According to a recent study by HM Revenue & Customs, one in four large businesses are thinking about relocating all or part of their business abroad and of those surveyed, 58% say that they have considered moving abroad due to tax issues.

Findings in the survey reveal that 36% of large businesses feel HMRC has had a negative effect on the commercial competitiveness of the UK. Tax rates and legislation were named the main factors that reduced the competitiveness of the UK.

As a business owner, you may choose to move to another country for the sunnier climate, or alternatively to take advantage of different tax systems. Whatever your reason is for relocating, make sure you think long and hard about the destination.

There are various places which are popular for businesses to relocate to. Advertising firm WPP moved its headquarters overseas back in 2004 and now it has offices in New York, Ireland, India, Hong Kong and Singapore. Its reported revenues totalled £10 billion at the end of 2011 and revenues were up 7% in the first four months of 2012. The firm has over 158,000 employees in 2,500 offices across 108 countries.

Elsewhere, finance institution Henderson Global Investors and engineering group Charter relocated to Ireland in 2008 and they too have proved successful. Henderson Global Investors reported £480.1 million revenue in 2011 with over 1,000 employees worldwide. Charter reported £1,719.6 million revenue in 2010 and it now has over 12,000 employees.

There are many reasons why these exampled businesses chose to move to some of the aforementioned locations; Singapore is rapidly becoming Asia’s business epicentre and Ireland offers huge tax advantages.

The Global Mobility Survey 2012 from Brook land Global Relocation services found that 64% of global companies sent more employees overseas in 2011 which shows that more and more businesses are choosing to relocate their staff each year.

Here is an expert guide of some of the most popular destinations for businesses to choose from when considering relocation.

• Dominican Republic

The Dominican is increasing in popularity as a hotspot for relocation. There has been a big boost in business development and the government is improving its infrastructure. The economy is stable, tourism is rife and there is low bureaucracy. There is tropical weather all year round too.

• Egypt

This is not internationally recognised as an industrial centre but businesses can find emerging markets and opportunities. Remember that Islam is practised by the majority of Egyptians and governs their personal, political, and economic lives. Negotiating is important and patience is required so never use pressured tactics when doing business.

• New York

It is the most exciting and active city in the world and it is the place to be for any business. It has celebrities, Times Square, buzzling stores and a rising tech scene. It has the strategic location, a thriving workforce and excellent tax incentives.

• Singapore

The thriving cosmopolitan lifestyle is fantastic and people can earn much more. It is rapidly becoming Asia’s business epicentre and there are lower levels of taxation too. The robust economy, high quality of life and strong legal system are just a few reasons why the city is a relocation hotspot.

• Hong Kong

This is one of the world’s most important financial centres and many businesses in the financial industry relocate here. It is renowned as a world leader in banking and business, setting up here up is cheap and easy; and all transactions completed outside of Hong Kong has the tax rate is zero.

• Dubai

There has been major development and progress in the city over the years and millions of people relocate their every year. Over 80% of the people living in Dubai are from other countries and this is due to its central location making it accessible for Asia and Europe as well as the Middle East; and it has fantastic infrastructure.

So if you are considering relocating your business in a foreign country, why not choose one of the above countries as the perfect location.

Bio: This article was provided by Robinsons international removals; the specialists in overseas removals.

ENDS

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“I came. I saw. I conquered.”

Were Julius Caesar a B2B online marketer in 2010, his words may have more appropriately been:

 “I created. I shared. I conversed.”

Even five years ago, the concept of engaging the customer in dialogue, let alone allowing the customer to drive the conversation, would have been both foreign and frightening.

Today, marketers that are actively engaging their customers and their communities through social media and sharing relevant, meaningful content with them are leading the charge toward a new era of online marketing – an era in which the customer, not the brand, is King.   

And, no longer is a solid brand message and well articulated value proposition enough for our King. When it comes to learning more about our brands and products, our customers don’t just want a message, they want a conversation.

So, it comes as no surprise that 2010 would be the year of social media.  Would marketers in 2009 ever have imagined Facebook could surpass Google to become the most visited site in the US? Or, that a world of consumers and marketers alike could be so captivated by a man riding a horse, pitching Old Spice? Highly unlikely.

Indeed, creativity and innovation have reigned supreme in 2010 –easily evidenced in the overwhelming draw toward social media and immense push toward new and dynamic methods of on-demand customer engagement, including mobile, whose marketing budgets alone are expected to increase by 124% from 2010 to 2011.

Also expected to increase in 2011 are content marketing budgets, further evidence of the growing demand by customers to take the product information reigns from marketers and educate themselves through E-Newsletters, whitepapers, webinars, case studies and blogs.

If we take anything away from 2010, it should be this: Customers want brand interaction – they want to ask questions, to give their feedback and to gather their own information at their own pace.

And, as marketers, we should want customer interaction – by answering questions, listening to feedback and creating both educational and even entertaining content, we’re able to successfully capture customer attention and build an engaged and enthused customer base that is able to spread our brand messaging farther than we ever could on our own.

At Business.com, we’re particularly aware of the overwhelming participation and support that we’ve received from our customers over the past year, especially in the celebration of our 10^th anniversary. We’re honored to be a part of such a sophisticated and engaged online marketing community.  

As 2010 draws to a close, one can’t help but acknowledge that, in spite of the hard economic times and lean marketing budgets, this year in online marketing was one of the most exciting, creative and dynamic years yet for B2B online marketers.

We can only hope you’ve had as much enjoyment engaging your clients in 2010 as we have, and we hope you look to them to help you write your success story for 2011 and beyond.

From all of us at Business.com, we wish you a very Happy Holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

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Social media and E-Mail marketing. Social media and display. Social media and search marketing. If you keep up-to-date on the latest online marketing trends and topics, then you know articles and research about combining social media with other online marketing initiatives for compound effects are popping up everywhere.

And for good reason. As B2B marketers are becoming more comfortable with social media channels and resources, they’re beginning to integrate their social media ‘test’ programs into their existing online marketing efforts that include the likes of E-mail marketing, display advertising and search marketing.

Yes, even Business.com jumped on the social-and-search bandwagon a few months back and launched a co-sponsored study with BtoB Online to find out just how marketers are using social media to enhance their search marketing programs. Among key findings were that 74% of respondents reported seeing an increase in Web site traffic as a direct result of their social media efforts.

More striking was the fact that 97% of respondents reported using at least one social media channel; however, when it came to measuring the success of their social media programs, only 47% were using a social media monitoring tool.

Only 47% of respondents were measuring their social media success using a social media monitoring tool – less than half of marketers. We couldn’t help but feel that, while the industry continues to plow ahead – touting the benefits of integrating social media with other online marketing programs –  it’s clear the majority of marketers are still lagging behind and lacking the tools necessary to truly measure social media on its own.

To better help marketers quantify and truly establish goals for the social media efforts and success, or for marketers who are interested in learning more about what their options are for social media measurement, we’ve created a social media solution guide featuring some of the top paid and free social media monitoring tools on the market.

Our latest solution guide, ‘Top Tools to Measure Your Social Media Success,’ provides product summaries, user feedback and a clear-cut comparison chart to help you select the social media monitoring tool that’s right for you and your business.

The matrix below features the social media monitoring tools examined, including Hootsuite, Sysomos, Social Mention, Radian6, Vocus and Scout Labs. Again, these are just some of the most common tools on the market; we encourage you to share additional thoughts, comments and feedback on the many other tools that you’ve used in the past in our comments section below or on our Facebook page.

Figure 1: Social Media Monitoring Tools Features Matrix taken from the Business.com solution guide 'Top Tools to Measure Your Social Media Success'

Download ‘Top Tools to Measure Your Social Media Success’ now, and don’t forget to share your feedback.

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[Ed: We are excited to feature B2B specialist Christina “CK” Kerley as a contributing blogger. A strong voice in modern B2B marketing, learn more about CK here ]

In my last post, I shared the spotlight on building the B2B business case for social media—and as a companion to that content, this time I’m focusing on building the B2B business case for mobile marketing, through both a slideshow and a short video.

It’s likely you’re hearing a lot of buzz around mobile, but might be perplexed as to its efficacy for B2B audiences.  You might also be facing a lot of obstacles from your organization’s internal executives who aren’t yet aware of the remarkable reach, benefits and tools that mobile has to offer. To that point, the below slideshow walks you through 10 key arguments that will help you build the business case for mobile marketing for your B2B and turn mobile skeptics into mobile supporters.

And to add more ammo to your B2B mobile argument, in the below video, Chris Koch, ITSMA’s Director of Research and Thought Leadership, and I explore 3 key questions around integrating mobile into the B2B marketing mix, namely:(1) Why Mobile for B2Bs? (2) What are the critical success factors for B2Bs in Mobile? and (3) What are some key mobile approaches for B2Bs? Featured below, as well as at Social Media B2B, the piece runs right at 13 minutes. 

B2B Mobile Marketing from Jeffrey L. Cohen on Vimeo.

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[Asaad Bhamla is a new guest blogger and a Business.com marketing consultant who works with small and medium-sized businesses to meet their search marketing goals. He blogs about new business trends at The Online Economy, to learn more click here. ]

A pay-per-click advertising campaign is an effective way to immediately drive traffic to your company’s website. But whether that traffic converts into an actual lead or sale depends on your overall strategy and execution.  I’ve interviewed Greg Pritchard, one of Business.com’s dedicated campaign optimization specialists. Greg helps clients optimize their PPC campaign for success, striving to meet and exceed their goals every day. Greg shares proven strategies and actionable tips and tactics you can use today. Here are just a few things he shared with me:

Q: What is the most important step a new advertiser should take when setting up their PPC campaign?

A: Know what is going to determine success for you. My advertisers have goals such as lead generation, ROI or brand awareness. Based on your goals, set up conversion tracking to measure key metrics like cost-per-lead, bounce rate, time spent on a page,  etc. This will let you track the success of the campaign and make necessary adjustments. 

Landing pages are another important factor in the success of a new campaign. Make sure there is a clear call to action that correlates with your ad copy. Ideally, if this is a lead generation campaign, there should be a lead capture form on this page.

Q: Once a campaign is up and running, what strategy do you use to optimize campaign performance?

A:  Business.com offers a number of different metrics to measure a campaign. Within the account management dashboard there are performance indicators. These are based on the click through rates of an ad. This is an easy way to monitor the performance of specific keyword categories and ad copy. Performance can be improved by more tailored titles and ad copy. The higher the performance indicator the more traffic an ad will drive at a lower CPC.

It is also important to maintain the highest rank possible on a page. We have noticed that advertisers who capture one of the top three spots receive better ad performance and higher conversion rates.

Q: Tell me about a specific optimization tactic that you’ve seen success in.

A:  Creative cross marketing can drive quality leads from sources you might not have thought of.  For example, target your ads for printers to new businesses in the “Starting a Small Business” category. Many of our advertisers have been happy with the results of well thought out cross marketing.

Q: What does successful ad copy look like?

A: Effective copy can significantly improve conversions and lead quality. Here is an example of ad copy that was successful on a client’s campaign;

100% US Based Outsourced Call Center – One World Direct®
2010 ATSI Call Center Award Winner. Top Companies Choose OWD For 24/7 Inbound Call Center Services. Click For Pricing!
Inbound | Customer Service | Email & Web Chat | Get A Quote 
www.owd.com

Ad copy should include a direct call to action that will entice the user both to click and to convert (“Click For Pricing”). Key aspects of the brand’s value must be identified in the title (in this example, 100% US based). Also include key “trust indicators”, like the ® symbol and the recent award in the description. Finally, leverage multi-links that illustrate the broad variety of services provided by OWD and provide an additional call to action (“Get A Quote”).

These are a few tips to get you started. If you have any questions about managing your PPC campaign or want to share your success stories, please leave a comment below and I’d be happy to answer them for you.

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This is the beginning of a series that will feature several how-to videos speaking directly to small businesses and addressing their online marketing needs. We know small business online marketers are strapped for time, so we have committed to delivering the most pertinent information in 5 minutes or less. Discover specific tactics and strategies you can implement today to begin boosting your online marketing performance tomorrow. If you would like to jump ahead in the series visit our YouTube channel here.

Looking for a crash course in online marketing? We’ll cover topics such as search engine marketing, pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO) and social media.

In our first featured video, our very own Business.com expert Matt Gussin Manager of Account Management walks you through the process of setting up a PPC campaign from start to finish in “Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising for Small Business”. 

Matt reviews the basics and more advanced topics of starting a PPC campaign including how to plan a paid search campaign, how to optimize your ad copy and how to select the proper keywords to maximize ROI.

Tell us what you think! Did you find this video helpful? What other subjects would you like to see covered?

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For the second year in a row, Business.com is honored to receive accreditation from the Media Rating Council for delivering high-quality traffic to its advertisers. The accreditation also recognizes that Business.com is in full compliance with Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) measurement standards designed to eliminate potential “click fraud” — user- or computer-generated clicks for the sole purpose of costing advertisers money. To learn more about the IAB guidelines, visit this site.

“This accreditation signifies our commitment to providing Business.com clients with high-quality clicks in order to positively impact their bottom line,” said Sean Greene, senior vice president of interactive, Dex One. “We’re excited to be among an elite group of companies to have received this accreditation and look forward to continuing to connect advertisers with customers as we move into our 10th year in business.”

Read the full press release here. For more information on the MRC Minimum Standards visit http://www.mediaratingcouncil.org

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[Guest blogger Evan LaPointe has contributed this post on web analytics.  To learn more about Evan or get your questions answered, click here.]

As I mentioned in my last post, from an analytics perspective, B2B is easier to understand when compared with B2C. This is because your visitors have budgets and defined needs, and aren’t just bored at work wondering if they really need that new red sweater. People need laser printers, insurance, air conditioning, shipping, keycard locks, and furniture; they aren’t going to abandon their search and decide to work on the floor, borrowing their kid’s MacBook. So what that means is that when you fail at selling a visitor to your site, you should be able to find out why. In the world of B2C, customers can buy from you, buy from someone else, or not buy. In B2B, however, the third option often isn’t an option at all. So it’s up to us to figure out why they’re buying somewhere else.

I think a lot of opportunities to improve your marketing and your site can be uncovered by spending some time in your web analytics tool. By focusing on a few metrics or combinations of metrics, you can start to get a good feel for where things aren’t going as well as you thought. Let’s talk about a few of these interesting metrics and reports today, and we’ll cover some more in future posts.

Bounce rate

This is one metric that is vitally important to the B2B marketer. When many people come to your site and then immediately abandon, you know their expectations were not met. Meanwhile, your precious marketing budget is going up in flames. You need to ruthlessly seek out the traffic sources and landing pages that are contributing to bounce, and figure out why it’s happening.

A particularly good metric to combine with high bounce rates is high click through rates, which tells you that people were interested in your content, but then you let them down somehow. If you are a business that has a B2C counterpart, one issue could be the B2C traffic; so be sure (both in your marketing and on your site) to explain that you are a B2B provider. While this will reduce your click-through-rates, it will meaningfully increase traffic quality, reduce bounce, and improve conversion rates. Similarly, the language you use on your site should be simple and straightforward, describing clearly what you do and where they have landed. While we assume our buyers are savvy in our particular niche, we often alienate the people in the executive suite with esoteric languages and explanations of what really could be a lot simpler. If you can’t explain your business or product in simple language, you are leaving a lot on the table (probably in a lot more places than just your web site) when the people who really do write the checks visit to research your offering.

Geography

Your web analytics tool will have reports that allow you to see, geographically, where both your visitors and your conversions come from. Compare these maps. Are some states hot converters but low traffic attracters? How about the other way around? What might these audiences need differently from each other? How are they looking for your services differently, using regional languages? What are they finding?

You should also start thinking about your offline efforts, geographically. How is your sales force represented in the areas where you’re weaker or stronger? What about your competitors?  Find out whether people are more aware of your brand vs. your competitors in different areas, and you can focus some of your sales and advertising efforts where a market share increase may have huge marginal benefits. If you need specific tools to conduct this competitor research, contact me @evanlapointe and I can suggest resources that may help you with this.

Keep Going

This is just scratching the surface of what’s possible with a good focus on analytics. Challenge yourself to think across channels and use ideas from around the organization to effect change in other areas.

And please, reach out on twitter (@evanlapointe) if you have any questions or want to work through your particular challenge. And if you’re more experienced with web analytics and want to geek out on more complex issues, check out Atlanta Analytics (discussion on analytics in business) or Occam’s Razor (where you can learn black belt hands-on analytics).

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This is part two of a two-part blog post – Recapping the Business.com and BtoB Webinar, ‘Finding B2B Marketing Success Integrating Social Media and Search’

As promised, we’ll address many of the additional questions asked during Thursday’s webinar that we were unable to answer during the Q&A. To view the on-demand version of the webinar, click here.

In reviewing the questions, we evidenced a common desire among marketers to understand more clearly how they can measure social media and better integrate it with their search marketing efforts, a trend supported by the responses of more than 450 marketers in our recent co-sponsored survey.

In fact, our survey revealed more than half of B2B marketers currently do not use a social media monitoring tool to measure their social media efforts, even though three-quarters of marketers are currently using social media to enhance their search marketing efforts.

It’s clear marketers understand that (1) social media is an important part of an online marketing program and (2) that social media can be used to enhance search marketing efforts. However, when it comes to truly executing on the measurement of efforts, many marketers are unclear how to proceed. Our in-webinar poll reaffirmed this assumption in showing that 41% of marketers are currently not measuring their social media efforts; only 27% are using a social media monitoring tool.

Many attendees asked us similar questions surrounding the measurement of social media and the integration of social with search; to better educate our attendees and B2B online marketers, check back in the coming weeks for our upcoming solution guide detailing the top social media monitoring tools available for B2B marketers.

In the interim, we’ve addressed some of the main questions asked during the webinar. If you have additional questions on this webinar, feel free to contact us directly or comment on this blog post.

Q: How did you define/determine ‘The Best’ and ‘The Rest’?

A: The two groups, ‘The Best’ and ‘The Rest’ were a result of respondent segmentation on this within the Business.com and BtoB Survey: “What has been the overall impact of social media channels on the search performance of your business website(s)?”

Respondents who answered as having a positive impact (either ‘very positive’ or ‘positive’) were grouped into the segment ‘The Best’ (n = 205). Respondents answering anything other than these two choices (neutral, negative, very negative or don’t know) were grouped into ‘The Rest’ (n = 259). Data was then rerun for each segment and statistical significance was analyzed.

Q: For the BtoB/Business.com Survey, you said that the survey consisted of 464 people. Was that a random sample? How did you find the participants?

A: Participants were recruited through multiple BtoB Online E-mails that went out from July 1 – 16. Recipients were asked to complete the survey and were provided with an incentive to be entered into a raffle to win an iPad.

Q: Also for the BtoB/Business.com survey, what types of businesses participated and what industries were represented?

A: Respondents were primarily B2B decision-makers in an executive or managerial role that were overseeing or managing directly both paid search and social media marketing.  Responses on key variables were not significantly different between B2B and B2C respondents so that data was pooled for analysis purposes.  Although there were some specialty marketers, many (33%) were general B2B marketers and had cross-channel roles and responsibilities.  Most companies had fewer than 250 employees (59%) and were from a variety of industries, including high/tech, advertising and media.

Q: Must you post on multiple social sites, or is it beneficial to focus on Facebook and Twitter? Is it necessary to also go to Digg and others? Or should you stick to one venue?

A: Again, it all depends on what your overall goals are for your social media efforts – let your objectives determine the appropriate social media channels. We found within the study that The Best marketers were using, on average, more social media channels than the rest, so definitely don’t be afraid to use more than one social media channel and continue to try out and test new channels that might fit with your overall goals.

Q: What is another option besides CTR that will help track views/sales?

A: Some social media monitoring tools like Radian6 or Viralheat are CRM compatible and will allow you to link social media activity to clients and prospects, better allowing you to capture the influence of your social media programs. The majority of CRMs (like Salesforce.com) will allow you to then pull reporting that can show activity impact among these contacts and revenue generation.

Q: In today’s economy, how can a company approach the resource issue of social media ($ or people) within the confines of existing resources… without more budget or staff (or agency expense)?

A: A few suggestions for increasing your social media footprint without increasing resource allocation are:

1. Will work for free – Check out your local community college or university to recruit interns to come on board at no cost to you in exchange for class credits.
2. Clearly define your social media goals – Companies who set up Twitter and Facebook accounts because they feel like it’s a “must” can easily waste valuable time and resources. Consider your social media efforts as an extension of your overarching online marketing goals to clearly understand which social media accounts are the most right for you.
3. Get other marketers on board – Now that you know what you want to accomplish with social media, let other team members know how you can use social media to assist with their marketing programs.
4. Establish KPIs for your efforts – Work with your colleagues to establish measurable KPIs for your social media programs.
5. Set up a free social media monitoring tool – There are many free and easy-to-use social media monitoring tools that take minutes to set up like SocialMention or Google Alerts to help you measure the success of your social media efforts. They are great resources for monitoring all the major social media channels for conversations and mentions about your brand, product or a competitor’s product.
6. You have a social media army – use it! – We hear you on the resource front – realistically, many companies are still lacking in a dedicated social media manager.

One way to lessen the load (or reallocate, in a way) is to educate all employees on your social media efforts and encourage them to participate. Train sales to share the latest press releases, news and product updates across their social networks; show them how to monitor the major social media channels for potential customers looking for your product or service. Let engineering or product departments serve as the ‘field experts’ for any feature and functionality conversations or questions raised in online communities and forums where they’re most likely already participating. You’ll quickly find you’re able to make a bigger impact with less stress on your end. It make take some up-front work to establish company ‘best practices’ for social media use and train employees, but the investment will pay off.

Q: How can I train for myself for social media without paying big bucks?

A: Start by using social media to find what you’re looking for! Webinars are great (and usually free) educational tools. I’d also recommend doing a quick search in YouTube to see if anyone has set up an instructional video you can watch.

 Some channels and monitoring tools also offer free demonstrations and information on their Web sites for getting started, so make sure to look there; finally, consider asking around in community forums like Business.com Answers or other online communities to see if anyone has additional advice for the best ways to get started, given what you’re looking for.

Q: I have heard that Facebook may not be as key a component of social media for B2B organizations with a niche market. Is that true, or should we have a Facebook page and post updates even if we only have 5 “friends”?

A: You need to start somewhere, right? Every company out there probably had just a few Facebook “friends” at the beginning stages of their Facebook efforts. As to whether or not Facebook is the place for you to focus your social media efforts, it depends on where your audience is and how they are using that channel. If your product has a viral element and your brand has a personality that matches that of habits and behaviors on Facebook, then it makes sense to continue there. However, if your business is more conservative and thought leadership is a key element of your marketing strategy, you may want to consider starting off with a blog or Twitter account.

Take some time to really think about the end goal for reaching your market with social media, and that will help dictate your use of social media channel. You may find you’re better served engaging in a tight-knit online forum or community where your audience has established itself.

Q: How do you build a Twitter following without a “personality” to drive the content?

A: Share really, really relevant and quality content. Twitter users follow other users who are sharing information they’re interested in. Share links to the latest articles, blog posts and videos you find or create that you think your target audience would find valuable.

You should also engage with industry thought leaders and other key influencers on Twitter who are sharing content your audience values. Follow them and publicly thank them and retweet their articles and content you find valuable. Just make sure to keep a healthy mix of what you’re sending out and what you’re retweeting of others.

Q: For B2B videos and webinars- is it better to cover products & services, or simply share expertise?

A: Both can be effective, as long as you know when and which to use. Webinars are powerful thought leadership vehicles and are a great way to share your expertise with a large group of potential customers and current clients.  And, since the majority of webinars can be archived and accessed on-demand, this thought leadership content can easily be incorporated into your Web site.

Product and service videos are a great addition to your Web site or YouTube. They allow clients and potential customers to gather information about your product and maximize the use of your services. If you have an upcoming product release or enhancement to share, you could consider a webinar to showcase the new release and give a quick tutorial of what clients and future clients can expect. Just make sure to be clear about the webinar content up front – don’t lead attendees in under false pretenses of thought leadership only to be presented with a product pitch or demo.

Q: How much do the social media theories apply to non-retail businesses? e.g. Selling technical software to financial institutions or specialized equipment to manufacturers.

A: Consumers aren’t the only ones turning online for purchasing information. According to an Enquiro Study, 83% of business purchasers first locate a vendor online. Furthermore, a recent Coremetrics whitepaper indicated 67% of Twitter users who become followers of a brand are more likely to buy that brand products, and 60% of Facebook users who become a fan of a brand a more likely to recommend that brand to friends.

In the end, a business purchaser is still a single person looking to gather information and make an informed decision. With the majority of people turning online to conduct that research and locate vendors, missing out on the social media conversation can mean missing out in general. By knowing your target audience and how they search for and interact with your product, you’ll best be equipped to determine the social media channels that are right for you.

Q: Is there a tool for tracking mentions/text for such “social” networks like Flickr?

A: Yes, there are many. Some of the free tools mentioned above are SocialMention and Google Alerts. There are also paid tools like Alterian’s SM2, Sysomos’ Heartbeat and Viralheat. Check out Chris Rawlinson’s blog post for 21 Free Social Media Tracking tools for more information, and stay tuned for the upcoming Business.com whitepaper detailing the top social media monitoring tools.

Q: Is there any point of setting up a Twitter or Facebook account if it is not frequently updated? And how often should these accounts be updated?

A: Would you be inclined to follow or engage with a stagnant account? If you’re going to invest the time into setting up these accounts, you should make sure you’re maximizing the use of Twitter and Facebook to achieve your goals. These accounts should be updated as often as you have something new or valuable to share with your audience. News? Discounts? Interesting research? It’s all worth sharing.

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This is Part One of a two-part post.

Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday’s Business.com-sponsored webinar, ‘Finding B2B Marketing Success Integrating Social Media and Search.’ We’re grateful to have had such a successful turnout and appreciative to Kate Maddox of BtoB Online and Ryan DeShazer of Gyro:HSR for such great content.

If you missed the webinar, check out the on-demand version.

What You Missed

Thursday’s webinar, ‘Finding B2B Marketing Success Integrating Social Media and Search’ showcased findings from Business.com and BtoB Online’s recent study of more than 450 B2B marketers, detailing how  marketers are using social media to enhance search marketing and what success metrics they’re using.

Kate Maddox, BtoB’s executive editor, began by detailing the current use of social media among B2B marketers, as found in the study. While it’s clear the use of social media is an understood ‘must’ for B2B marketers, its evident many marketers struggle to capture the impact of their social media programs in general, and the resulting potential for positive impact on online marketing efforts like search marketing.

Business.com’s Patricia Neuray, VP Sales and Marketing, focused on the key highlighted differences among B2B marketers who are currently seeing a positive impact on their search marketing efforts as a result of their social media efforts versus those who are not seeing a positive impact or are unsure of their impact. Neuray respectively labeled these groups ‘The Best’ and ‘The Rest.’

Neuray explored the reported ways The Best use social media to enhance paid search and search-engine-optimization (SEO) efforts. She capitalized on The Best’s best practices by sharing a few top tips for integrating social and search efforts, including keeping measurement simple and making sure measurement reflects set goals. Neuray also urged the audience to take the best of both social and search marketing.

For example, use keywords, phrases and terms discovered through monitoring social media conversations to enhance your SEO and paid search, and use paid search as a springboard to drive traffic to your social media efforts by including links to social media accounts and profiles in your paid search ads.

Yes, marketers love a good list of best practices, but they love the execution of best practices even more. Therefore, it’s not surprising Gyro:HSR’s Ryan DeShazer, Vice President, Global Practice Leader – Search, captivated the audience for the remainder of the webinar with real-life examples of how Gyro:HSR is currently leveraging social media to enhance search marketing for clients.

DeShazer shared four methods for effective search and social integration and illuminated each method with a client case study. According to DeShazer, marketers can best integrate social media and search by discerning the value of social media, uncovering the lingo, influencing the conversion and the new link graph.

To check out DeShazer’s case studies and learn more about his four methods for integration, download the on-demand version of the webinar.

Business.com encourages you to share your highlights, thoughts and feedback with us by commenting on this post.

We were overwhelmed by the great questions asked during the question-and-answer (Q&A) portion of the webinar. To see our answers to additional questions, make sure to check back on Monday for our Part-Two post.

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