Arketi Group ( www.arketi.com ) consultant Brian Boudreaux discusses how a practitioners understanding of back-end technology is critical to the success of crisis management

eMarketer recently reported on the findings of the “2010 Social Media Benchmarking Study” conducted by Ketchum and FedEx and presented data from SmartBrief and Summus. The article posits that while businesses engage in social media at different levels, the goals are relatively consistent across the board.

What struck me in the findings was the absence of one goal – according to the article none of the companies in the study (or too few to warrant inclusion in the story) are using social media as a means to drive revenue. It is worth noting, 49% did cite using social media to identify new business opportunities or leads – but anyone who has been responsible for driving sales revenue knows there is a difference between driving and converting leads.

I know social media purists will say that the channel is all about forming relationships, increasing awareness or growing the number of fans, followers and connections a business has. Personally, I think this is a case of practitioners creating objectives they can easily achieve, rather than setting objectives that create bottom-line results. For example, the top two objectives survey participants identified setting were: 

• Increase awareness and interaction with our brand
• Create a community for our customers and fans

I would venture to guess that by increasing their numbers of friends or followers these companies would say they increased awareness and interaction – whether they ever buy the company’s good or service. I would also assume the creation of a Facebook page or LinkedIn Group for the company checks off the second objective.

My response to achieving these watered down objectives: So what?

Unless social media can show a measurable business benefit (especially among B2B companies) I’m not interested in hearing about your new shiny initiative.

Am I crazy? Perhaps I’m too skeptical about the business benefits of social media? Have you used social media to great business success? If so, please leave your success stories in the comments section below.

It seems like more and more websites today have some sort of video component. Formerly considered a luxury to have on a website, video has now become an almost necessity.

Merchant and manufactures across a wide spectrum are experimenting with different ways to use video in order to attract customers. Multiple studies have highlighted the significant increase of video use in U.S. companies’ marketing strategies. As reported by Forrester Research, the percentage of the top US online retailers who incorporate video media into their websites jumped from 18 percent in 2008 to 68 percent in 2009. 42 percent of survey respondents that do not currently have video on their websites said that they plan on adding video capabilities within the next year.

With this turn toward an increasingly interactive Internet experience, websites that fail to include video stand a chance of becoming disengaging for consumers. It is this desire to attract the customer that has led nearly 27 percent of marketing executives to increase their online video budgets.

eMarketer’s Tobi Elkin believes that video capabilities will help marketers to “facilitate an ongoing dialogue with consumers,” and result in recurring interest in their products. By using video to create an interactive and engaging atmosphere, it is the users hope that customer acquisition levels will soon be on the rise.

March Madness is in full swing and my bracket has seen better days…stupid Kansas.

It got me thinking, which brands would emerge from a BtoB slugfest. Rather than bracketing out the full field of 64 (there’s no play-in game in this tourney), I’ve brought it down to the final four.

• From the “Hot BtoB Tools” Bracket we have Twitter (beating out Yammer thanks to its superior bench strength)
• BtoB magazine emerges from the “Media That is Still Relevant” Bracket (winning by disqualification…is there even anyone else left in the field?)
• The “Corporate Juggernaut” Bracket produces BtoB heavyweight Cisco (they bounced Intuit from the tourney, the pending tax season really took Intuit’s focus off the game)
• And Cinderella Cbeyond emerges from the “Up and Comers” Bracket (putting their best work out there at just the right time)

Everyone will surely have their own opinion on how the remainder of the tournament will play out, but here is my prognostication.

BtoB magazine comes flying out of the gate against Twitter. The social media darling’s inability to show measurable ROI for BtoB companies leaves it floundering while BtoB scores at will with its strong content and sharp reporting.

The game between Cisco and Cbeyond is hard-fought. Cisco previously served as an assistant coach to Cbeyond, building Cbeyond’s 100% IP-based network almost 10 years ago. Cbeyond took those early lessons and turned in the upset of the year, defeating Cisco in a triple-overtime, instant classic.

That leaves the finals pitting BtoB against Cbeyond. The game was one for the ages. I won’t tell you who I think wins, but suffice it to say Cbeyond is one of my clients…sorry, BtoB.

Everyone’s got a bracket, what does yours look like?

In the immortal (and at times annoying) words of Dick Vitale, “It’s March Madness! It’s awesome, baby!”

Happy New Year!!!!!!

2008 has already brought big things to Arketi Group. Today we completed our first week in our new office. Barring a few small set-backs – a few dings in the wall, some server connectivity problems and a missing conference table – the new place is great.

But the best part, I have a window that overlooks a small park, The Rusty Nail (Arketi’s unofficial lunch partner) AND the interstate. Starting next week I’ll begin my 5:00 traffic report, available exclusively on WARK-Atlanta.

I’d like to invite clients and friends to stop by the new digs! Hopefully 2008 will continue to bring new, great beginnings.

I’d like to thank the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) for including the Arketi Business to Business Marketing News blog on its website. Special thanks go out to Amanda Shook for working through the process with me!

For those unfamiliar with TAG, the organization is dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state’s technology industry and provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital, education and giving.

Now, if technology works the way its supposed to this entry should appear on both the Arketi blog AND TAG’s blog site.

Fingers Crossed!

In the spirit of Chick-fil-a’s “Eat More Chikin” campaign I would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

This holiday weekend cows and chickens get a reprieve in favor of tryptophan-laden turkey. Maybe this year we’ll see a commercial featuring the cows calling a truce with the chicken – if only for a day. Doubtful, they need to keep that brand chugging on all cylinders.

At this point I would normally break into a monologue as to why branding is of vital importance to businesses in both the consumer and B-to-B space. But alas, I have eaten turkey and am succumbing to its sleep-inducing properties. In fact, I just let a yawn so loud my boss offered for me to go into a nearby vacant office to take a nap. How considerate!

So instead of sound branding advice you, the reader, get to hear about me yawning (which I hope will make you yawn) and a promise that this will be my last fowl-focused blog (see Just Ducky!!!!) for a while.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That’s right, I’m the proud owner of a comically-large stuffed duck! Admit it, you’re jealous. It’s a natural reaction.

You should have seen the looks I received leaving the awards banquet. It was a “did you seriously spend money on that” meets “that is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen” type feeling. One thing is for certain, I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

I’ve yet to name the duck, but if you’d like to suggest a name I will add it to the list of options. To date I have the following name suggestions:

• The Duck
• Ducky/Duckie
• Quacker
• Howard
• Steve
• Roger
• George
• Alfie
• Blanche

And although I will consider each name I need to provide the following disclaimer. This duck will serve as a gift to my future niece or nephew – due to arrive in January. At that point the duck may get a new name.

Part of me is sad to be sentencing the duck to a life of dirty diapers and spit-up. It’s a tough job, but at least the duck will do it with a smile on its beak.

The October issue of BtoB magazine reports a disturbing figure. BtoB found that 57% of marketing executives report not having a crisis plan. What’s more 53% report having experienced a business crisis that resulted in negative news coverage, declining sales or reduced profitability.

At first blush these numbers don’t seem to jive. Nearly an identical number of executives report having faced a crisis, but the same amount choose not to plan for it. But these figures are completely reflective of a few common misconceptions surrounding crisis preparedness:

• It won’t happen to my company
• What’s the big deal, if something comes up, we can wing it
• I don’t want to spend resources on something we may never need

All of this thinking in flawed, but it is so commonplace. I’ve developed a few crisis plans in my day, but I’ve not developed so many more plans because of the reasons above.

I have to agree with a statement made in the BtoB article by Peter Kapcio, director of reputation management services at Eric Mower and Associates (the company co-sponsored the study with BtoB). Kapcio says, “It’s downright professionally irresponsible when b-to-b marcom people allow their companies to operate unprepared.”

Whether using an agency to handle crisis planning or making it an internal initiative, companies NEED to make the time to develop some sort of plan. And it doesn’t have to be a 200 page document, just start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Maybe start with putting down the 5 things that keep you up at night and your gut instinct of how to handle them. Then walk away. Come back the next day and re-read what you wrote from the perspective of your direct supervisor, the CEO, CFO and legal counsel. Would they agree with this?

My bet is these four people wouldn’t fully agree with each other. The CEO is most focused on the company’s business objectives, the CFO is concerned about financing and stock price, and legal needs to make sure anything that is said or done will not result in jail time. Each person brings a different priority and expertise, and each needs to be considered when handling a crisis.

If a crisis happens it will likely turn your world on its head, at least for a little while – the littler the better. But having an up-to-date plan in place will give you a starting place, it will be well thought out and it might just save your job, much less your company.

This week has been particularly disturbing to the purveyors of news. If you weren’t scared you should check for a pulse or, as I’m guessing is the case, pay more attention.

In response to the continued Rupert-Murdoch-takes-over-the-mediated-world-one-outlet-a-time summer tour, on Thursday morning, members of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial staff went on strike. Odds are you didn’t notice. The Thursday and Friday editions were brimming over with the day’s news. The half-day strike was meant to show the disappointment the authors of the independent paper had with the prospect of being sold into the fair and balanced family of News Corp.

I applaud their idea but regret their execution. If the members of the editorial staff wanted to make any kind of difference they needed to leave pages blank; angering readers and advertisers, and instilling fear in the current generation of the Bancroft family that the paper their parents and grandparents built would turn into nothing more than a politically-charged trash rag.

If that’s not enough we had two stories take up way too much of people’s time this week.

Paris Hilton is the bane of my existence. And Larry King should be ashamed. This man has interviewed thousands of people. Some of the most important figures of the 20th and 21st century spoke with Mr. King about the good, the bad and the meaningful issues that face our society. You can make the argument that Miss Hilton is a major figure in our current society, but please, Larry, leave those interviews to the wannabe journalists at Mtv, E! and Fox News.

Lastly, the amount of coverage the story of Chris Benoit – the professional wrestler that apparently killed his wife, child and self – is a little much for me. Don’t misinterpret this, three people died and that is both sad and terrible, but that CNN.com ran this story as the headline over Congressional subpoenas of the White House is absurd! I’m sorry that the lives of the Benoit family came to an early, tragic end. I’m sorry that an idol to young boys across this country is gone. I’m sorry the allegations of steroid use play perfectly into the Barry Bonds saga that will culminate with him hitting his 756th home run later this year. But with all that is going on in the world it also does not warrant Top Story status.

With each day the mediated “news” continues to trouble me as the line between hard and soft news grows increasingly blurry and terrifyingly hard to find.