Ted Birkhahn

For CEOs and other senior-level executives, being relevant on social media is hard. There can be ample risk – real or perceived – that keeps these busy professionals from adopting best practices and providing real value to their audiences across social media channels. The result sometimes is a watered-down approach that fails to engage or inspire an audience much like a traditional publisher would.

As business owners, we are always thinking about ways to gain an edge, to grow our top and bottom lines and keep the new business pipeline robust and healthy. It’s a constant struggle to evaluate and choose where to invest marketing dollars that will return the most value and have a direct impact on lead generation, new sales and organic growth.

Continually churning out self-promotional content will never resonate with your intended audience. Here's how to deliver what they really want.

A recent guest post concerned the fact that B2B marketing often lacks “emotional appeal.”

Emotion in B2B marketing, you ask? That’s impossible!

It’s true, though: a recent survey performed by The Economist and Peppercomm found that business audiences want something a little more “substantial” from the brands they know. And, as the graphic below shows us, there’s a serious disconnect between marketers and the people they’re trying to reach.

In association with Peppercomm, the Economist Group recently surveyed 500 global business executives and 500 marketers about their perceptions, habits and needs surrounding content. Business executives were forthright in their message to marketers: Stop marketing to me. Instead, they want content from brands that is transparent, useful and selfless. Our study, “Missing the Mark: Global Content Survey of Brand Marketers and their B2B Audiences,” found that global business executives are seeking… Show more

In association with Peppercomm, the Economist Group recently surveyed 500 global business executives and 500 marketers about their perceptions, habits and needs surrounding content. Business executives were forthright in their message to marketers: Stop marketing to me. Instead, they want content from brands that is transparent, useful and selfless. Our study, “Missing the Mark: Global Content Survey of Brand Marketers and their B2B Audiences,” found that global business executives are seeking substance, while marketers are largely still marketing. Show less

The content business is booming. As Kenny Bania from Seinfeld would say, “It’s gold, Jerry. Gold!”

Any marketing and communications firm worth its salt is chasing a surge in interest and demand for content work. New and old players alike are trying to position themselves as content strategists and developers. Many firms are also specializing on content circulation – i.e. making sure your content gets seen, shared, etc.

But this isn’t your grandfather’s content business.

Brands are scrambling to adopt the longtime model of traditional publishers—know your audiences, provide them with highly relevant content and build a platform that can deliver the content in unique and efficient ways. Sounds simple—right?

So many people are lamenting the future of the agency business as if they actually know what the future will bring. With the pace of change always accelerating, it’s impossible to really know where the agency world will be in five years. Think about where we are today compared to 2009: it’s a new world that very few, if any, predicted.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

JPMorgan is under attack. And this time it is not from regulators or investors demanding answers about multibillion- dollar losses from their trading desks. No, this time, the battleground is Twitter and the enemy is John Q. Public. After promoting a Twitter chat with one of its senior executives, the JPMorgan Twitter handle was besieged by an angry mob of tweeters who were seemingly venting their anger for the company's financial miscues. Check out the #AskJPM… Show more

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

JPMorgan is under attack. And this time it is not from regulators or investors demanding answers about multibillion- dollar losses from their trading desks. No, this time, the battleground is Twitter and the enemy is John Q. Public. After promoting a Twitter chat with one of its senior executives, the JPMorgan Twitter handle was besieged by an angry mob of tweeters who were seemingly venting their anger for the company's financial miscues. Check out the #AskJPM hashtag on Twitter if you like verbal train wrecks. Show less

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was an underwriter on Twitter's (TWTR) recent, bang-up initial public offering.

But Twitter isn't doing JPM any return favors, as the social media site was the scene of an epic big bank takedown by consumers last week -- so much so that the bank canceled a Twitter-based Q&A with one of its key executives.