White Paper Insider

Facebook Fan Pages (now just called Pages), are a great way to offer discussions, videos, blog feeds, events and other interesting content to your business fans. But did you know that you can add social oomph to your white paper launch by creating a landing page for it on your Facebook page? A Facebook landing page gives you a low-cost opportunity beyond your website and/or syndication sites to get your white papers in front of prospects.

How are Facebook Landing Pages Created?

Landing pages can be created using FBML, which stands for Facebook Markup Language. It’s similar to HTML for writing websites. By using Facebook’s “Static FBML” application, you can create just about any type of “landing page” you want on your Facebook page—such as an intro to your white paper, report, or e-book. It allows you to create forms, add graphics—all the bells and whistles that make an interesting web display page.

If you’re already using an HTML editor like Dreamweaver, you can design your page with it and then drop the HTML code into the FBML application. You might have to tweak it a bit for Facebook’s size and display restrictions, which is why I have my designer do it for me. Learning how to manipulate HTML and CSS in FBML can be a little tricky, but you can check out a helpful tutorial on using it at HyperArts.

Pictured at right a landing page I created recently that offers my fans a chance to register for a special report. I use this report as a list-building tool on my website. When people enter my Facebook page, and click on the “Reports” tab, this landing page pops up.

Three Ways to Use Landing Pages to Share Your White Papers

Because all Facebook page content is indexable by search engines, FBML landing pages can generate additional “Google Juice” for your white paper offerings. Here are three options you might consider:

1. Modified Registration Page: Are you currently using a traditional online registration page to garner leads? Cut and paste the code into FBML (if your registration form uses Javascript, however, your designer will have to convert to Facebook’s version, FBJS).

   You should modify the registration a bit—social media users don’t like to fill out long registration forms. For quick and easy opt-in forms, Aweber and other versatile list-building tools can be used to create short forms and autoresponders to collect emails and deliver your white paper.

1. No-Strings Download: Show a compelling “teaser” of your white paper content (a few paragraphs) followed by a “download full document instantly” button where fans can get the complete document without having to register for it. If having your paper shared virally is more important to you than lead generation, this might be a better option than #1.

1. Video Embed: Use a short video clip to invite fans to download your white paper. The video can be as fancy as you like, but keep in mind that people prefer interacting with people as opposed to a faceless brand—especially in social media. Short and personal is best. You can use this tactic by itself, or in conjunction with #1 or #2 above.

If your prospects are on Facebook, you really should be thinking of ways to offer your white paper content there. Try testing these and other methods for creating Facebook white paper landing pages, and let us know what works best for you.

Need another outlet for getting the word out about your white paper? Check out Squidoo. What is it? Well, here’s a quote from their “Terms of Service” for the short answer:

“Squidoo is the free (yes, free), simple tool that makes it easy for you to publish your interests online. (You could even earn a royalty for yourself or for charity). From authors and astronauts to marketers and musicians, to cat lovers and seahorse keepers and quiltmakers and video gamers and teachers and… well, everyone… anyone with something to say, share, promote and recommend is welcome on Squidoo.”

The “lenses” are basically blog posts, with all the same sharing and linking capabilities, plus there’s a SquidU forum and handy FAQ for new users. I checked it out on Quantcast.com, and it has a page ranking of 115 (which means it appeals to a fairly wealthy audience). The top demographic is right up there with Facebook and Twitter (35+ females), and the site generates over 300,000 page views globally per day.

Although I didn’t see many white papers in my original search, I did see a lot of “how-to” articles on a variety of subjects. So depending on your audience, I think Squidoo could be a good place to post information about white papers and other business content, especially if your content has something to do with parenting, handling work/life balance issues or other items favored by that largely female audience.

Squidoo also has a revenue platform, using Google Adsense, and you can list your books for sale via Amazon or Lulu to generate a bit of cash.  Squidoo shares a portion of its revenue with charities, and you can select your favorite (or yourself) to receive part of the revenues that generate from your lens.

Anybody using Squidoo for generating interest in white papers at this time? Selling your books? Pointing traffic back to your website? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

As part of their 2009 “Best Practices Research Series”, TechWeb put out a report entitled, “How to Maximize the Use of White Papers in Your B2B Marketing and Sales Process”. Along with a wealth of information, tips and suggestions, the report includes a variety of statistics on different aspects of marketing.

It’s common knowledge that white papers are an effective, even essential tool in the marketing process, but the numbers tell the real story of why white papers work as well as they do.

Over five hundred marketing professionals were surveyed for this report. The numbers showed:

• 76.3% use white papers for general education on a specific topic
• 73.8% use white papers to investigate potential solutions for their business or technology
• 68% use white papers to learn about a specific vendor and the technology behind their solutions

Whether it’s due to the increased availability of white papers, the demands placed on them by the jobs, or the widespread knowledge of the effectiveness of white papers, more business and marketing executives are downloading white papers from the internet than ever before.

• 44% of the IT professionals surveyed said that they had always made it a practice to read/download white papers
• 38% said they are reading/downloading more than they have in the past (11% of these readers said they had not been regular white paper readers in the past)
• 87% said they preferred a .pdf format over a digital, read-online-only format

With the unique ability to deliver the bottom line information on just about any topic, white papers can quickly educate and inform readers.

A Business Content Study from 2008, conducted jointly by MarketingSherpa and TechWeb showed that the top five sources resulting in a white paper download were:

1. Email newsletter feature article
2. Info posted in the News section of a web site
3. Found in a search engine
4. Found on a site which focuses on white papers
5. Recommendation from a colleague

Readers noted that the best white papers inform on the topic, and then follow with the solution.

This report gives some insight into the high volume of white papers being offered and subsequently, read. These are numbers to keep in mind whether writing a white paper for a client or for your own site.

It’s cold, snowy and the middle of winter, and I was looking for some inspiration - something to get the creative juices going, and take my mind off the frigid temperatures outside.

Instead of wasting time on the television, I decided do something productive and re-read The White Paper Marketing Handbook by Bob Bly. The very first chapter is called “The Edu-Marketing” Revolution.

Even though I knew immediately what this word meant, I wondered what Dictionary.com would say about it. I was not surprised to find that it said the word doesn’t exist. So how did I know what Bob meant when he wrote that, even before I started reading the chapter?

Everybody knows that things have changed with the advancement of technology. New words are made up every day; some work, others don’t. This word has become a common term in the marketing industry. I think it works perfectly to describe a white paper, and it doesn’t take long to figure out the meaning. So what is its relationship to white papers?

Over the course of the past few years, white papers have become extremely popular. Even though they’ve been around since the 1920’s, companies seemed to be more focused on other types of advertising. But were they really reaching their target market?

As competition has become stiffer, company executives have realized their marketing dollars may not have been spent as cost-efficiently as they would have liked, and they have turned more and more to using white papers. White papers are the best marketing tool for almost any company, large or small.

Why are white papers such an effective tool? Let’s go back to the word “edu-marketing”.

Edu – for educate, and we all know what marketing is.

The white paper has several components that work together to accomplish its goal, but there are two underlying purposes common to every white paper:

1. To educate the reader, and to
2. Market the company’s products or services

It’s a perfect word for what the white paper does, and the first chapter in The White Paper Marketing Handbook does an excellent job of explaining the edu-marketing process and the necessary mindset when writing a white paper.

The chapter goes on to detail why white papers have such a high success rate, and how to ensure that they achieve their purpose.

If you haven’t read The White Paper Marketing Handbook, I strongly recommend it. It should be a cornerstone reference in the library of every white paper writer.

Today’s economic conditions have presented companies with two serious challenges:

A. Getting the best return on their marketing investment dollars, and
B. Determining the effectiveness of their marketing

Companies must make sure that their marketing efforts are producing the best value from every dime they spend. They must also make sure that they are effectively communicating to the marketplace, and delivering the right message to their target market.

Prophet, a branding and marketing research firm, produced “A State of Marketing Study” which showed that senior management is expecting their marketing to at least enable both the short and long-term growth of their business. They preferred that the marketing completely do the job.

Improved effectiveness of marketing spending was one of the top three priorities of upper-level management.

What does all this mean? Company executives want a good return on the money spent on marketing, and they want it done at the lowest possible cost. Translation: They want the biggest bang for their buck.

Can this be accomplished with white papers? Yes. And here are the top five reasons why:

1. Lead generation – a recent study by RainToday.com shows that white papers were ranked as an excellent source of lead generation by almost three-fourths (74%) of companies that provide professional services.
2. Readily accepted form of marketing communication – white papers are read more often than company web sites, case studies, industry journalism articles, product literature or analyst reports.

They also outrank podcasts, webcasts, online video and blogs.

3. Effective marketing tool – Readers pass white papers to coworkers and colleagues. KnowledgeStorm.com says the number may be as high as 3 in 5 readers (57%).
4. First in evaluating business solutions – the use of white papers outranks email newsletters, case studies, articles, software downloads, product literature and articles
5. Widely respected as a source for problem solving. Most people who read white papers are looking for a solution to a problem. White papers are an effective way to accomplish this goal.

There isn’t a better, more effective, more readily accepted form of marketing than the white paper.