#139: Strategy | Building Community in B2B, LinkedIn Organic, and Influencer Partnerships (with Chris Walker)
May 9, 2024
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Chris Walker, Founder of Refine Labs, and Dave Gerhardt discuss building community in B2B, LinkedIn engagement, influencer partnerships, content amplification, and organic vs. paid strategies. They emphasize the importance of authentic content, focus on depth over width in influencer strategies, and leveraging employee value for successful marketing.
Successful B2B marketing hinges on nurturing communities organically for sustained growth.
Effective influencer partnerships prioritize authenticity over transactions, fostering brand loyalty.
Utilizing Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in B2B marketing drives thought leadership and credibility.
Strategic content distribution on LinkedIn emphasizes text-based engagement for brand building.
Balancing personal brand growth and company loyalty benefits organizational culture and employee retention.
Diversifying content formats and strategies maximizes audience engagement and revenue generation on LinkedIn.
Deep dives
Prioritizing Outbound Email Deliverability with Apollo.io
Apollo.io is highlighted for enhancing deliverability of outbound emails, crucial for achieving pipeline goals in sales teams. Marketers at companies like Mutiny are favoring Apollo.io, emphasizing its role in boosting outbound email deliverability from 62% to 98%, resulting in more responses, increased meetings, and strengthened pipeline.
Maximizing Community Building Strategies in B2B Marketing
The podcast explores the complexities of building communities in B2B marketing, outlining differences between companies where the community is integral versus those building a community as a supplement to their products. It delves into the challenges of nurturing community audiences in-house within companies, emphasizing the effectiveness of organic growth and the significance of receiving feedback directly from the audience to drive successful community building efforts.
Influencer Partnerships Evolution and Strategy
The episode delves into the evolution and strategic approach to influencer partnerships, focusing on engaging influencers thoughtfully rather than transactionally. It highlights the shift towards more authentic, value-driven partnerships, emphasizing the importance of aligning with influencers authentically related to the brand or product. Case studies and experiences demonstrate the impact of strategic influencer collaborations in fostering brand growth and customer engagement.
Unlocking the Value of Key Opinion Leader Strategies in B2B Marketing
Insights shared focus on the value of key opinion leader (KOL) strategies in B2B marketing, drawing parallels from industries like medical devices and pharma. The episode underscores the significance of leveraging KOLs to drive thought leadership, product feedback, customer references, and best practices within target industries. It highlights the critical role of KOLs in amplifying brand messaging, building credibility, and driving customer engagement.
Optimizing LinkedIn for Content Distribution and Thought Leadership
The discussion highlights the evolving landscape of LinkedIn dynamics, emphasizing its role in content distribution and thought leadership. Insights shed light on the strategic use of LinkedIn and Twitter for content distribution, pinpointing the significance of leveraging text-based content to engage and resonate with audiences effectively. Recommendations include a focused approach on industry knowledge, authentic content creation, and leveraging the platform for brand building and audience engagement.
Balancing Personal Brand Growth and Company Loyalty
The episode navigates the delicate balance between fostering personal brand growth and promoting company loyalty among employees. Discussions revolve around the potential benefits and challenges of employees building personal brands, emphasizing the need for companies to recognize and incentivize employees effectively. Insights delve into aligning personal brand growth with organizational goals to drive mutual value and long-term loyalty, fostering a collaborative and growth-focused culture within the company.
Strategizing Organic Message Testing on LinkedIn
Insights are shared on organic messaging testing before transitioning to paid content promotion on LinkedIn. The importance of aligning messaging testing with audience insights and customer feedback is underscored, emphasizing the value of real-time interaction and qualitative feedback to refine content strategies effectively. Recommendations include leveraging customer stories and engagement analytics to optimize content messaging and drive targeted content distribution strategies for revenue generation.
Fine-Tuning Content Variation for Optimal Audience Engagement
The episode highlights the need for diversifying content formats and strategies on LinkedIn to maximize audience engagement. Insights focus on repurposing content assets into diverse formats, leveraging news cycle and PR-style messaging for content variation. Recommendations include utilizing qualitative insights, engaging customer feedback, and leveraging paid content distribution strategies to drive optimal engagement and revenue generation on LinkedIn.
Overcoming Challenges in Personal Brand Building
Discussions revolve around addressing challenges in personal brand building, particularly concerns around employee loyalty and potential departures due to enhanced personal brand growth. Insights emphasize the need for aligning personal brand growth with organizational value propositions and incentivizing long-term employee engagement effectively. Recommendations underline the strategic alignment of personal brand growth with company goals to drive mutual value creation and sustained employee loyalty.
Enhancing Community Engagement and Thought Leadership in B2B Marketing
The podcast episode explores strategies to enhance community engagement and thought leadership in B2B marketing, emphasizing the significance of audience feedback and engagement insights. Insights shed light on leveraging customer stories, testimonials, and engagement analytics to optimize content messaging and drive targeted content distribution strategies for increasing brand visibility and revenue generation effectively on social media platforms.
Fostering Customer-Centric Messaging and Value Propositions on LinkedIn
The episode delves into optimizing customer-centric messaging and value propositions on LinkedIn, emphasizing the importance of aligning messaging with customer insights and engagement analytics. Recommendations include leveraging customer success stories, testimonials, and engagement insights for strategic content positioning. Insights underline the value of qualitative feedback, content variation, and paid distribution strategies to maximize audience engagement, brand visibility, and revenue generation on LinkedIn.
Strategically Leveraging Employee Personal Brand Growth for Organizational Success
The episode explores the strategic utilization of employee personal brand growth for organizational success, highlighting the potential benefits and challenges in fostering employee personal brands. Discussions revolve around quantifying the value of employee personal brands, incentivizing long-term loyalty, and aligning personal brand growth with company objectives effectively. Insights underscore the importance of recognizing and leveraging employee personal brands to drive audience engagement, brand visibility, and revenue generation cohesively within the organization.
Dave joins Chris Walker for a Refine Labs Expert Series event. Chris is the Founder & Executive Chairman of Refine Labs and Founder & CEO of Passetto. They discuss
The principles of building a community
LinkedIn personal vs. company page engagement
The role of executives in thought leadership content
How companies are leveraging influencer partnerships
How to approach LinkedIn organic and grow your audience
Timestamps
(00:00) - - Intro
(07:36) - - Importance of Community Engagement
(11:53) - - Tailoring Marketing Strategies to Target Audiences
(14:25) - - Depth Over Width in Influencer Strategy
(16:47) - - Leveraging Influencer Networks for Product Promotion
(19:57) - - Importance of Laser Focus in Content
(25:24) - - Organic vs. Paid Content Amplification
(28:18) - - Leveraging Content for Successful Advertising
(33:56) - - The 1% Mindset in Achieving Success
(36:57) - - Creation Strategies: Leveraging Existing Comfort Zones
(40:57) - - Utilizing Content Variation for Effective Marketing
(43:50) - - Investing in Employee Long-term Value
(46:25) - - Validating and Refining Effective Communication Strategies
(49:48) - Identifying Trending Topics on LinkedIn for Content Creation
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Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.
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