19 Top Takeaways from B2B Forum

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum in Boston.

As usual for MarketingProfs‘ events, it was a superlative, intimate mixture of excellent speakers and smart, eager attendees.

For me, the highlights were the presentation by Sandy Carter of IBM on their use of social media, and the keynote by author Barry Schwartz on reinserting ethics and “practical wisdom” into business.

Sandy made be realize that the B2B vs. B2C chasm is mostly hokum, and Barry made be remember just how incredibly lucky I am to be able to do social media consulting and blogging for a living.

(A humble thank you to everyone (including you) who make it possible for me to have a calling, instead of a job. I’ll try my best to help you however I can. And never be afraid to ask.)

I also got to reconnect with a veritable posse of social media folks whose work I admire, and I met dozens of very sharp B2B marketers, many of whom had great questions about social media.

And whether it was the keynote about Twitter from Steven Johnson (who wrote this week’s cover story in Time Magazine about it), several panel sessions on social media, the Twitter 1:1 therapy sessions, or my own social media hot seat lab, social media was everywhere at this conference. Including a TON of #mpb2b tweets.

I scanned every #mpb2b tweet – thousands – to bring you these 19 gems. The thoughts from this conference that I’ll be using in my own work. (thanks to the awesome Mike Damphousse @damphoux for this best-of idea, which I proudly and promptly borrowed). Note that some of these tweets are my own, because I thoroughly live tweeted many sessions. (read about how I use Twitter for note-taking)

@jaybaer Whoa. @sandy_carter shows IBM/MIT research that puts value on social connections. $948 annual revenue per strong connection. #mpb2b

@BDSolutions @ConversationAge says: creating thought ldrshp content is abt educating reader & empowrng them 2 share/teach their new knowledge #mpb2b

@GinnyBartosek #mpb2b nugget: You’ve already lost control, in fact you need to, but you CAN guide the narrative about your org by listening and responding.

@MitziThomas Website Analytics: Does the home page provide evidence that user goals can be completed? 15% of B2B sites pass. #mpb2b

@MitziThomas Customer loyalty measurement: the best predictor of customer loyalty is employee loyalty. #mpb2b

@timust3 “Customer service isn’t a burden, it’s a gold mine!” – Chris Penn, Edvisors. Leverage customer questions to drive content. #mpb2b

@timust3 When designing, create pencil sketches w/ direct client input instead of creating a gfx mockup and getting a simple yes/no approval #mpb2b

@bdsolutions @ExactTarget reports 73% of subscribers report email as junk/spam based on from line; 69% based on subject line #mpb2b

@jaybaer “Has your social media program changed the way people perceive you?” asks @kdpaine Bingo. I’m getting a tattoo of that. #mpb2b

@angelaleavitt Guy Powell on marketing dashboards “marketers measure the easy things, but not the right things” #mpb2b

@HGMarketing As you target further up the title chain, make the emails shorter, simpler, something that a CxO can read on an iPhone #mpb2b

@DeedsAC Social Media for B2B is about storytelling, building relationships, & creating a conversation–& it’s not always about the product! #mpb2b

@AmberCadabra Excessive “rules” are insurance against disaster and a guarantee of mediocrity – more Barry Schwartz at #mpb2b

@schoolmarketer Integrated marketing: don’t just be “more”. Be different. What makes ur brand different? Share it. #mpb2b

@DonnaTocci By 2011 70% + of calls to cust. service centers will come from mobile phones. Great oppty to get them to opt into future mobile msgs. #mpb2b

@emailman Great #mpb2b session on mobile marketing. Follow same opt-in practices as you would for email marketing to ensure a positive customer experience

@jlysne @amyafrica says click here now gets 4-6x more clicks than click here #mpb2b

@donnatocci When designing your website the phone number should be clickable to initiate a call right away for mobile users. Good tip! #mpb2b

@marketingprofs Do you have a job, career or a calling? Allowing people to use judgment & intuition allows them 2 develop a calling #mpb2b

Which of those 19 is most interesting to you?