Summer is officially here, and the year is almost half over. That means it is time to have a little fun in the sun, but it is also a great opportunity to examine how the first half of the year went for you – personally and professionally. We can’t help with the first part, but we can help with the second with great information from MarketingProfs, Search Engine Watch, Nintendo, Tubefilter and Convince and Convert.

In this week’s edition of Five on Friday, MarketingProfs shares three strategic marketing and sales mistakes you should avoid in the second half of 2017, Search Engine Watch offers some ways to build a B2B audience for Facebook marketing, and Nintendo does an about face on its new Switch subscription. Also, this week we share how YouTube is addressing the adpocalypse, and social media expert Jay Baer shares some sage advice on how often to post on social media. The answer is much simpler than you’d expect.

MarketingProfs: Three Strategic Marketing and Sales Mistakes to Avoid in 2017

The year is almost half over, and we like to take this halfway point to review our progress thus far and evaluate what we want to change for the remainder in the year. MarketingProfs thinks along the same lines, and offers us this helpful check-in with three strategic marketing and sales mistakes to avoid in 2017:

1. Failing to align sales and marketing goals. These two goals are tied very closely together, though they are often executed and managed by separate teams, and when they are out of sync, you just might miss all your goals. MarketingProfs says you can avoid misalignment by (a) agreeing on joint goals at the beginning of the year, (b) agreeing on the definition of a lead, so your leads are of a higher quality, (c) following a formal hand-off procedure for leads, and (d) reviewing progress quarterly to make adjustments before it is too late.
2. Failing to plan or provide for adequate resources for your plan. It is hard to reach your goals without the appropriate resources, whether that means money, people or tools. Build a case to get the resources you need by (a) measuring how sales uses your content, (b) getting feedback on your marketing content from your sales team, and (c) using sales-enablement technology to track what’s working and what isn’t.
3. Assuming sales growth and momentum will continue. You know the old saying about assuming? Well, don’t ever assume, even if your company has been on a positive trajectory for years. You must continue to be proactive. MarketingProfs suggests trying these tactics: account-based marketing (ABM), new sales technology, and predictive analysis.

Get additional tips from the original article, Three Strategic Marketing and Sales Mistakes to Avoid in 2017, by Brian Fravel for MarketingProfs.

Reach a B2B Audience on Facebook with These Three Strategies

When most of us thinking about marketing on Facebook, we think about marketing directly to Facebook users (B2C), but Facebook can also be an effective B2B marketing tool, says Sana Ansari for Search Engine Watch. In a recent post, they offer three strategies for reaching out to that B2B audience:

(1)    Build a layered lookalike strategy:

• Using lookalike audiences as a model, create a “seed list” by considering how you could segment your list based similar characteristics, behaviors and traits. For example, you might want to try segmenting by industry.
• Upload the seed list to Facebook and create your lookalike audiences from that. Target an audience of the top 1 to 5 percent of your most relevant users.
•  Build your ad set, using the lookalikes as your basis

(2)    Partner with a third-party data provider to leverage their relevant lists to help you get in front of specific industry professionals and decision makers.

(3)    Use video ads to engage with your users, and keep them to 30 seconds or less. Search Engine Watch points out that Facebook will automatically build an audience list for you based on video time, so you can segment that list based on their level of interest.

Get more detail on these tactics on Search Engine Watch.

Nintendo “Switches” Its Subscription Plan to Appease Customers

When we first heard about the Nintendo Switch console release and its companion subscription plan, we weren’t particularly impressed with how it was handling its free games. At that time, Nintendo said it would provide subscribers with one free game per month. After that, a subscriber would have to buy the game to keep playing it. We didn’t think that seemed like a good way to gain loyal subscribers.  

Based on negative feedback from players, Nintendo announced a new policy on June 1. The company would launch a paid service called Nintendo Switch Online in 2018. Those currently using the free trial version will continue to get free play through the end of the year. A free unlimited version of the mobile app will be made available in the summer, so people can try the app version of Switch as well.

In 2018, subscribers can get access to a Classic Game Selection including Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight and Dr. Mario as well as discounts on select digital games and content. A one-month membership will be $3.99; a three-month membership is priced at $7.99; or subscribers can purchase a 12-month membership for $19.99.

This was a smart move on Nintendo’s part. They launched a beta version when the Switch console was made available in March, tested the subscription service, and listened to feedback from their customers. Based on that feedback, they made a dramatic switch that is sure to please players. Not only will subscribers get access to more games at a lower price point than Xbox or PlayStation, but they’ve extended the free trial period for another six months. This gives the company plenty of time to test and market their subscription program while enticing console buyers to try the Switch online gaming experience. Well played, Nintendo. Well played.

YouTube Updates Guidelines to Address the “Adpocalypse”

In case you missed it, the YouTube “Adpocalypse” began this spring when YouTube creators like Philip DeFranco, h3h3productions and PewDiePie reported lost ad revenue as YouTube made changes to its advertising policies without notifying creators, reports Tubefilter. It seems that certain categories of content were no longer advertising-eligible, causing big drops in revenue for top creators.

“The big-picture trends in the digital video business, plus the changes to YouTube’s algorithm we saw last year, point to something far larger – and potentially permanent. The old YouTube is not coming back, because YouTube is no longer interested in just being YouTube, featuring and catering to its homegrown creators of the past decade. The future of YouTube is YouTubeTV and to a lesser degree YouTube Red – and the future is suddenly now,” says Tubefilter in a May 11 article.

To help mend the rift, YouTube has updated its guidelines for advertiser-friendly content to explain to creators what could cause their videos to be “demonetized.” YouTube explains what topics content creators should avoid if they want to run ads, and they also offer some best practices to create ad-friendly content. For example, the following topics are not eligible for advertising:

• Controversial issues and sensitive events
• Drugs and dangerous products or substances
• Harmful or dangerous acts
• Hateful content
• Inappropriate language
• Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters
• Incendiary and demeaning content
• Sexually suggestive content
• Violence

Best practices include:

• Being respectful of others, including viewers and the people or groups that are featured in a video.
• Using accurate thumbnails and metadata, regardless of the content of the video.
• Not embedding your own ads in a video.

Read YouTube’s complete advertiser-friendly content guidelines and best practices here. Read more about the Adpocalypse on Tubefilter here.

Jay Baer: How Often Should You Post on Social Media?

If you are looking for a definitive guide which says X posts on Facebook every X days, you will be disappointed. Instead, social media expert and president of Convince & Convert Jay Baer boils it down to a very simple guideline: “Social media posts that succeed are those that are worth posting.” In other words, posting more often doesn’t make a social post any more interesting or shareable.

We also love this gem: “Social media content is the ultimate meritocracy. Good content wins. Bad content fails.”

Enough said.

We hope you enjoyed this week’s Five on Friday! Do you have topic ideas or suggestions for future Five on Friday columns? Do you want to hear more about marketing strategy, content writing, compliance concerns, reducing churn or subscription or payment industry news?  If so, email me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear how we can help you be more successful!

Have a great weekend.