Booth Bay Creative

We recognize the Twitter phenomenon has swept the social media world as a place where we can all inform others about what we’re doing, reading, retweeting, and thinking. We can even embrace Twitter as a social media marketing tool for celebrities, newsrooms, consumer products and so-called social media “gurus.” But what is its value in a B2B marketplace?

Can tweeting really be better than simple emails to your Blackberry®, iPhone®, or desktop? Can following, or being followed by, certain people (e.g., clients, vendors, sales reps, industry leaders) actually improve B2B business efficiency, bring in new business or add value to your marketing efforts?

We want to know what you think. Have you tweeted for business? Do you follow clients and ask clients to follow you? Do you read what other people tweet to you, or get comments on what you’re tweeting? A recent discussion in the Linkedin Facebook group asked its members, “Twitter…..a brilliant useful tool or a total waste of time???” To date, they’ve had 8 people make 14 comments. Some of the feelings expressed were:

“Love it for directing traffic to my web site, fan page, LinkedIn group and relevant current
events or topics! Oh, and to bitch about stupid crap on television…”
– Frank Gustafson, President/CEO at RenovoData Services

“I … am not a marketing guru, so I won’t talk about its effectiveness for driving traffic to wherever,
or its usefulness for talking about your service. I can however talk about its usefulness for disseminating
information and communications quickly, which is useful in the areas in which I do have expertise
such as disasters, emergencies, and business disruptions.”
– Keith Erwood, Principal at Continuity Corporation

And a couple of people commented that they are trying to use Twitter to find a job.

What if you and all your distributors followed each other on Twitter, would that help with product promotions? …increase sales leads? …lead to more, or less, efficient communications? And what about security concerns? Maybe Twitter can turn into a great B2B tool, if only we take the time to figure out exactly how to creatively apply it within our organizations.

We look forward to your comments.

Everything on your web site – text, graphs, photos, video, sounds, etc. – can be turned into someone else’s embedded content. By the same token, when you use a stock photo, or upload a video you’ve produced, that content is also embedded on the site.

The trick is to make sure that any content that’s of value to your business, or content that still belongs to someone else, is protected so that when people do move your stuff to another location, it can’t be changed and every copyright or trademark is protected.

It could be a sales pitch or an ad that’s uploaded to YouTube®, a PowerPoint presentation or whitepaper that someone placed on slideshare, or photos that a competitor posted to flickr®. The questions you want to be asking are:

• Do I need to protect my content at all costs?
• How do I protect and/or give credit for someone else’s content I’m using?
• Should I allow visitors to download and use some materials on my site, but not all?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages to letting people share my content with others?

There are bloggers out there who would advocate that you make everything you post available for sharing because as Jeremiah Owyang notes in his Web Strategy blog, “The community will ’scrape’ content that is valuable to them, often without attribution. Get ahead of their behaviors for your content and package it for them.” [sic]

However, you say, “A B2B company doesn’t create information that people would want to use elsewhere.” To that we would ask, “Why not?” You want visitors to become clients. And you want clients to keep coming back. To do that, you want to “liven things up” with photos, video product demos and more. Just make sure your IT staff uploads the content so that it can run in a non-editable format on Windows Media Player or Quicktime. Type in “embeddable media player” in a Google® search and you’ll even find free code from a company called Streamalot.

Or, consider taking advantage of embeddable widgets from social media/marketing sites like friendfeed.com that can link your content to facebook and twitter. Better yet, create your own widgets that customers will want to download and keep on their desktops. Remember, always give them a reason and a way (a link) to come back to your company web site, your sales team, and your business partners for more detailed or expanded information.

Then once your “widgets” are out there, use them to data mine and track customers – what they visit, where they see/find you and your competitors, and where they “socialize” with other potential buyers.

In every business there will always be things you can control and forces beyond control. The key is to find ways to maximize the value in both types of those relationships.

Thanks to everyone for your tremendous support and donations to the National MS Society’s, City to Shore Bike Ride fund-raising event. It is a great event and an even better cause and we were proud to be a part of it.

The Booth Bay team raised over $3,000. We also acquired a few sore muscles along the way, but it was well worth it. Funny how 80 miles seems further than it did just a few years ago, I guess that just means we need to train harder next year.  We will be welcoming additional riders to our team next year so pump up those tires and start training.

The Booth Bay Team atop the Ocean City bridge and final leg of the ride.
Pictured left to right: Bob “Stoney” Jackson, Bill Booth, Tom Brill, Joe Houseal. Missing because he was 45 minutes a head of us when the photo was captured: Jeremy Lejune.

Bicycling Magazine calls it the “Best Cycling Getaway in NJ.” Bill Booth, Tom Brill and other Booth Bay team members just call it a great experience for a great cause ― Multiple Sclerosis.

This year marks the 29th Annual Bike MS: City to Shore Ride with over 7,000 cyclists of all ages and cycling abilities. And this year the Booth Bay team goes all out by making the full 75 mile trek. Starting in Haddonfield, they travel to the lush fruit fields of Hammonton, where they meet up with more cyclists who’ve signed up for the 45-mile version of the ride.

“Last year Bill and I did 45-mile ride,” said Tom. “The whole experience had a very upbeat party-like atmosphere. You ride with a big group of people. There’s not a lot of traffic. People hold up signs, applaud, and cheer you on as you go.”

From Hammonton, everyone winds their way through the back roads of the South Jersey pine barrens all the way to the fresh seaside air of historic Ocean City.

Last year’s ride had a special importance for both Bill and Tom. Tom rode for his cousin. As for Bill, “I was coming off a kidney transplant and I used the ride to motivate me and to get my strength back. I took up biking in July, and let it rip for the event. I had no specific training program. I just jumped on my bike when I could.”

At end of trip there are two big bridges into OC. It’s kind of like their version of “the wall” in Manayunk. “You’re tired but you can see the end is near,” noted Tom. “At the end of 2nd bridge we stopped to look around.”

Bill echoed the feeling. “At the bridge it was really emotional. You’re standing high up on the bridge and looking at the bay on one side and ocean on other. For me it was like looking back at my disease and seeing that I had conquered it.”

“In Ocean City you finish to big crowds, with bands playing. Bill’s wife and daughter handed us flowers. We saw people with MS who inspired us throughout the trip. The whole experience was fantastic,” Tom added. “That’s why this year we’re doing the 75.”

And this year, it’s all about the cause. For Bill, “The reason that I like this is that I’m doing something for someone else through this activity, so this to me was really beneficial, because I can exercise, have fun in a sports challenge way, and contribute all at the same time.”

For Tom, “It’s amazing the number of people who are involved in this. The fundraising part was different for me. It’s a fun thing to do so you can watch your progress as you prepare for the event. Then, you get the added bonus and good feelings about supporting such a worthy cause.”

This year the Booth Bay crew went all out to make it a team event. They have at least six riders and their own jerseys. They’re even trying to motivate people to start riding to get ready for next year. As a team, Booth Bay Creative set a goal of $3500.00.

“In my request for donations, I understand it’s not a great time to be asking people for money,” said Bill. “But it’s not like I’m asking for myself. I’m asking for a cause that’s worth it. This is going to be an annual event that we’ll support and we’ll be looking for additional team members and sponsors to help this great cause.”

The MS Society website says that, “This ride is fully supported with catered rest stops, bike support, and SAG transportation. In addition, invite your family and friends to cheer as you cross the finish line and enjoy a wonderful evening stroll on the boardwalk. Cyclists must collect a minimum of $300 in donations to participate.”

We invite you to support the Booth Bay Creative team on their ride, October 3rd, 2009, with your donation.

With all the ways people have to talk to/with/at each other today, how can businesses who sell to other businesses find their voices and become part of the conversation? Should we be on Facebook? How can we use Twitter? And what about YouTube?

For companies that sell stuff like candy, soda, or snacks, their customers (aka consumers) are easy to reach with simple games, contests, and gimmicks.

But for those of us whose consumers are buyers of technologies, machinery, and corporate services, how do social media and/or viral marketing fit into our corporate advertising, PR, and marketing mix? That’s what we hope to share with you in this edition of Booth Bay’s The Social Marketer.

Social Marketing is more than just tweeting, or blogging, or putting up a video on YouTube and hoping somebody sees it and tells their friends. Social Marketing is what businesses – especially B2B businesses – need to begin doing in a thoughtful and careful way, to expand their customer base, improve customer satisfaction, maintain loyalty, and increase sales.

Social Marketing is a way for businesses to build customer relationships with multiple, personalized contacts on a regular basis. Then you can monitor and grow those relationships in ways that businesses never could before.

For example, I purchase a piece of software from you, and I’m fairly happy with it. However, a few months down the road you offer an upgrade. Do I need it? Do I want it? How different is it from what I already have? Sure I could talk to your sales rep, but am I going to get the full story? I’m probably going to start by talking with a few of my friends and colleagues first. That’s a conversation you’re never going to hear – unless you’re following me on Twitter or you’re one of my Facebook friends, or you’re on a free resource for software guys, like me.

So how do you get in on the conversations your customers are having “behind your back?”

That’s where social marketing, and The Social Marketer, comes in. We’re going to help you understand and explore how to use social media and/or viral marketing in a B2B context. We’re going to make it as easy as showing your customers how they can use Twitter to stay connected directly to you. So stay connected with us. The future of B2B is changing. The Social Marketer is here to help you stay just ahead of the curve – and your competition.

At Booth Bay Creative, we’re always looking for ways to help our clients gain a competitive edge. That’s why we’ve added a few social media communication tools to our client services.

This blog, along with our Twitter and Facebook links, is designed to enhance our conversations with you. Our goal is to provide a forum where we can all share information, news, research, experiences, and learnings in a world that is moving faster and changing the way we work and play everyday.

Not only do we want to make it easy for you to comment on the things we present, but we graciously invite your contributions and insights as well.

And just because this blog is called The Social Marketer™, doesn’t mean that social media and B2B marketing are the only topics of discussion. The key word here is social. We all lead very busy lives. But not all of that busyness is focused on business. For example, in the near future you may see a bit of commentary on the Booth Bay biking team and our ride in the National MS Society Bike Event. Of course, you’re welcome to add your social events here too.

So come on in and share this blog space with us.