Joanne Costin | Content for Biz Inc.

How a B2B Content Writer Can Keep Your Company from Being a Web Wallflower

I continue to be astounded by the number of shy B2B companies – I call them web wallflowers. Their customers love them; their employees amaze everyone; and yet their stories remain hidden except to people in-the-know. Ironically, these are often the same companies that were built through a strong referral network. They fall into the trap of believing that there are no new customers to be found on the web; and that their website is just for people who already know them. They haven’t ever really put themselves out there online.

“We like to keep a low profile,” said one company I was trying to interview for an article. “We don’t like to brag,” said another B2B company, as I began to write their website copy.

It’s not that I am in favor of bragging, but how about sharing just a little of what you know with the world? At any point in time there are hundreds of potential customer searching for answers to the problems your business knows how to solve. A strong social presence lets your company’s expertise shine in a way that is helpful, not boastful.

Sure signs that your online presence lacks confidence and social savvy

1) There isn’t a real person to be found on your site.

There are no names, and even fewer faces on your website. Your company spends thousands of dollars on trade shows and networking events to meet buyers face-to-face, but when buyers actually come to your website, they can’t find anyone they know or trust.

2) You make it really hard to start a conversation.

There is no place for people to comment or connect with you, except perhaps through an awkward and cumbersome online form. Do you know how frustrating this is? It appears requests go to a black hole, and they often do.

3) Your social connections are somewhat limited.

Perhaps not in real life, but from what people see online, your company and employees look like wallflowers. Do you have a company page on Facebook or LinkedIn, but it hasn’t been updated in months. Do you think the time to open a LinkedIn account is when you are job hunting? Whether you embrace social media or not, the fact of the matter is that people are now forming opinions about your business based on what they see and read about you online. Are you sending the right message to prospective customers, potential employees and investors?

4) You don’t share your knowledge.

As a customer or prospect, I don’t just want to know about the products and services you offer, I want to know about your success stories and how you solve problems like mine. Showing how you solve problems let’s buyers get to know you and reassures them that you’ll do a good job.

5) You measure social media purely by the numbers.

Social media success is as much about quality as it is quantity. It’s not just about having the most tweets or the greatest number fans and followers but also about the quality of the interaction. Be sincerely interested and responsive when people reach out to you online.

So what can a B2B content writer do to get the wallflower to enjoy the dance? Plenty. A content writer can instill personality into your site through interviews with real people — customers, employees and management. These can be incorporated into blog posts, testimonials and case studies. A content writer can teach you how to pose questions to solicit response; create events and activities that are share-worthy; and grow your online social networks. In social media and on websites, content writers are conversation starters.

A B2B content writer can also suggest ways to make your site more interactive, such as through a blog, a contest or even a simplified form. A B2B content writer will organize information so visitors are never overwhelmed. They can easily find the information they need.

Many people and businesses aren’t comfortable talking or writing about themselves. But ask them a question and they will have no trouble providing you with a great answer. See what happens when you let a professional writer ask the questions.

Is there a cure for low engagement on Facebook?

Two recent studies document that actual engagement between corporate brands and their customers on Facebook is quite dismal. In January 2012, a study by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, an Australia-based marketing think tank, found that fewer than 1% of Facebook fans engage with brands. A recent A.T. Kearney study analyzed the 50 top brands and found few companies have moved beyond one-way communication. While the studies used different measures of engagement, the message was the same – corporate Facebook sites are neither social nor engaging.

In the A.T. Kearny study, 27 out of 48 brands did not reply to customer comments. So let’s start there. Rule No. 1. should be “respond to customers.”

Inactivity is another problem. Fewer posts results in fewer opportunities for fans to engage. This happens when a company launches a social media platform without a clear strategy outlining what they will do and how they will do it. Thus rule No. 2: Have a plan.

Both studies suggest marketers need to rethink their Facebook strategy. In A.T. Kearney’s 2010 social media study, researchers found that the companies who were most successful in engaging readers brought in elements of nostalgia; asked customers for feedback on various products or; asked Facebook fans to rally around a cause. When trying to initiate engagement, be clear what action you want people to take. Do you want people to “like” a post, submit a new product idea or link to your website? Consider using Facebook for market research or asking customers how they are using their products.

The 2012 A.T. Kearny study analyzed four basic types of posts: personal postings, consisting of a question or statement that is personal to consumers, but does not specifically promote the product; promotional postings, which may include a coupon; informative postings, which provide product-relevant information to consumers; and external postings. Using Facebook “likes” as one indicator, the study showed that consumers “like” personal company posts two and a half times more, on average, than all other company posting types combined.

Despite this fact, companies aren’t posting nearly as many personal posts as they are promotional and external posts — 61 percent of company posts scanned in the study were promotional or external, and only 13 percent were personal. Based on these findings I would suggest Rule No. 3: Social media sites should be about the customer.

In conversation, we adjust our message to the needs of a particular situation: our relationship with the person, the time we have to communicate, as well as our objective. Our social media efforts should be no less customized. In the haste to get the brand message out, we have forgotten that social media is about one-on-one interactions.

There’s a great opportunity out there for B2B companies who commit to getting it right. Start today with a comprehensive social media strategy. Before you dive into the newest social media platform, make sure you are doing it right on the platforms you already have.

Three Rules of Facebook Engagement

1. Respond to Customers

2. Have a Plan

3. Make it About the Customer

Is Your Bio Boring?

Tell us why you hate writing your bio and win a complimentary bio written by Content for Biz.

I confess. I hate writing my own bio. But I actually like writing someone else’s. I think a lot of people have trouble writing their own bio and it shows. I have been editing speaker bios for an upcoming foodservice conference over the past few weeks. As interesting as the speakers are, for the most part, the bios would put you to sleep. They read like resumes, or worse. Now, I understand that a bio should contain certain facts, but who said a bio should be devoid of personality? Bios I see on websites aren’t much better. And it’s too bad, because I always like reading bios and I think others do too. As a content writer I often write bios for websites. Here are my suggestions for writing bios that excite rather than sedate. 1) Don’t feel obligated to include every job you ever had. Put the focus on your current position, as that is what is most relevant to your audience. Only include past positions if they had a significant influence on your career. 2) Explain how it was that your work became your passion. Why do you like it? When did you know you found the right career? 3) Let your voice shine through. In a post on Grammar Girl, Julie Wildhaber calls a well-defined voice “the bridge between you and your audience: It helps your readers understand who you are, and it helps you engage them and keep them coming back for more.” What do you want to say about yourself? Are you serious, light-hearted, ambitious, determined? What adjectives describe you? To what do you attribute your success? Do you have a mantra? Inserting a quote can be a great way to let readers hear your voice. 4) Include something personal or unexpected. When we wrote bios for the accounting firm Lipschultz, Levin & Gray, we asked the top executives to share a “stand-out memory” of their accounting career, as well as some advice. Who knew that we would learn about counting meat carcasses or working by flashlight? It’s proof that there are interesting stories to be found in every career. 5) Common convention calls for writing your bio in the third person; so if you are submitting a bio for a speaking engagement you definitely want to use that format. For bios on the web, remember to keep paragraphs and sentences short for easy reading. It’s true that we are often our own worst promoters, so why not hire a professional writer and take writing your bio off your “to do” list. A professional writer can tell your story in a way that will make customers want to do business with you. Now for today’s special. Tell us why you hate writing your own bio and enter to win a complimentary 200-word bio written by Content for Biz. Email me at jcostin@contentforbiz.com or use the comment box below.

Dos and Don’ts of Sharing Content on LinkedIn

In a recent study by marketing automation firm Pardot, B2B marketers ranked LinkedIn higher than Twitter and other social media networks for its value as a lead generation tool. If you are spending time and resources to develop quality content, distributing your content on social media networks such as LinkedIn is a great strategy. Not only can you share content with your immediate network, but you can expand your reach by posting content within relevant LinkedIn groups. However, there are some dos and don’ts you will want to consider:

Do be thoughtful

Thoughtful interaction and quality content will position you and your company as a market leader and encourage prospects to engage with you in other ways. If you offer compelling content along with a link to your website, visitors will visit your site to read more. At that point they may decide to download a whitepaper or subscribe to your blog. That’s generating a quality B2B sales lead.

Don’t over automate

While it is convenient to send posts out as an automated feed to your LinkedIn status, the real value of LinkedIn comes from posting to relevant groups. Be careful to match the right B2B content with the right B2B audience for the best return. Sometimes I post in foodservice groups, sometimes in construction groups and other times in advertising/marketing groups. Just as in a “real” conversation, your voice shouldn’t dominate. Decide on an appropriate frequency based on the activity of the group and the response you receive. Remember it is as important to give as it is to receive. Share interesting articles from others as well as your own content.

Don’t be too commercial

Certainly if someone is looking for a supplier (it happens more often than you think), throw your hat into the ring. However, the discussions you start shouldn’t be overt sales pitches for your product or service. Lately I have seen group moderators clamp down on overtly commercial messages. Obey the rules of the group and post in the appropriate section. Often there will be specific places to promote events or jobs.

Assuming your content offers educational or entertainment value, don’t hesitate to share. People will respond if your message is on target and your website traffic will often tell you more than LinkedIn likes or comments. What no one wants to see is 60 discussions without any comments. That is not the value of social media.

Do mind your manners

When someone comments or likes your post, I think it is important to acknowledge them. Send a private message and let them know their opinion is valued and that someone is listening. Or reply publicly and keep the conversation going. It is no different than how you would interact face-to-face. The truth of the matter is that while only a small percentage of a group usually comments, many more read. Encourage interaction and comment and “like” other posts in the group. It feels good to know your content is being read and others feel the same.

Do choose groups wisely

It can be time consuming to monitor the activity of the groups, to post and comment regularly. LinkedIn limits the number of groups you can be part of to 50 because they want people to be engaged. Be sure the groups you join includes the types of individuals and companies you are targeting. Size is one measure of a group, but I think quality trumps quantity. I like to look at the number of discussions and in particular the number of comments posted in a given week. LinkedIn Reports this on the overview page for the group. Click on the stats icon and you can find all sorts of demographics. For example, the National Restaurant Association Group has more than 14,000 members. Last week there were 28 discussions and 100 comments among the group members–that is a very active group. If the group is open you can click on members to see exactly is in the group. If the group is closed, ask your direct connections how active the group is, and who the members are.

It’s important to know who you are targeting when identifying groups. There are more than 871,000 groups of all kinds on LinkedIn: vendor groups, alumni groups, professional groups. Of course you may want to target customer groups, but what about groups who are natural referral sources for you. Keep in mind the objective of the group as well as the people who are in it when posting your B2B content. You can even start your own group on LinkedIn.

Do take note of what people are discussing

LinkedIn Groups are a gold mine of content ideas for B2b marketers. As a B2B content writer, I like to see what is generating interest among the groups. Where there are comments, there is usually an idea for a story or blog post. For example, this week among the National Restaurant Association LinkedIn Group the most active discussion was centered around Starbucks adding alcohol to its menu. On Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Magazine Group, people were discussing Revit.

Share your favorite LinkedIn groups with us here.

How to Share Your Posts with LinkedIn Groups

I use the LinkedIn share button that appears at the bottom of each post on our website, and type in the name of the group where I want to post the content to. Unfortunately, the names of the groups don’t all pop up until you start typing, so you need to know the names of the groups. I only post to groups that I believe will have an interest in the content.

How a Blog Helped a Chicago Commercial Contractor Win New Business

If you are a contractor and have doubts about whether or not a blog would increase your online visibility; listen to Chuck Taylor. He is director of operations for Englewood Construction Inc., a commercial construction general contractor based in Lemont,Ill., a southwest suburb of Chicago. I met Chuck at the Construction Writers Association annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, where Englewood Construction received an award for the construction industry’s best blog.

Their commercial construction blog, Hard Hat Chat, has brought in new business and opportunities for Englewood Construction. “There has been a return on investment that we never anticipated,” said Taylor.

Before starting the commercial construction blog, the company’s visibility on search engines was low. But with updated, quality content that provides valuable information to their market, Englewood Construction’s online visibility has increased dramatically. According to Taylor, the blog has helped place the company on the short list with national retailers and hoteliers they were not previously pursuing. In fact, they recently won a job from a major insurance company who initially found them through the blog.

The Biggest Concern: Coming Up with Content

At the onset of the blog, Taylor was concerned about where the content for the blog would come from. He quickly found out that it wasn’t a problem at all. “We take for granted what we do on a daily basis,” said Taylor. “What our PR firm was able to do was ask us some engaging questions, such as ‘How did you overcome those challenges?” Posts are informative, keyword rich and optimized for local search.

Taylor and William Di Santo, president of Englewood Construction, share responsibility for the blog posts along with their PR fim. Chuck Taylor typically spends about four to six hours per month on a post. The company scaled back the frequency of blog posts during the market downturn, but expects that they will need to post more frequently in the near future, as more firms enter the construction blogging arena.

”Based on our activity we have more to talk about,” said Taylor. ” There are more opportunities coming in and it is not going to be long before the competitions catches on.”

Englewood Construction’s blogging efforts are focused on improving online visibility, rather than building a subscriber base or generating advertising revenue. “The end game is searchability,” said Taylor. “If you are not on the first page of the search results, you are not there.”

In fact, if you are a commercial contractor, Taylor would rather you wouldn’t read this.

Give us a call to discuss content for your commercial construction blog. And a special thanks to Englewood Construction for sharing their blogging experience with us.