

Conversions should be every online marketer’s obsession. For, it’s conversions that put money in your pocket; it’s conversions that can lower your marketing costs; and it’s conversions that can leave your competitors in the dust.

How to Forget about Traffic and Focus on Conversions

Getting more website traffic is a mindset that can cloud your vision when it comes to the most important B2B Search marketing statistic (conversions).

For example, you may not use negative qualifiers when devising your pay per click campaign. As negative qualifiers are phrases which filter out prospects (which means less traffic), you could be getting more website traffic, but fewer actual conversions. Don’t fall prey to this.

To construct a B2B search marketing campaign that is conversion driven, as opposed to traffic driven, do the following:

Define Conversions: Conversions can be an actual sale, a newsletter signup, a request for more info, etc. Whatever it is, make sure it is clearly defined so you can . . .

Mine Data: Analytics allow you do dig into your B2B search marketing campaigns to see what’s working and what’s not. By using the data you find via your website’s analytics, you can . . .

Do Split Testing: By running split-test campaigns, you can actually see which methods work best to get the desired conversion you want.

This is B2B search marketing that works! For more on what works and what doesn’t in B2B Search and Social Media, join the B2B Search Strategy Summit coming up June 23 in San Francisco, CA.

B2B search engine marketing is all encompassing. It includes everything from pay per click (PPC) to search engine optimization (SEO). One of the fastest growing niches of B2B search marketing is social media. Sites like Twitter and Facebook sign up tens of thousands of new users per day and drive massive amounts of traffic to online businesses.

Hence, it’s essential to not only have a presence on a few of these sites, but to also pay attention to how your business is perceived via them.

Following is some insight into how to use social media sites – the right way – to brand your business.

B2B Search Marketing & Social Media: Don’t Sell, Inform
Have you ever known someone who talked about themselves incessantly? They never ask others, but are always divulging what they want, what they need, what they’re doing, who they met, etc.

Annoying, isn’t it?

People do the same thing in social media. For example, they always tweet their latest blog post or product/service offering, but never bother to retweet content from others.

While it’s perfectly fine to use social media to market your products and services, remember that most people look for information before purchasing. So share relevant information – pertinent to your niche — with them. This builds a relationship, which leads to sales.

Once you set up a social media account – whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. – stay active on a regular basis. Otherwise, you run the risk of making your business appear “flaky,” which is never a good thing in business.

Social media is an ideal B2B search marketing strategy to build a relationship with prospects. And when they’re ready to buy, your firm will be front and center.

To learn more valuable strategies on B2B search marketing and social media, join top B2B Marketers June 23 in San Francisco at the B2B Search Strategy Summit and “Discover the Top 7 Ways to Increase Your B2B Search Marketing Profits.” We look forward to see you there!