Published by Hubspot, May 2010. Radian 6 offers up tips, concepts, anecdotes, and examples to help you connect the dots between your B2B company and social media. Find out why social media is gaining influence in B2B marketing, and how you can make it more effective and worth your investment. Tags: Communications Social Media 101 B2B b2bento ebook hivefire Hubspot marketo Microsoft radian6 socialmeida white paper White papers and eBooks can be helpful resources when they’re well-prepared and provide usable information. 15 B2B Marketing Facebook Success Stories. MORE >>

Both turned out to be promotions for companies exhibiting at the conference. HubSpot reports – The maker of “inbound marketing” software regularly sends alerts about new white papers, tip sheets and e-books that highlight best practices in social marketing. With the exception of Gizmo, all the companies have something to sell. advertising influence marketing Social Media direct marketing DMAIn the weeks leading up to the Direct Marketing Association annual conference in Boston this week, exhibitors were out strutting their best stuff. Dump the Junk. MORE >>

My own thoughts (for what they’re worth) on the matter are that: • It’s challenging to measure the true ROI of social media activities with any precision because social media is as much (if not more) about influence than direct action. But if John Doe is influenced to buy from you based a tweet—but completes the purchase through another unrelated channel—there’s no way to assign the value of that sale to Twitter. determining which topics generate the highest traffic and comment activity on a company blog, what time of day is most productive for tweeting, etc.). MORE >>

Austen Mayor writes that although “executives like numbers,&# social media efforts should proceed even without hard ROI attached because “The sooner a company starts climbing the deep functionalities learning curve, the sooner their Klout score will be at a respectable level,&# and “social media might be bigger than the industrial revolution in terms of societal effects.&# It can influence your prospects to buy from you, but doesn’t normally lead straight to a purchase. Highlight your company’s community involvement. What should they promote? MORE >>

Sean Donahue notes that, “If you’re still on the fence about the importance of a company blog, consider this trend: Many B2B marketers report that their team’s blog — not the company homepage — is now the most popular entry point for online visitors,&# then provides tips for maximizing company blog success. P De Clerck reports that less than half of companies have blogs, despite the fact that “blogs are real social media hubs and cornerstones of inbound marketing.&# Awesome Ways to Market a Business Blog by HubSpot Blog. Grow your audience? link]. MORE >>