Tap Blogging

Are you ready for World Backup Day? For World Backup Day we want to explore the importance of backing up not only your business’ data, but why B2B marketers should always have a backup plan B — and preferably also a plan C and D — at the ready. “ Don’t be an April Fool. Be prepared. Back up your files on March 31st ,” the World Backup Day website admonishes for the annual day celebrating the importance of backups, which falls just ahead of April Fool’s Day. I remember the first backup I made 37 years ago, when I decided that my heavily-modified BASIC code for the 300-baud computer bulletin board system (BBS) I operated needed to be safely duplicated, in case anything ever happened to the single copy in existence. On that day in 1984 I had to borrow a second Commodore 1541 5.25" floppy disk drive to backup my BBS program and the data my callers left in the form of public and private text messages — the precursor to modern email. I still vividly recall the sense of reassurance I ...

It’s never impressive to hear someone say they have a podcast. Making a podcast is easy! I have one that’s nearly a decade old and 400 episodes strong.  The hard part is getting people to listen. My personal podcast has maybe 200 monthly listeners and brings in just enough in donations to pay for our web host. And at that, we have 198 more listeners than a lot of podcasts out there.  The barrier to entry is low… but if you’re a B2B brand looking to engage with potential buyers, you’re going to want to aim higher. How do you make a B2B podcast that actually gets listened to? One that inspires people to subscribe and tell their friends about it?  It’s simple: 1) Use everything you know about content marketing to create and promote it, and  2) Make sure it’s polished, professional, unique and engaging So simple!  Here’s how to make a B2B podcast that rises above the noise. B2B Podcasting Tips for Creation, Promotion and Beyond It’s tempting to jump into...

The post Brandfluence – Why Growing Executive Influence is Essential for B2B Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank® . from B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank® https://ift.tt/31qRLTV

Instagram Announces That Stories Drafts are Coming Soon Facebook-owned Instagram will roll out a new scheduling option that will provide a helpful change for digital marketers who are using the native Instagram Stories interface, the firm recently announed. Social Media Today B2B Highlights From "The CMO Survey" 51.3 percent of B2B marketers said they were more optimistic in January 2021 than during the fourth quarter of 2020, while 77 percent said it isn't appropriate for their brand to take a stance on politically-charged issues — two of numerous findings of interest to digital marketers in new CMO survey data. B2B Marketing Directions Study: Ad overload could pose steeper risk to brands than messages near inappropriate content Some 52 percent of U.S. consumers say that they see overexposure to ads as the top cause of negative brand perceptions, especially those that were seen as distracting or otherwise intrusive, according to newly-released survey data. Marketi...

Why is it important to find the right B2B influencers? Are there right and wrong ways to approach the process of choosing the best B2B influencers? The crucial task of selecting B2B influencers who will drive the greatest success for a brand isn’t a simple one, yet it’s one often shrouded in mystery — a question that we’ll explore utilizing a collection of do’s and don’ts. There is no single more important element in B2B influencer marketing than finding subject matter experts who will provide the best relevance, resonance, and engagement for your brand. Join in as we take a look at what a smart B2B influencer selection process looks like, and why some approaches are better than others. If you're wonderful why influencer marketing is a winning solution for B2B brands, also be sure to check out our recent " Why Influencer Marketing Should Be a Priority 2021 Tactic for B2B Brands ." [bctt tweet="“There is no single more important element in B2B influencer marketing t...

In the world of social media, the only constant is change. Each platform continues to update and add new features, and new channels appear on a regular basis. With this change comes opportunities for B2B marketing influencers to share their thought leadership in new ways and have their voices heard. I tapped top B2B influencers and thought leaders to see where they are finding successes on some of the newer social channels. Come along and let's explore the social media maze with them. Finding Business in the Clubhouse If you are jumping on trends, don’t miss getting an invite to the audio-only Clubhouse app. TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden noted “ audio and voice will continue to be a trend for information discovery, consumption and engagement in 2021.” One of the key reasons to be on Clubhouse is to gain followers, and not just in that app, but also on other channels. Industry veteran Dennis Yu documented his first day on the app with key insights into how he gained 650 foll...

The pandemic driven digital transformation of B2B marketing to digital first has created all new levels of competition for time, attention and trust. In this environment, the importance of building credibility and trust is essential in order to deliver stand out customer experiences. But how? B2B brand Thought Leadership certainly plays a role and as the trends in trust focus more on individuals over companies, the opportunity to optimize content experiences through executive thought leadership and influence are growing. The more influence B2B brand executives have, the more credibility the brand has. But how? How can B2B marketers build awareness, credibility and influence of their key executives with content? Here are a few tried and true tactics that continue to work in today's digital B2B environment: Client Testimonials – The customer success story is often one of the first things that catches the eye when looking at potential vendors. Common mistakes include testimonials ...

Longer Articles Associated with More Traffic, Shares Longer articles tend to get greater numbers of views and shares, with 7,000-plus word articles the most likely to be shared and garner the most page-views, according to recently-released SEMrush data examining some 1.2 million blog articles. MarketingCharts Gartner: 75% of VCs will use AI to make investment decisions by 2025 Study data looks at how shifting from gut-feel decisions to artificial intelligence-based investment has begun to affect venture capital, while moving from a pilot program to production is a top data science and machine learning challenge, newly-released report data shows. VentureBeat Livestreaming finds a home among influencers Live-stream content usage by influencers has remained steady during the pandemic, with some 37 percent of U.K. and U.S. social media users who follow influencers noting that they actively watched the live-stream influencer content, in surveys conducted both in May and September 202...

For over a decade our team at TopRank Marketing has fostered a strong community of leading influencers, developing close relationships with subject matter experts in a wide variety of industries. When it comes to B2B influencer marketing, it's natural to wonder just what an industry influencer actually looks like? In our third season of Break Free B2B Marketing video interviews, we’re continuing in-depth conversations with a selection of top B2B influencers, and taking a close look at the issues that each expert is influential about in their own industry. Each successful B2B influencer has a rare mix of the 5 Ps — proficiency, personality, publishing, promotion, and popularity — as our CEO Lee Odden has outlined in “ 5 Key Traits of the Best B2B Influencers .” Featuring all of these qualities and many more is Nicole Brady , publisher at SAHM Reviews, who we’re delighted to be profiling today. According to a study done by G2, 92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after re...

What has changed at the world's largest professional social media platform during the pandemic, and how will it shift for B2B marketers in the post-pandemic landscape? LinkedIn* has already rolled out an impressive assortment of new features in 2021, and we’ve got 10 insights that B2B marketers need to know about them. Over the course of the pandemic, LinkedIn ads have been among the marketing channels that have grown the most in importance according to report data examining B2B technology marketing strategies, as we covered in a recent edition of the TopRank Marketing news . LinkedIn also saw a revenue increase of 23 percent during the second quarter of fiscal year 2021, according to earnings release information from parent company Microsoft, led in part by strong advertising performance. What has lead to this growth? Let's jump right in an look at 10 new LinkedIn insights for B2B marketers. 1 — An Inspiring Array Of New Features For Company Pages LinkedIn has added an in...