A Rant About Building Your House on Rented Land

I’ve gotta tell you, I’m really kinda fed up with the misuse and overuse of the “Don’t build your house on rented land!” rallying cry. Every time a platform changes or a feature gets taken away or Facebook goes down for eight hours, “gurus” flock to Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook to shout: “SEE! This is why you don’t build your house on rented land!”

And it seems that absolutely everyone eats it up. “YES! You’re so right!” How do you argue with that, right? And they share and everyone else eats it up, too. It just keeps going and going…

All the while, using that rallying cry for that moment didn’t make any sense. But this is a phrase that strikes a chord for whatever reason, and people just can’t resist the attraction. It’s like marketing moths to a flame.

Let me explain…

A Thread of Truth

The “rented land” phrase is all about not relying entirely on a platform that you don’t own. You don’t own Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or YouTube, so you shouldn’t “build” your business there.

Sure, there’s some thread of truth to this. The idea is that it’s so much more important to own something — that “something” being your website or email list, in particular. While this is certainly true, the phrase is overused to apply to situations that don’t make any sense.

Facebook is shutting down Facebook Podcasts? THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T BUILD YOUR HOUSE ON RENTED LAND! This absolutely happened, by the way. And it makes no sense because no podcaster relied entirely on Facebook.

Facebook goes down for eight hours? THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T BUILD YOUR HOUSE ON RENTED LAND! You know, because your own website would never go down for eight hours (mine certainly has).

All the while, of course, screaming these statements from Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn — you know, from rented land! These people are building their expertise and audiences from platforms they don’t own.

The Reality

The reality is this: Having something you “own” certainly gives you more control and is more reliable. But, you need to leverage rented land to get people there.

And actually, do you know what leveraging rented land is? It’s the definition of “marketing.” You rent space where your potential audience may be with the hope of sending them to the thing that you own.

But ultimately, how much do we actually own? You own your domain. You own your content. But again, it’s about control and reliability. You rely on so many things that you don’t own to make that website work. You rely on plugins and features that are hosted elsewhere to function properly.

When Meta pulled the plug on Facebook Podcasts, I actually read a comment that said you should just host the podcast on your own website. Come on! Should you be able to find and even consume your podcast on your website? Sure! (I do this.)

But, how in the world do you expect to build your audience? No one wants to hang out on your website! They want to hang out on the rented land. That’s why we send our podcast episodes to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and Google Podcasts and Amazon Music and everywhere else. We don’t own any of these.

Ownership, Control, and Adaptability

I wouldn’t advise that you build a business entirely within a platform that you don’t own, with no rights to the customer list. That is the one, very narrow, use of the “rented land” phrase that I’ll allow (because I’m the gatekeeper, dammit!).

But, here’s a point that we all need to understand: While “ownership” may mean more control and reliability, this is really about adaptability. If Facebook shuts something down, what are you going to do next?

Hell, just because you “own” your website, it doesn’t mean it’s not at risk. What if the entire way that we consume the internet changes and your website becomes obsolete?

The same with your email list. The rules on emailing customers and subscribers are constantly changing. What if, suddenly, your email list has no value?

In the end, it matters less and less about whether you own or rent everything. What’s most important is that you’re able to adapt to whatever disruption occurs.

Your Turn

What are your thoughts?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post A Rant About Building Your House on Rented Land appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sydneysocialmediaservices.com/?p=412

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B2B Marketing News: Collaboration’s Rising Importance In Marketing, LinkedIn’s New Remote Work Data, & TikTok Expands Social Publishing Tools

2022 June 3 MarketingCharts Image

2022 June 3 MarketingCharts Image

LinkedIn Shares New Insights into the Rise of Remote Job Postings [Infographic]
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has released new remote job posting data showing that the technology, information, and media industry tops the list of sectors with the largest share of remote jobs, emcompassing a 41.2 percent share of all remote jobs, according to recently-released workforce report findings. Social Media Today

Report: Diverse Ads Can Contribute More To Market Share Growth For Brands
Advertisements that featured a diverse array of people combined with memorable storytelling elements performed better than the average ad in the U.S., and helped brands achieve stronger bottom line results — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released diversity in advertising survey data. MediaPost

[bctt tweet=”“Life’s so much richer when we welcome diversity and build strong, inclusive communities where we all can connect and belong — and are free to be you and me.” — Anne Chow @TheAnneChow” username=”toprank”]

Twitter Adds New Option to Pin Tweets Within Communities
Twitter has rolled out a new option that will allow marketers using the Twitter Community feature to pin a tweet to a community’s timeline — a change aimed at bringing more enduring engagement opportunities on the platform, Twitter recently announced. Social Media Today

Facebook is set to lose users in US for the first time
By 2023 fewer than 15 percent of Meta-owner Facebook’s users will be among the under-25 age group demographic, and the overall number of users on the social platform is forecast to drop by 1.4 million in 2022, representing a 0.8 percent decrease, according to newly-released forecast data. eMarketer

Meta Announces the Next Step in its Metaverse Transition
Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta will retire its NASDAQ stock exchange ticker symbol “FB” and begin using “META,” as the organization continues its rebranding transition and puts more of its weight behind the forthcoming metaverse elements it has planned, Meta recently announced. Social Media Today

The State of Marketing Operations Talent: 2022 [Report]
There has been a 228 percent rise in the number of companies utilizing marketing automation software since 2016, accompanied by a 66 percent increase in the size of the average marketing operations team since 2020 — two of numerous statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released marketing operations talent report data. Demandbase

2022 June 3 Statistics Image

Social Media Managers Can Now Post to TikTok from Their Favorite Social Media Management Tools
Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Sprinklr and six additional popular social media publishing tools have been giving the ability to work alongside TikTok for publishing social posts, in a shift that brings TikTok within easier reach of B2B organizations that make use the social publishing tools, TikTok recently announced. Social Media Today

Podcast Listeners Plan Major Purchases
44 percent of podcast listeners have said that they plan to purchase new office or home technology within the next 12 months, with some 17 percent noting that they expect to buy at least one financial product during the next year — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released porcast analysis data from Nielsen. MarketingCharts

Snapchat Adds ‘Shared Stories’ to Fuel Collaborative Content
Snapchat has launched a new feature that allows users to more easily co-create content on the social platform, with the rollout of a collaborative Shared Story option, offering marketers and influencers alike potential increased exposure opportunities, Snapchat recently announced. Social Media Today

Alignment is Key to Agile Marketing Strategies
A leading 63 percent of marketers have said that collaboration and alignment was a key piece of an agile marketing strategy within their organization, with some 54 percent having pointed to project management and communication tools, and 50 percent noting data as a key agile marketing component, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingCharts

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

2022 June 3 Marketoonist Comic Image

A lighthearted look at “how to do strategic planning” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

1.1 quintillion operations per second: US has world’s fastest supercomputer — Ars Technica

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

  • Lee Odden — Semrush’s Top 100 Influencers in Content Marketing [2022] — Semrush
  • Lane R. Ellis — Deadlines, the Metaverse for marketing, and budget templates — Cronycle

Have you come across your own top B2B marketing news for the week? If so, please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and please tune in again next Friday for another array of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: Collaboration’s Rising Importance In Marketing, LinkedIn’s New Remote Work Data, & TikTok Expands Social Publishing Tools appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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Meta Needs Frequency Capping for More Optimization Options

One of the issues advertisers struggle with most is controlling the frequency of ads shown. At some point, you’re just wasting money showing the same ads to the same people.

There is no ideal frequency that is best for every advertiser in every situation. Some frequency is good. But advertisers have very few options to control it. There’s just not a whole lot that you can do beyond adding creatives or changing targeting.

Meta needs something. Let’s discuss…

Reach Optimization

One of the nice benefits of using Reach optimization is that you get access to Frequency Capping.

Facebook Frequency Cap

With frequency capping, you can tell Meta to limit impressions to once every seven days, for example (which is the default). But you can customize that however you want. It’s great!

Reach and Frequency Buying Type

Frequency capping is also available when using the Reach and Frequency buying type.

Reach and Frequency

Of course, you may not even know that this option exists — and it doesn’t for all advertisers. Truthfully, it’s not a great option for many because it has such a high minimum threshold for budget that it will price most advertisers out.

But, sure, you can turn frequency capping on there, too.

Reach and Frequency Control

Other Objectives Besides Reach

Unfortunately, the only time you can use frequency capping under the Auction buying type is when optimizing for Reach. Reach has its limitations since you can’t optimize for a specific action, like a conversion. The entire point of Reach optimization is showing your ad to as many people as possible.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could control frequency for other optimization options, too?

Now, I understand that there has to be a pretty good reason for why frequency capping isn’t available for other optimization options. I’m sure that this would impact the algorithm and the optimal way that Meta wants to deliver your ads.

But… I don’t know. You can make the argument that you interrupt the algorithm in similar ways when using cost controls like cost caps and bid caps.

So, why not make frequency capping available for other optimization options? Even a simplified version would be great. Something that would allow us to say, “Let’s show this ad, but try not to show it 50 times to this person in a week.”

This may be an exaggeration, of course, but adding an actual lever to this to give us some sort of control over frequency would be ideal. It may allow ads to remain relevant for a longer period of time, too.

Your Turn

How do you think frequency capping might work with other optimization options?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Meta Needs Frequency Capping for More Optimization Options appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sydneysocialmediaservices.com/?p=400

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Lead Filtering, Gated Content, and Creative Flexibility Coming to Facebook Lead Forms

Meta recently announced several new features and enhancements that are coming to lead ads and messaging. I wrote about Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite yesterday.

Today, let’s cover the new features related to lead ads. Admittedly, Meta doesn’t provide a ton of details with most of these, but we’ll cover what we know.

1. Lead Filtering

Regardless of whether you’ve used lead ads before, the struggle with lead quality is real. You can collect a bunch of leads, but you need these people to actually buy something.

Historically, the low quality of leads has been a knock on Facebook lead ads. Because it’s so easy to complete an instant form (basic contact information can be auto-populated from the user’s profile), users sometimes don’t even recall opting in.

This update could help. Meta says that you’ll soon be able to use responses to a multiple-choice question to help filter leads.

Now, we don’t have any other details beyond that. You may be familiar with Conditional Answers with lead ads, and this sounds a lot like that (following is an example of Conditional Answers, not Lead Filtering).

Facebook Lead Ad Forms Questions

According to the way Lead Filtering is being presented, it’s a completely new feature that isn’t yet available — and may not even be getting tested right now.

With so little info to go off of, there’s plenty that we could speculate on here. But we’ll hold off for now.

2. Gated Content

Another feature that is coming to lead ads is Gated Content. Meta says that businesses will be able to offer exclusive content for people who complete a lead form. The example that they give is downloading a brochure or product pricing for a car.

The key here is that the download would happen directly from the lead form, rather than redirecting to your website. This is a key distinction because this otherwise doesn’t sound unique.

Yes, you can currently use a “Download” CTA button on the completion screen when someone completes your lead form. But, that button cannot instantly start a download or direct to a PDF or image file.

Lead Form Download

Right now, it must direct to a page on your website where the subscriber would then execute such a download, presumably.

The way this new feature reads, it sounds like Meta would host the file and someone who opts in could immediately download it without going to your website.

Of course, there could be pluses and negatives to Meta hosting the file. On the positive side, the user gets what they wanted right away — that could be good, at least for user experience. On the negative side, you may prefer to send the thing that users wanted via email. That way, someone can’t get that free thing by providing a fake or inactive email address.

Still, there could be value from this feature in the right situation. And there is still so much unknown about how it will work that we’ll need to hold off on making too much of these concerns for now.

3. Creative Flexibility

The final feature that’s coming to lead ads is Creative Flexibility.

It sounds like Meta is testing a more flexible and personalized lead form that will allow you to add more visuals to it. Right now, there are limited options for adding visuals to your form.

Once again, I haven’t seen this yet in the wild, so we’ll just have to wait.

Your Turn

All of these features have some potential, but there’s still so much that we don’t know.

Do you have access to any of these yet? What do you think?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Lead Filtering, Gated Content, and Creative Flexibility Coming to Facebook Lead Forms appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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New Feature: Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite

Meta announced a bunch of new features recently related to messaging and lead generation. One that got my attention was the ability to send marketing messages to people who opt-in via Messenger in Meta Business Suite.

This could be really interesting. Let’s explore what is known so far…

What We Know

“Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite” are currently being tested, although I have not seen an example of the feature in the wild. Meta says that it will allow businesses to send promotional message campaigns from Messenger to customers who opt in.

Here’s a screenshot provided by Meta:

Marketing Message from Meta Business Suite

From this image, we see the following…

1. Options for selecting the group of people that will receive the message. These are defined groups, presumably from specific opt-in forms (more on that unknown in a bit).

2. Steps for building the message that includes a headline, text, button, and link. It’s a lot like creating an ad (but not, of course).

3. A schedule for when you want that message to go out. You determine when this group of people will receive a message in their Messenger.

Understand that this is not an ad. This is an organic message sent over Messenger to people who have opted in to receive it.

Questions

While it was nice of Meta to provide a paragraph explanation and a screenshot, there are so many questions that I want answered. Here are a few…

1. How will someone opt-in to receiving these messages? This seems important. Will this utilize the instant forms from lead ads or something organic associated with your page?

2. Will this be a new lead form type specific to building your list of people who can receive marketing messages from you via Messenger? It would make sense since collecting an email address wouldn’t even be required at this point.

3. Will you still get access to a user’s email address, and will you be able to send contact info to your CRM? Or will this be entirely within Messenger?

4. Will these leads expire like with current leads generated from instant forms? You can continue to contact leads generated from lead forms via your CRM, of course, but they disappear from your Lead Center.

5. Will you have any rights to contact these people outside of Messenger? While the goal should be to get leads onto a list that you own, there is still room for something like this — especially if they are available for marketing messages from both Messenger and your CRM.

None of these answers are clear right now. What is ultimately revealed will certainly color how beneficial the feature is for marketers.

Current Impressions

Despite the gaping hole regarding how this will work, the feature has the potential to be really effective based on what we know so far. One reason is that you don’t have to worry about people using inactive email addresses since this is related to reaching people on Messenger.

If the opt-in was from Facebook to connect with people using Messenger, the chances are very high that it is an active account they are using. Presumably, the open rate could be much higher than with email. Of course, we don’t know if these messages will go to a special inbox that users won’t see.

It’s also possible that marketers will abuse this to the point of making it ineffective. Surely, there will be some strict rules around such messaging to prevent these issues.

For now, there are a lot of open questions. There’s a lot we don’t know. But, this is absolutely something to keep an eye on.

Your Turn

What do you think about Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite? Do you have it yet? Do you think that you’ll use it?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post New Feature: Marketing Messages from Meta Business Suite appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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2 Ways to Create A/B Split Tests of Organic Content on Facebook

A/B split tests are helpful for uncovering the most effective posts or ads in a scientific way. Did you know that you can do this with organic content?

You’re probably familiar with A/B split tests for Facebook ads. This process allows you to test variables like targeting, optimization, and creative in a scientific way, showing variations to random groups without overlap.

What’s great is a similar process is available for organic posts that you publish to your page. Actually, there are two different available ways to do this, one through Meta Business Suite and one through Creator Studio.

It’s entirely possible that this isn’t fully rolled out yet. In fact, I’ve seen some bugs in one version, and it also seems that what you see may be different from person to person.

With all of that said, I want to walk through the two ways that I can create A/B split tests of organic content…

Meta Business Suite

From the “Posts & Stories” section of Meta Business Suite, create a post.

A/B Test

Click the “A/B Test” icon to start a test. It will look like this…

A/B Test

You can include up to four versions of a post. All you do is create each version by providing the copy and either an image or video. For links, either provide the URL in the copy or paste it into the link preview section.

When you’re done, you can preview all versions of your post before publishing…

A/B Test

You can even schedule the post if you’d like.

A/B Test

The test will run for 30 minutes. A different segment of your page followers will see each version. Once the test is complete, the winning version will be published to your Facebook page. The other version(s) may still exist in news feeds as people engage, comment, and share.

Creator Studio

The approach using Meta Business Suite is extremely simple. But, maybe you want to add a little bit of complexity? You can do that with Creator Studio.

For whatever reason, some people have easy access to Creator Studio while others don’t. From my page and Business Suite, I no longer get links to the tool.

You should be able to access Creator Studio by clicking this link.

From there, go to Post Testing under “Tools.”

A/B Test

Click “Start a Test” and it will look like this…

A/B Test

This is a lot different from the Business Suite version, right?

The first step will be to select a Content Type.

A/B Test

Just know that video posts can only be compared against other video posts. You can mix and match between image, link, and text posts.

If you do choose to test video posts, you’ll need to click the “Edit” button at the far right after uploading the file.

A/B Test

This will give you access to all of the various customizations that are unique to videos.

A/B Test

When you’re done, it will look something like this…

A/B Test

As you can see, you can publish or schedule the test. Once you click to schedule or publish, you’ll get some more settings…

A/B Test

This is one of the big differences between A/B tests from Meta Business Suite and Creator Studio (at least for me — see the upcoming section about bugs). You can select from various “key metrics.”

A/B Test

This way, you determine the metric Meta uses to determine the winner. Choose from Comments, Shares, Reactions, People Reached, and Link Clicks.

You can also customize how long you want the test to run.

A/B Test

Choose from 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, and 24 hours. Once the test is complete, the winning post will be published to your page.

A Note on Bugs

It’s entirely possible there’s something I’m not seeing when creating a test from Meta Business Suite. When I choose to publish or schedule a test, I get the following…

A/B Test

That “moment” takes many moments. Actually, I’ve never found an end to it. Originally, I thought it just took a while to publish each individual version. Then I thought maybe it wouldn’t “complete” until the test was over. But I waited that out, and this message kept showing.

I’m not sure if another important screen is supposed to appear next. It’s possible that additional customizations that happen in Creator Studio are intended to appear here. No idea. I do know that the test still ran even though this page didn’t finish loading.

It still does appear that there are significant differences between Business Suite and Creator Studio A/B split tests. But, I can’t say with 100% certainty that all differences that I’m seeing are intentional.

Viewing Results

Once again, I believe there’s a situation of what I see and what others see as being different.

If I create an A/B test in Meta Business Suite, there is nothing (in that section, at least) that shows me the test results. I can view the individual post versions and metrics associated with them, but that’s not unique. It’s the same as any other post.

Creator Studio, though, shows clear test results. These are found within the same Post Testing section under Tools.

A/B Test

And guess what? These results include all A/B tests of organic posts, including those that originated from Meta Business Suite.

Click through to see a side-by-side comparison.

A/B Test

First, I can’t ignore that the “Reached” stats are clearly wrong for any image post. There’s no way that a post that reached one person has seven reactions.

Second, this is part of the potential problem of these short tests. This shows the results for a very short period of time when the test ran. Is that enough time to choose a winner? It’s one reason to consider going with the 3-hour or 24-hour options in Creator Studio.

You can also choose to track the results of each variant after the test is complete. Of course, the winning post will see the biggest benefit of viewing results this way.

A/B Test

If you don’t like the post that Facebook chose, you can override the selection and publish a different one to your page. That is done at the top.

A/B Test

Is This Useful?

I have to admit that I avoided experimenting with A/B split tests of organic posts for quite some time. It sounded great in theory, but I was also negatively influenced by how A/B tests work for ads and assumed this would be pretty much the same.

A/B tests for ads take anywhere from a few days to four weeks. I have no patience for doing this with every organic post. There’s also a matter of the overall usefulness of A/B tests for ads since they are best suited for learning something over a few weeks that you can then apply in the future.

But, this is way different in the best ways. The test is super easy. The test will be completed in anywhere from 10 minutes to 24 hours. The winning post is published to your page.

Also, this is really the only way you can have Facebook optimize for an action when publishing an organic post. If your goal is link clicks, you can have Facebook choose the version that results in the most link clicks. That’s great!

I’ve only started using this feature so far, but early returns are solid. I’ve run two tests, and one resulted in a winning post that has reached over 17,000 people with close to 2,000 engagements.

Of course, don’t expect this to be miraculous either. If you submit four post versions that all stink, expect to get bad results. This at least allows you more opportunities to find something that hits — and also learn from what works and what doesn’t.

An Ads Tie-In

While this is for organic posts, A/B testing can absolutely benefit our advertising.

One of the negatives of A/B testing of ad creative is that you can spend a lot of money simply running a test to see which ad is most effective. But, you could move that effort to organic testing. Find the post that gets the most link clicks (or whatever you want), then put money behind that winning post.

It would seem that this could make some of the guessing, experimentation, and budget a bit more efficient, at least in theory.

Your Turn

Have you experimented with A/B tests of organic posts? What results are you seeing?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post 2 Ways to Create A/B Split Tests of Organic Content on Facebook appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Video Breakdowns Provide Important Context for Facebook Ads Actions

Performance measurement of Facebook video ads is challenging, primarily due to the way video ads work. But, video breakdowns provide important context for the performance of these ads.

Let’s talk about the issues with video ads and how you can get a clearer idea of performance thanks to this buried feature.

The Problem with Video Ads

If you’ve run video ads on Facebook, you probably understand the concept of auto-play. When a video appears in someone’s feed, it may auto-play (assuming the person hasn’t turned this feature off or they don’t have slow internet).

This can be both good and bad, of course.

Auto-play can be good because a video playing in the news feed is more likely to get someone’s attention. Movement can be powerful.

It can be bad because it complicates measurement and reporting. You’re going to get a whole lot of plays of that video. In some cases, the user may have stopped to watch it. In others, they may not have even noticed that it was playing.

The issue of sound vs. no sound is also important. The video may be playing, but sound may be off. While captions may help, a play with sound on would certainly be preferred.

The video-specific metrics available to you in Ads Manager are okay. There are metrics for:

  • 2-second continuous plays
  • 3-second plays
  • ThruPlays (15 seconds or the entire thing)
  • 25%, 50%, 75%, 95%, 100%
  • Average play time
  • Total plays

Facebook Video Ads Metrics

These metrics by themselves aren’t great because they ignore important context. How many of these views are with sound off? How many were due to auto-play?

Breakdown by Action

Luckily, there is a way to get this information. Within Ads Manager, use the Breakdown feature and select “Action.”

Ads Manager Breakdown

There, you should see two very relevant options:

  • Video View Type
  • Video Sound

1. Video View Type

When you breakdown by Video View Type, you can get separate rows of results for Auto-played and Clicked-to-Play.

Video Type Breakdown

In the example above, results fall heavily on auto-play. That certainly isn’t a great sign regarding the quality of engagement.

2. Video Sound

If you breakdown by Video Sound, you will be able to view different rows for Video Sound On and Video Sound Off.

Video Type Breakdown

In this case, the results are a bit more evenly split between the two, which is a better sign.

Taken together, these breakdowns will give you much better context for the metrics you are seeing. When you have better context, you can make more informed decisions with your advertising.

Your Turn

Have you used these breakdowns to better understand the performance of your video ads? What have you seen?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Video Breakdowns Provide Important Context for Facebook Ads Actions appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sydneysocialmediaservices.com/?p=362

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5 New Marketing Books Every B2B Marketer Should Read

5 new marketing books every B2B marketer should read image

5 new marketing books every B2B marketer should read image

Looking for inspiration and new insight to forge new B2B marketing successes as we drive ahead to 2023?

We’re taking a look at five forthcoming or recently-published books that offer an array of fascinating tactics, tips, case studies, and other insight from some of the industry’s top business marketers and subject matter experts.

A good marketing book will not only help you stay current with the latest B2B marketing industry trends, but  also gain inspiration in the process — and we’ve compiled a list of books that fit the bill on both counts.

Let’s turn the page and jump right in with our list of five new marketing books every B2B marketer can learn from.

1 — Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content (2nd Edition)

Ann Handley
MarketingProfs logo
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs

Everybody Writes 2nd Edition

The much-anticipated second edition of Ann’s popular “Everybody Writes,” which is used in college classrooms and by writers the world over, will be released on October 18, 2022, when B2B marketers will be able to read the completely revised and expanded update to this marketing and writing classic.

“Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content” is slated to include all-new examples, an even-more-detailed writing framework, and new material reflecting the latest changes in content marketing since the original version was published.

2 — Change Masters: How to Actually Make The Changes You Already Know You Need to Make

Barry J. Moltz
Speakers & Author, Shafran Moltz Group, LLC

Change Masters

In “ChangeMasters: How To Actually Make the Changes You Already Know You Need To Make,” Barry shares his small business subject matter expertise, including an examination of just why change is so difficult, and how to focus on and complete the critical changes that will make a difference.

From the brain science behind the mechanisms of change to how various areas of business can create change and more, Barry’s book offers helpful take-aways B2B marketers can apply in multiple areas of their professional and personal lives.

3 — The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting, Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly

David Meerman Scott
Limited Partner and Strategic Advisor, Stage 2 Capital, also Entrepreneur, Advisor, Keynote Speaker and WSJ Bestselling Author, Freshspot Marketing

The New Rules Of Marketing & PR Cover

A new eighth edition of David’s book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting, Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly” has recently been released, updated with new techniques and information that will be of interest to B2B marketers.

From details blueprints and strategies for getting your ideas implemented to generating buyer attention, the latest edition of David’s book offers a helpful look at both fundamentals and the current state of marketing.

David has also published the well-received “Fanocracy” book, which our CEO Lee Odden covered in “How to Tap the Most Powerful Marketing Force in the World – Fanocracy.”

4 — The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You

Pamela Slim
Author, Speaker and Small Business Strategist

The Widest Net Cover

Pamela’s “The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You” explores an array of dynamic ideas for creating marketing and business customer connections that may be outside your usual field of view.

The Widest Net utilizes case studies and examples to take a deep dive into creating newfound business and marketing success.

5 — CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest

Carolyn Dewar
Global Practice Leader – CEO and Board Excellence, McKinsey & Company
Scott Keller
Global Practice C0-Leader – CEO Excellent, McKinsey & Company
Vikram Malhotra
Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

CEO Excellence Cover

New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller “CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest” looks at successful chief executives from global major organizations including Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony,  and explores the unique qualities that we can all learn from them.

Carolyn, Scott, and Vikram’s book provides B2B marketers a helpful look at what we can learn from the way that CEOs shape culture, and how they in turn are changed by it.

Learn From B2B Marketing Page-Turners

via GIPHY

We hope that you’ve enjoyed our exploration of five books by these leading marketing and business authors, and that they’ll help inspire you in your own marketing work throughout the years ahead.

Looking for more books to enhance your B2B marketing and related skills? Check out these other articles we’ve published:

  • Read It & Reap: 11 Top New Marketing Books To Savor On #NationalBookLoversDay
  • 10 SEO Books for B2B Marketers
  • Brian Solis on Lifescale – How to Live a More Creative, Productive and Happy Life Plus Improve Your Marketing
  • How to Tap the Most Powerful Marketing Force in the World – Fanocracy
  • The Future (& Present) of Marketing: Collaboration, Technology & Innovation

Building award-winning digital experiences featuring elements such as those explored in the books we’ve featured here takes significant time, resources, and effort, which is why many of the world’s top B2B brands choose to partner with a leading B2B marketing agency. Contact us today and learn why for more than 20 years brands from LinkedIn and 3M to Dell and Adobe have chosen to work with TopRank Marketing.

The post 5 New Marketing Books Every B2B Marketer Should Read appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Did you miss our previous article…
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Success Metrics for Facebook Instant Experience Ads

If you run Instant Experience ads, how do you measure success? Facebook has added metrics that may prove helpful.

In this post, I’ll help you find those metrics and understand what they all mean.

Let’s go…

Access the Metrics

You’ll need to add columns to your Ads Manager report.

Click the “Columns” dropdown in Ads Manager and select “Customize Columns.”

Facebook Ads Manager Customize Columns

Run a search for “Instant Experience.” You’ll see seven metrics…

Instant Experience Metrics

What the Metrics Mean

Following are the metrics related to Instant Experience measurement and what they mean…

Instant Experience View Time: “The average total time, in seconds, that people spent viewing an Instant Experience.” This is similar to video view time metrics for measuring an engaged user. (SIDE NOTE: I’d love to see this for Landing Page Views and traffic metrics.)

Instant Experience View Percentage: “The average percentage of the Instant Experience that people saw.” These ad units can scroll through multiple components. If your more important components are at the bottom, a higher percentage would be a priority.

Instant Experience Impressions: “The number of elements viewed in an Instant Experience.” This one confuses me a bit. While my assumption would be that an impression would be opening an Instant Experience, that metric is coming up. Instead, this seems to be related to the number of components that you see (similar to the percentage).

Instant Experience Reach: “The number of people who viewed elements from an Instant Experience at least once.”

Instant Experience Clicks to Open: “The number of clicks on your ad that open an Instant Experience.” (This metric is in development)

Instant Experience Clicks to Start: “The number of times an interactive component in an Instant Experience starts.” This will typically be a video. (This metric is in development)

Instant Experience Outbound Clicks: “The number of clicks on links in an Instant Experience that take people off Facebook-owned properties.” Instant Experiences are often used to warm up an audience before sending them to a product page on the advertiser’s website. (This metric is in development)

What About Audiences?

This may be bit off-topic, but I can’t ignore it.

I wrote about the need for more targeting options due to iOS 14+ changes in another blog post. That includes audiences related to Instant Experience engagement.

Right now, Instant Experience audiences only include the following:

  • People who opened your Instant Experience
  • People who clicked a link within your Instant Experience

That’s it!

Instant Experience Engagement Audiences

It’s not as if Instant Experience is some new format. It’s been around long enough for Facebook to develop this further. And there are so many options for audience building — based on these seven metrics alone — that could provide some great options for advertisers.

Facebook is clearly collecting and storing this information. Why not allow us to target based on it?

Your Turn

How do you measure the success of your Instant Experience ads?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Success Metrics for Facebook Instant Experience Ads appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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Customer Hub and Drafts: How to Share Facebook Ad Mockups with Clients

If you manage ads for clients, you may need to get approval prior to the ads going live. How do you create and share these mockups?

There are two primary ways that I recommend. What you use depends on your needs and comfort level.

Let’s discuss…

1. Share an Ad in Draft

Once you’ve created an ad that is in “draft” status, you can share it.

At the top right, click the drop-down that will give you an option to “Share a Link.”

Share a Facebook Ad Draft

You’ll then be able to give others access to that preview by toggling link sharing “on.”

Share a Facebook Ad Draft

Once you turn link sharing ON, you’ll be able to determine whether the preview link can stay active for 30 or 60 days. Your sharable link will expire after that period of time.

Share a Facebook Ad Draft

You will then be given a link that you can share with your client.

2. Use Creative Hub

If you go to the hamburger menu at the top left of Ads Manager, you will find Creative Hub within the Advertise section.

Facebook Creative Hub

There, you can create a mockup in much the same way you’d create an ad.

Facebook Creative Hub

When you’re done, you can share that mockup with your client.

Facebook Creative Hub

You’ll again need to turn link sharing on in the same way as before.

Facebook Creative Hub

If your client approves the mockup, you can then toggle “Show in Ads Manager” within that mockup in Customer Hub.

Facebook Creative Hub

Then, when you create an ad in Ads Manager, you’ll have the option within Ad Setup to “Use Creative Hub Mockup.”

Facebook Creative Hub

You will then be able to import the mockup into your ad.

Facebook Creative Hub

Advantages and Disadvantages

Like everything, each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The one limitation of Creative Hub is that not all formats are available (lead forms and Instant Experience, for example).

The primary limitation of sharing ad drafts is that you’ll need to keep your ad in draft while your client reviews it. This can get complicated when you publish other ads since you’ll need to make sure to keep that ad in draft. But, of course, you’ll be able to create any ad format in this case.

Your Turn

How do you share ad mockups with clients?

Let me know in the comments below!

The post Customer Hub and Drafts: How to Share Facebook Ad Mockups with Clients appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital.

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