Recently I’ve written about the move of publishing companies into content marketing consulting. It makes a lot of sense — who better to teach a company to think like a publisher, than a publisher? Who better (presumably) to generate quality content than former journalists?
This week I got an email announcing that another publishing company was jumping into consultancy, with a different focus. Crain, publisher of iconic titles like Advertising Age, B-to-B and AutoWeek, wants to teach companies how to engage in social media.
Image courtesy of Crain email
The person they identify as leading the effort is a former journalist with the Chicago Tribune, Tracy Schmidt. But there is no talk of content marketing, at least not in the email or the blog post it drives you to. The focus of the services offered seem more tutorial and professional training in nature.
I certainly agree with the list of benefits they provide for B2B companies to get engaged with social media. SEO — absolutely, a no-brainer. Internal communication can be important and is sometimes overlooked by my clients. Monitoring social mentions is obvious, and deepening relationships with clients makes sense.
Two important items are missing from Tracy’s post. One is what Crain will actually help companies actually do. Starting a LinkedIn group is the only tactic mentioned. Most companies don’t just need consulting, they need support executing.
The biggest missing piece is how these strategies contribute to the company’s bottom line. All the other benefits are nice, but in my view are natural byproducts of a content marketing strategy targeted towards prospect identification, lead generation and deal capture. If you can’t show how social media can contribute in this way, B2B companies will not fund programs.
Of course, Crain may not be telling the whole story in one email and one post. The point of a marketing piece is to make the audience want to know more. To me though, the value proposition is a bit off.
I get it that a publishing company can create good content. They may have trouble with the sales ROI part, but the content I get.
But teaching other companies about social media? That’s far less intuitive, especially considering how the trade press has been decimated by the rise of the Internet and social media. No replacement has been found for the print advertising model that fueled these magazines in the past.
There are literally thousands of firms educating clients on how to leverage social media. Some (like my agency) come from a PR background, others marketing, others advertising and every variation in between. It’s a crowded market, and in my opinion B2B social media is a very different animal than consumer.
I wish Crain well — there sure are lots of companies that need help with social media strategy. But they better bring their A game.