​The Challenges Faced By B2B Communicators [In Quotes]

Last week, a few of our keen-bees attended the PR Event "The Challenges Faced By B2B Tech Communicators in 2015" at Soho's Hospital Club to hear from three key speakers.

PR professionals – Joe Hanley, Wander Bruijel and Steph Macleod – discussed the challenges faced by businesses and revealed how content can help B2B communicators build online communities. Here are our key takeouts:

“Think of social media as a dinner date” - Joe Hanley, IBM

Promoting yourself on social is easy. Churning out generic brand tweets and posts is easy. But getting something back from your desired audience – be it fans, engagements or conversions – is a different kettle of fish altogether.

Joe Hanley recommends treating your social as a date. Use the platforms as an opportunity to share a little insight about yourself as well as a way to find out what makes your “date” – or in this instance, your fans – tick. What do they want to talk about? What are their interests? Doing a little social listening can really help shape your overall content and social plans.

“Empathy wins. Be relevant to real people in the real world” - Wander Bruijel, Philips

Similarly to Joe’s point about having conversations, it’s important for a brand to be human. Remember that your consumers are people too; they have lives away from their computer screens and office desks. Get to the root of their interests and online habits and you’ll find yourself presented with a wealth of content and story opportunities.

“89% of PRs are still measured on the volume of press release coverage” - Steph Macleod, Kaizo

PR giants, Kaizo, surveyed industry professionals at the start of 2015 and found that 89% are still measured on the volume of press release coverage.

While the number of press pick-ups is an important indicator of success, it isn’t the most revealing metric. Instead, we should be considering what we set out to achieve – was it leads, conversions, sales, downloads or social engagements? Knowing these will help professionals evaluate their success of a campaign.