Can anyone use social networks to drive traffic?

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You’re all aware of the rise in social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Businesses are using them more and more to reach out to customers. An interesting stat that highlights the emerging power of these platforms to reach customers is that some commercial websites are reporting Facebook and Twitter as the number 2 and 3 referrers of traffic behind Google.
That type of trend begs the question: Why aren't' all firms, B2B and B2C, using Facebook or any of the other social media platforms to drive customers to their websites? First, you need to think about whom is your typical customer and ask which social media platform they would frequent for information to help them do their job.
Facebook
Facebook has seen huge growth in adults lately. The growth in older adults would make you think that Facebook is a great place to interact with your customers. However, do you believe that your target market is frequenting Facebook for work? If the answer is no, then move on but continue to monitor its relevance for you audiences.
Twitter
A lot has been written about Twitter, a micro blogging site. Twitter also has seen huge growth rates, particularly in the workplace. In fact, in February the largest age group on Twitter was the age group 35-49 (42 percent of the site’s audience). Nielson ratings found that the majority of people visit Twitter.com while at work, with 62 percent of the unique audience accessing the site from work only versus 35 percent that accessed it from home only. Again, this is a pretty amazing trend. However, if you look at the top followed people on Twitter you see that Britney Spears is #3, Shaq is #8 and Whole Foods Market is #24. These facts may lead you to believe that Twitter is not a place that your target market is going for information about your product.
LinkedIn
At my work, I am currently discussing setting up a Harvard Business Publishing Group on LinkedIn. We feel that LinkedIn’s business focus lends itself well to interacting with our prospects and partners. In fact, according to the latest January data from comScore, the LinkedIn’s U.S. unique visitors shot up 22 percent to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Total minutes spent on the site doubled in January to 96.8 million, from 47.6 million in December. These trends do make us feel comfortable that LinkedIn may be a good place to interact, and help, our customers.

Web Marketing Manager opening

Keywords: marketing manager, Web marketing campaigns, demand generation, lead generation, campaign metrics, b2b marketing, AdWords, webinars, Eloqua, Website management

Harvard Business Publishing is seeking a highly motivated individual for the role of Web Marketing Manager. This person will be responsible for creating and managing marketing campaigns designed to generate quality leads for our sales team. This position will work closely with our corporate marketing team and sales team to develop a solid strategy for quick response to the resulting leads. The individual will also be responsible for the Corporate Learning website, editing/proofreading content for style, accuracy, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and search engine friendliness. This person will manage the content development and overall design of the website to ensure branding strategies and marketing plans are effectively administered through the site.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in driving qualified sales leads and will have a track record of demonstrated success in demand generation. The candidate will have experience creating/managing and maintaining a highly engaging and interactive website. The candidate must possess strong leadership skills, outstanding communications skills, and the ability to adapt quickly in a changing environment. Prior experience in a fast paced, high growth emerging business is desired.

Responsibilities:
1. Manage strong web marketing campaigns to drive qualified sales leads and awareness in our target industries. Work cross-functionally with product marketing and sales team to create targeted web-based campaigns including: webinars, Google AdWords, and other lead-generation campaigns.

2. Develop all internal and external communications to support the campaigns including email invitations, online ad/landing page content and newsletter sponsorships.

3. Manage online events including the development of strong messaging and the ability to drive traffic to our website. Define budgets and campaign metrics, monitoring and measuring campaigns to improve results and achieve lead goals.

4. Manage Corporate Learning Website including all content updates, multimedia content, identify and execute new programs based on a target account/target industry strategy.

5. Track and report on all programs and resulting leads. Effectively communicate the results to sales and marketing management for continuous improvement and refinement.

6. Oversee internet and electronic marketing media activities to include: Search Engine Optimizer/Search Engine Marketing, internet advertising, e-mail campaigns, customer data capture, social media, viral campaigns, affiliate marketing, mobile marketing, etc.

7. Develop promotional and informational e-mail list through utilization of our customer and prospect lead database.

8. Source and acquire the services of external agencies/vendors for internet marketing media.

Qualifications:

- 5+ years experience in B2B marketing, with demonstrable track-record in demand generation and campaign execution
- Highly motivated, self-starter who thrives under tight deadlines; quick learner with a "roll up the sleeves" approach and attention to detail.
- Experience working closely with field sales team
- Highly proficient in MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint); CRM tools such as Oracle and Webex (or other Web events program) highly desirable
- Experience using Eloqua a plus
- Experience in pay-per-click, online advertising and SEO a plus
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Travel required: 15-20%
- Bachelor's degree in marketing or related field; MBA a plus