Fighting Dunbar

by Jonathan Blank on June 29, 2010

I had the pleasure of speaking at a Public Relations Society of America conference dedicated to “The Forbidden Dance: B2B and Social Media.” In this video of the presentation you will hear from me on the only number that I believe counts in B2B social media – 150 (nope, it is not Twitter + 10). Watch and see.

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Stop Following Yourself Around

by Jonathan Blank on May 18, 2010

I have canceled my Google Alerts for “Capgemini.” I changed the parameters for daily media monitoring to focus more heavily on competitors and industry issues than the company. And I am revising our communication metrics to more heavily weight the % of conversations (share of conversation) we are involved in than the % of mentions compared to competitors (share of voice).

To many in-house marketing and communication professionals, this is heretical. We listen for when people are talking about us and when they mention us, right? I can count on one hand the number of times when real-time monitoring for mentions led to an immediate action. I would need to use the hands of the entire Capgemini marketing and communications team to  count the number of times real-time monitoring for conversations about technology strategy, systems integration, business strategy consulting and IT outsourcing led to immediate and beneficial action.

Brian Solis at PR 2.0 described the goal of online listening in the world of B2B better than anyone else I have interacted with. Here is an excerpt from his post “the Business of B2B Social Media:”

Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of listening to focused online interaction, is the ability to breakdown the decision making process and how customers and influencers impact behavior. To say it blatantly, social media makes it possible to identify and segment the specific stages of decision making online and how to in turn, respond in ways that steer interest in your favor.

Put down your clipping report and go cull the “Page Source” view (option under view in browsers) of your competitors. Talk with your SEO people about which keywords you should listen for in social media conversations. And repeat after me – “it’s not about us the company, it is about us the network of people doing research.”

Photo courtesy of Niclindh

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The Boomerang Effect

April 1, 2010

Walking into the Capgemini office at 623 Fifth Avenue this morning was quite surreal. After a stint in the PR agency world at Makovsky + Company, I have returned to the company where I cut my teeth on marketing and communications. I decided to return corporate side because I believe social media should primarily be [...]

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Come Find Me

January 10, 2010

Findability use to be a term narrowly associated with SEO. But now findability is the charge of all marketers, as our primary job is to enhance the probability that our content and experts will get found and be shared.
Put simply, findability is the degree to which companies, content, and experts are easily located using search [...]

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Trust Me On This

September 20, 2009

Source: Edelman Trust Barometer
Keyshia Cole re-released her hit song “Trust” earlier this year and it reached #5 on the Billboard Hip-Hop Chart. Unfortunately, trust has not made it anywhere near the top of the charts in 2009 for business. According to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer people trust business less than they ever have in [...]

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A Coffee Before Business

September 14, 2009

I have been asked a couple of times over the last few weeks about the relevance of the name “B2B Coffee Shops.” It’s apropos I explain it on the opening day of the NFL because my philosophy on the changing communication landscape is all about stadiums and coffee shops.
When it comes to communication, I believe [...]

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Trust Agents Review

September 10, 2009

Here is my video review of the book Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I think it is a good summary of the developments in social media over the last couple of years. Go human web.

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Who is All In?

September 3, 2009

I am calling “all in.” I realized this weekend there is one trait I admire more than any other in friends, acquaintances, mentors. This is the same trait I hope defines my personality – for better or for worse. Drum roll please – passion.
Passion for something, anything: advancing sustainable energy practices, crafting a new line [...]

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Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics for B2B Social Media

September 2, 2009

The executives we report to recognize many people are using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social mediums. However, to justify the budget and resources we need to have a sufficient presence online, we must provide executives with more hard data. For your use in presentations to bosses and colleagues, here are the three most important [...]

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The Social and Emotional Side of B2B

August 31, 2009

Social Media has finally traversed from the basements where our teenagers surf Facebook and MySpace to the 45th Floor mahogany boardroom where Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Executive Officers converse about go-to-market strategy. If you’re skeptical of this conclusion, look no further than a survey by Forrester (B2B Buyers Have High Social Participation) that suggests [...]

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