Content is Still King - - Social Media Doesn't Change That.

Content is Still King - - A Classic Truth Worth Repeating.


Just like a whipped coffee latte, a foamy ice cold beer or a towering root beer float, to capture the maximum value in Social Media, one has to dig below the marketing 'froth' and 'fizz' to find the ultimate reward... Social Media Lead Generation.

Yesterday I attended a web marketing conference in Houston put on by the Online Marketing Institute. Social Media Marketing was emphasized, rightfully so, as the number of people using Social Media platforms explodes in the USA and the world. I came to learn more about applying social media tactics to my business.

But I also heard confirmation that what was true 3 years ago, 6 years ago, 9 years ago, is true today: Your Content Matters. Content is Still King. Without good Content on your websites and company blogs, all your Social Media tools and all your efforts will disappoint, or worse, backfire. Good Content that works for your business is needed before going 'crazy' with Facebook or Twitter.

And Blogs? They are, according to the experts I heard on Social Media yesterday, your most effective Social Media lead generation tool. Good old-fashioned, taken-for-granted, Blogs... your 'mini-websites'.

Social Media tactics will be very important to your success, but pay attention to your content... it is the foundation which will drive your success. Social Media should orbit your content like the planets around the sun.

I picked up great information at the OMI conference. The presenters were informative across all subjects. For me SEO and Usability were very useful. And there was considerable expertise on ideas and best practices for Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc. Observations and predictions were made that Social Media will "change the world", "destroy traditional institutional hierarchies", and cause "marketing mayhem". Social media trends will accelerate as further adoption of mobile smart phone and 'tablet' technologies continues, and people under the age of 25 ("digital natives") move into the work force. I'm going to apply what we learned yesterday... to better exploit today's world and prepare for tomorrow's.

But I will remember this basic, classic, truth: Content is King. To which can be added: Company websites and blogs are the most important "Social Media" platform assets we have.

Regards; Erik Holladay

Learn more about Social Media, Web Marketing and applying it to your business:
Arnie Kuenn, President, Vertical Measures
Brad Kleinman, President, eMarketing Techniques
Thanh Nguyen, Senior Usability Engineer, BusinessOnline
Maria Pergolino, Director of Marketing, Marketo

Twitter Infiltrates Business-to-Business Marketing

Twitter Trends Spotted for Business-to-Business. Sysomos issues June 2009 Report on Twitter Users and Habits across the world.

I looked at Twitter in the past as a purely social media gadget used by teenagers and young adults... not a serious marketing and promotional tool for grown-up B2B businesses. I opened a Twitter account in 2008 to research this new web product and measure any potential it had for B2B... slim pickings back then, and I stopped looking at my Twitter account.

But now, Twitter B2B users are starting to Tweet to real business and potential customers. Things are changing for Tweeter and B2B as marketers and others realize the growing Tweeter user population brings great potential value in spreading short, easy to digest messages, often linked to a key webpage. This very young trend should grow into the next decade.

This year I observed hundreds of attendees, for the first time, use Twitter at a large, major industry conference. They were being kept up-to-date on conference news and activities before, during and after the event with real-time 'Tweets'. That was my Eureka moment on Twitter... time to take it seriously and grow with the B2B trend now happening.

Look at some major businesses using Twitter to update customers, employees, potential customers and others: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, three General Electric B2B divisions, Apple Computer, Google. The WSJ and FT Tweets actually serve as Headline News Feed Services.

And did I mention that Twitter (so far) is free to senders and receivers? For small business owners, this communication tool can be a great way to get your message out... the only cost is your short amount of time needed to send out a Tweet.

The young may an overwhelming majority of Tweeters now, but they will grow older, mature and become tax paying citizens with real jobs making real business decisions... time is on Twitters side.

Marcus Aurelius, one of the 'good' Roman Emperors, said "Observe constantly that all things take place by change." When it comes to web marketing and technologies, this wisdom is timeless.

Here is an excellent and detailed global Twitter-user demographics and habits report prepared by Sysomos Inc researchers Alex Cheng, Mark Evans and Harshdeep Singh, called "An In-Depth Look Inside the Twitter World" . If you are remotely interested in learning more about Twitter, take a look!

You can follow my periodic blogs on Twitter, where I have a small but growing group of 'followers': https://twitter.com/ErikHolladay . I only started to seriously use Twitter in the last few months, it was that one B2B conference (attendance 50,000) which was the catalyst for me to see change was coming!

Twitter is only going to be as good as a company makes it. I attended another massive industry conference recently... they too set-up a twitter account but never used it during the conference... missing an audience of over 70,000 attendees. They even announced that they're focused on 'reaching out to the public' with a Social Media campaign... but someone forgot to "Tweet". Twitter will be a hit and miss learning curve scenario for everyone in B2B.