If you are reading this, you are one of the nearly 2 billion people actively using social media. Social media has quickly become the de facto information and sharing source for people around the world – and like so many other large enterprises, Level 3 has taken an active role in the ongoing social conversation, using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (and others) to connect with our audience in real-time.
One of the reasons we’ve been using these social tools is that our customers and prospective customers typically go through a well-defined cycle when making buying decisions. They may not follow the whole cycle every time, but at each stage the buyers and decision makers need different sorts of information.
A key component of this information gathering is to be able to see relevant content in relation to that stage of the buying decision. MarketingProfs wrote a great overview of the importance of that content if you’d like to dig deeper.
We put a lot of thought into creating relevant content that helps explain the solutions and services that Level 3 provides. But we are careful to also do that in a way that is appropriate for the social media channel we are using. Having something relevant and useful to say, not actively promoting, engaging in debate, being open and honest are just examples of the things to think about when creating content that people will want to read.
But then people have to find it.
And if you read the link above this is the biggest problem for the buyers. They struggle to find relevant information appropriate for their particular stage in the buying cycle. There is a lot of information out there and there is a lot of marketing fluff out there; a great graphic or a great tag line doesn’t add any relevant information to a buyer.
Which brings me to the point of this post.
60 Million Views From the Edge of Space
Felix Baumgartner’s epic skydive generated 60 million social media interactions (trusted impressions) over a couple of days; A huge amount of excitement and interest. And some of those participating in that exchange are content rights holders, production companies, broadcasters and news organisations. Some are prospective customers of Level 3’s Vyvx Solutions who may not know what we do or who we are.
Sometimes we come to people’s attention by accident. Fred Lawler’s post about crazed squirrels is still our most read and commented on post. But mostly we have to think about how the content and the title of the content rises above the noise and get’s read by someone at an appropriate stage in their buying cycle. That was some of the thinking behind my previous post, Pictures From The Edge of Space. As we extend the capabilities of Vyvx Solutions around the world how do we make contact with the thousands and thousands of rights holders and broadcasters? How do we bring to life what we do quickly and vividly?
Of course I was proud of our involvement in the Red Bull Stratos event. But I also have a business to grow and a desire to connect with new customers by writing relevant and useful content … and then giving that content the best chance of being seen.
About Mark Taylor
