Savvy B2B Marketing

Another week gone by. Sometimes it's hard to say where those days go - especially when you're busy. This week gave many of us pause, however, when we learned that our virtual community had suffered a tragic loss with the sudden passing of Trey Pennington. Though none of the Savvy Sisters knew him personally, we'd crossed paths on Twitter and elsewhere and all held him in great respect and knew him to be a genuinely kind and generous person. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Thanks to Mark Schaefer for having the heart to write such a thoughtful and gentle piece in the wake of this tragedy.

Enjoy your weekend to the fullest.

Hidden Friction: The 7 Silent Killers of Conversion

by Austin McCraw (@McOptimize) via Marketing Experiments

Friction is one of the greatest obstacles to your conversion process. Even if you think you know what friction is, this article is worth a read. Austin points out some pernicious traps that are sabotaging your web conversion rate.

The Holistic Approach to Social Media by Dave Van de Walle of @Area224

How you put social into the context of your business and market can make or break your efforts. This post includes some visual aids to help you get the Big Picture.

New Research Finds the Curation vs. Creation Sweet Spot by @jaybaer

It's a common question - how much original content should I be creating in comparison to how much content I curate from third party sources. What's that perfect balance? This interseting research (based on analysis of 150,000 social media posts) may give you a hint.

Technology Risks of Not "Owning" Your Friends, Followers, (or Business Data) by @caroljsroth

I've harped on this one myself - it's a warning worth heeding, no matter what size business you are. (Here's my post about backing up your social data.)

Subtle Selling: The Key to Great Writing AND Making Money Online by @TheSalesLion

Marcus Sheridan highlights an important concept about telling really great stories about the work you do. Are you missing out on an opportunity to impress prospective clients? 
 

Content Marketing World: Updates from Around the Web - via @junta42

This week Cleveland hosted over 600 marketers for Content Marketing World, and Michele was lucky enough to be there.  Here are some of the blog posts about the event.