The rise of the digital era and especially, digital natives has revolutionized the way we communicate with each other and also, the way we do business.
Why would B2B marketing be any different?
With digital, B2B marketing can be more targeted and savvy marketers are improving their ROI on their marketing plans. However, to be successful in this digital age, B2B marketers need to constantly update themselves on the latest trends, technologies and most importantly, hunt for what will make their business grow.
Leverage these cutting-edge trends, shed old wasteful practices and ride these trends for growth in your B2B business.  Have you incorporated these trends in your marketing arsenal?
B2B Researchers are Millennials
While the traditional B2B model was about targeting the B2B buyers and purchase managers, the reality is that today any B2B prospect employs younger managers who research online. Typically millennials, they are digital savvy and they look up the vendor’s digital assets to develop a clear picture of the vendor’s offering.
Hence, you as B2B Marketer, if you are talking the researcher’s digital language and making it easier for them to search and give value upfront, then you will rank high in the consideration list of the B2B buyer.
As a B2B marketer, you know that the one who provides the value most has the highest likelihood of getting the sale. Provide the value upfront to the B2B researcher and you have got your foot in the door.
To give this value, you need to go where the millennial researcher is always present: Mobile.
Mobile First
Today everyone is on the mobile. You get up in the morning and the first thing you check is the mobile for mails and social media.
Why should your B2B buyer be in any different?
B2B researchers, which we saw, earlier are mobile natives and the chances of them checking your digital assets on mobile are exceptionally high. Over 42% of B2B prospects use a mobile device at some point during their mobile journey. 84% of millennial B2B buyers believe mobile devices are essential to work. What impression would you give of your website and business if the site is not responsive and hence takes forever to load and then has very poor UX?
Making your website responsive is the first step. Having “mobile first” as your thinking is the critical shift in thinking. E.g. Are your videos in vertical format? Do they have subtitles?
These are basic but fundamental items you need to check in your marketing. Being mobile also means being savvy in social media.
Social Media
You may say “Facebook is for vacation pictures and LinkedIn is for job search, which I am not.”
That is an accurate description of 2016.
A study reveals that 53% of B2B prospects say that social media played a role in their buying decision. Facebook is the leading tool for marketers while LinkedIn is the number one social media of choice for top B2B marketers.
Why Facebook? Because your B2B buyer and researcher are on this platform every day. It's like meeting them at their home vs. their office. If you can meet them as a “friend” (no, don’t send a friend request as yet) you will build trust over a period.
LinkedIn especially with its exploding video usage helps you position your business as someone who offers value upfront. 66% of the Top B2B marketers find LinkedIn very effective.
What will leverage the power of social media is the right, targeted content.
Content Marketing
Wait, isn’t Content Marketing what B2C marketers do? Yes but here are stats for B2B.
According to the 2018 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends, 90% of B2B organizations use content marketing, and 38% of those companies are planning to increase their budget in 2018.
Content marketing is embraced by more and more B2B marketers and why not?
Going back to the first trend, B2B researchers are searching the net for information which makes their decision better. By providing relevant content which helps them make an informed decision, you position yourself as a “trusted partner” Wouldn’t you want that?
What is important is to have a written content marketing plan and not a fly by the seat of pants approach. 62% of content marketers who document their content marketing strategy outperforms 16% of those who do not. While Social media posts (94%) are the dominant form of content marketing, case studies and white papers (71%) are a close third. Third? What happened to the second? That’s the next trend
Video Explosion
Yup, video!
72% of B2B Marketers use video as their content marketing tool. Still not convinced? Check these stats-
The Web Video Marketing Council research shows that 96% of B2B respondents are engaged in video content marketing and 73% confirm that video has positively impacted marketing results.  Video is one of the dominant reasons why LinkedIn is also growing fast right now – LinkedIn is the number one social media of choice for B2B marketers Video on your website is the least you can do. Then, understand how you can bring video to every content page that you have.
Embrace these trends and emerge as a winner in the keenly fought battleground of B2B marketing.

The marketing landscape is more diverse than ever before, with marketing strategies spanning multiple channels. To stay relevant, you must conduct marketing audits from time to time. With so many tasks to execute, you might be walking a fine line and making a few (or several) blunders.

At Betaout, we've learned that these mistakes can cost you time and money you don't have to waste. Avoid these missteps to help keep your marketing strategy in sync with your brand evolution. 

1. Not taking the leap from personalization to individualization.

Everybody's talking about personalization, but marketers still struggle to create meaningful customer experiences. The question isn't whether you're personalizing your messages -- everyone is, to some extent. Answer these pressing questions instead:

• Are you still doing mass-level personalization by simply inserting your customers' first names?  
• Are you taking individualized insights into account? 

Recent research reveals that only 6 percent of marketers worldwide report having a single customer view across online and offline channels. If you don’t fall in this narrow bracket (and the odds are slim, really), your marketing isn't targeted enough.

2. Not following the cardinal 80/20 rule.

You’ve no doubt heard the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle: 80 percent of the effect comes from 20 percent of the causes. But are you using it in your marketing?

Whether your focus is on content marketing, social-media marketing or email marketing, 80 percent of your effort should be spent providing value to your audience. That leaves 20 percent of your effort for promotional activity. This keeps your audience engaged and builds a long-term relationship.

Brand-oriented messages fizzle. Customer-oriented ones will help you sizzle. 

3. Ignoring retention marketing.

Retention marketing should be the backbone of your marketing strategy. Why? Two reasons: It's easier to sell to someone you've built a relationship with, and it's more profitable to sell to your existing customers.

Need some convincing? Check out these stats:

• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70 percent. The probability of selling to a new prospect is somewhere in the 5 to 20 percent range. 
• Acquiring a new customer costs six to seven times what you'll spend to retain an existing one.

Once someone becomes your customer, make sure you don’t stop marketing to him or her. Customer loyalty is hard to come by nowadays. It all boils down to creating value so they'll remain customers for life.

 4. Not documenting your content-marketing strategy.

Content marketing currently is your best bet to rise above the noise. No wonder it's employed by 94 percent of small businesses, 93 percent of business-to-business (B2B) companies and 77 percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations. Now, contrast that with the markedly smaller proportions of groups with a written content-marketing plan: 37 percent of B2B marketers and 40 percent of B2C marketers. 

Document your content-marketing strategy before you start creating stories and other materials around your brand. It will make content creation and distribution not only easier but more effective, too.

5. Ignoring new channels and platforms.

The most successful companies do what they can to leverage every marketing channel. They don’t just stick with the same old channels and strategies. According to a Harvard Business School study, retailers that took advantage of multiple channels were more profitable than those employing only a single channel.

The digital world constantly is evolving. Adopting the relevant, emerging marketing channels is paramount to connect with your audiences.

6. Using email as a promotional tool.

There was an era in email marketing when emails were used solely for promotional purposes. Modern professionals know email marketing plays a critical role in building trust-based relationships to engage, convert and retain customers. Neglecting these responsibilities can have serious repercussions for any online business. If you want your email marketing to be a success, you need to accept a major mindset shift: Use email as an engagement tool, not a promotional one.

7. Not spending time crafting your message.

This is the single-biggest mistake marketers make. They simply don't pay enough attention to crafting the message before they push it out to an audience.

Carefully think through what you want your customer or potential client to believe. Whether you're writing a blog post, composing an email, writing a Facebook status update or creating popup copy, every word you write should convey your message clearly and convincingly.

When it comes to marketing, it’s not just channel that matters: it’s also the message.

The future of marketing will be highly complex, and it will reward only those who can provide meaningful experiences to customers. If you want to succeed in the digital age, you've got to get the customer experience right.

Digital marketing hasn’t seen any major shifts in a while. Sure, we had to optimize our websites for mobile user experience, tweak SEO a little as the algorithm gods required and make a few other minor changes. Social media has been booming, too -- but nothing very thought-provoking.

This new year is bound to be a different story, and we can’t sit around and wait. Look at what’s already happening: social media is changing, the law is changing, and there are murmurs about how net neutrality (or lack thereof) will affect digital advertising. It's easy to predict the industry will face significant changes in 2018. Here are four key aspects that will shape the new landscape.

1. Privacy.

One successfully could argue the internet is funded mostly through ads. Websites use cookies that allow companies to target their customers based on what those consumers view in their own browsers. But users constantly are changing devices, and that makes it difficult to keep track of all the consumer touch points. Even savvy marketers are working hard to determine the channels with the most impact and justify their methods to clients.

Still, it’s doable. Robust marketing tools can track and connect user data to target individuals. But certain privacy concerns make this a little harder for internet advertising.

Ad blockers are just one of the challenges. According to a PaigeFair report published in January, 11 percent of internet users employ some type of ad blocker -- a 30 percent increase from the previous year. Consumers want to protect their privacy, security and time from ad interruption. To curb this, some websites use walls that prevent browsers with ad blockers from viewing their content. These sites ask users to manually disable the blocker, but 74 percent of people in the PaigeFair report simply abandoned the site.

2. Live video.

Visual content has become more popular on the internet, and many companies are poised to make this their primary communication tool in 2018. That means rich media, creative videos, GIFs, memes and more are bound to be trendier this year. And there’s a good reason for it: Users interact better with visuals.

Of all the options, live video is the one to watch. A 2016 Buffer survey discovered more than 80 percent of marketers wanted to create more video. At the time, an impressive 42 percent wanted to target live video. In the same year, Facebook reported live videos were seeing as much as triple the watch time as traditional video. It also was garnering 10 times the comments. Live video is so effective because it’s authentic, human and littered with errors.

It's not just live video versus recorded video -- it's live video versus everything. According to Livestream, 82 percent of users would rather watch a brand’s live video than read the same company's social-media posts. A close 80 percent would rather tune in to a live video than read a blog post.

3. Artificial intelligence (AI).

Think it’s too early to talk about AI's impact on marketing and advertising? Think again. AI already is entrenched in our daily lives, and it’s quickly becoming a rib in marketing. Worldwide, 58 percent of chief marketing officers believe companies will have to compete within the AI space to succeed in the next five years.

Enter AI marketing. This is how to bridge the gap between data science and marketing. Technology enables marketers to sift through a drastically multiplying data load to unearth insights that will help them provide value to target customers while gaining returns on their investments. Even better, this form of marketing doesn't have to to take up all their time -- they can automate much of the tasks to run in the background. With so many benefits, why would AI be incorporated into marketing strategies? 

Over to you.

Whether 2018 turns out to be a good or bad year for the industry wholly depends upon the stakeholders in this marketing disruption. Professionals must begin to study the trends (if they haven't already) and adjust their current strategies. What they have right now might not get them past the first quarter of what's sure to be a highly competitive year.

Blockchain is currently disrupting many industries — but this isn’t a bad thing. The successful advancement of this technology can impact our daily lives far beyond just the financial world. Customer demands evolve with each passing year making it vital that changes are made within every industry. No one likes for things to be stagnant. It’s not good for the health of an industry, as consumers will simply move on to something faster, smarter or more efficient.

Industries Blockchain Will Disrupt

Advertising

Online advertising is quite unstable due to various issues that have plagued the industry since the earliest days of the internet. As more and more users choose to use adblocking software, engaging with advertisements is at record low numbers, and the advertising industry is at a loss for ways to win this battle. On top of that, consumers are given “free” access to online giants like Facebook and Google who turn around and sell that data to advertisers. Those internet giants make a mint while consumers give up more and more of their privacy without a stake in the game.

Blockchain technology has the opportunity to step in and level the playing field for advertisers and consumers. Companies like BitClave are disrupting the system by connecting advertisers with consumers directly. BitClave is a private blockchain backed search engine where consumers can search freely without the fear of giving up their data along the way. Consumers decide who gets access to their data and are paid each time a business uses it to make them a personalized offer.

Communication

Communication is the lifeblood of business. Email, text, phone and chat just scratch the surface of today’s channels and businesses are always looking for the most efficient and secure way to communicate. Tools ranging from Outlook to Facebook Messenger are some of the newest ways businesses can communicate internally and with customers. Lack of efficiency and security are becoming more apparent as hackers continue to attack businesses to obtain private information.

Our communications across the web are monitored and can be hacked relatively easily which can amount to minor annoyances or devastating consequences. The blockchain is being applied to communications in ways that promise to disrupt the entire industry. Messagine platform Telegram works a lot like Slack but uses blockchain to encrypt all communications. They even offer the ability for messages to self-destruct to ensure they are never seen. The company is planning to raise $1.2 billion  in its ICO and has secured investment from some of the largest venture firms like Benchmark, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Healthcare

Healthcare can also feel the effects of blockchain. The process of transferring patient data and electronic health records is a contested system. A lot of criticism surrounds the systems in place and many feel the time consuming ways of recording the data takes away from time that could be spent with patients. A variety of security risks also make it cumbersome for hospitals to share information, and doctors are often unable to access medical records without them being sent to their office.

Counterfeit drugs are also a worldwide problem for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and most importantly patients. In 2013, 8,000 patients in a remote Himalayan hospital died over a five year period due to an antibiotic used to prevent infection after surgery. After officials investigated the occurrence they found the antibiotic being used has no active ingredients. In other words, the drug was a fake.

Blockchain technology is disrupting the current system that so easily can be manipulated to allow these counterfeit drugs into the marketplace. Companies like FarmaTrust are offering pharmaceutical companies, governments and the public an efficient and secure global tracking system for drugs that is backed by blockchain and AI. FarmaTrust CEO, Raja Sharif, explains, “This project is a great multinational collaboration to mix blockchain and other emerging technologies to secure and optimize the pharmaceutical supply chain. Mongolia is a great starting point. With a population of just 3 million, tracking and implementation can quickly scale on the national level. Mongolia is also important as a strategic middle point between Russia and China, two countries that have experienced large amounts of counterfeit medicine in the past.”

Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles of social media for brands is the pressure to “keep up.”

Platforms come and go. User behavior changes. As a result, the way brands approach social media has to change too. Heck, looking at a guide on how to “dominate” Facebook from 2010 feels like reading hieroglyphics today.

Rewind back to as recently as 2017. Consider how much the social landscape has already evolved.

• Drastic shifts in Facebook algorithm
• The introduction of Twitter’s 280-character limit
• The rise of LinkedIn for influencer outreach
• The explosion of live video via Facebook and Instagram

And honestly, that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

So, what social media tactics should be cornerstones of your strategy in 2018 to remain relevant?

We’ve broken down nine evergreen social media tactics that go hand in hand with the best practices of today’s social platforms. If you’re looking to crush it in 2018 and beyond, any combination of these strategies is totally fair game.

1. Master the Art of Social Storytelling

Blasting promo link after promo link is a far cry from an effective social strategy anymore. This rings true for pretty much any social platform, especially if you’re looking to score more followers.

In short, people are sick of spam and impersonal brands alike.

This is why storytelling content is all-the-rage right now. Oftentimes lacking any sort of concrete CTA or accompanying link, story-based posts are meant to drive discussion rather than clicks.

This LinkedIn post from Backlinko’s Brian Dean is a shining example of social storytelling in action. Debate-driven posts like this not only get a lot of love in the comment section, but also give you a chance to show your brand’s vulnerable side.

Meanwhile, popular Instagram accounts such as Humans of New Yorkthrive almost exclusively through emotional, storytelling content.

Why is storytelling content to popular, though? The benefits of these types of posts are two-fold:

1) Followers view them as positive, meaningful messages rather than marketing spam.

2) In the wake of algorithms demoting promotional, link-heavy brands, these posts have a better chance popping up in your followers’ feeds.

The takeaway? Not everything you post needs to be a promo, nor should it be.

2. Fine-Tune Your Facebook Presence

Speaking of algorithm changes and promos, we need to talk about Facebook.

Facebook’s recent announcement to deemphasize brand content has sent some marketers into full-blown panic mode.

While the specifics of the update aren’t crystal clear and it’ll take some time to see the changes take effect, Facebook themselves have provided advice for brands hoping to weather the new algorithm storm.

Stop Baiting

Facebook is explicitly putting their foot down on social media tactics they see as “engagement bait.” This includes excessive “tag-a-friend” or “like this post if you ____” content, which Facebook sees as little more than a cheap attempt to game their algorithm.

Rethink Your Links

To piggyback on our first tactic, brands should strive to post fewer links pointing back to their sites if they want to realistically show up their followers’ feeds.

Facebook is actively encouraging brands to post video content, for example. Meanwhile, the popularity of text-based question posts, storytelling posts and memes serve as an alternative to link-based posts.

Experiment With Ads

Given that content labeled as promotional is being actively demoted or hidden, brands have even more of a reason to start experimenting with Facebook’s ad platform. Rather than be totally frozen out from the feeds of would-be customers, creative ad types such as carousel ads may very well be your best bet for getting discovered.

3. Repurpose Your Best Content

Based on our findings on the best times to post on social media, it’s clear that brands today need a ton of content to fill up their social calendars.

We’re talking multiple posts per day across multiple platforms.

If you’re running on a tight schedule or resources are thin, finding ways to repurpose your content is an absolute must-do to squeeze the most out of your social strategy. For example, some modern social media tactics for stretching your content include:

• Turn quotes and stats from blog posts into share-worthy graphics (there are dozens of free image creation tools to help you do just that, too).
• Use data from a case study to drive a debate or discussion on Facebook or Twitter.
• Take tips from a listicle (“12 Ways to X…”) and outline them as a series of scheduled tweets.

With these tips in mind, a single blog post could account for dozens of posts across Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Rather than treat your content as a one-and-done affair, rethink the ongoing sharing potential of your blog posts.

4. Always Tag Influencers and Brands in Posts

Tagging others has become integral to just about every social network and is a guaranteed tactic for scoring more exposure for your posts.

Much like how posts with hashtags receive more engagement, tagged posts tend to earn more attention too. Whether it’s a big player in your industry or someone’s audience you’re looking to tap into, tactical tagging takes almost no time on your part.

Brent Barnhart@brentwrites

How the old-school psychological principles of marketing still work today: http://blog.wishpond.com/post/115675437495/drive-results-with-psychological-principles … @Disha_Dee via @Wishpond

10:34 PM - Aug 4, 2017

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And if you’re looking for a who’s who in your industry to tag, start by digging through relevant keywords or hashtags. You can also use an influencer marketing tool such as Buzzsumo to clue you in on potential influencer targets.

5. Mingle With Micro Influencers

As a side note, don’t let someone’s follower count define their worth as an influencer. In fact, oftentimes targeting niche audiences can actually work in your favor.

According to data by Izea, people trust smaller influencers more than they do accounts with 100,000+ followers. AdWeek similarly notes that influencers with fewer followers (10,000 or less) actually have a higher rate of engagement–the ratio of likes/comments versus followers.

In other words, just because someone doesn’t have a massive following doesn’t mean they’re not worth your attention. The boom of influencer marketing is actually putting more power into the hands of those with smaller audiences.

6. Tap into Geotags on Instagram

Among the most important social media tactics for brick-and-mortar businesses, geotagging on Instagram is a fun way to build your local following.

Tagging your business’ location on Instagram not only signals yourself as part of the local community, but incentivizes customers to show you some love.

If nothing else, the ability to curate customer photos through geotagging is an awesome form of social proof. People know at a glance that you’re a real deal and get a better sense of your brand’s personality.

7. Go Live

Although the popularity of video content is no secret, brands are looking to push the boundaries of live video in 2018.

Facebook has explicitly advised brands to take advantage of Facebook Live in the wake of their algorithm change. They note that real-time videos get six times as many interactions as regular videos.

Meanwhile, live videos via Instagram stories continue to spike as well with over 300 million Stories users as of October 2017.

Live videos are compelling because they’re presented as must-see unlike a YouTube video or clip you can simply brush off for later. Meanwhile, the raw feel of a live video is refreshing for viewers bored of polished video content.

From conducting Q&A’s to providing an up-close-and-personal experience for your audience, expect to see more and more live video pop up in your feeds over the course of the year.

8. Build Your Army of Advocates

With so much competing content and the need for brands to stand out, sometimes your not-so-secret weapon is the people who are part of your network.

Brand advocates such as employees and customers should play a pivotal role in your social media strategy. For starters, having your teammates promote your social ensures its reach goes beyond your brand account. Sprout’s team regularly promotes fresh content to their respective followers, for example.

Vera Flores@sproutvera

Check out this read about social trends that are going to take over 2018. Also, the infographic in here is pretttty sweet. #SproutChat http://bit.ly/2nt5wOf 

2:23 AM - Feb 1, 2018

6 Social Media Trends That Will Take Over 2018

Here's our list of the six social media trends in 2018 that your brand must pay attention to this year. See what trends are impacting your industry on social.

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Sarah Nagel@sprout_sarah

New Sprout blog post: Digital Natives Group’s Jonathan Jacobs on Adding Value Through Collaboration http://bit.ly/2sgQ0tu 

11:17 PM - Feb 10, 2018

Digital Natives Group’s Jonathan Jacobs on Adding Value Through Collaboration

Sprout Social sat down with Digital Natives Group's Jonathan Jacobs, co-founder and partner of the firm, to talk about successful client collaboration strategies.

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And as an added bonus, the principles of employee advocacy serves as yet another example of social proof. The more people you have promoting you, the better.

9. Stop Hiding Your Personality

Lastly, don’t neglect the importance of showing off the personality behind your brand.

The days of “safe,” suit-and-tie branding on social media are over. Brands that shine today aren’t afraid to take the occasional risk to remind followers that there’s a person behind their account.

Case in point, the popularity of memes and humorous content. Brands such as MoonPie have carved out a niche on Twitter because they refuse to take themselves too seriously.

View image on Twitter

MoonPie✔@MoonPie

Sometimes your best won't be good enough but that doesn't mean you aren't good enough

8:00 PM - Dec 13, 2017

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We could easily imagine an alternate universe where such an account would be treading water. However, MoonPie’s posts receive insane amounts of engagement because of their unique voice.

Finding that voice isn’t all about being funny, either.

Based on Sprout’s own data, two-thirds of consumers want brands to see brands take a stand on social and political issues. When brands get real, so to speak, followers have more incentive to show loyalty in response.

This doesn’t mean that brands should strive to be inflammatory or controversial, but rather not afraid to speak out on issues relevant to their audiences.

Doing so is quickly becoming an expectation rather than an exception to the rule.

Which Social Media Tactics Will Define 2018 for You?

Brands are constantly scrambling for the latest and greatest when it comes to engaging their social followers. By sticking to these social media tactics that mesh with the best practices of today’s platforms, you can do exactly that.

Any trends for 2018 you think that we missed? Tweet us and let us know!