A blog about finding, buying and using business software

If you’re a B2B marketer, especially in the software industry, you’ve likely been told, “I’m not sure social media is really right for our business.” Fortunately, it’s been a few years since the social media craze first took off, and that general sentiment is changing day-by-day. That said, you might still get internal push-back about whether your company should be present on the latest and greatest social networks (i.e. “We don’t really have any pictures to pin as an accounting software company”). And, truthfully, not all companies need to be on EVERY social media site… only the ones where your audiences are active and it make sense strategically for the time and effort involved to manage that site.

However, if you’ve recently been asked to make a case for your software company’s social media presence, or you just want some inspiration for how to improve your pages, check out the following examples of software companies doing cool and innovative things on ten of the most popular social networks:

1. Facebook: Wildfire (Social Media Marketing Software)
   Wildfire builds Facebook pages and social media contests for businesses, so it’s no wonder their Facebook page is pretty cool!Things they do well on Facebook: Feature an eye-catching cover photo that explains their business; Include major company events on their timeline; Highlight interesting pages/apps with relevant photos at top of the page.
2. Twitter: Eventbrite (Event Management Software)
   Eventbrite is all about “live experiences,” which is definitely evident when you scroll through their Twitter feed.Things they do well on Twitter: Interact with event attendees and hosts in real-time; Respond to software customer service questions/issues; Share other inspirational event ideas and concepts (not just their own content). continue reading »

Move over SportsCenter!

You can now relive the excitement of Capterra’s 2012 CRM Madness tournament with this news clip.

Congratulations to SugarCRM!

Ayn Rand’s epic philosophical novel, Atlas Shrugged, tells the story of a group of hyper-capitalist individuals who seek to resist an increasingly intrusive federal government.  The book has enjoyed a surge in popularity with the recent economic crisis (and the government’s heavy-handed reaction) and, in fact, a movie version was released on April 15^th of last year.

From what healthcare we have, to how much energy we can consume, how much salt and trans-fat we are allowed to eat, and what types of cigarettes we are allowed to buy, the government is extending its reach into hitherto untouched realms of personal autonomy.

Because of this, many see in Rand’s novel, written in 1957, a prophetic dystopia where an overweening public sector crowds out a struggling but still productive private sector like a malign tumor crowds out and eventually destroys the healthy tissue that supports it.

There are, however, other things to be learned from Atlas Shrugged, and from the philosophy that Ayn Rand built around it called Objectivism.

Namely, business things.

I work in online marketing, and see a lot of parallels between what we recommend for business to business (B2B) software companies who want to optimize their online lead generation and the principles espoused in Rand’s magnum opus.

What follows are five of them.

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My mom makes the best lasagna (just ask my daughter, who has it smeared all over her face).  It’s so simple and delicious that most people wouldn’t want to mess with it, but for some reason she does—all the time. Every time she makes lasagna there’s a new twist. Sometimes it’s a different kind of meat or cheese; sometimes it’s the temperature in the oven. Occasionally, the new and “improved” lasagna is a bust. And by that I mean it’s good but not the best I’ve ever had. And other times, my mom actually manages to improve on what we all thought was perfection.

You’re probably asking yourself at least one of the following questions right now:

1. Where can I get that recipe?
2. Who cares?

I’ll answer #1 via email, if you’re interested. As for #2, here goes…

As a marketer (or home chef), you must always be open to new ideas. Unless every person who comes to your website is converting to a lead, there is room for improvement. The only way to improve is by optimizing your site and the only way to do that is by testing. Small tweaks can make a huge difference, so why not try? If you don’t believe me, check out Anne Holland’s Which Test Won blog for proof that your gut feeling on what looks best is not always best for conversions. The results of those tests boggle my mind, but the data backs up the results! continue reading »

After a month of intense face-offs amongst the 64 contenders in Capterra’s CRM Madness Tournament, it came down to just two remaining customer relationship management (CRM) solutions….

Sugar CRM vs. Pegasystems

Both “teams” had just three days, from April 2-4, to encourage users, friends, employees, and fans to vote for their CRM in order to take home the 2012 championship title.

Having both won their previous 5 matchups and defeating top seeded solutions such as Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics, both CRMs were well poised to win it all. Entering the final round, Pegasystems had a slight edge in voting, gaining a total of 1,106 votes in the first 5 rounds, while SugarCRM had acquired 1,068 so far.

It was a heated battle and well-played on both sides of the court, but ultimately, SugarCRM emerged victorious!

Here’s a closer look at how things shook out…

Championship Game Highlights

• As the championship game tipped off Monday morning, the votes came rolling in and climbed to more than 2000 by the end of the day Wednesday.
• Like Kentucky (the other March Madness winners), SugarCRM stole the show and ran away from the competition with 1352 votes. Pegasystems was the first runner up with 740 votes in the final round.
• Cumulatively, there were nearly 7,000 votes over the course of the competition
• CRM Madness was shared more than 1,500 times on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

While we’re happy to see so many CRM users visit the site and support their software providers, the real goal of CRM Madness was to educate companies on the wide variety of CRM choices available today. In that sense, all 350+ solutions in our CRM Directory are really winners in our eyes!

That said, we want offer a big thanks to SugarCRM for their active participation in the contest and a huge congrats on their victory!  As an open-souce, web-based CRM (with Social CRM capabilities as well!), they’re a great solution to consider no matter the size of your company. Their latest funding announcement shows that they are making big waves in the industry, so SugarCRM is definitely worth keeping an eye on if you’re in the market for new CRM software!