Every Thursday night a bunch of really smart B2B marketers get together on Twitter to listen, learn, engage and chat on a specific topic. The best way to experience this is to participate live every Thursday from 8 to 9pm Eastern Timezone. You can follow along here and they also have a Linkedin group as well.

But, in case you miss one the folks at B2B Marketing Asia, have curated some of the chats using Storify. Thanks for doing this! So, let’s see what they had to say about CRM, Social CRM, Data Hygiene and more! Feel free to add to the conversation by posting a comment below.

These Posts May be of Interest

Social CRM for Small Business, An Interview with Jon Ferrara, Nimble Founder
Mi6 Quick Tip #5, Bringing social and email messaging together

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 is a B2B (Business to Business) marketing and business development agency dedicated to helping companies build their brands and develop commercial relationships. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

An interesting interview with an angel investor, venture capitalist and managing director of an Accelerator regarding startups, investment options and where things are headed. These are Yale Alumni who have first hand experience and are immersed in this space. They are great people to listen and learn from. We’ve provided a interview timeline along with the interview so you can jump to specific areas of interest.

This interview is featured on the Yale Qn site where you can read more indepth bios of the panelists here.

Panelists

Vispi Daver, Partner, Sierra Ventures [Linked | Twitter]

Katie Rae, Managing Director, TechStars [Linkedin | Twitter]

Max Ventilla, Senior Product Manager, Google Inc. [Linkedin | Twitter]

Olav Sorenson, Professor of Organizational Behavior, Yale School of Management
Moderator[Linkedin]

The Conversation

On December 2, 2011, a panel of Yale SOM alumni from the venture capital and techology fields discussed their own experiences and reflected on the current state of venture capital; disruptive new models for raising financing, such as social media; and the outlook for the industry. [Copied from Yale site]

01:53 Panelists discuss why 2011 Q3 funding decreased and what is driving this weak availability of capital. Investment is likely to increase because VCs and Angels will invest in social and mobile. What’s helping fuel this is broad adoption worldwide of broadband, wireless and smartphone/tablets.

05:04 Panelists discuss why returns over the past 5 years been lower than the initial internet boom in earlier years. Lack of capital however is not hurting entreprenship and innovation however.

07:00 More discussion on why less venture capital is available. Angels are filling the gap and becoming more professional in nature. Local Halton Region examples include Angle One Network and Golden Venture Horseshoe Venture Forum (GHVF). Angels can play an important role in capital efficient startups.

09:30 Syndicates, angel groups and networks are emerging as alternative ways to get funding instead instead of Venture Capital fund (LP or LLC). Some individuals are going out on there own but LPs continue to be a viable source of funding.

13:19 Panelist talked about the three key changes in tech with respect to startups: cost to create a minimum viable product has dropped dramatically, 2) the supply of entrepreneurs has increased, and 3) payout has changed in terms of exits of varying types and timelines.

17:07 Panelists talked about accelerators, like techstars, including the fact they are now offering funding and whether they are an evolution or a fad. The ones who are economically sustainable will survive. If the accelerator is government funded they have to show energy and effort, be innovative and be economically viable. Panelists suggested that “local communities” can support up to 20 startups.

21:58 Discussion on Accelerators being a threat to traditional VCs. The panelists agreed that they are key for startups in need of seed funding funding and speed to market. They are not a fad because it costs less to start up an internet company, more people want to be entrepreneurs and there are market opportunities in social, mobile and global market expansion. These entrepreneurs need access to expertise and initial rounds of funding to build a strong business foundation, commercialize their offering and generate revenue. New geographies are key to the continued growth and adoption of accelerators. Venture community will look to invest in accelerators in order to have early access to start-ups and spread their risk, scale and expand their access to talent and markets.

26:00 The panelists responded to the question: What’s the tradeoff between an accelerator vs an angel investor if you’re an entrepreneur? Accelerators provide a foundation of learning, best practices, wisdom and core business services. Accelerators can (and should) shut down startups that aren’t working and re-distribute the talent to better bets and opportunities. However, this depends on the quality of the Accelerator and the source of their funding. It also depends on how many startups are being developed through the Accelerator.

32:50 This led to the next question: how would investors or an Accelerator, like Techstars, manage startups that are at risk of failiing? There was some discussion on using pivots when hitting a brick wall and being flexible and able to change based on market feedback. Venture Capitalists and investors need to realize that flexibility needs to be the norm not the exception.

37:05 The panelists talked about the big change in how much money it takes to start a company. The question being whether this only applies to specific types of startups like those in tech. Three phases were discussed: getting to product market fit phase, growth phase and start to define yourself phase. Less change and disruption takes place in the last two phases according to one panelist. It’s now easier to create a startup but the bar has to be higher in order to be successful. More startups means more competition for money, customers and in markets. Other sectors are changing and adopting the lean startup approach in biotech, hitech healthcare, robotics and cleantech. The costs for technology infrastructure and application layers/tools are very low as compared to the .COM boom/bust. Also, the growth phase can be require less since you don’t necessarily need to hire people only. Companies can use social sharing, social networks and crowdsourcing to generate awareness and leads. Dropbox was used as an example.

46:30 Discussion around where venture capital is concentrated and the geography of innovation. Will Silicon Valley and Boston continue to dominate in this area? There are new emerging geographies like China and India [Sidenote: what about Silicon Halton? I'm a cofounder]. China has potential to rival U.S. in the area of venture capital investment opportunties. Additional emerging areas include: New York and London, England. Key issue for geographic areas for VCs is lack of local market knowledge, relationships and networks. The key is to have all the pieces of the puzzle in place in order for a culture of investment, innovation, entrepreneurs and startups to exist in a geo market that is furtile for idea generation, investment and startups.

Some Thoughts

• Our economy is fueled by small business, innovation and entrepreneurs. The reality is that we are now competing globally with hungry, excited and ambitions entrepreneurs. It’s critical that local markets rally together to create culture and excitement around creating, building and growing new AND existing companies.
• Entrepreneurs need to create social/professional networks and get involved in communities of interest like Silicon Halton (Disclosure: I’m a cofounder) and make connections to other communities and networks across the globe to learn, share and create social glue.
• Existing companies need to have accelerator mentalities baked into their DNA in order to adapt and take advantage of market opportunities
• I believe measuring how much funding is less important than how many ideas/companies are being funded and how many people are being employed as a result
• I’m curious as to whether investors are missing out on a bigger market of ideas and entrepreneurs. You hear one of the panelists saying the 20 somethings as if this is the only group of startup entrepreneurs they invest in. Is this true? If so, I’d like to dig deeper on this because everyone and anyone should and do create new companies…age is/should not be an investment criteria.

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

Some of the better reads we encountered this week. We’ve run a hi-liter through each post/article to emphasize what jumped out at us when reading them. We call these our Fave Five Posts.

In 2012, we will focus on: technology trends, community and network development & B2B marketing. If you have ideas on how we can provide more and better value to you in sharing these posts let us know below.

Our Favourite Posts for Week of Jan 23, 2012

This weeks Fave Five posts include the battle shaping up between Apple, Google and Facebook, the importance of building your professional network, whether startups need an incubator and a look at the new/emerging role “community manager”. Enjoy!

1) Google [and Facebook], Look Out Behind You! | Source: Techcruch
Wow, this article says Google and Facebook have a strong hill to climb and that Apple is on top because of the number of installed base of devices, their ecosystem, content and platforms that tie to the devices.
2) The real way to build a social network | Source Fortune Tech
Great advice from Ried Hoffman, founder of Linkedin, on the importance of building a professional network, the role strong and loose ties play and how you need to think of others before yourself.
3) Will an Incubator Help Your Business Take Off? The Short Answer: It Depends | Source: Blogtrepreneur
Some good questions and advice for early startup entrepreneurs considering signing with an Incubator. For me, it’s more about the people than anything else..including fancy digs.
4) B2B Decision-Makers Diversify Digital Research | Source: eMarketer
Who doesn’t use search to find answers to problems and solutions?! If you’re thinking about buy SEO services consider this: Google made changes to their search algorithm over 500 times last year. How can SEO experts, therefore guarantee that your results will show up on page one of the search rankings? Our advice is to create great content that generates word of mouth via social sharing and commenting. Stay committed and produce this content frequently.
5) The 2012 Community Manager Report [includes infographic] | Source: Social Fresh
Provides a high level overview of what’s covered in the report with a supporting infographic and embedded report. Worth a read. By the way, Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. You could say that we help them become Social Businesses. Feel free to connect with me if you’d like to learn more about how we do this.

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

If you haven’t read IBM’s CMO Study it’s a core piece of research marketers should have sitting on their desks and on their screens. Over 1700 CMOs from a variety of verticals, sizes and geographies provide their views, opinions and insights about what keeps them up at night, their profession etc.

In this video, Brian Fethersonhaugh, CEO and Chairman of Ogilvy One provides you with a summary of the key findings from the report.

Key Points from the Video

• Single most profound change is how buyers now control the buying process. This applies to B2B and B2C. We think that marketers need to educate buyers using content and find ways to connect with them before, during and after the purchase.
• Over 1,000 sales reps were surveyed. Two thirds agreed that consumers no longer relied on sales people before they make a product purchases. Our advice is that sales needs to figure out how they can offer value during the buying process. Offering quality expertise, advice and saving someone time is a good start.
• Consumers are often getting information themselves, but it’s not always the right information that marketers want them to know. We believe that this is a reality and something we marketers have to deal with. Produce quality content that is “read worthy” so you can compete with other sources of information.
• Over half of the surveyed sales professionals mentioned earlier said they know that social media is important to their success. Among the top sales performers over two thirds believed social media as being important to their success. But, they said their companies were not giving them the training they needed in order to leverage social media to be successful. We’d suggest B2B companies start with a social media program pilot by forming a small team of people from sales, marketing, service and support. If you are a technology company Mi6 can help you with that.
• Selling is changing because buying is changing. The sales funnel doesn’t work anymore, now it’s about the customer journey. Our job (sales and marketing) is to meet the customer on journey. Our advice is not to abandon the funnel concept. Just apply it to the new realities of how people buy.
• Checking and tracking “digital body language” through keywords, sites buyers visit, and how they engage on social media helps define “purchase intent”. We’re not so sure companies are capable of doing this to be frank, especially from a B2B perspective. We simply don’t have time to look for the nuances of online behaviour let alone predict they mean and what the buyer will do.  Remember, in complex sales, there are many people involved in the buying process. The key is to know who they are.
• Using content as digital bate? We don’t like this analogy of fishing for buyers. We prefer that content be used to educate buyers about problems, how to solve them and to demonstrate and prove capabilities. These should create reasons why a buyer would want to connect, engage and express interest in doing business.
• Constant and persistant communications is important in order to be heard and considered. We think this will result in more content (in some cases noise) being produced resulting in more competition for a buyers time. Marketers need to be extremely relevant and there will be increasing pressure to produce quality content.
• Ecommerce and social media combined is introducing the concept of “social commerce”. In essence, leveraging social networks/communities, sharing, ratings, reviews and references in order to generate revenue. This is a space we find very interesting. If you’re in it let us know!

Some of the better reads we encountered this week. We’ve run a hi-liter through each post/article to emphasize what jumped out at us when reading them.

In 2012 we will focus on: technology trends, community and network development & B2B marketing. If you have ideas on how we can provide more and better value to you in sharing these posts let us know below.

Our Favourite Posts for Week of Jan 9, 2012

This weeks Fave Five picks includes words of marketing wisdom from Jack Trout and Peter Drucker, the impact that social media is having on referral and buying intention, some predictions of where the U.S. mobile ad market is heading, the increasing popularity of niche based social networking sites and the importance of integrating online into your offline marketing plans (we do that, talk to us if you’d like to know how)

1) Social Campaigns Give Long-Term Boost to Brand Metrics | eMarketer

2) Peter Drucker (and Jack Trout) On Marketing | Forbes.com
[Note:This post is by Jack Trout and is 6 years old but still relevant and worth a read by any senior executive, business developer or marketer]

3) Opportunities Abound as Ad Support Increases Role in Mobile Content Delivery | eMarketer

4) Smaller Social Sites See Significant Boost in Usage | eMarketer

5) Adding online marketing to your business plan | Dynamic Business Australia

The Daily Q&A is a question we ask on Twitter every weekday at 1:30 pm (ET). We want to tap in to the wisdom of our followers and learn from each other. At the end of each day the responses (assuming there have been some) on Twitter are curated and posted on the Mi6 blog. The question is “closed” on Twitter but you are invited to comment below to keep the conversation going.

Q&A: How do you know if someone is a thought leader? How do you measure if they are?

Thanks to all those who participated in the discussion. Each block includes the initial response and any follow up exchanges around that response. Be sure to add your thoughts to the conversation by commenting below.

@katgordon: No metric needed. Interview them. True thought leaders can think on their feet, not only when scripted.
–> @b2bspecialist: Katherine, I love your “thinking on their feet” nugget. A good sign if someone qualifies as a thought leader for sure!
–> @katgordon:I feel the same way about authors. It’s after the reading — during the Q&A — when you see true genius… or not.

@CheElizaga: IMO: results, and others inspired to action around those thoughts. #thoughtleadership

@SergioSilvestre: Track record and consistency of arguments
–>@janerygaard: I guess they need listeners who agrees as well. I can disagree with someone and still consider her a thought leader. Often happens in Politics
–>@SergioSilvestre:Good point, maybe respect instead of agreeing?

If you’d like to join us in this Q&A just leave a question or comment below.

Some of the better reads we encountered this week. We’ve run a hi-liter through each post/article to emphasize what jumped out at us when reading them.

In 2012 we will focus on: technology trends, community and network development & B2B marketing. If you have ideas on how we can provide more and better value to you in sharing these posts let us know below.

Our Favourite Posts for Week of Jan 2, 2012

This weeks Fave Five picks includes social media business process integration, where angels will invest in startups, advice from a tech buyer to marketers on how to blog better and a better way to think about content marketing.

1) 6 Big HealthTech Ideas That Will Change Medicine In 2012 | TechCrunch

2) Integrating Social Media into Business Process a Challenge | eMarketer

3) Business: Where angels will tread | The Economist

4) Unsolicited Advice for Blogging Marketers | Jamie Oswald, SAP Community Network

5) How To Generate ROI (Return On Interesting) With Content Marketing | Business 2 Community

In 2012, Mi6 will be evolving it’s offering, launching a new website, releasing a communal editorial plan and more. A key area of interest to us, and hopefully to our readers and customers, is the evolution and transformation of marketing and sales.

We’ll be making public our editorial plan in 2012. If you’re interested and want to know more simply stay in touch by connecting with us here [you can decide how you want us to connect and engage].

This video is about how marketing organizations can evolve to meet the needs of the “empowered customer”. Tom Hoffman [Linkedin], Executive Business Editor at 1to1 Media [Twitter] interviews Jim Davis, SVP and CMO at SAS Institue [Linkedin | Twitter].

They chat about social media, analytics, conversing and engaging with customers and more. There’s a bit of a product plug but still some good insights and advice for marketers and customer service groups.

Video Timeline

00:40 Jim talks about how and why have customers become more empowered and
what marketers need to consider in order to create a conversational environment.

02:07 Tom asks Jim about the steps marketing should take to in order to create
a listening, conversational and monitoring environment.

03:45 A great question from Tom about the ocean of data that marketers are
faced with shifting through. What’s important, what isn’t..how to manage it
all?

05:00 Jim provides examples of marketing organizations that are making use of
data to engage and understand customers better.

06:55 Jim talks about the role marketing should play in this age of the
empowered customer within their organization.

Mi6 Thoughts

• If you’re not convinced that customers (or consumers) are empowered consider the fact that Time Magazine’s person of the year was the protester.
• Still not convinced? Do a search for Motrin. On page one of the search rankings you’ll see a YouTube video entitled: Controversial Motrin Moms Commercial. This video is four years old and still shows up on Google on page one and we’re in December 2012!
• Still not convinced (not trying to sound like a broken record)? Do a search for American Airlines Baggage Lost.
• The good companies, small to large, that really want to provide good value to customers will embrace the empowered customers. The bad companies, with substandard products and services, that don’t listen, care, engage and adapt will have a hard time competing in this customer, consumer and citizen centric world we now find ourselves in.

Related/Complimentary Posts

The Prickly Side of Marketing Automation
How Philips Engages with Radiologists

A quick reminder: We’ll be making public our editorial plan in 2012. If you’re interested and want to know more simply stay in touch by connecting with us here [you can decide how you want us to connect and engage].

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 creates B2B social networks & communities that build reputations, generate results and make markets. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

Some of the better reads we encountered this week. We’ve run a hi-liter through each post/article to emphasize what jumped out at us when reading them. Hope it helps! If you have ideas on how we can provide more and better value to you in sharing these posts let us know below.

1. You’ve Got Talent, But for What?
(Source: Talent Management magazine) | Read it here

2. CMOs, it’s Time to Brush Up on Your Social Skills, Appoint a Chief Social Officer
(Source: Forbes via @merkleCRM | Read it here

3. Will Brands Be Successful on Google+?
(Source: eMarketer) | Read it here

4. Tech Firm Implements Employee ‘Zero [internal] Email’ Policy
(Source: ABC News via Yahoo! News) | Read it here

5. When Is A Startup No Longer A Startup?
(Source: Business Insider) | Read it here

1. How To Be The Best Entrepreneur In The World
(Source: Techcrunch via @jaltucher) | Read it here

2. Why the Term “Marketing-Qualified Lead” Creates Serious Confusion – Part I
(Source: B2B Lead Blog via @b2bleadblog) | Read it here

3. Social Moxie in a Digital Marketing World
(Source: scottmersy.com via @smersy | Read it here