Measuring Success One Client at a Time
One challenge of this type of study is that the landscape moves so quickly that it's hard to get a lasting snapshot of what works and then discern what will work in the future. Nevertheless, it's worthwhile to share some success stories.
For example, I heard from Bob Niles, President of Speedwell Solutions, an executive lead generation service based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Bob offered the best common-sense guidance that I have seen so far on using Twitter:
The idea is to create content/Tweets that engage an audience directly. You want your audience to feel an affinity for you (and for your product or service). It's more difficult to pull off than it sounds, but it's not impossible -- Still, what I've noticed in my clients and in a couple of the businesses I follow, is that they get a good thing going on Twitter, and then they give up and just stop Tweeting.
If you have a business that's exhibiting at a trade fair or convention, Tweet about it. If you've got a new client, let the world know. If you've got simple advice or referrals, share them.
Now, here’s the measurement tool from Bob:
So, does Twitter work or make a difference? Which is to say, are social media as important as the buzz around them suggest? I don't know. All I can say is that since October, I've gotten one new client through Twitter, and that client referred me to someone else, who signed a contract last week.
That’s the marketing excellence about which we dare to dream!
New clients to Tweet about and new revenue to plug into our Return on Investment (ROI) calculations.
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But Will It Work in Financial Technology Marketing?
The B2B sub-cultures where I typically roam include the realms of financial markets and the technology solution providers that make their ROI by selling software, data, and services to support those markets, such as my old employer, Thomson-Reuters. One might assume that these technology mavens would be among the leaders in using the lastest Social Media to pump up their businesses. Not necessarily so. I offer you some initial observations based on random samples. In these sub-cultures, most of the folks with business experience have a presence on LinkedIn, and in some cases Facebook. But in either case, professionals in this group tend to use these sites more for personal business (e.g. job search networking) or social purposes than for corporate or product marketing. Clearly there is marketing taking place on those sites, albeit somewhat subdued in LinkedIn, and very successful, but more consumer-oriented advertising on Facebook. One conclusion that I have drawn is that the right type of message on one of these sites can mobilize volumes of people from this part of the B2B world. For example, if you are in my LinkedIn network, you may have been one of the other witnesses at the inaugural meeting of the Electronic Trading Forum earlier this month. A simple event posting by one individual on LinkedIn resulted in hundreds of replies and a packed house at the Cellar Bar in NYC. Admittedly, this is a modest accomplishment compared to the “Betty White on SNL” Facebook campaign, but I sensed that the organizer and attendees were all pleasantly awed by the turnout. You could have used that event to promote your products and services in a face-to-face discussion, as some did, but that was not the main thread of the evening. Instead, it was a bare-bones, cash-bar networking gathering, with no entrance fees, no speakers, no sponsors or advertisers or other overt acts of commerce. This particular audience appeared to appreciate and respond to this relaxed modus operandi. With regard to Twitter, there may be a chasm between two or more classifications of the companies to whom I talked. On one side of the chasm are organizations with a limited target market who seem to have little interest. In one case, there is a global company that only works with the largest banks in the world, and they already have a captive audience, so they don’t currently see a strong need for this type of tool. In another case, a start-up company wants to focus on their current small set of clients before looking to grow the base. The CEO follows others on Twitter, but the company does not post Tweets. It’s worth noting that the use of Twitter and other tools at financial institutions can be a sticky area. Many institutions forbid the use of these tools on any company-owned PCs because of internal compliance reasons - even for those employees who have no direct contact with clients. Additionally, the FINRA recently issued a set of regulations (guidelines) on use of Social Media by financial institutions. There is an interesting webcast on this topic in June 2010 at which one of my new friends is speaking. How did I meet this new friend? At the inagaural Electronic Trading Forum meeting! On the other side of the chasm are companies that have a hunger for new business, but are not restricted in use of Social Media tools. One case in point is Joel Katz, Managing Director of Hyperform Group, a NY-based personnel recruiting business that specializes in financial technology roles and other areas. Joel recently began posting the jobs on Twitter, and also routes a newsfeed to help give him added audience. He was putting the news links on his website, but realized that Twitter was easier to maintain, and is hoping to get traction. |
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Like any other good consultant, I have to conclude that this topic requires more research, and continued immersion. LinkedIn and Twitter are just two of the Social Media tools that are candidates for B2B Marketing. In the coming weeks I will further explore these and others, such as read-only and interactive Blogs. Meanwhile, I also encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts – the more disagreeable the better. Feel free to take a shot at this prediction: By the time I complete this study, on Labor Day 2010, the Social Media world will have shifted like the San Andreas Fault. Will it be the result of a group of NYU students who quickly raised $100k to build a Facebook alternative, as reported on May 13th by Mashable? Or will there be a single event that suddently moves a large audience from one tool to another? We shall see. You may already know about Mashable. I didn’t. His bio states that he has “the best social media links around” and his Twitter stats reveal that he has an impressive influence ratio of 1,000:1 (two million followers versus two thousand that he follows – more on this topic later). You can get a taste for Mashable by reading an article on Social Media business strategy posted on his site. In the meantime, please follow us on our Twitter account, sanbornconsults, or go old-school by doing something like signing up for future editions of this Client Notebook (to the left), sending an e-mail, or dropping by for a glass of lemonade. |
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