How to Extend the Life of Your B2B Event with Social Media

Events represent a significant investment for many B2B companies. Marketers go to great lengths to ensure their event features the right content or entertainment; is held at the perfect venue; and includes memorable food and beverages. However, it used to be that once an event was over, there was very little opportunity for marketers to engage customers or prospects who were unable to attend. There were also very limited ways to engage with attendees after the event.

Social media has changed all that. It provides companies with an opportunity to extend the life of their B2B events by creating a way to experience the events online. It also allows marketers to use social media channels to reach out to attendees and non-attendees in new ways — often with a multimedia experience. Here are five ways to make social media part of your B2B event strategy.

1. Prior to the event, create a hashtag for the event on Twitter. Hashtags help people find your event on Twitter and see what people are saying about it. Encourage people to talk about their plans to attend the event. Talk about speakers, content, who’s attending, etc. Remind attendees of the event hashtag before, during and after the event.

2. Before the event, engage prospects with a survey designed to identify their needs.

3. Share photos and videos on Facebook and through social sites such as YouTube and Flickr.

4. Share speaker slides on SlideShare, as well as through your event home page .

5. Interview customers at the event to share what they liked about the event. Post videos on You Tube and your event homepage.

Who’s Doing it Right on Social Media Channels

On John Deere’s Facebook page, you will find an amazing time-lapse video for the Can Do Project – They built a combine out of more than 350,000 cans of food. It took five days to build, but you can watch it under three minutes. Even if you missed the event itself, you could still learn about the experience.

Western States Cat does a great job of promoting its Dump Hunger campaign on Facebook. This year their goal is to collect 300,000 pounds of food.

You have to love Bacon Fest Chicago. They keep the excitement for this event building through their blog, a You Tube channel and an engaging Facebook fan page.

With a little planning and good use of social media tools, you can keep generating social buzz for your B2B event, long after the event is over.

Are you overwhelmed by social media? Content for Biz can help you formulate a strategy that makes sense for your business.

Are the Top 10 Construction Management Firms Missing the Boat on Blogs?

I have felt for some time that the building/construction industry was dragging its heels on Internet marketing and social media but I was surprised to see that even the top firms were slow to adapt. Using Building Design + Construction’s Giants list as a guide in checking out the websites of the industry’s top construction management firms, I found only one of the top ten construction management companies – all with revenues in excess of $888 million, had a blog.

There is no denying these companies have achieved success without a blog, but they undoubtedly face increased competition. While I am sure potential building owners still solicit referrals for a considered set of builders, I am equally confident they also turn to websites at some point during their search. A company blog provides an outlet for thought leadership, an opportunity to showcase expertise as well as a place for customers and potential customers and prospective employees to engage with you online.

There are plenty of content possibilities … projects in progress, sustainability, charitable work, interesting people and stories. When research shows that blogging drives website traffic, provides valuable feedback to management, and allows companies to showcase their expertise and talent, I am at a loss to understand why these top construction management companies are foregoing the opportunity.

No. 6 (Suffolk Construction) as well as No. 11 on the list, (Hunt Construction Group,) are the exceptions. Hunt’s blog, entitled Landmarks, offers an inside look at various projects under construction as well as community events. Suffolk’s blog provides thought leadership from the company’s CEO. While good efforts, neither of the blogs provides website visitors with an opportunity to comment. About half of the Top 10 firms have Facebook and Twitter accounts. However, often the connections weren’t accessible from the company websites.

Today’s buyers demand more. A modern site should include blogs and sharing features that foster a sense of community.Why is construction so far behind the curve?

Rank BD+C Giants	Company		Blog
1	Gilbane Building Co.	www.gilbaneco.com/	No
2	Skanska USA	www.skanska.com	No
3	Lend Lease	www.lendlease.com	No
4	Hensel Phelps Construction	www.henselphelps.com	No
5	Whiting-Turner Conracting Co.	www.whiting-turner.com	No
6	Suffolk Construction	www.suffolkconstruction.com	Yes
7	Structure Tone	www.structuretone.com	No
8	Jacobs	www.jacobs.com	No
9	Flintco	www.flintco.com	No
10	The Yates Companies	www.yatescompanies.com	No
11	Hunt Construction Group	www.huntconstruction.com	Yes

Does Your B2B Company Blog Need a Makeover?

You start a company blog to increase web traffic by sharing industry knowledge and perspectives. Understandably content development should be your primary focus when launching a B2B blog. But once your company blog is up and running and your content is flowing smoothly, it’s a good idea to take a step back to examine the blog’s effectiveness. Are visitors subscribing? Are they sharing your info? Are they clicking on other areas of your website? Are you getting as much search engine traffic as you could? If the results aren’t what you think they could be, you may be in need of a blog make-over? Here are some questions to help you find out.

1) Is it easy to subscribe?

Put your subscription box in a prominent place and allow visitors to subscribe vie email or RSS feed.

2) Do you offer an incentive to subscribe?

Encourage subscriptions by providing an offer for something useful and valuable. Create a landing page with the offer and an easy signup process.

3) Do you make it easy for people to share your information?

Include buttons so posts can be shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

4) How does your blog read on a mobile device?

Mobile usage is growing dramatically. WordPress now has some plug-ins that will do this for you, or consider a new theme that is already mobile friendly.

5) Do you encourage people to visit other areas of your site?

Once someone’s interested, get them to stay longer on your site by promoting some of your most popular posts.

6) Are you optimizing posts for your keywords?

Learn how to write titles and metatag descriptions to improve rankings on search engines.

7) Do you make it easy for people to learn more about your services?

Provide links directly to your services or products. Make it easy for people to buy.

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you could probably benefit from making a few changes.

For a complimentary review of your current blog email me. We’ll be happy to provide you with some suggestions for a blog makeover. Content for Biz can help you take your blog to the next level.