Social media marketing

With the economy on an upswing, more than half of b-to-b marketers plan to boost their marketing budgets this year, according to BtoB's "2011 Outlook: Marketing Priorities and Plans" survey, released this month.

The CMO's Guide To The Social Media Landscape

Social media marketing is expected to dominate this year -- so much so that 81% of CMOs plan to link their annual revenues to their social media investment, according to a recent survey by The CMO Club and Bazaarvoice. But the growing list of online social media sites makes choosing the right route complicated. From Facebook to YouTube to Digg and beyond, which media outlets will net the most bang for the buck in terms of customer communication, brand exposure, traffic, and SEO?

Improving the quality and quantity of the leads generated and managed by the marketing and sales organizations isn't a simple task in today's multi-touch, multi-channel environment.  This research reviews the best practices that optimize lead management practices throughout the entire lifecycle of the opportunity; from marketing's demand generation campaigns to sales' closing the business.

Automation Drives Accuracy, Efficiency and Business Outcomes

LinkedIn has become the most popular social networking channel for professionals. Here are a few reasons why:

1. It gives you the ability to share your work experience
2. It's easy to make new contacts
3. You can request references from previous employers & colleagues

For these reasons and many others, LinkedIn may be the optimal solution to complement your current lead generation practices.

I’ve been around long enough to reminisce about the birth of some marketing trends (I was doing sales and marketing work before Al Gore invented the internet). Some of these trends became the backbone of many a marketing strategy. Others burst on the scene with a lot of fanfare, and then fizzled.

Aligning People with Business Strategy

Connecting B2C Companies with Generation Y and Z Consumers

Social media is maturing as are the people embracing its most engaging tools and networks. Perhaps most notably, is the maturation of relationships and how we are expanding our horizons when it comes to connecting to one another. What started as the social graph, the network of people we knew and connected to in social networks, is now spawning new branches that resemble how we interact in real life.

By Jerry Rackley

Thanks goes out to Douglas Wray, about whom little is known but who has attained social media cult hero status in my book.  We have not been able to locate Mr. Wray, but a possible photograph of the elusive social media guru does exist: