B2B Blog: Trends In 2011

B2B
Blog Blogging
Trends
in 2011
Authors: Tony Karrer and Tom Pick

Brought to you by

1 B2B Blogging Trends in 2011
Tony Karrer and Tom Pick Copyright 2011 - Aggregage

Letter from tony • What new challenges might exist in 2011
Tom Pick and I have had the good fortune to around B2B blogging?
work together to create two great sites: The
B2B Marketing Zone and Social Media In- We've pulled together these contributions
former. These two sites bring together amaz- and extracted key ideas and trends.
ing content from top sources (mostly bloggers)
in their respective fields. One of the common If your company sells to businesses (B2B),
themes the past few months among bloggers then we believe the information provided by

Tony
participating in these sites has been how 2011 these experts will be very important to you.
is shaping up to be a pivotal year in the world
of B2B blogging. We hope you enjoy this report.

KArrer Because of that, Tom and I decided to bring
together the best thought leaders on B2B blog-
If you find value here, please let your peers
know about the report.
ging to answer some key questions:
• What do you see as key trends in B2B Blog- http://www.aggregage.com/b2b-blogging-2011
ging for 2011?
• If you’ve not started a blog yet, is 2011 the And we certainly welcome your thoughts
year to do so? Why or why not? and ideas.
• Will anything be different in 2011 in mar-
keting your business blog? Tony Karrer
CTO & Founder, Aggregage

Copyright Statement: All content © 2011 by Aggregage - Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Unported, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. (This means you can post this document on your site and share it freely with your friends, but not resell it or use as an incentive for action.)

Tony Karrer and Tom Pick

JAy
summAry BAer
The biggest trend I see for B2B
We’ve extracted the key themes among the responses and identified a few clear blogging next year is increased
trends for 2011. adoption. As more B2B marketers
confront the constant need to fuel
the demands for content, blogging
can give them the edge.

John
B2B BLogging growing sonnhAlTer
As Tom Pick points out:
Blogging has become an
Given the increasing popularity of inbound / content marketing (and the
accepted part of the online media
declining effectiveness of advertising), more companies will start blogs in
2011. And given that less than half of B2B companies currently have blogs,
landscape.
there’s considerable room for growth.
hArry
The data on adoption of blogs is pretty clear: there’s lots of opportunity for more hoover
B2B organizations to adopt blogging. And as you read through these responses, In 2011, we’ll see an increase
the key value propositions of blogging will become more clear. B2B blogging.
That’s why we see folks like Jay Baer saying:
2011 will be the year that the B2B companies widely recognize the eriK
importance of having a viable blog. QuAlmAn
B2B Blogging will catch-up.
Or as Kristin Zhivago puts it:
If you don’t have a corporate blog, you are way behind the curve.


summAry
HigH VaLue from B2B BLogging scoTT
It should be apparent to most organizations that sell B2B that there’s high value gillum
from blogging. Jeff Ogden captures it well: Blogs are vital when customers
search for product information.
Blogging positions the company as a thought leader, an expert. It is
also ideal for search – frequent updates vs. static websites.
sAmir
BAlwAni
Jeff points to thought leadership and search; Yann Ropars cited the same two
elements along with:
Aside from possibly publishing a
book, nothing proves expertise
inbound blogger outreach. better than a strong blog.

All of this is based on larger trends around marketing. Several of the bloggers
John
cited the fact that traditional marketing is becoming less effective. Blake Landau sonnhAlTer
captures this nicely: Blogging is free, lets you
establish your brand and thought
As push marketing becomes less effective - blogs become more leadership.
important.

And the bottom line for B2B blogging is really the bottom line for B2B businesses. Tom
Roxanne Darling points out that there’s a: PicK:
Blogging and PR are natural
direct correlation between blogging and B2B customer acquisition allies.


summAry
chris
BLogs need to Be integrated ABrAhAm:
One of the common themes in responses was the need to think of blogging as an The blog will need to be part of
integrated part of the overall marketing and communications plan for the organi- an integrated marketing and
zation. Tony Zambito tells us that in 2011: communications plan.
B2B organizations will need to not treat blogging as an afterthought
delegated to a remote part of their organization. It will need to be JAy
incorporated into an overall marketing communications plan. BAer:
Social media is more important
The blog is a very important communication channel and is often the hub for so- in B2B than B2C.
cial media activity by B2B organizations. However, as J-P De Clerck points out:

It’s not about the media, the channels, the formats etc. It’s about the Tom
holistic experience. It’s integrated. PicK:
2011 ... Greater integration of
At the same time, a blog should not get too mired in approval cycles. Ideally blog- blogging with other marketing
ging remains the voice of the individuals involved so that it can be seen somewhat activities.
as a part of a mix of communication paths. Maddie Grant sees the mix of blogging
and other communication channels as a very important trend for 2011:

2011 - Key Trend - Better understanding of and mix of official and
unofficial public sites.


summAry
sAmir
opportunity to start B2B BLogging in 2011 BAlwAni
As noted above, fewer than 50% of B2B companies have blogs. There are various Without a doubt, 2011 is the
reasons holding them back and we’ll try to tackle some of them below. One of the year to start a blog.
common questions we hear is: does it still make sense to start a blog? Has the
opportunity passed us by? The common answer from these experts was captured
well by Tony Zambito: ArdATh
AlBee
2011 is a good year to start a blog because there is still room to focus Get moving now.
on specific topics and issues relevant to certain industries.

But there was caution from many of the experts such as Chris Abraham:

Only start blogging if you are going to get it right.

That said, if you follow the advice from these experts, there’s fairly universal agree-
ment that you can find a great opportunity to reach your audience through a blog.


summAry
Tony
B2B BLogging - you need to do it Better ZAmBiTo
One of the key trends emerging from these experts is that— because of the high There will be a weeding out of
value of B2B blogging and because there’s still plenty of room to grow— the overall blogs that cannot offer consistent
trend will be towards more B2B Blogs. But Jay Baer suggests that the trend in 2011 content value.
is an:

Explosion of bad B2B Blogs ArdATh
AlBee
So, if you have a B2B Blog or are starting a B2B Blog, Erik Goldman tells us you: Don’t be me-too.
Have to be good to get above noise.
cece
How do you get above the noise and differentiate yourself? There are lots of great lee
answers to that question provided by the experts in their responses. Several 2011 - Move from broadcasting
experts cited the need to start by listening and engaging first, then blogging after to insights and commentary.
you’ve done that:

1. Need to listen first.
erik QuaLman

2. Social Monitoring is important.
eric goLdman

Of course, you need to be highly focused on your audience, their interests and
needs, and how you can provide value to them.

1. Blogs need to be customer focused.
kristin ZHiVago


summAry
2. Focus on narrow audience. J-P de
Harry HooVer clercK
Move from Monologues to
3. B to B marketers to be successful in the world of blogging,you must Dialogues.
be focused on your target market.
JoHn sonnHaLter

And you need to recognize that it’s a conversation, not a one-way broadcast:

4. More personalized interaction.
Jeff korHan

5. Move from Monologues to Dialogues
J-p de cLerck

6. The challenge to this is in finding blog contributors who understand
conversational marketing and customer service.
roxanne darLing

A few other recommendations that jumped out:

7. Story-telling is important.
BLake Landau

8. Companies need to move to blogs that have the face of an employee
rather than of the brand.
BLake Landau


summAry
ardatH
9. Commercialization of blogs may make them less credible. aLBee
scott giLLum Short is good.

curation
Several of the experts note that one of the primary challenges for blogging is the
effort involved in content creation on a regular basis. One of the clear trends of
2011 is the importance of curation - finding and filtering content that will be inter-
esting to your audience. Bloggers don’t necessarily need to produce vast quantities
of original content so much as they need to collect together the best from thought
leaders. Yann Ropars captures it this way:

Blogging allows brands to cut through the social media clutter and
this will become increasingly important as 2011 is often cited as the
year of ‘curation’.

What does this mean in practice? Well, you’re looking at one example of curation
right now. This white paper collects the thoughts of these experts.


F
irst, given the increasing popularity of also help with blog SEO by providing text
inbound / content marketing (and the links back to specific, supplemental blog
declining effectiveness of advertis- posts. And why not write press releases a
ing), more companies will start blogs bit more like blog posts; make them actu-

Tom
in 2011. And given that less ally informative rather than just announce-
than half of B2B companies cur- ments about your new product or customer?
rently have blogs, there’s con- Finally, blasting your press releases out to

PicK siderable room for growth.
But that’s obvious and not
the most interesting trend.
Blogging
and PR are
other bloggers is annoying and largely inef-
fective—but offering to write a guest post for
an influential blogger in your industry can
About the author
natural
What’s more interesting will allies. be a win-win for both parties.
Tom Pick (@TomPick) is an
be the trend toward greater Blogging and email marketing also work
online marketing executive with KC
Associates, a marketing and PR
integration of blogging with well together. I’m surprised when I hear
firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, other marketing activities. The most obvious marketers tell me they don’t have time to
focused on B2B technology clients. integration is with social media (e.g., pro- maintain a company blog—but they do
He’s also the award-winning writer moting blog posts through Twitter, LinkedIn, regularly publish an email newsletter. If you
of the Webbiquity blog, which Facebook and social bookmarking sites), only have time for one, a blog
focuses on B2B lead generation and and the majority of business bloggers al- is easier to maintain. And
Web presence optimization -- the ready get that. The more untapped integra- if you have time for both, a
fusion of SEO, search marketing,
tion points, and those that will increase in blog can serve as the natural
social media, content marketing A blog can
usage in 2011, are PR and email. repository for newsletter con-
and interactive PR. serve as
tent. Blogs and newsletters the natural
BlOGGING AND PR ARE NATuRAl AllIES; both can also be used for cross- reposi-
Blog: http://www.webbiquity.com
are focused more on brand-building, im- promotion, increasing the tory for
Twitter: @TomPick
age enhancement and influence building audience for both. newsletter
than direct selling. It would be poor form content.
to simply republish a press release in a blog
post, but there’s nothing wrong with linking
to one where appropriate. Press releases can


wHat do you see as key trends in ging is become a new form of brand identity
B2B BLogging for 2011?

i
for B2B companies and not having such a
believe that B2B blogging will become presence can be a competitive disadvantage.
more refined and specialized. This in

Tony
response to B2B buyers seeking more wHat new cHaLLenges migHt exist
informative content that in 2011 around B2B BLogging?
helps them to make deci- The challenge will be in the proliferation of

ZAmBiTo sions respective to strategies
and addressing challenging
issues. In general, there will
There
blogs over the past two years. The question of
how to stand out from the literally thousands
and thousands of blogs is a very significant
ABouT The AuThor will be a
be a weeding out of blogs that challenge. Offering consistent high value
Tony Zambito. Founder and
weeding
cannot offer consistent con- out of content will be challenging since it takes time,
Principal of Goal Centric, a
tent value directly related to blogs that resources, and intense work to keep a blog up
customer and buyer strategy firm
their initiatives and business cannot in my opinion. B2B organi-
based on a goal-centered approach
to buyer experience innovation.
problems. offer zations will need to not treat
Goal Centric is also the originator of If you’ve not started a blog consistent blogging as an afterthought
the buyer persona methodology yet, is 2011 the year to do so? content delegated to a remote part Tightly
and Tony is the author of the ebook Why or why not? value. of their organization. It will integrate
10 Rules for Buyer Persona 2011 is a good year to start need to be incorporated into blogging
Development. He has served as a a blog because there is still room to focus on an overall marketing commu- with
member of senior management
specific topics and issues relevant to certain nications plan. website
teams with TRW, Knight-Ridder,
and Compaq where he worked with
industries. If your business and expertise can presence.
add value in your specific industries, it is a
many of today’s leading Fortune 100
companies.
good time.

Blog: http://www.thebuyerexperience.com
wiLL anytHing Be different in 2011
in marketing your Business BLog?
Twitter: @TonyZambito Yes, more effort will be made to tightly inte-
grate blogging with website presence. Blog-


B
logging positions the company as a
thought leader, an expert. It is also
ideal for search – frequent updates vs.
static websites. Figuring out how to

JeFF deliver on those goals will be huge in 2011.
Start blogging in 2011? It’s easy and almost

ogden
free. Why not? But some of us are not great
writers.
Make sure you don’t forget about: Contact-
ing other related bloggers, using social net-
ABouT The AuThor works, harnessing partners,
I’m known as the Fearless
it all changes.
Competitor, an expert in B2B
What new challenges
marketing and lead generation.
might exist in 2011 around
Make sure B2B blogging?
Blog: http://fearlesscompetitor.net you don’t Do you use more video?
forget Shorter blog articles? How
Twitter: @fearlesscomp about: can you get more comments
Contacting and sharing?
other
related
bloggers.


key trends in B2B BLogging in 2011

2011
can see them. The more
may be the year subscribers you generate, the
when B2B compa- more your blog becomes a Make sure
nies finally realize way to nurture and cultivate it’s easy for
someone to
howArd
blogs are more potential customers.
than just a PR vehicle for propagating so- subscribe
called thought leadership. Specifically, smart to the blog.

sewell B2B marketers will wake up to the fact that
blogs can also be prime sources of a) search
traffic, and b) net new sales leads. Here are 3
ABouT The AuThor key principles we preach to our blog clients:
howard J. sewell is President 1. Title blog posts with Google search results
of Spear Marketing Group, a
in mind. Ask yourself – if someone saw the
full-service B2B marketing agency,
title of this post and nothing
and a 20-year B2B marketing
veteran. He writes on demand
more, would he/she want to
generation, direct marketing, and read more?
lead management at his blog, The Title blog 2. Forego standard, out-of-
Point (www.spearmarketing.com/ posts with the-box sidebar widgets like
blog).
Google tag clouds and “categories” in
search favor of content that actually
Blog: http://www.spearmarketing.com/blog results in gets people to engage with
mind. your company – for example,
Twitter: @HJSewell links to gated content like
white papers and archived webinars, labeled
as “additional resources.”
3. For pete’s sake, make sure it’s easy for
someone to subscribe to the blog. Provide
options for RSS, Twitter, and email and place
them prominently where the casual visitor


B
logs can be a very important part of become an accepted part of the online media
your social media strategy. I use it as landscape and blogging is easy to do.
the hub of all other “Trends in blog reading are expected to
activity and get more maintain an upward course as blogs continue

John
hits to it than our website. It’s to gain influence in mainstream media,” said
never too late to start blog- Paul Verna, a senior analyst with eMarketing
ging. If you’re thinking about The oppor- and author of “The Blogosphere: Colliding with

sonnhAlTer doing a blog, here are a few
things to consider first, both
pros and cons.
tunity for
you to build
thought
Social and Mainstream Media.”
B to B marketers to be suc-
cessful in the world of blog-
ABouT The AuThor leader-
• Pros-it’s free, lets you
ship and
ging, you must be focused You must
John sonnhalter is the founder
of Sonnhalter a marketing
establish your brand
branding
on your target market. A consist-
communications firm that
and thought leadership
is better
blog should be central to ently
• Cons-Time consum- your company’s social media feed your
specializes in reaching professional served by
tradesmen in the
ing, anything you put
blogs. strategy for new business. inbound
Construction,Industrial and MRO out there will be there What fuels the engine to this marketing
markets. He can be reached at forever. strategy is good content. You machine
jsonnhalter@sonnhalter.com and must consistently feed your with rich
his blog is www.tradesmeninsights. Blogs are still a very effective way of reach- inbound marketing machine content.
com ing an audience, especially if you’re in a with rich content or you will
niche market. While it may be true that social see a slow-down in traffic, search engine
Blog: http://www.tradesmeninsights.com networks and microblogs have outpaced the results and prospective client leads.
traditional blog, the opportunity for you to
Twitter: @johnsonnhalter build thought leadership and branding is bet- Here are my 6 tips to Be more
ter served by blogs. effectiVe witH your BLogging:
More than 50% of web users will read blogs To be successful, you need to write a lot.
this year. According to eMarketer, by 2014, 150 1 The more posts you add to your blog, the
million Americans, or 60% of the population more traffic you’ll get. The more content can
of the U.S., will be reading blogs. Blogging has also fuel repurposing content through other


John
sonnhAlTer
social media platforms such as Twitter, Face-
book and LinkedIn. No content = no fuel = no use your writing to learn. When I first
traffic = no new business leads. 5 started blogging, I was reminded of the
old saying, “you don’t know what you know
Be consistent. To keep writing, I visual- until you write it down.” It’s true. Writing
2 ize someone walking to the end of their strategizes and invigorates my learning. It can
driveway to pick up the morning paper, only get me ahead of the learning curve and pro-
to discover there’s nothing there. That helps vide me with a system to stay there.
me to stay motivated to write 2 to 3 posts per Keep focused. If your blog is broad, you
week. My readers know what to expect. I want 6 will not generate any significant traffic.
to give them a reason to consistently come Narrow your focus. Think narrow and deep
back. rather than wide and shallow. Know who you
are writing to, what you are writing about,
write concisely. People are busy. They know the categories you will be writing to,
3 need your content to be easy to digest. the key words that you want to dominate for
Provide them with the Readers Digest version. search.
Make your content easy to scan, provide bul-
let points and numbered lists. People will be
much more interested in what you have to say
if you don’t try and fluff it up.

use your analytics. Know what your read-
4 ers care about and what they respond
to. It will help you to connect with your audi-
ence. They’re the judge and jury of whether
your content is relevant or not. I know daily
where my readers are coming from, what post
titles and content generates the most traffic
and what search terms they are using.


r
ecent data show that Fortune 500 far easier for customers to find you, get
companies are joining Twitter (35%) to know your company, its products and
at a faster rate than are adopting blog- services, and pre-sell themselves on the
ging (22%). (Source: The Center for spot, 24/7.

roxAnne
Marketing Research at UMass Dartmouth;
http://www1.umassd.edu/cmr/ • The challenge to this is in finding blog
studiesresearch/2010f500.cfm) contributors who understand conversa-

dArling I would suggest that compa-
nies beef up on the blogging
as there are numerous ben-
Direct
tional marketing and customer service.
I find having an editor with an editorial
calendar is a great tool for keeping the
ABouT The AuThor correlation
efits derived from blogs that voices engaged and consistently deliver-
roxanne darling loves to travel,
between
outweigh the use of Twitter in blogging ing robust content.
speak in public, paddle the
my opinion. and B2B
6-person outrigger canoe, and is
• Data from Hubspot.com customer • Your blog is your home
trying to give up working really long
hours. She walks the line between
show a direct correlation acquisi- base - where you can post
technology and communication between blogging and B2B tion. breaking news, interact
with a ballerina’s balance and has a customer acquisition. The with your customers, col- Your blog
way of inspiring even luddites to try more you blog, the greater lect feedback, and share is your
new things online. Please let it be the likelihood of acquiring customers via details of social marketing home
known though, perhaps as a online marketing, such that blogging 2-3 campaigns, etc. base.
graduate of uC Berkeley, she is not
times a week generates an average 69% in-
a bystander or interested in the
crease in new customers. (Source: http:// • The best blogs increasingly feature in-
status quo! She was voted #24 of
www.hubspot.com/Portals/53/docs/resell- teractivity (join the email list, add com-
the 50 Most Powerful & Influential
Women in Social Media.
ers/reports/state_of_inbound_marketing. ments) and rich media (streaming Twit-
pdf) ter messages, YouTube videos, live video
streams of featured events, photo groups
Blog: http://www.barefeetstudios.com
• The more you blog, and include your top from your vendors, customers, and staff)
Twitter: @roxannedarling keywords and case studies, the higher and much more.
you perform on search results, making it


roxAnne
dArling
• All of this media-making and interactivity
enhances conversations with custom-
ers and builds your blog site as the most
trusted destination for information and
testimonials about your products and
services.

Although blogging has become mainstream
in selected tech-centric communities, there
remains a considerable growth opportunity
in most vertical markets. With only one in
four Fortune 500 companies currently blog-
ging, you can still be the first in your sector
to use blogging to grow your business and
strengthen your customer relationships.


key trends for 2011:

i
together a blog and skimp on design and
see 2011 being the year businesses really content. For proof, simply compare sites from
embrace blogs and realize that regard- before to what sites are now.
less of the industry, blogging gives you All in all, it’s more difficult to be success-

sAmir
an advantage that you shouldn’t forego. ful online now than it was before. That being
Aside from possibly publishing a book, noth- said, with hard work and dedication, busi-
ing proves expertise better than a strong blog. nesses can still make their blogs work for

BAlwAni Blogs give others the ability to peer into the
business mentality, culture, and mission.
them; it simply takes more sophistication and
forethought compared to before.

ABouT The AuThor starting a BLog in 2011:
samir Balwani is a digital
Without a doubt, 2011 is the year to start a
marketing strategist, helping
blog. Online, early adopters are given an ad-
businesses create holistic
vantage over those that delay.
marketing solutions. His areas of
expertise include digital
The longer a blog is around, the more posts
communications, online marketing, it accrues. The more pub-
and new media pr. lished content a blog has, the
more traffic it generates and
Blog: http://samirbalwani.com/ more authority it commands. If your
If your business doesn’t have business
Twitter: @samirbalwani a blog and isn’t publishing doesn’t
content, every day is a missed have a blog
opportunity. and isn’t
publishing
cHaLLenges in 2011: content,
One of the biggest challenges every day
to businesses online is that is a missed
users are becoming savvier. opportu-
Before, businesses could put nity.


corporate BLogging in 2011: options. Blogs are communication channels,
ineVitaBLe cHanges

s
even if very few people sometimes actually
ome people think that blogging is a respond to the posts. There are much larger
thing of the past. And that corporate communities of readers, visitors and ‘fans’

J-P de
blogs are ubiquitous. surrounding good blogs than the ones that
Wrong. Even though are visible. And even reading about your
we have been discussing the company’s story, about what you know and

clercK importance of blogs for many
years and all the changes in
the area of social media and
Dialogue is
more per-
about the people behind the company walls
is a form of dialogue. This is taken up a notch
by, for example, giving comments, register-
ABouT The AuThor
sonal and
mobile have placed the sub- can lead to ing for the blog newsletter, subscribing to
J-P de clerck is an experienced
ject in a forgotten corner, correlation- the RSS feeds, following the Twitter account
international blogger and marketing
porate blogs are anything but ships and and much more. From that moment on, the
consultant. He is specialized in
widely distributed, as proven ultimately dialogue is more personal and
content marketing, cross-channel
marketing (email, social,
by various studies conducted business. can lead to relationships and
search,...), conversion in 2010. So, what are my pre- ultimately business.
optimization, online media and the dictions for 2011? Blogging
multi-channel use of content from
an integrated, customer-centric more companies wiLL BLog:
5 reasons
2. Blogs are ‘hubs’ in the often is the
complex ‘hub and spoke’ first step
and data-driven perspective. You model of social media. The towards
can connect with him via Twitter.
I believe that companies will blog much more term ‘hub and spoke’ is used using
J-P is also manager of the Social
Marketing Forum.
in 2011. There are various reasons for this. amongst others in aviation social
and is a star-shaped model media.
Blog: http://www.socialmarketingforum.net/
author/conversionation/
1. Parallel with the increased use of social
media, even in B2B, there is a need for
other forms of dialogues between compa-
whereby a central hub con-
trols various star points and the star points
lead back to the ‘hub’ In social media the
.
Twitter: @conversionation nies and (potential) clients. Or should I say: model is more complex because there may be
between people working for the blogging various hubs and the various star points (so-
company and other people. Blogs offer many cial presences used by a company for exam-


J-P de
clercK
ple) form a part of connected networks. Blogs important role. With the rise of social func- the various ‘target groups’ that you want to
play a centrifugal role in the distribution of tions in search engines and the increased talk with and that the people producing this
content and the establishment of social in- importance of content in the “findability” of content and responding to content of oth-
teractions which, in turn, lead to interaction- a company, blogs are invaluable for content ers, come out and are treated as real human
triggered, user-generated or conversation- marketing, search engine marketing and beings of flesh and blood, not “labels” Blogs
.
induced content and stories. Blogs are the ‘inbound marketing’ just about all forms used
, allow a more personal communication ap-
websites of the social and viral Web. Compa- by people to find what they are searching for proach.
nies are starting to realize this. and thus get to know your content, stories,
blog posts and company. four cHanges tHat wiLL occur
3. A brand and company is strongly in-
fluenced by people, experiences and
stories. This has always been the case, it is 5.
People are genuinely tired of the stiff
corporate language and the dull tone
witH BLogging companies
For companies that blog actively, there are
also many challenges and changes ahead for
simply more obvious now. Companies are of classic corporate communication. Why? 2011.
advised to “let go” of their brand more. And
rightly so. Very few experts, however, also
actually recommend how to do this in prac-
Because it is not actually communication.
The word communication comes from the
same linguistic stem as “community” and
1. Blogs should and will be much more
integrated in a multi-channel approach.
Interactions have to be realized between
“(in) common.” Communication takes place
tice. A company blog is a very important step various channels depending on the commu-
for many companies. And for a lot of them it between at least two people. nication and information preferences of the
is also a very difficult step. But it’s impossible And many companies had reader/visitor. The days in which blogs were
to stop the evolution towards more empow- forgotten that. By personal- independent from other channels are finally
ered customers and that is exactly why more izing the language, the inter- over. The content placed on the blog and
Blogs
companies will blog. In my experience (and action and the topics, com- produced by the community will be included
should
and will be panies are able to win back
that of many others) blogging often is the first more in other communication channels and,
step towards using social media. much more lost faith. Authenticity and in return, people will have more possibilities
integrated transparency are very impor- for a customized “blog experience” and this

4. People are much more actively searching in a multi-
for information in preparation to their channel
tant. But this is only the basis.
Much more important is that
via the channels of their choice.

purchases. ‘Content’ search engines, social
,
recommendations and comments play an
approach. the ‘content’ of the com-
munication is customized to 2. Companies will start increasingly more
blogs, besides the blogs they already


J-P de
clercK
have, and let go of their own brand. They will for their readers and customers. I would even zating and keeping the stories alive become
focus more on the themes that interest their go as far as to recommend companies, in much more important.
various target groups and are related to their
activities. The “one size fits all” corporate blog
is no longer good enough. Blogs should first
the ambit of ‘co-opetition’ (the title of a great
book), to start thematic blogs containing
content of “colleagues” Companies have to
.
5. Companies should and will let go of
their company- and even thoughtleader-
centric and narcissistic blogging models.
of all aim at nurturing interest-based com- be more open for other parties and cooperate Don’t (only) think of blogs as PR-instruments.
munities to enter them into the influence closely in their blogs. Nor should you think of them as a means to
sphere of the blogging company, without its indicate just how good and smart you are.
brand(s) being too prominent. It’s not shout-
ing but of course businesses can show what
they offer and stand for. Doing this, blogs
4.
Companies should think of their blogs
as publications. Which also refers to
setting up editorial calendars, transpar-
You should even think of them less as SEO
optimization tools. Think more of them as
channels for dialogues and concentrate on
will also become “spokes” and networks will ent planning and thematic or other series. what the people that are visiting them want.
become at the same time more complex and A blog is not something on which you oc- The rest will simply follow. The only thing
more relevant, with all hubs reinforcing each casionally post something. The community you should do is to be ready when someone
other, the brand and the offered value. around your blog has expectations, as is the wants to do more than simply visit your blog:
case with any other medium. Focus on the so prepare the necessary “lead generation”

3. Guest blogs will become more impor-
tant, and the “opening up” of corporate
blogs for other blogs and bloggers in general
expectations; provide subjects and series
that people look forward to.
Follow the multi-media path
instruments for when the reader is ready for
more.

is essential. Content curation and aggregation more and turn your blogs
models will also become more important. into full fledged interactive
Content
Companies have to optimize the value of media. By setting up editorial
curation
their blogs and offer the content in various calendars in function of what
and ag-
ways. Just as private bloggers, they need to is going on in the market and
gregation
tap more into the network effects of a con- models will events taking place during
nected blogosphere. Many companies don’t also be- specific periods in the life
allow guest bloggers, don’t provide links to come more cycle of your target group, the
other blogs or include neutral observations important. value of your blog increases
from third-party bloggers, that are of value even more. Planning, organi-


driVe tHe conVersation ments empowers B2B marketers to drive the
witH B2B BLogging

w
conversation in a 24/7 news cycle, especially

cece
hile more and more corpora- when competitors remain silent.
tions have started a blog this The challenges? How to curate the corpo-
past year, we have not fully rate blog content and leverage it across the

sAlomon-lee realized the full potential of B2B
Blogging to drive marketing and PR objec-
tives forward. I envision 2011 to be the year
B2B marketing channels. And
how to balance the business
objectives of the blog with the
transparency, honesty and con-
ABouT The AuThor when marketers move from “broadcasting” a publish- versation that organically grows
cece salomon-lee is principal of
company-related news into a publishing ing plat- around any successful blog.
PR Meets Marketing, which
platform to provide insight and commentary form to
explores the intersection of PR,
on industry news. provide
marketing, and social media.
This ability to provide real-time analysis of insight
industry trends and competitor announce- and com-
Blog: www.prmeetsmarketing.com
mentary
on industry
Twitter: @csalomonlee
news.


w
elcome to the era of “content content. Provide an appetizer (catchy title,
snacking” Attention span is di-
. meaty summary) before inviting your reader
minishing and as a result con- to the full-course meal.
tent consumption is changing.

AmBAl
Notice how we consume content as continu-
ous feeds - blog posts, twitter updates, short

BAlAKrishnAn
podcasts, 2 minute videos etc? Respect
Information overload is an understatement. your target
Multitasking cannot be avoided. Attention is audience’s
at an all-time premium. This can be a major time.
ABouT The AuThor problem for B2B bloggers and marketers OR
Ambal Balakrishnan is the Co-founder of
it can be an opportunity for those who chose
ClickDocuments. She is a technologist-
to look at it from a different perspective, the
turned-marketer. Ambal spent about a decade
“content snacking” perspective.
in the Corporate world in various roles –
engineering, program management, business
What if we B2B bloggers and marketers pre-
development, strategy and marketing for package content with a brief summary? This
premium and fast growing product divisions will allow your target audience (blog reader,
at fortune 500 companies. Ambal received her potential client or customer)
MBA from Wharton, univ. of Penn and Masters to get a flavor of the content
in Computer Science from Purdue university. before digging deeper to
Attention finding out more.
Blog: http://clickdocuments.com
span is Example: Story Highlights

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Ambal
diminishing (3-4 bullet points) for CNN.
and as com articles.
a result
content
consumption action for 2010:
is changing. Respect your target audi-
ence’s time. Minimize your


key trends in B2B BLogging
for 2011

m
arketers will seek more personal-
ized interaction with consumers The
influence
JeFF
in 2011. Creative methods of social
marketing that encourage engage- of social
ment will become the norm – along with a
search

KorhAn noticeable decrease in traditional brand mar-
keting. This will be reflected in the content
and voice of business blogs.
will have a
profound
effect on
ABouT The AuThor all aspects
The influence of social search will have
Jeff Korhan is a new media and of social
a profound effect on all aspects of social
small business marketing speaker marketing.
marketing. As more companies begin to
and trainer, a frequent guest
understand how social interaction and shar-
blogger, and a social media
columnist. He applies over three
ing works to create contextual maps that
decades of marketing experience to personalize their brands, they will intensify
helping entrepreneurs and small their blogging efforts to create and curate that
business owners capitalize on content.
emerging Web marketing trends.

Blog: http://jeffkorhan.com

Twitter: @jeffkorhan


T
he biggest trend I see for B2B blog-
if you’Ve not started a BLog yet,
ging next year is increased adoption.
is 2011 tHe year to do so? wHy or
As more B2B marketers confront the
wHy not?
constant need to fuel the demands for If you haven’t started a corporate blog, get

ArdATh
content, blogging can give them the edge. A moving now. As David Meerman Scott coach-
blog post can be very comes us, marketing is a real-time endeavor. With
pelling with only about 350 a blog, you can respond quickly to a market

AlBee words on a tightly focused
topic. Your posts can be
shared on social networks to
A blog
trend or business development. We all know
that prospects prefer to self-serve their con-
tent. If updating your corporate website is a
ABouT The AuThor post can
pull inbound traffic, help to timely undertaking, you need to have a way to
Ardath Albee, CEO of her firm
be very
boost search engine results compelling publish content quickly and a blog provides
Marketing Interactions, Inc., helps
and promote interactive with only the platform for doing so.
B2B companies with complex sales
dialogue. Blog posts can also about 350 Prospects also want value in
create eMarketing strategies and
contagious content that turns
be used in nurturing pro- words on addition to products. To give
prospects into buyers. She writes grams, eNewsletters and to a tightly your company a competitive
the Marketing Interactions blog and earn media mentions. With focused advantage, get your expertise If you
her book, eMarketing Strategies for prospects short on time, a topic. onto a blog and let it shine. haven’t
the Complex Sale, was released last quick 2-minute read can often The other advantage to a blog started a
fall by McGraw-Hill. Ardath’s clients produce the engagement you need to spike is that no heavy production is corporate
include, Cisco, FPX, Avid
their interest to learn more from you and your required. Type, save and pub- blog, get
Technology, Tyco Electronics and
BMC Software.
company. The challenge, of course, is the lish. Yes, it’s that fast. Blogs, moving
discipline of writing. Writing short and doing done well, can provide your now.
it well is a skill that B2B marketers need to company with a competitive
Blog: http://marketinginteractions.typepad.com/
acquire and polish. advantage. The only reason I can think of
not to have a blog is if you can’t dedicate the
Twitter: @ardath421
resources to keep it current. There’s nothing
worse than a stagnant blog. This said, if you
weigh the pros and cons, I think you’ll find a


ArdATh
AlBee
compelling case for making a blog an integral
part of your B2B marketing mix.

wHat new cHaLLenges migHt exist
in 2011 around B2B BLogging?
The challenge for blogging in 2011 will be
fresh ideas. With the avalanche of available
information, there is a lot of “me too” infor-
mation out there. B2B marketers need to
continually source ideas differently than their
prospects will find elsewhere. And that will
raise the level of difficulty for many. Other-
wise your blog will be seen as contributing to
the noise, rather than a desirable destination
for fresh and credible expertise. Be dry, stuffy
and repetitive at the risk of losing your audi-
ence. Instead, challenge yourself to come up
with new takes on the issues that interest your
prospects and customers. The ultimate chal-
lenge with blogging is making it more than an
item on your marketing “to do” list.


key trends for 2011: start BLogging in 2011:
Start Now!

1 More and more blogs
will appear (about 1.5
million blog posts are Syndicated A A Blog allows you to communicate to the
Internet at large newsworthy items con-
published a week already). content will
eric
cerning your company.
I believe the social me- continue as a
rapid growth

goldmAn
dia monitoring tools like
Radian6 and Sysomos will
thus need to become even
area. B A blog is also a great way to boost your
rankings on Search Engine Results Pages,
or SERPs. When you write a post, you can use
smarter at sifting through this sea of posts to your keywords in it and each occurrence of
ABouT The AuThor find ones that are relevant to your own “con- these words helps to boost your site’s author-
eric goldman is the CEO of
versation” . ity in the search engine’s eyes.
Gossamar, one of Canada’s leading

2 c
Inbound Marketing Automation
Posts individually have to get better. Inbound Marketing Automation relies on
consultants. We bring 60 years of
business to business experience to
Aiming for visibility above all those posts using the content on your site to engage
bear on providing Marketing, means your own posts have to be factual, visitors once they arrive. Blogs are an im-
Software Development and Sales provide real information (value), and above portant part of this con-
and Marketing Automation Process all, be entertaining. tent, as blogs allow you to
design for SMBs. demonstrate your thought-

Blog: http://www.inbound-marketing-automation.ca/blog 3 Syndicated content will continue as a
rapid growth area. As more and more
people learn something about SEO and the
leadership clearly. If you
successfully demonstrate
leadership in this way, your
Blogs allow
you to
Twitter: @gossamar
demonstrate
importance of external links to your own blog’s readership will grow
your
site, I believe more people will embrace the and with it your reputation thought-
concept of sharing their posts to gain the ad- as a leader, which in turn leadership
ditional links. will attract yet more readers,
and so it goes…


2011
will be the year will be that many new B2B
that the B2B blogs will not have content
companies widely quality, publication fre-
recognize the quency, personal touch, SEO An
aptitude, or any other compo- explosion
JAy
importance of having a viable blog. Social
media and online content creation is actu- nent of success. If there is an of bad B2B
ally more important for B2B companies than explosion of B2B blogs - and blogs.

BAer it is for B2C companies. That’s because B2B
usually has fewer customers (magnifying the
peer influence of each); B2B is often a highly
I believe there will be - there
will also be an explosion of bad B2B blogs.
This is because a blog is much more of a liv-
ABouT The AuThor considered, researched purchase; and B2B ing organism than is a website. It has to be
Jay Baer is a tequila-loving,
often relies more on search watered and pruned and cared for consist-
hype-free social media strategist.
- which blogging impacts ently. And many B2B companies won’t put in
He’s the founder of Convince &
significantly. that level of effort - yet.
Convert, a leading social media
strategy firm, and author of the
B2B companies will
popular Convince & Convert blog. Social recognize that blogging is
His first book, The NOW Revolution media a relatively easy an inex-
(co-authored with Amber Naslund) and online pensive way to accomplish
will be released February 1. content three important communi-
creation cation task: humanize the
Blog: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/ is actually company to drive kinship
more and purchase preference;
Twitter: @jaybaer important answer questions among
for B2B prospective customers (in-
companies creasing conversion rate);
than it is and widening the cus-
for B2C tomer funnel through better
companies. search optimization.
The challenge, however,


s
ocial media and blogging use by B2B SafeNet employee Holger
isn’t as prevalent as B2C today, but Schultze, this group on
it will catch-up. It’s similar to how LinkedIn connected over
Google played out for B2B. Many 67,000 people interested in The first
discussing cloud computing, step is to
eriK
thought there would be special search verti-
cals for B2B and that Google was a pure B2C data protection, encryption, listen.
play, but what we saw instead was delay of hacking with other people in

QuAlmAn 1-2 years before B2B realized they could use
Google in a similar fashion as B2C compa-
nies.
the industry. SafeNet cultivated relationships
and eventual business from this group.
Vocus is an On-Demand Software for
ABouT The AuThor Public Relations addressing the critical func-
erik Qualman is the author of
two Quick exampLes of companies tions of PR including media relations, news
Socialnomics: How social media
transforms the way we live and do
utiLiZing BLogging and sociaL me- distribution and news monitoring. Vocus
business. dia to capture saLes: achieved $500,000 in new sales by blogging
He is an MBA Professor at the Hult
SafeNet is the third largest information se- and posting about changes in the Public Rela-
International Business School. For curity company in the world, which brings tions industry. What they found to work bet-
the past 16 years Qualman has to market integrated so- ter than their own blog posts, was highlight-
helped grow the digital capabilities lutions required to solve ing relevant post by others around the public
of many companies including customers’ increasing relations industry.
Cadillac, Earthlink, EF Education, security challenges. The The first step is to listen. All B2B compa-
Yahoo, Travelzoo and AT&T.
What they
organization serves more found to nies should start monitoring what is being
than 25,000 corporate and work better said about their company, brand, executives,
Blog: http://socialnomics.net/ government customers than their etc. If there isn’t much being said about the

Twitter: @equalman
in 100 countries. SafeNet own blog company then one needs to listen to your
garnered $1,000,000 in posts, was customer’s customer. For example, if you sell
revenue by setting up a highlighting coffee sleeves or coffee stirs to Dunkin’ Do-
group on LinkedIn called relevant nuts, then start monitoring for any customers
“Information Security post by complaining about these at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Community.” Managed by others


i
n 2011, we’ll see an audiences. Large companies may find that
increase in the number B2B blogging is not a strategic fit for a corpo-
of B2B blogs, particu- rate wide blog, but does work for certain lines
larly among Inc. 500 and B2B blogging of business, or for specific audiences. For ex-
has proven
hArry
Fortune 500 companies. A ample, Bank of America has a
pair of studies by the Center to be a thriving blog aimed at its own
for Marketing Research at worthy retail level employees, but has

hoover the University of Massachu- tactic, so
setts Dartmouth has taken
a look at these groups and
we’ll see
continued
no active, public facing blog.
focused
on narrow
ABouT The AuThor their blogging habits. Since
acceptance, audiences.
harry hoover is co-owner of My
2007, there has been steady
Creative Team, a North Carolina
growth in the percentage of
marketing agency thatdevelops and
these companies blogging.
designs websites and online
applications, produces corporate
At the end of 2009, 45% of Inc. 500 compa-
videos, and does print and nies were blogging. In 2010, 23% of Fortune
packaging design for Fortune 500 500 corporations report having blogs. Rapidly
firms such as lowe’s, Newell growing firms, like the Inc. 500, look for ways
Rubbermaid, Nucor, and National to stay ahead of the competition, so they tend
Gypsum. He has been B2B blogging to adopt new technology and tactics quicker.
since 2005, at THINKing, http://
That will continue.
my-creativeteam.com/blog.
Fortune 500 companies don’t like to be
pioneers, trying things that may not work for
Blog: http://my-creativeteam.com/blog
them. B2B blogging has proven to be a worthy
tactic, so we’ll see continued acceptance, but
Twitter: @MyCreativeTeam
probably not explosive growth, among larger
firms this year.
Much of the B2B blogging at the Fortune
500 firms, I believe, will be focused on narrow


B2B Blog: Trends In 2011

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Similaire à B2B Blog: Trends In 2011

Similaire à B2B Blog: Trends In 2011 (20)

Plus de Heuvel Marketing

Plus de Heuvel Marketing (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

B2B Blog: Trends In 2011