Are webinars still as valuable for lead generation as they once were? My thoughts: maybe. One issue of course is their ubiquity. The other is that most folks are on smartphones and tablets all day long and can't attend or access a webinar without experiencing technical difficulties. (I'm sure the Citrix's and Cisco's of the world are addressing this problem as I type this.) Vote on our poll for Does anyone still listen to webinars?! … [Read more...]
Decisions, Decisions: Features of Online Communities
Open or Closed? A community can be open or closed. An open community, in which all content pages and functionality are available to anyone, allows the content to be found on the Web – driving up your organic search results – and encouraging clients and even non-clients to interact and engage. A closed community, or one that requires registration and access via a username and password, has its benefits, too. You can decide exactly whom should receive access, and the members in … [Read more...]
One Blogger Alone Is Not Enough To Increase Eyeballs — and Sales
Some companies still think that the job of blogging should go to only one person -- whether internal or to a freelance ghostwriter. While this may make economic sense and address a task that needs to get done, companies will find that there aren't any more inquiries or sales leads. This is because content is only one part of the job; content marketing and distribution is the second and more important component. You can't have one without the other. When an employee or consultant writes … [Read more...]
If HootSuite and Yammer Got Married
There is a category of enterprise social software which is emerging which doesn't know what to call itself yet. But if engagement platform HootSuite and enterprise social platform Yammer got married, this would be it. Basically, the software encourages any employee to engage in social media activity outside the four walls of a company, and tracks which content -- and which employee -- has been influential and responsible for the intended engagement (prospects, leads, job candidates, … [Read more...]
From Liking to Leading: IBM Lotusphere Is Now Connect
Whew, finally a break from the 2-hour morning General Session, featuring not only the VP and the General Manager of IBM's Social Business division, but also a performance from 1980s pop group They Might Be Giants and a speech by actor-director-producer Joseph Gordon-Levitt (for those of you unfamiliar, he was in Lincoln and 50/50, among others). Perhaps what's most telling about this year's event is the name change: Lotusphere is now Connect. While IBM is normally never referenced in … [Read more...]
It’s On: Oracle To Battle Salesforce for Ownership of the ‘Marketing Cloud’
Today's announcement of enterprise software maker and CRM provider Oracle buying marketing automation vendor Eloqua for $811 million has many people -- including this analyst -- blindsided. After all, Eloqua just went public in August, raising $92 million. And a little more than 4 months later, it gets acquired? It was unclear from the news announcements if it was an all-stock deal, but clearly, Oracle is trying to do battle with the other enterprise software maker and CRM provider … [Read more...]
Experiencing Social at Eloqua Experience, Part 2
After attending the Eloqua Experience conference in Orlando last week, I got warm fuzzies that demand generation marketers are getting more social. After all, if the leader in the space is pushing social, then the rest of the industry will be soon to follow. Eloqua is a marketing automation and revenue performance management software provider. The main engine of the platform primarily performs outbound marketing that pushes emails offering webinar invitations or content pieces (whitepapers, … [Read more...]
Experiencing Social at Eloqua Experience
This week, I'll be in Orlando, Florida attending marketing software company Eloqua's annual conference, Eloqua Experience. Over 1,000 attendees are expected to attend. Though not traditionally known as a conference that attracts social media or social business types, I'm keen to see how things may have changed in the last year or so since everyone has been preaching a gospel of 'collaboration' and 'integration' of various marketing efforts that all seek to unlock that all-elusive … [Read more...]
Why Doesn’t Twitter Promote List Management?
The biggest complaint clients have with Twitter is that it's noisy, cluttered, and unfiltered. 'How do I find anything?' they ask. 'And how do people find my tweets?' They're right: discovery on Twitter -- in either direction -- is pitiful. However, the List tool -- which has been around almost since the founding of the microblogging platform -- could certainly make a difference. But the problem is that the average Twitter user doesn't use it. Other social networks purposely drive … [Read more...]
The Call Center Evolves into a Social CRM Powerhouse
This morning's news on TechCrunch that social software provider Lithium Technologies acquired customer care application Social Dynamx points not only to further consolidation, but also to the fact that customer service operations might be the quiet battle ax that is serving to reshape an industry reeling from mixed messages. Here, the video of Rob Tarkoff, President and CEO of Lithium, discussing the acquisition: Lithium Technologies is a provider of platforms and tools for companies … [Read more...]