Hubspot’s Free Guide to B2B Facebook Pages

Facebook now has over 500 million users and growing. With that level of engagement and traffic, do you understand how to market your business on Facebook? Our friends at Hubspot have a new, free guide to marketing your business to other businesses. Here is what you get:

• Five B2B Facebook page tips
• 15 examples of successful B2B Facebook pages
• Links to more Facebook resources

Visual Guide to B2B Facebook Pages

Social Media Case Studies Super List: Prove Your Point

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=attorney&iid=257476″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/257476/attorney-reading/attorney-reading.jpg?size=500&imageId=257476″ width=”234″ height=”166″ /]Robin Broitman has done it again! The researcher and writer has compiled a monster list of social media case studies sure to provide readers with research, proof, ROI examples, methodology, ideas, controversy, and analysis. Robin’s work can be seen monthly at InteractiveInsights.com. The Social Media Case Studies Super List.

Highlights from Social Media Case Studies Super List

• WOMMA’s Case Study Library
• Mashable’s 35 Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action
• Peter Kim’s  list of Social Media examples
• Associations using Social Media
• Social Media Business Council a list of leading corporations and executives who run their social media programs

4 Reasons Why Twitter Will Thrive Despite Commercialization

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=antique+tv&iid=156228″ src=”http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/156228/vintage-portrait-man-home/vintage-portrait-man-home.jpg?size=500&imageId=156228″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /]SocialMediaToday.com’s Robert Bacal’s “Twitter in a Corner- Facing Huge Challenges” is a smart look into Twitter’s challenge to monetize and survive into the future. Bacal points out Twitter’s initial steps into advertising and their deliberate roll out strategy. He correctly identifies Twitter’s concern with user experience and the possible alienation of users due to the advertising platform. Bacal gets most of it right but not everything.

Twitter User Experience: Bad Times Ahead?

According to Bacal:

“Can it (Twitter) hit the critical balancing point where it can maintain its user base, attract more users while using user eyeballs to generate money? It’s unlikely. There is a point where the commercial use will drive social and community users out of the space, or to competitors, and that reality, or at least possibility limits the revenue potential.”

“At the same time, there is the issue of commercialization from third party sources who aren’t paying anything for the free advertising they get from simply dumping tweets into the stream. They damage the user experience for those who are not there to buy things, the majority of users, and they don’t drive any revenue at all for Twitter.”

Twitter User Experience: Counterpoint

• Commercial Use: commercial use will begin to attract more users not drive them away from Twitter. In tandem with Foursquare, Twitter will be the “offer platform” consumers will flock to in order to find the best deals on products and services
• Research: according to a 2006 quote from Evan Williams:
  “What we have to do is deliver to people the best and freshest most relevant information possible. We think of Twitter as it’s not a social network, but it’s an information network. It tells people what they care about as it is happening in the world.” Twitter remains one of the most vibrant and important resources for information on the internet and the fastest growing search engine with more monthly search queries than Yahoo and Bing- combined!
• Choice: Bacal’s thought that user experience is damaged by people or companies “dumping tweets into the stream” that either promote or advertise something is no different than the 50 years worth of television or radio advertising we have endured. We as users understand that we can ignore the tweets that promote or advertise because the network’s value outweighs the littered stream.
• Entertainment Value: Twitter has a plethora of celebrities, sports stars, business magnates, and other very interesting people and brands. It is the platform to learn about people and brands. No amount of commercialization will drive people away from the tidbits of gossip, insider information, and breaking news Twitter has to offer.

Hanshaw & Guadagni Land Guest Writing Opportunity

Guest writing is one of the fastest ways to meet new contacts, provide exposure and viral possibilities for your content, and learn from a new audience of readers.

We at Innerarchitect.com are proud to announce our acceptance as guest contributors to SearchEnginePeople.com Canada’s “largest and most trusted Internet marketing company.” Search Engine People services 300 clients worldwide including many of Canada’s top brands. President and CEO Jeff Quipp and blog Editor Ruud Hein are the driving forces behind SearchEnginePeople’s blog.

Inner Architect Features on SearchEnginePeople.com

• Susan Hanshaw’s “Measure Your Marketing Efforts: Capture and Create Keycodes” June 24, 2010
• Dean Guadagni’s “5 Reasons Your Company May Never Adopt Twitter” July 5, 2010
• Susan Hanshaw’s “Measure Social Media Lifetime Sales ROI” July 15, 2010
• Dean Guadagni’s “Twitter as Direct Marketing Channel: 2 List Building Steps to ROI” July 16, 2010

Measuring ROI for Wineries: Twitter & Facebook’s Influence on Lifetime Value

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=money&iid=312203″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/312203/money-safe-close/money-safe-close.jpg?size=500&imageId=312203″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /]Many wine industry leaders are skeptical of  the idea that social networks, Twitter and Facebook, have morphed into powerful direct sales and marketing channels like the traditional email, telephone, tasting room, eCommerce, or wine clubs. Many continue to deride the usefulness of these networks. And many continue to ask for return on investment white papers or reports without understanding the very basic features, benefits, and strategies of these networks.

Consequently, the key for full scale acceptance of Twitter and Facebook as direct sales and marketing channels for the wine industry is ROI. The first step to understanding your return on investment is measuring social media’s influence on the lifetime value of each wine consumer.

Very Basic Requirements to Measure Social Media ROI

• Enterprise Buy-In: from the tasting room staff to the CEO, the entire winery must communicate the goals of their social media efforts and the strategies to be implemented.
• Collect Data: at every level from tasting room to marketing department, customer sales data, contact information for multiple channels, and preferences must be collected. Information must be collected from each channel itself. From a telesales team, tasting staff, social media directors, and any other touch points.
• Tag Consumer – Trade Lists: create identifying tags, compatible with the winery’s systems, and tag every Facebook fan and Twitter follower.
• Timeline: identify the date of the first sale for each customer and continue to record all purchases from all the channels they utilize moving forward from that point.
• Measure: begin to measure the lifetime sales, of exact start dates and like groups ie. club members or non members, of social media customers (Twitter and Facebook) vs. non-social media customers.

Conclusion

This is a very basic thumbnail sketch of the beginning steps to take in order to understand the social media ROI of Twitter and Facebook. The greater the detail in data collection, storing data in one central database, extrapolating the data, and then analyzing it- the greater the return on investment. The effort, time, and expertise it takes to leverage this type of strategy can be extreme but so are the benefits to the bottom line.

Inner Architect’s Dean Guadagni Speaking at WITS July 13th

The 6^th annual Wine Industry Technology Symposium returns July 13^th and 14^th. Billed as “Technology and Innovation Best Practices for the Wine Industry”, Inner Architect Business Director Dean Guadagni will be participating as a speaker-panelist in the day one afternoon workshop: “Embracing Social Media & Commerce: Cultivate Brand Loyalty.” The opening day activities include a Technology Showcase, CIO Round Table,  Technology Showcase and workshops:

Day One: July 13th

Afternoon Workshops

A. Embracing Social Media & Commerce: Cultivate Brand Loyalty

The session is about Cultivating Brand Loyalty and developing grassroots evangelists via social media with new and online wine lovers.

Moderator: Lisa M. de Bruin, National Account Development Specialist Hahn Family Wines

Panelists: Dean Guadagni, Business Director, Inner Architect; Judd Wallenbrock, President/General Manager Michel-Schlumberger Benchland Wine Estate; Hardy Wallace, Social Media Guru, Author, Dirty South Wine Blog, former Murphy Goode Wine County Lifestyle Correspondent.

B. Consumer Compliance: The Next Generation The Next Generation of Issues on PCI Compliance

C. Google Analytics and other Free or Low Cost Technologies

D. Apps Alley

E. Your System: “Not Guilty as Charged”

Workshop Times

The 5 workshops will be presented at both 2:30 – 3:45 and again at 4:00 – 5:15 pm (subject to attendance). For more detailed information on both day’s activities go to: http://www.wineindustrytechnologysymposium.com

Mine Twitter Retweet Tab For Multiple Benefits

One of the most underutilized tabs on your Twitter home page is the Retweet tab. Retweets are vital to building a viral marketing wave that carries your links to a larger audience increasing your company’s reach. Yet with all of the benefits  available, most companies don’t monitor this resource.

Retweet Tab Features

• Retweets By Others: this tab showcases users, not in your network, who have retweeted their network. Mine this tab to find new companies or people to follow, links for research, and conversations to follow

• Retweets By You: this tab showcases your Retweets. This tab provides Twitter users a history and information bank for their Retweets. Mine this tab for old Retweets of users you may have forgotten
• Your Tweets Retweeted: this tab showcases your Tweets that others have Retweeted. Use this tab to find new people or companies. Mine this tab to find old Retweets of your content and reward those people with a Retweet of their content