Going Beyond Tactical Marketing To Build Engagement
I am always on the lookout for case studies, success stories and examples of successful B2B lead generation that I can share on my blog. I shared with you a TD Bank case study in my recent post on the 5 Laws of of Real Social ROI and that led to some interesting conversations with my peers in the industry.
Today, I’d like to share another case study which caught my attention because it goes beyond the tactical, rapid-fire social media activity that many companies waste time and resources doing. Instead, the folks at this company that provides financial software followed what I see as a logical progression of steps – which is what a ‘strategy’ really should be. You can read the detailed case study here in the Marketing Sherpa article library. I want to offer my comments and observations on what I believe Intuit’s Accounting Professionals Division (APD) did right and why other B2B marketers can take some pointers from their social media campaign.
And what they did is not rocket science – they devised a cohesive social media strategy and applied plenty of common sense.
- Instead of a standard Facebook page for their company, they created separate Facebook pages for their different products. The users for these products may or may not overlap, so this was a so this was a good idea to tailor their social profile on a popular channel depending on the target audience.
- They researched and learned what was important to different clients and how their clients were using Facebook. This is another page for traditional marketing – understand your audience’s preference and behavior and pour your content into the right mold.
- This was not a sell, sell, sell campaign. Instead, the focus was costumer education through training that the audience found valuable. Participation was strong. The results were not measured in sales but increased in “Likes” which got people to participate in their mobile training and be more likely to recommend the financial software products. Intuit recognized where Facebook fit into the sales funnel and understood how the relationships on Facebook work.
- With planned testing rather than random guessing, the effectiveness of this crucial interactive stage of the campaign (training) was tested. Using a before and after survey, Intuit tested the impact of their mobile training. This brought them another step closer to knowing whether or nor the training participants would remain loyal user of their software and would recommend it to others. Digital marketing and and social media make it easy for marketers to to test campaigns in a controlled manner and yet, because we often see a rash of campaigns running simultaneously, there is a lack of testing and a lack of proper campaign planning overall.
- The company remembered to treat their prospects as “people” and found ways to engage them – they held a contest, cheered the people who joined, gave out prizes and just made it a lot of fun, so the audience would not forget them in a hurry. That’s what it takes, right? You need to build engagement but it must have lasting value as well.
- I was happy to see that the company was actually able to boost their campaign with a “viral” effect. And that’s what happens when you are able to to connect with the right person. Intuit was was able to connect with one very notable CPA who carried the potential to spread the word on her extensive network of financial professionals. Now, imagine how much more effective they would have been if they had a shortlist of very socially influential CPAs and also had a campaign specific to them! With some spring cleaning of their lead generation database, they might be even more successful next time around.
- Note they did need to use some paid media. I agree with that logic; if you want to grow 100% organically, it can take a very long time to for that to happen – time which we don’t have in the B2B lead generation world
What Can We Learn From This B2B Social Media Case Study?
- Set the right goals for your social media campaign. Focus on building engagement rather than a superficial “fan” following.
- Spend time understanding buyer behavior and preference. You need to research where your clients are networking, whether the medium is right for your prospects AND what they are talking about or doing in that social network.
- Once again, content is king and with the right content that engages and offers value, you can rule. Intuit offered mobile training – a form of content marketing – that customers and followers found valuable and it not only encouraged interaction, it also sparked off viral marketing.
- As I have said before, we live in an upside down world of social media. it is therefore, very important to recognize where social media fits into your integrated marketing strategy.
In conclusion, I still think the conversion engine is missing in this case study but it is certainly moving in the right direction.
What are your thoughts? I welcome your feedback and comments on my blog. You can also email or call me, Louis Foong, at (905) 709-3827.
