Companies are beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter to monitor their brand, create relationships and turn leads to sales. According to a recent survey by MarketingProfs, “more than eight in 10 Twitter users, most of whom represent small businesses, expect their company’s use of the popular micro blogging tool to increase in the next six months.”

In addition, 66% of the respondents consider Twitter either “somewhat important” or “extremely important” to their company’s business/marketing operations, compared with 29% who consider it “not very important.”

At FYIndOut, we’re always focused on helping businesses find and promote what they’re looking for and one of our main focuses is around using the power of social media to work for business.  Twitter is fast becoming one of the top platforms that companies not only participate in, but also get real value by doing so.  Unlike most other social media sites, Twitter has the ability and breadth to be a fun and efficient way to connect consumers in our personal lives as well as help businesses and employees in our professional lives. 

We have definitely seen a positive difference in using Twitter for our company.  Through Twitter, we’ve been able to connect and learn from industry trendsetters, other entrepreneurs, investors, and key media people that cover our industry.  Not having any luck reaching out to people via email or their “Contact Us” form?   Try Twitter.  You’d be amazed at how fast you’re able to connect with others.

If you are just starting to use Twitter and have any questions about our experience or think that we might be able to help, please reach out to myself (@scottjmanley) or our Community Manager, Brett Kopf (@brettkopf) and we’ll do our best.

Today I attended a webinar by MarketingProfs and Citrix titled, “Business-to-Business Marketing Trends 2009: Dramatic Changes in Dramatic Times”.  All in all, I’m glad I attended as the webinar was based on their study of around five hundred businesses and pretty informative.

The most intriguing slide to me was the one that listed the five B-to-B marketing tactics expected to increase in 2009:

1. Search Marketing – 46%
2. Online Video – 40%
3. Discussion Forums – 38%
4. Webinars – 38%
5. Email – 37%

It’s interesting to note that none of these are considered traditional forms of lead generation (maybe email but that has nowhere near the history of direct marketing or conferences).

Another item of interest was what businesses listed as their most effective tactics for lead generation.  In order of most effective, they were:

1. Executive Breakfasts
2. Inside Sales
3. Webinars

I definitely think face-to-face events like breakfasts and after work functions will always be the best way for making connections but I can see webinars and social media continuing to increase the generation of qualified leads.

Towards the end there was a great slide about how the power and process of the deal is changing from the Seller to the Customer.  We have said this before (see “Don’t Believe Me, Just Ask Me: A Major Issue in B2B“) and it’s great to see it presented by others.  Through no fault of their own, Sellers in B2B have historically been the information gatekeepers and the latest technologies and trends (If you’re someone that needs to label things, you can call it Web 2.0) have turned that process on its head.  Here are some bullet points from the slide.

Then

• Seller in control (size matters)
• Seller converts prospect to a lead and identifies decision maker as fast as possible
• (NOTE: There were more but my perception of how great my multi-tasking skills are is obviously inflated compared to reality as I wasn’t fast enough to write them all.  Sorry.)

Now

• Buyer in control
• Buyer qualifies the seller for participation in the consideration set and dictates timing
• Seller’s success depends on engagement and trust (lead nurture)
• User conversation to drive preference and loyalty

Thanks to MarketingProfs and Citrix for sharing their findings.

Today, we attended MarketingProfs’ Digital Marketing World conference.  As with most professional conferences, we;

• Met other professionals with similar interests and exchanged cards
• Visited vendor booth on the exhibition floor, chatted with them, and saw what they had to offer
• Put in our information at some booths for prizes or SWAG
• Saw some great speakers and presentations along with a few OK ones.

 The difference is that we attended this conference from our desks as this conference was virtual.  I know what you’re thinking, “Virtual? C’mon.”  It’s not like some Sims or Second Life thing where you create some tricked out avatar and it shows you walking around, sitting down, or back in your hotel room sleeping off your fun from the previous night through one or more of the presentations you thought you could skip.

The expo was powered by another Chicago company called InXpo.  The site allows vendors to create booths and distribute materials, people to chat, email, and exchange cards (.vcf files), and presenters to give presentations from multiple locations to hundreds of people.  All in all, I was pretty impressed with InXpo and MarketingProfs for how it was organized.

While I am still an advocate of meeting people in person when possible, there are definitely some advantages to attending a virtual event:

1. T&E costs are much lower. Try $0. Great for most 2009 budgets.
2. No lost time getting too and from the event.
3. Much more of a “green” way to attend an event
4. It keeps you focused on why you’re there and what you want to get out of it
5. Instead of rudely trying to sneak a few emails in on your blackberry during a presentation and thinking others don’t notice, you can type away on your laptop without annoying anyone else.

I can definitely see this as a trend for some conferences or by organizations like MarketingProfs that have numerous events a year and are fully aware that their communities can only afford to attend so many in person.  As with all events, the key will be to make sure that there’s quality content and networking opportunities for attendees as well as the opportunity for those that buy booths and present to reach their target audience.

With that said, there will never be as many funny stories or genuine connections that real world conferences (sometimes induced/assisted by after-parties with alcohol) allow for.  I believe that virtual events will end up being a great supplement for professionals to coordinate and get together in between the annual quality events we all look forward to.