Why B2B doesn't have to be afraid of social media | Best Web ...

From the beginning, the idea of social media and B2B marketing working together in blissful harmony has been a distant dream of marketers everywhere. It was originally thought that mixing B2B and social media would only leave companies with a lot of hard work and empty results? and that has been the decided fate of B2B social media marketing for many misguided B2B marketers.

The idea that social media and B2B marketing are unable to work together originated from the idea that social media marketing was strictly about conversions amongst consumers. However, no one truly converts from social media ? not even in B2C markets. Social media is a tool that allows marketers to create conversations with the public, and those conversations lead to conversions. Using social media as a tool for better communication can work in any market, and B2B markets are no exception.

With the understanding that the sales cycle in a B2B market is becoming more significant in size, B2B markets shouldn?t be planning to convert through social media. However, evidence shows that social media might have the capability of speeding up sales.

Tips for using better B2B social media marketing

• Determine the right social platforms for the target industry ? Social networks span the globe and business industries alike with their diverse fan-bases. Research popular social networks to determine which networks would be best for specific industries. For example, Pinterest probably won?t draw the same crowd as Linkedin would for the IT industry. Learn about what marketing methods work best for each social network (photos, personal stories, trending topics, group discussions) and develop a marketing plan from there.
• Talk with your industry ? Now that the best social networks have been selected, content must be created to get people talking. Use social media to understand what followers are looking for and create content based on their needs. Quora is a great tool to quickly find what people are asking about in any industry. Once the content is created, promote the content on social media platforms to generate traffic. If you primarily use Linkedin, post your content to a group and promote the post via Twitter, Facebook, Quora or any other appropriate network. Remember to educate your readers with valuable content to ease them into the lengthy sales process.
• Measure social media by conversations, not conversions ?? B2B marketers should look at using social media like they would a trade show or a meeting. Social media is a place to learn about prospects and have a conversation with them with a goal to convert later on. Social media should not be measured by conversions alone.

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Why influencers should be targeted

Having a conversation with people in a specific industry is just one part of a B2B social media strategy. Influencers in the target industry are just as important because of their large following. The only way they have developed a large following is by producing cutting-edge content and educating readers through their own knowledge base.

B2B businesses should make it a priority to track influencers and understand where they are based around the Internet. A powerful content delivery team should provide content based on targeting influencers for significant results in their target industry.

B2B businesses should be involved on social media platforms regardless of any excuse. B2B marketers might argue that social media is simply for a consumer-based market, but they fail to realize the people running B2B companies are consumers themselves. Appearing to businesses on an even-ground such as social networks will make a world of difference in a B2B marketing strategy.

This post is contributed by Dawn Altnam.

Source: http://www.thegrizasonline.com/why-b2b-doesnt-have-to-be-afraid-of-social-media

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U.S., Russia push for rapid talks to end Syria carnage

By Thomas Grove and Erika Solomon

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia and the United States agreed to bury their differences over Syria and to try to convene international talks with both sides in the civil war to end the carnage that is inflaming the Middle East.

Visiting Moscow after Israel bombed targets near Damascus and as President Barack Obama faces new calls to arm the rebels, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia had agreed to try to arrange a conference as early as this month involving both President Bashar al-Assad's government and his opponents.

An East-West disagreement that has seen some of the frostiest exchanges between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War has deadlocked U.N. efforts to settle the Syrian conflict for two years, so any rapprochement could bring an international common front closer than it has been for many months.

But with Syria's factional and sectarian hatreds more entrenched than ever after 70,000 deaths, it is far from clear the warring parties are ready to negotiate. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government, which has offered reforms but dismisses those fighting it as "terrorists".

The late hour of the announcement in Moscow - Kerry was kept waiting for three hours by President Vladimir Putin - also meant leaders of the Western-backed opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Coalition were not available for comment. Many on the body have insisted Assad's exit is a condition for talks.

Inside the country, where rebel groups are numerous and have disparate views, a military commander in the north, Abdeljabbar al-Oqaidi, told Reuters he would want to know details of the U.S.-Russian plan before taking a view. "But," he added, "if the regime were present, I do not believe we would want to attend."

Alarmed at the prospect of the conflict spilling across an already volatile and economically important region, however, the major powers have, as Kerry told Putin on Tuesday, "very significant common interests" in pushing for a settlement.

"The alternative," Kerry later told a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, "is that Syria heads closer to an abyss, if not over the abyss and into chaos.

"The alternative is that the humanitarian crisis will grow. The alternative is that there may be even a break-up of Syria."

GENEVA AGREEMENT

Last year at a conference in Geneva in June, Washington and Moscow agreed on the need for a transitional government in Syria but left open the question of what would happen to Assad, whose departure Obama has called for but which Russia, accusing the West of meddling, says should be a matter for Syrians only.

Rejecting a characterization of Moscow as the protector of Assad, to whose army it has been a major arms suppliers since the days of his father's rule, Lavrov said Russia was not concerned by the fate of "certain" individuals.

"The task now is to convince the government and all the opposition groups ... to sit at the negotiating table," he said.

Kerry said the conference should be held "as soon as is practical - possibly and hopefully by the end of the month". Neither he nor Lavrov said where it might take place.

Kerry said there would be "a growing crescendo of nations who will want to push for a peaceful resolution, rather than the chaos that comes with the break-up of a country".

Kerry said the decision on who takes part in any transitional government should be left to the Syrians.

Lavrov said the aim would be "to persuade the government and the opposition together ... to fully implement the Geneva communique" on creating a transitional government.

Russia, backed by China which shares its mistrust of Western enthusiasm for toppling some autocrats, has refused appeals to consider sanctions on Assad, vetoing three U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning his crackdown on opposition groups.

ASSAD DEFIANT

Recent developments have helped focus minds on the risks of wider war in the Middle East: intelligence reports that Assad's troops may have used chemical weapons had renewed calls for Obama to arm the rebels or even offer U.S. forces; Islamist fighters pledging allegiance to al Qaeda has highlighted how some of the rebels are also hostile to the West; and Israeli air strikes said to target Iranian arms headed for Lebanon's Hezbollah have underlined the risk of escalation.

In what appeared to be another sign of the country's travails, Internet connections between Syria and the outside world were cut off on Tuesday, according to data from Google Inc and other global Internet companies.

Google's Transparency Report pages showed traffic to Google services pages from Syria suddenly stopping shortly before 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). Most websites within Syria were rendered unreachable as well, other experts said, as the county appeared to shut itself off.

REBELS TAKE U.N. PEACEKEEPERS HOSTAGE

Speaking before the announcement in Moscow, Assad was quoted by a sympathetic Lebanese television channel as saying he would defy Israel, the United States and Arab powers who oppose him.

"The recent Israeli aggressions expose the extent of the complicity between the Israeli occupier, regional countries and the West in promoting the current events in Syria," he said.

"The Syrian people and their heroic army ... are capable of confronting this Israeli adventure, which represents one of the faces of terrorism that is targeting Syria every day."

While showing little desire to embroil U.S. forces in Syria after winding down engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama has rejected criticism that he might back out of a commitment to act if Assad crossed a "red line" of using chemical weapons.

On Tuesday, he pointed to the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toppling of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, brought down by a U.S.-backed rebellion, as evidence that "we typically follow through on our commitments". It is still unclear if chemical weapons were used.

The chaos in Syria, where a fifth of the 25 million population has been driven from their homes, was underlined by the latest incident of rebels taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage on the ceasefire line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the incident and called for the four Filipinos' immediate release. They were detained as they patrolled close to an area where 21 Filipino observers were held for three days in March.

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade said the peacekeepers were seized for their own safety during clashes in the area.

More widely, the violence in a religiously and ethnically diverse country at the heart of the Arab and Muslim world has inflamed a confrontation between Iran and its fellow Shi'ite allies like Hezbollah on the one hand and the Sunni Arab powers, including U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, who back the Sunni rebels against Assad's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Iran, at daggers drawn with Israel and the West over its nuclear program, warned of unforeseeable consequences if Assad were toppled and said only a political settlement to Syria's civil war would avoid a regional conflagration.

"God forbid, if there is any vacuum in Syria, these negative consequences will affect all countries," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in Jordan. "No one knows what will happen."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Arshad Mohammed, Timothy Heritage, Alexei Anishchuk and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-russia-push-rapid-talks-end-syria-carnage-003015077.html

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Forbes poll tabs Tebow as most influential athlete

NEW YORK (AP) ? Even on the unemployment line, Tim Tebow remains a popular presence.

The former Jets quarterback, cut by New York last week after one disappointing season and now a free agent, was selected as America's most influential athlete, according to a survey released Monday by Forbes.com.

Tebow had the most influence on fans, according to 29 percent of respondents, finishing ahead of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (25 percent), Jamaican track star Usain Bolt (23 percent) and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (22 percent).

Forbes.com used surveys from Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research to determine the winner, and took into account Nielsen's measurement for a player's endorsement potential.

The next-closest NFL player was Denver's Peyton Manning, who replaced Tebow with the Broncos last offseason and finished fifth in the survey.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/forbes-poll-tabs-tebow-most-influential-athlete-224055703.html

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Story of the least-known Ohio victim, Michelle Knight, comes to light

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found alive in Cleveland (ABC 5).

When three Ohio women missing for some 10 years were found on Monday, two of their stories, those of Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, were familiar to a city that had been gripped by their disappearance for a decade. But little had been written or said about the third missing person, Michelle Knight.

A story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer explains that Knight was believed to have departed on her own volition in 2002 when she disappeared. (Adding to the mystery: Sources conflict as to her age at the time. The Plain Dealer says she was 18; police say she was 20.)

Now it's known she was the first kidnap victim of the three. (Berry, 27, was last seen in 2003. DeJesus, 23, went missing in 2004.)

Knight was last seen at her cousin?s house on Aug. 23, 2002. Her grandmother, Deborah Knight, told the paper that based on police and social worker assessments, the family had concluded she had simply left home, angry she had lost custody of her son.

But Michelle Knight?s mother, Barbara, wasn?t so sure. Over time, she couldn?t believe that her daughter, who was close to her, wouldn?t even so much as call. The Florida resident continued to search for her missing daughter long after police stopped looking, papering the Cleveland neighborhood where her daughter had last been seen with fliers.

According to the Plain Dealer, Barbara Knight said she thought she saw her daughter once at a shopping center walking with an older man. She yelled her name, but the woman never turned around.

?I'm praying that if it is her, she will come back with me so I can help her recover from what she has been through," Knight said. "So much has happened in these ten years. She has a younger sister she still has not met. I missed her so much while she was gone."

Three brothers, Ariel Castro, Pedro Castro and Onil Castro, have been arrested in connection with the women's disappearances.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/michelle-knight-third-victim-little-known-162905504.html

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Asian shares rise on strong China trade data, record Wall Street

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to their highest in nearly two years on Wednesday, as strong Chinese trade data added to positive sentiment already fed by record highs in global equities overnight.

European stock markets were seen firmer, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open up as much as 0.2 percent. Germany's benchmark DAX equity index ended at a record high on Tuesday.

U.S. stock futures were steady to suggest a calm Wall Street open after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index hit an intraday record high and the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 15,000 for the first time the day before.

Investors are seeing better returns from equities than bonds, which have been hit by interest rate cuts by major central banks, with the Reserve Bank of Australia becoming the latest to do so on Tuesday.

"The RBA is just playing catch-up," said Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG in Melbourne, noting central banks' moves around the globe. "The major benefactors of this cut will be risk stocks as income-plays flopped on the move."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.8 percent to its highest since August 2011, driven by a 1 percent gain in Australian shares new peak since July 2008. Hong Kong shares rose 0.6 percent.

"The global monetary easing is in full flight, and this will continue to push money managers into the most compelling asset out there - equities," Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG markets, said in a note to clients.

After last Friday's upbeat U.S. monthly nonfarm payrolls and this week's German industrial orders showing unexpected strength, China followed suit on Wednesday with better-than-expected trade numbers for April, further cementing the positive mood.

China's exports and imports grew more than expected in April from a year earlier, possibly easing some of the concerns about weakness in the recovery of the world's second-largest economy and top consumer of many commodities following a run of below-par data in recent weeks.

However, doubts remained over the strength of real demand in China and the accuracy of the figures, with some analysts suspecting exporters may have overstated their business to sneak funds into the country and avoid capital restrictions.

Separately, as the country struggles to keep rising capital inflows at bay, dealers said China's central bank may be preparing to change the way it manages monetary policy by reintroducing bills as a liquidity management tool for the first time since 2011.

The Australian dollar reached its intraday high of $1.0193 after the data from China, its biggest export market.

Japanese stocks again outperformed their regional peers, scaling a fresh five-year high. The Nikkei stock average climbed as much as 1.7 percent to its highest since June 2008.

Nikkei has surged more than 65 percent since mid-November, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began promising expansionary monetary and fiscal policies to revive the economy during his election campaign. As part of the policy mix known as the "Abenomics," the Bank of Japan last month pledged to double monetary base to achieve a 2 percent inflation in two years.

"Economic indicators have yet to show clear impact from Abenomics. That said, investors appear ready to give new policies the benefit of the doubt for a few more months," Morgan Stanley said in a research.

TOUGH TIMES FOR GOLD

Global equities, particularly in the United States, have remained robust despite the recent signs of a patchy recovery in world growth, mainly helped by major central banks pursuing accommodative monetary policy.

A successful bond sale in Portugal also supported the upbeat mood as it indicated the country is on track to exit its bailout, bolstering views that the euro zone crisis is abating even as debt problems in the region remain far from resolved.

Gold has taken a beating in this environment. Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,453.89 an ounce, after losing over 1 percent on Tuesday as holdings on gold-backed exchange-traded funds fell to their weakest since early 2009.

"The continuing outflow of gold ETFs is symbolic. Money is returning to 'normal' financial assets such as stocks, suggesting the super-cycle of a commodities boom is over and tough times lie ahead, especially for metals," said Bob Takai, general manager of Sumitomo Corp's energy division in Tokyo.

"Commodities prices will be determined more by normal supply and demand balances than speculative money flows," he said, adding that a downtrend in commodities prices will hurt resources-reliant economies.

The euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.3093 against the dollar. The U.S. currency eased 0.1 percent to 98.95 yen.

U.S. crude futures inched up 0.1 percent to $95.72 a barrel but Brent inched down 0.1 percent to $104.28.

(Additional reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang in Sydney; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-rise-china-trade-data-record-wall-031543472.html

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Lil Wayne-Trick Daddy Beef: Quashed By Birdman?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/lil-wayne-trick-daddy-beef-quashed-by-birdman/

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#STC13: User Assistance, Tech Comm, and Learning | Kai's Tech ...

Posted on 7 May 2013 by Kai

The session ?User Assistance, Tech Comm, and Learning? brought together four seasoned professionals to discuss common grounds between tech comm and e-learning: Nicky Bleiel, who moderated, Kevin Siegel, Saul Carliner, and Matt Sullivan. (This is part of my coverage of the STC Summit 2013 in Atlanta.)

Saul?s opening statement pointed out important differences between tech comm and training:

• Tech comm doesn?t aim at information retention, but training does.
• Tech comm?ers mainly create content, but trainers mainly teach, whether online or ?in real life?.

Yet there are large overlaps between the disciplines and their practice, especially in ?informal learning?, specifically, in the purpose, the content, and the consumer?s awareness of learning.

Kevin added further common values and features which both share:

• Brevity in topics, in e-learning lessons (typically less than 5 minutes), or in a video (less than 2 minutes)
• Step-by-step instructions in task topics and lessons
• Direct address of the user as ?you?

Matt explained how he focused on pragmatic information delivery where his single-sourcing workflow almost automatically combines ?teaching and telling? in documents.

In the discussion that followed, the panelists addressed further aspects of that intersection of tech comm and training:

• By emphasizing user action and tasks over functionality descriptions, you can offer resourceful users interactions and showing and telling to mix and match. However, exactly targeting your audience always precisely is usually not possible (neither in training nor in tech comm), so resist the temptation to ?helicopter-parent? your learners.
• That intersection works well with thought-through minimalism (which is not the same as writing in a concise manner).
• Selecting the right channel and format can benefit both purposes, tech comm and training, tremendously, whether you choose videos or interactions or text.
• Sample projects can be helpful to support and illustrate both,? learning and, to a lesser extent, documentation. They can be used as templates for a quick start to explore user scenarios. Personas are a great idea, too, but they?re of limited value as long as they don?t support the person(a)?s task.

In closing, the panelists pointed out that the focus of tech comm and e-learning alike is on people, not theories, methods or tools. In either domain, all users are different and many are extrinsically motivated by policy, law or certification to learn. So make it easy on them and keep them moving along swiftly.

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Filed under: conferences, personas, technical communication Tagged: | STC Summit 2013, STC13

Source: http://kaiweber.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/stc13-user-assistance-tech-comm-and-learning/

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