B2B Social Media Marketing Case Study: My Fortunate Failure
I want to tell you about a recent project of mine, but first I need to give you some background on what led up to it.
Earlier this summer, our B2B marketing agency had the honor of hosting Michael Gass – one of the world’s leading experts on new business – as a speaker for an event at our east Atlanta campus. Michael is not only a genius at helping agencies grow their businesses, he’s also a shining example of a B2B marketer himself.
Gass’ presentation was both encouraging and thought provoking, and one thing in particular he said really stuck with me.
“If you don't think, you'll have time for blogging,” he said. “Challenge yourself, and you’ll be surprised at what you learn. Try 30 blogs in 30 days.”
This happened to be during a time period when my work schedule had begun to sap my blogging efforts, and I couldn’t shake Gass’ challenge from my head. Call it serendipity or a coincidence, but one of the best friends I’ve met through social media, Aaron Lee, wrote a blog post challenging his readers to think about what positive changes they could make about themselves in the next 30 days. I took it as added inspiration.
On Aug. 1, the experiment began. Even though I was busier on client work than I'd been in the past two years, I wanted to prove something to myself, to my coworkers, and to my clients and prospects. My point was, “If I can find the time, so can you.” And so I set some specific goals based on that hypothesis:
1) Write 30 blogs in 30 days
2) Engage daily on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook)
3) Read and engage more with the people I follow by commenting on their blogs
4) Comment and question more on Focus and Linkedin discussion groups
5) Keep up with all client deadlines and agency new business development efforts
6) And, just for good measure, lose 30 pounds in 30 days.
I was on a month-long mission, determined to achieve measurable marketing results.
Day 30 arrived and I failed. I fell short of my primary goal of writing 30 blog posts – way short.
I only completed 10, including one that was a guest post for The Social CMO site, another that will be a follow-up to this one, and one that hasn’t posted yet.
You might say I failed miserably. That’s how I was feeling when I noticed a blog post from marketing great Mitch Joel with the title “Failing Miserably.” His goals had been far more impressive than mine, but his perspective and timely words of wisdom encouraged me to look over all of the results of my month-long effort with a more open mind.
In my next article, I’ll share the results of all my objectives, including ROI.
I didn’t fail miserably after all. I failed very fortunately!
Do you have a recent “failed” marketing effort you can share? What went wrong? What positive outcomes can you attribute to the endeavor?
Billy Mitchell is the president and senior creative director of Atlanta-based B2B marketing firm MLT Creative. Located on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, Mitchell co-founded MLT Creative in 1984 along with partners Craig Lindberg and Glenn Taylor.
Known as the Idea Launch Pad for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.
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