Last updated on May 8th, 2015 at 01:56 pm
What’s trending this week in the B2B Twittersphere? To find out, B2B News Network partnered with Nexalogy, a Montréal-based social data analysis platform whose NexaMaster analytics tool allows us to sift and sort through every tweet out there to bring you news you can use.
This regular column sorts through the top trends in marketing, advertising, analytics, social media and B2B news.
This week, we saw a lot of buzz about the role of sales in the B2B marketing process and how self-serve e-commerce is affecting it. We’ve also rounded up articles on reaching a wider audience, and the opportunities available to B2B marketers with the advent of the Internet of Things.
TRENDING TOPICS
B2B Sales
How B2B salespeople can redefine their roles http://t.co/FQk4Ij3xxs pic.twitter.com/yk4eK63mvV
— Harvard Biz Review (@HarvardBiz) April 20, 2015
Forrester Research recently released a report ominously titled “Death of a B2B Salesman,” which predicts that 1 million B2B salespeople in the U.S. will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020. Why? Buyers increasingly prefer to self-educate themselves and make purchases online. Despite this dismal forecasting, this article from Harvard Business Review offers a glimmer of hope via some sound advice as to how B2B sellers can redefine their role and adapt to this new world.
B2B Growth Hacks
New Post : 29 B2B Growth Hacks – The ULTIMATE List http://t.co/w88ivnYOCY pic.twitter.com/Hzk8kkngiI — Iris Shoor (@IrisShoor) April 15, 2015
Bookmark this blog post from startup founder and blogger Iris Shoor if you ever find yourself needing a dose of creativity and B2B marketing inspiration. It’s been shared more than 1,000 times on social media, and for good reason: Iris offers 29 ways of reaching a larger (yet targeted) audience, 22 of which don’t require any budget, and 17 that will take less than one day to implement.
B2B Buying Process
What You Need to Know about the Changing #B2B Buying Process: http://t.co/eIFqgZHdBm via @RyanLawBA pic.twitter.com/FP5PvnL0gy
— Unbounce (@unbounce) April 25, 2015
This post from Ryan Law at Kapost examines how the B2B buying process has changed, and what it means for marketers trying to create effective campaigns in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. It also covers the impact of social media and content marketing on the B2B buying process, and links to an in-depth guide about creating effective content for your buyers.
The Internet of Things and B2B
#B2B Beat: Why the Internet of Things is crucial for B2B marketers #IOT http://t.co/pV1WVJkhvr
— LinkedInB2B (@LinkedInB2B) April 26, 2015
As defined in this post published on LinkedIn by Sean Callahan, the Internet of Things is “the web of machines and other smart devices that communicate with each other and with people to deliver valuable data and insights.” For B2B marketers, the Internet of Things represents an opportunity to get closer to customers through data-powered insight. Sean covers specific ways this can be achieved, and features a few products that can help inspire ideas about how to begin leveraging the Internet of Things for your marketing efforts.
TOP MEDIA
Infographic
Business-to-Business Online Sales: The Next Battleground
In a similar vein as the Harvard Business Review article we mentioned at the beginning of this post, this infographic breaks down some numbers and facts reflecting the fact that more and more B2B buyers are making purchases online instead of through traditional sales channels.
If you missed last week’s edition of Hashtag Team written by Brett Wilkins, head here to check it out.
If you have any B2B content we think we should share next week, let us know below or via @b2bnewsnetwork.
