This past year has been one of tremendous growth for us at ContentMX. We have seen products and services shift to accommodate the hybrid office, and more need for partners to meet customers and prospects virtually. Most importantly, users of our platform have positioned themselves as resources to their networks, and in so doing are in the forefront of buyers’ minds when making purchase decisions. This past year we explored what it means to be a social seller, the value of a content marketplace, we took deep dives into what interests partners and consumers, and explored how to parlay social reaction into sales. We accomplished a lot, and we are excited to do even more in 2022!
New Unique and Powerful Features
Your account features are always growing to bring you new ways to turn content into business opportunities. In addition to unique features like Active Lead Reports and Buy Signals, you can enjoy our new Social MQLs and integrations to CRM platforms such as Dynamics, Hub Spot, and Salesforce.
New Features Coming: Custom branded video intros!
Soon we will feature new connections to Instagram and Pinterest, “Meet with Me” appointments, and more! In particular, we are excited to announce custom branded Intros and Outros. With this feature, every video you share can include a short clip with your own personalized introduction and an optional follow-up at the end. Now you can have an even greater impact on your customers and prospects!
Your Account, Your Data
Remember that with your account, your data remains your own. Your account is for you alone, with all your data stored securely by ContentMX in a vendor-agnostic marketing platform.
New Content For Everyone!
Our marketplace of content streams is growing every month and we have lots of new streams planned for 2022. Keep your eye on the Now Streaming section of the PartnerOn Journal to learn about new highlights and check your dashboard to see all the content streams available to you.
As the host of the largest content marketplaces for the channel, we at ContentMX look forward to continuing to provide the top-level marketing support you deserve from the best technology vendors in the world – all while keeping your data and your marketing tools under your control.
Now streaming on SYNNEX DEMANDSolv:HP Print- Protecting Your Systems from Cyber Crime with Help from HP. HP presents some of the latest information about cyber threats; as well as content on how HP print technology combines with security best practices to help customers and prospects stop them and mitigate impact.
Now streaming through Arrow’s Curated Content: Red Hat– Identify, Prioritize, and Resolve Risks with Insights– businesses want security solutions that don’t require countless IT hours or extravagant new systems that cost too much, require a total overhaul of existing IT infrastructures, and otherwise overwhelm existing systems. Share content on Red Hat Insights- a SaaS offering that is straightforward, supports automation, and is customizable.
“We didn’t talk to the channel, we are building them a better solution”
”We want the partners to tell us who the customer are they are working with”
“We have a challenge since we have fluctuated between direct and indirect selling”
These are all things we have heard from vendors. Sound familiar? Have you been a part of a program that didn’t take the time to understand the audience, what motivates them, and how to give them what they want?
Building an effective channel enablement solution requires understanding the requirements of the three audience segments- the vendor, the partner, and the end-user- and defining where they converge.
At ContentMX we define success as allowing the following:
Create a behavior based on setting and meeting expectations
Provide a process that is easy to consume
Offer results that improve business
Set expectations.
Weekly episodes set up expectations that not only are being delivered to partners, but to the consumers who grow to expect the content being shared by the partner. As the content is made available in multiple formats and locations it becomes easy to consume and engage with. In the end, consistent programming drives results.
The solution was built from the ground up, we worked to understand the decision process for the consumer, how and where they engaged with the content, and we studied what type of content was most favored by the consumer.
Make it easy.
Next, we surveyed and worked with the partners to understand what would trigger them to engage with the application and the content enclosed. A key behavior that we wanted to align ourselves with is that people will set aside time to perform specific tasks if it becomes predictable. One user told us:
”This has created a new behavior for me, every Monday I receive notifications about the content, which triggers me to set a weeks worth of marketing in 5 minutes”
We realized the importance of providing support and marketing training to our users in order for them to feel empowered to keep using the platform. Here are some things partners have said…
“I’m really excited about the new social reporting. That is going to help with leads.”
“This is pretty self-explanatory. One big thing I like is all the support in the resource library, the videos and articles as well as access to support.”
“Thank you for helping me learn about hashtags and social media.“
And with our ears to the ground, we are able to take the feedback we are given and use it to help us continue to invest and evolve as a company:
“I want to know how to locate the content by topic like Prisma for Palo Alto Networks. “
There was a need for customizable messaging, so we provided it, and the feedback we received was just what we hoped for:
“The combination of custom messaging and the microsite is going to transform a boring tab on my website into an attention-grabbing page. Thank you, this is great.”
Results keep the program running.
The last step was understanding the needs of the vendors or suppliers. They want to know how we tie real business results to our program. In other words, what content grabs the attention of buyers and how is the content that is being shared related to deals that are closed.
Keeping that in mind ContentMX has continued to add methods of reporting back real numbers. Surveying partners on the phone and online about actual closed deals.
“We closed a $40,000 deal of M365”
“We closed a $125,000 deal for Dynamics TMS Business Central Cloud”
We also want to provide information about how well the content was received by the consumers, and we measure that from a few points including clicks and Social MQL’s which are identified reactions to content. For example, we can see that a video from IBM Power received over 70 Social MQLs and that an analyst paper from IBM Security received 50 Social MQLs.
This type of data can be converted into named opportunities that the vendors/suppliers can use to co-sell solutions with the partner. We are providing real actionable business results.
So what have we learned? Channels need collaboration at all levels from researching and understanding the consumer up to the vendor. So, how are you planning your channel programs?
Recently we released our new feature, Reactions, to help our users identify social media engagement, data, and marketing qualified leads. In our latest article, Social Media Reactions- how to use your dashboard to engage with buyers, we described a bit about why we think this feature is going to be a huge help in identifying leads; but today we want to take a deeper dive into howthis feature can be incredibly useful.
Social marketing qualified leads (SMQLs) are a great way to make new connections with people who are interacting with your social media posts. As we have stated in our previous article, “Social Marketing Qualified Leads (SMQLs) are people you could potentially be doing business with in the future.” We truly believe that through human interaction and connection, you can curate leads that will help your business grow! Taking a deeper dive to really analyze your SMQLs can make an impact on your social media outreach.
Helpful strategies for analyzing SMQLs:
-Identifying your leads
-Understanding what they’re looking for
-Providing consistent content
-Having open communication
-Measuring the success of engagement
The strategies above are just a few that our team thinks will be beneficial when exploring all you need to know about Social MQLs. We want to break these tactics down for you and help you take a closer look at your social media audience to identify who could turn out to be a successful business lead for your company.
Identifying your leads: There are a few ways to identify leads within the platform.
One way leads can be received is through social media. Who is reacting to your posts? Commenting on them? Sharing your posts to their own feed? Are the people interacting with your posts already following you? Are they your friends? Family? Business connections? Do they frequently interact or only once in a while? What kind of reactions are they giving? Celebrate? Likes? Applause? Identifying who is reacting, how they are reacting, and what they are reacting to can help you break down what you should be posting more of or how often you should be posting.
Another way leads can be received is by using the “Build Your List” assets through the “Share This” or “Email This” functions. To learn more about receiving leads, please read How to view leads and where they come from, and Build Your List Items. Once a potential prospect fills out a Build Your List form, you will receive that lead’s contact information in an email, or you can have it come through to your CRM solution. To learn more about using your CRM system to manage leads, please read Integrating Your Hubspot CRM. Identifying your leads is fairly easy because you can have them all remain in the same place by funneling them to certain contact lists in the platform, or in your CRM. Use their contact information to identify who they really are and what they’re looking for. Hubspot allows you to create contact fields and have that field populate with the Build Your List Item they are interested in. What piqued their initial interest?
Understanding what leads are looking for: Figuring out what your leads are interested in can be broken down pretty easily.
The most important thing to look at on social media is what posts your audience is reacting to. Is your audience reacting more to HPE content? Do you find more people are sharing your Red Hat content? Is your audience reacting to more straightforward posts about products, or do they like when you make funny puns and clever side remarks in addition to the post? Figure out what is getting the best reaction from your audience and run with it.
When using email or a Build Your List item, take the time to find out what Build Your List Item your lead was interested in. Was it a general form submission about wanting to learn more, and if so, what vendor was it related to? Was a lead filling out a form to receive gated content like a whitepaper, or an ebook? Do you find your audience filling out Build Your List forms more for one vendor over another?
With both social media and through Build Your List forms, try reaching out to your new lead to find out more about what they are looking for. Ask them things like; What part of the vendor’s content piqued your interest? Were you hoping to find other vendor content? Do you like learning more about physical products, or offered services? What else would you like to see on your social media timeline or in your received marketing materials?
Provide consistent, relevant content: Once you figure out what your prospects are interested in, it is important to post consistent and relevant content to maintain their interest level. Reach out to your contacts and Social MQLs to find out what they are interested in seeing. If they filled out a Build Your List form for IBM content, what do they want to see from there? Information about Cloud? Power? Security? Ask if there is other vendor information you can provide, and send out weekly emails. Post a few times a day on Twitter or LinkedIn. Make sure you are feeding your followers content they are truly going to connect with. Remember what your audience likes and tailor it to their personalities. If you see your audience engaging more with posts that have witty statements, try to add your own spin on the given message! This can lead to other prospects becoming interested from word-of-mouth, or finding your content through your audience’s social media engagement with you. Creating a community and listening to your prospects can lead to attracting a wider audience.
Open communication with your audience: Make your presence known and visible. Reach out and engage with your audience as often as you can. Make your space welcoming for all prospects whether they are new or old prospects. Let it be known that you are willing to listen and provide what your audience is looking for. Providing open communication and a welcoming virtual atmosphere will allow both you and your audience to maintain a relationship and collaborate on what works best for both parties. This can be done by reacting to prospects’ social media posts who have reacted to yours in the past. Throw them a “Celebrate” or a “Like”. Engage back by asking questions in the comments of your posts! Hey, I see you liked this post! Is this something you’re interested in learning more about? Take the time and become “Mutuals” (mutual connections, friends, etc.) with the users who interact with you. Don’t be afraid to “Follow” your potential prospects on Twitter, or add people as connections on LinkedIn. If someone shares your post, ask them what interested them in the post enough to re-share it. Is this type of content they can see themselves sharing again in the future? It is great to be open and honest with your interactions on social media, after all, social media is for being social! Take some time and create new, ongoing, relationships with your potential prospects. Networking is one of the most important things in the corporate business world!
Measuring the success of your engagement: This can be done in many ways, both statistically on paper, and as an abstract concept. You can measure your success by checking out the “Reports” tab on our platform. Here you will find Activity by Posted Item, and Activity by Email. If you notice the number of opens and clicks on your emails going up, you can probably deduce that you are getting a higher rate of engagement. The same goes for looking at stats for social media posts; if you notice you are getting more reactions, shares, comments, and views, your audience is most likely becoming more engaged and interested in what you are posting. Our new Activity by Posted Item layout is a great way to measure engagement as you can see who is commenting, liking, and reacting all in one place. Take a look at our Viewing Your Social Reactions article to learn more about how to use our platform to find who is reacting to your posts. Is your contact list expanding? Check to see how engaged people are with the Build Your List assets. Along with statistics, you can measure success using more abstract concepts. If you have open communication with your audience, can you determine what tone they are using? Are they showing compassion and positive reactions? Do you notice people asking more questions? Are they re-sharing information you’ve provided to them? Are there more conversations rather than just likes or impressions? Analyzing the behaviors of your audience can also help you determine how successful your marketing campaigns are turning out.
Next Steps
Now that we have gone through some key factors in analyzing your social outreach, the next step is figuring out what strategies are going to work best for you. Is your audience mostly on social media or email? This will help you determine where you want to be more active. If you’re not as active on social media, try posting more often and interacting with your audience more. This may help you gain more leads all while identifying who they are.
Now streaming on SYNNEX DEMANDSolv:Cisco Public Sector. Everything you need to drive education, awareness, and demand for our Cisco’s portfolio of solutions for education, healthcare, and state and local government.
