When it comes to B2B content marketing, video is beginning to shove white papers out of the spotlight. According to a new B2B Content Marketing Report sponsored by Spice Works, B2Bers are in need for more interactive, easily digestible content. As a result, YouTube is growing and Facebook is declining in the B2B community. The top metrics that B2B marketers use to measure content marketing success, though, continue to be web traffic and views/downloads. This means that even though new forms of content marketing are being embraced, they’re still expecting users to take the same kind of action after taking it in. How can you embrace these new trends while still generating leads? Here are a few ideas.
Webinars
Webinars are visual, interactive and expertise-driven — everything a B2B brand needs to establish itself as an authority in its industry. You can use a professional service like GoToWebinar or do something as simple as a Google Hangout. Record the presentation and then share it on YouTube and other similar sites after the fact. By choosing great keywords and writing a great description, you can make your material accessible to a larger audience. And since you can include links back to your brand’s site, you can spur viewers to take action and connect with you more when the session ends.
Mini-Instructionals
You might not need 45 minutes to get your point across, but you still want to communicate your message in a visual way. Try doing short instructional videos on topics you know very well. You can then add in YouTube annotations inviting users to visit your site itself or more specific content, like blog posts or other instructionals.
Presentations and Decks
Use your white paper content and case studies, but turn them into presentations. Presentations can seem less overwhelming than a white paper, and they tend to present information in more digestible chunks. Sharing them on a site like Slideshare will also open them up to a larger audience, while giving you the chance to direct users back to your site by including short URLs in the presentation descriptions.
Print publications are slowly dying off, but can the same be said about B2B print publications? We took a look to determine whether they’re a thing of the past or a wave of the future.
