Collected wisdom from thought leaders in social selling, content marketing, online communities and more

1. 9 Memorable Quotes in 2013
from
Leaders in B2B Social Media

2. Greg Bardwell, CEO – the B2B Content Engine
Content Marketing: “The Gift
That Keeps On Giving”
“Content marketing is one of the most cost effective methods of
generating B2B leads.
When you turn off the funding you still continue to get leads for a
long period of time. Unlike traditional advertising – when you stop
advertising, the leads stop pouring in.
Same if you’re doing outbound lead generation – cold calling. If you
stop, the leads stop.
With content marketing, not only is it cheaper up front, but once
you have it in place, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

3. Chris McGovern – President, Emerging Marketing
Why Older Salespeople
Avoid Social Media
“For strategic account managers, mostly guys over 40 doing
high-level sales, it’s just not something that comes naturally
to them. They want to sell you something, rather than get
on social, answer questions and help others. They laugh
whenever I say the word ‘Twitter’ in a sales meeting… it’s
just off the map.
Social media offers some very inexpensive ways to get in front
of people. It’s just a new way to engage and message and
talk to people. And the time to do it is now.”

4. Sander Biehn – Principal Thought Horizons
“The Spoils Belong to the Companies
That Get in Front of This”
“Social selling is a new area for salespeople; it was new for me 19
months ago. I just decided I was going to figure this out. I
worked hard at it, and finally cracked the code. And when the
code was cracked, the sales came.
Our job is to help people know we’ve been there. There’s a map we
can draw. There are people there, and fabulous lands, and ways
of doing things. And you can get results in sales dollars.
And the spoils are going to belong to the companies that want to
get in front of this. On top of that, if you don’t get good at this,
there will be a day you will be irrelevant.”

5. Ian Cleary – CEO Razorsocial
Social Media Tools: “Before You
Jump Into Tools...”
“Social media is very time consuming and some of the tools
can really help. But before you jump into the tools, you
need a clear strategy and a good process behind it.
‘Here is my plan, here are my goals, here’s the time I’m
going to allocate to it, this is when I’m going to engage…’.
Once you’ve got a process in place, then you can choose the
right tools to support the process. You might start off doing
everything manually initially – and then use tools to speed
up the process.”

6. Doug Lehman – Video Brand Ambassador
“Video is the Next Best Thing
To Being There”
“If I told you 10 years ago that you could have your own TV
show and broadcast anywhere in the world for free – would
you? YouTube is not just kids with skateboards and talking
cats; now it’s a channel like a TV network.
Would you rather go to a movie or read a book? Read a 25page white paper or watch a two-minute video that tells you
everything you need to know – and also shows you what you
need to know?
Video is the next best thing to being there.”

7. Jill Rowley – Social Selling Evangelist at Oracle
How to Train 23,000 Salespeople In
Social Selling
“Before I can teach someone what to do or how to do it, they need
to understand why.
Why they should do it? Why it is in their best interests to do it? My
program at Oracle starts with educating the sales professionals
on the change in the buying process and helping them
understand the buyer today is very different than the buyer 10
years ago.
Today’s buyer is digitally-driven, mobile, socially-connected,
empowered with unlimited access to real-time information
about business problems, products, companies, competitors.
That’s why we start with the ‘why’… really helping these sales
professionals understand, ‘Yes I get it’.”

8. Robin Zucker – former head of social marketing at Yahoo!
What B2B Social Marketers
Can Learn from Yahoo!
“Whether you’re big or small, consumer or B2B, it’s about
being relevant to your customer.
Ultimately, what do the people you are trying to reach want to
hear or learn about? How can your company take part in
that conversation in a relevant and authentic way?
Social is not a perfect science. Our approach was to give
people the tools and the guidelines, and they have the
opportunity to leverage it. It’s not something you can really
force upon somebody, they have to have an interest. But
it’s relevant, especially for a digital company.”

9. Amar Sheth – Principal at Sales for Life
Social Selling: “Go Where the
Buyers Are”
“It’s significant how many conversations are happening online with
your buyers right now. If sales people just turn their attention a
little – maybe 30 minutes a day to social – they’ll find a lot more
fruitful conversations, a lot more contextual conversations, are
happening online.
Five years ago, the contact rate over the telephone was still north of
20%. Recent data shows it’s hovering around 10%. So you have
to go where the buyers are, and it just happens that its social
media.
Go where the dollars are. Frankly, if you are not going online and
adding value to your buyers you’re missing the mark completely.”

10. Vanessa DiMauro – CEO, Leader Networks
Online Communities:
“Back to the Future”
“Communities used to be a strategic initiative. We’ve fallen
back into thinking of them as a marketing program.
Communities are being used to broadcast information, as a
marketing tool, not as an opportunity for relationship
building.
Due to the current failure rate - about 70% according to
Gartner - we’re coming back to the future. Organizations
are now starting to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t a tool. Communities
are part of our strategic footprint. They’re a part of our
customer and partner relations’.”

11. A Big “Thank You” to the
B2B Social Media Experts
To say I learned a lot by interviewing these experts in 2013 would be a huge
understatement.
You can check out the full-length interviews at:
B2BMarketingPortal.com

12. The #1 Secret to Success in
B2B Social Media?
The shortest, surest path to success in B2B social media is to learn by
example. Learn from others who know what they’re doing.
That’s what B2B Social Media Masterminds is all about:
- Share case studies and success stories
- Ask questions, get in-depth answers
- Shorten the learning curve and avoid common mistakes
To find out more about B2B Social Media Mastermind groups, go to:
B2BMarketingPortal.com
B2B Social Media
Masterminds