Last updated on August 7th, 2015 at 03:39 pm

Take a quick (yet productive) break from your work day to check out our recap of what’s been buzzing in the B2B social world. B2B News Network has partnered with Nexalogy to help sift through the social data and find the most relevant posts and stories to keep you ahead of the curve.

This week, all eyes were on Square as they filed for an IPO, B2B firms were found to be seriously lacking in solid content marketing strategies, the case was made for marketing to become more integrated with B2B customer service departments, and more.

TRENDING TOPICS

Square’s shift to B2B

Increasingly hearing about Square’s shifting focus and success in B2B — The Extraordinary Re-Invention of Square http://t.co/OS9KHb6hjL

— Jeff Weiner (@jeffweiner) August 3, 2015

Square, the payment-processing company founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, made headlines this week as reports surfaced that they had confidentially filed for an IPO. Although the company has gone through their fair share of challenges, Square has found a new focus in the B2B space by introducing new features for merchants including invoicing, cash advances, appointment scheduling, analyzing business data and more. This article from Leena Rao in Fortune describes the rise, fall, and refocus of Square and their latest pivot towards the B2B world.

Content Strategies

#B2B Content Strategies Have Room for Improvement http://t.co/vgBVsmg0ig pic.twitter.com/W5ihIBFiWk

— Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier) August 4, 2015

This post from eMarketer details results of new research from the CMO Council, Content ROI Center, and NetLine about the content strategy of B2B firms. The research suggests that many B2B marketing leaders aren’t taking a step back and putting an effective strategy in place before diving into content marketing.

In fact, just 12 percent of respondents described their content marketing strategy as a “high-performance engine.” Case in point: many cited brochures as the type of content created most often for lead generation, however only 9 percent cited brochures as the type of content that delivers great leads. Time to take a step back, indeed.

Customer Service

Why Customer Service is the New Playground for B2B Marketers: http://t.co/9UCNrZrFIn pic.twitter.com/LItZbBdqnB

— Salesforce (@salesforce) August 1, 2015

The marketing department is often left out of the customer service process, which is a missed opportunity for B2B businesses according to this guest post for Salesforce from Michelle Lanter Smith of EPAY Systems, Inc. If marketing’s central concepts were applied to customer service operations, businesses could capitalize on this opportunity to influence the brand perception your customers have. This post outlines three reasons why customer service agents should think like marketers, and how these principles can be adopted in your business.

B2B Social Media Strategy

Three Tips for Improving Your #B2B #SocialMedia #Marketing: http://t.co/YpTPOMVBNc via @Christine_Mktg pic.twitter.com/RsTy0sjsY1 — SiriusDecisions (@siriusdecisions) August 3, 2015

Your social media efforts will only be as effective as the strategy you put in place. This post from Christine Polewarczyk at SiriusDecisions outlines three key strategies that can help better align your social efforts with your overall multichannel marketing strategy: segmenting your audiences, aligning your keyword strategy, and working from a master content calendar.

TOP MEDIA

This video presents some compelling data about B2B content marketing trends in a fun, animated way. See how your organization’s content marketing strategy, process, and platforms stack up against those surveyed in this pithy two-minute clip.

If you missed last week’s edition of Hashtag Team written by Brett Wilkins, head here to check it out.

As always, if you have any B2B content we think we should share next week, let us know below or via @b2bnewsnetwork.

Photo via Flickr, Creative Commons

Related posts:

How to get your content in front of the right audience Pulse Conference 2015: Moneyball’s Michael Lewis on business data, Box’s Dan Levin on a winning CSM The guide to knowing the right metrics for B2B landing page success Hashtag Team: Converting data into content, inside B2B marketing case studies