As technology evolves, our immensely popular remote electronic devices connect us like never before. More than that, they are increasingly becoming our preferred means for communication, entertainment, shopping and research. This is something all corporate marketers need to consider when developing their corporate marketing strategies.

While creating fresh and engaging content is critical to generating interest in your products and increasing your website traffic and search engine rankings, doing so without leveraging today’s highly effective, cost-efficient social media tools that can instantly touch your audience is like shutting the shades on your many marketing windows to the world.

B2B marketers need to understand that when it comes to developing a marketing communications strategy, combining your daily marketing content with social media and all other marketing and public relations campaigns is essential to delivering a cohesive and consistent message that reaches your audience across several platforms. In other words, confining your message to your website or a newswire service alone can dramatically limit your exposure to thousands of potential prospects and customers who prefer various ways to receive their digital information.

To increase the success of your marketing campaigns, today’s marketers need to leverage the many different marketing tools and social media platforms that are readily available. Repurposing your marketing content in blogs, electronic newsletters, and social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can help raise your brand awareness, better educate your prospective customers about who you are and what you do, and increase your chances that your important company announcements and daily activities reach as many people as possible.

The great thing about social media is that it levels the playing field for everyone. No matter how small your marketing team is, integrating your key messages with social media allows you to compete with companies that have larger budgets and more internal marketing resources.

Startups unsure of which social media tools to incorporate into their marketing strategies shouldn’t get intimidated or overwhelmed by the amount of tools out there. Instead, they should continue to add new social media components to their marketing arsenal. Sure, modifications will be made along the way as you figure out what’s working and what’s not, but not leveraging social media will only put your marketing team at a competitive disadvantage.

The bottom line is, with the world becoming more connected through technology, it’s becoming more important than ever that marketers combine their corporate communications, public relations and social media strategies in today’s digital world.

While commenting on popular topics can potentially drive more traffic to your blog, as B2B marketers, it should not be the driving force behind your content development. From a sales and marketing perspective, if your material is not attracting your target audience your efforts will be all for naught, no matter how much you increase your blog traffic.

The strategy for any corporate blog should be to deliver valuable content to your target audience, whether it’s educating them about a relevant topic or generating interest in a solution that solves their problems. This works for both lead generation and lead nurturing programs. While discussing your customers’ business challenges and demonstrating how your products or services solve their problems is relevant material for your readers, attracting a broader audience sometimes requires all little creativity such as getting into the mix of timely stories that are relevant to your industry.

I’m not saying you need to become an ambulance chaser who scours the Internet for any story that matches your top keywords. If the story is not relevant to your readers, it’s probably not worth writing about. Any attempts to bridge your company with a hot story that’s not relevant to your readers can be viewed as a vain attempt to take advantage of a particular situation. However, when a timely story is relevant and you can provide real value to your target audience, that’s when you’ve struck blogging gold. Providing your perspective on a hot topic, and linking to that story, can significantly increase your blog traffic.

The approach is fairly straightforward. Take a little time each week scanning articles related to your industry. Talk to others in your company about potential angles or perspectives that bring a fresh perspective to the hottest topics in your industry. Lending your knowledge and expertise on subjects important to your readers can provide real value they can use when trying to resolve specific business challenges. In other words, chasing more qualified blog traffic doesn’t require you to become an ambulance chaser on the Internet. All that’s required is delivering relevant content that’s valuable to your target audience.

The challenge for every content writer is to communicate in a way that is as natural as talking to someone in the same room. While the subject matter is important, the tone on how you deliver your message plays a critical role in connecting with your audience. For example, with email there’s no affirmation to emotionally support what you are trying to say. The wrong tone, or even lack of tone, can distance yourself from your readers. Here are a few things you should think about when drafting your next email.

• Bring energy to your written voice. If your copy lacks energy or is too stern, you’ll turn off your readers. To avoid sounding indifferent, keep your voice active and choose your words carefully. Remember that every positive and negative word impacts your audience one way or another. The tone you set for yourself is directly expressed through the words you select.
• Understand your audience. While you may know all the right buzz words that attract your audience, knowing what tone motivates them is equally as important when communicating online. Because we are often too busy crafting the perfect message, it’s always a good idea to step back to make sure you’ve included the right adjectives to support what you are trying to communicate. Collective pronouns such as “we” or “us” also connect you with your audience, creating a tone that you both share the same experiences.
• A positive tone is always the best motivator. People are motivated by positive reinforcement. For example, thanking someone for their time or expressing your appreciation for them keeps the conversation insightful, upbeat, and adds more personality to your writing voice. Pay attention to your non-verbal communications such as punctuation, capitalization, and font size.
• Keep the content and tone consistent. Staying on message is critical to any communication. Keeping the right tone that is consistent with the message should also be treated with the same consideration. The wrong phrase or comment can quickly spoil a well written email. Without a consistent tone, there is too much potential for miscommunication.

Social media is all about initiating conversations and building relationships. Because many writing platforms lack one of the most basic elements of communication in body language, the challenge for copywriters is to balance the right words with the right tone that is most effective with your audience.

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