How B2B Marketers are Benefiting from Facebook
The story of Apollo 13 astronauts trying desperately to get back to Earth after a failed mission has a lesson for B2B marketers.
Astronauts used the moon’s gravitational pull to slingshot them so they had enough power left to get back to Earth.
B2B marketers: Facebook is your moon.
In the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, B2B marketers reported that they were far more likely to increase their use of LinkedIn and blogging than Facebook in the coming year. 
How Microsoft Leveraged Bloggers for a Successful Product Launch
Software giant Microsoft launches dozens of products and services every year.
The company typically relies heavily on advertising and PR to get the word out.
But for its Office 365 product, the team took a different approach.
Using partnerships and social media, Microsoft connected specifically with women business owners – a key audience group.
Rather than directing promotional messages toward them, Microsoft involved them in the process from start to finish.
“It’s definitely innovation within a large matrix organization like Microsoft that hasn’t really done this in the past,” said Penny Delgadillo, senior product manager at Microsoft.
In just a two-month period, the entirely social Office 365 “Your Office, Your Terms” campaign garnered 5.8 million overall campaign impressions and four times more traffic from social sharing than the typical Microsoft campaign.
7 Creative Social Media Marketing Mini Case Studies
Are you looking for some creative social media marketing ideas from businesses?
Look no further.
This article highlights seven mini case studies of businesses that have stood out by implementing innovative social media marketing practices.
You’ll find inspiration for your social media marketing efforts here.
So let’s dive in!
#1: Sharpie
Sharpie is the permanent marker company. Through social media and other marketing efforts, this company has taken an ordinary commodity and turned it into a common noun.
Social Customer Service Allows Startup to Outpace the Competition
Patton Gleason is the first to admit he can’t sell. And just over a year after going live with his online start-up, the Natural Running Store, he hasn’t had to try.
“I’m a terrible sales guy. I’m awful at it,” Gleason says. “But I really do like this idea of ‘can a relationship really be your big marketing vehicle?’”
Turns out, it can. By wowing customers with unheard-of service, Gleason has come close to replicating the in-store experience online. In doing so, he turned the Natural Running Store into a serious competitor in the running shoe arena.
And he’s done it without spending a nickel on outside advertising. The key has been to give online buyers a very personal touch and create bite-sized content for social media.
“It is 1000% a hustle in relationships,” he says.
The result: high search engine rankings, dozens of features on like-minded blogs and a profitable, growing business.
Sony Combines Social and Local for Successful Product Launch
Sony Electronics makes tens of thousands of products. But the launch of its Tablet S – going head to head with Apple’s iPad – called for something special.
Adding to the pressure, Sony’s social media team had a relatively small budget for the project.
With a creative mix of social media and in-person events, Sony brought out thousands of people to locations to “Catch the Tablet” and tell their friends about it.
Most notably, the campaign created buzz that inspired 1,000 clicks from Facebook to the Tablet S pre-order page, making it the most successful social media effort yet for the company.
How a Scrapbooking Company Used Social Media to Beat Target as Best Brand in Minnesota
On the morning of June 10, Kristen Jacobs was monitoring the Twitterverse for mentions of her employer, Creative Memories, as she usually does. One tweet in particular stood out.
Upon closer inspection of the tweet and link, Jacobs discovered that Creative Memories was going head-to-head with one of America’s biggest retailers, Target, in a “Minnesota Brand Madness” challenge put on by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.
Creative Memories learned first on Twitter that it was included in the Minnesota Brand Madness competition.
This was news to Jacobs (the company’s web content community manager), as well as the rest of the scrapbooking company. But Jacobs knew where to turn first.
Facebook Geotargeting Draws 500,000 Fans for Small Biz
Most of us know Facebook marketing is working when more sales roll in or site traffic grows.
But for Alex Morrissey of JamaicansMusic.com, that moment came when a party in Indonesia ran out of goats.
“We invited 200 people to the launch party, but because we’re on Facebook, 1,000 people came,” he said. “We had enough rice and peas, but we had to get more goats.”
