Guide to B2B Marketing Resources for 7 Paid Platforms

Digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving – and as it does, more and more platforms are becoming part of the marketing mix.

However, the problem then becomes where to find relevant, updated, and fresh sources of ideas, news, and solutions for beginner or advanced issues. Another layer of complication is that you will most likely have to go to different sources to find it.

To help our fellow B2B marketers in their paid efforts, we compiled a thorough list of resources and guides for seven paid platforms. These will be able to rescue and guide you when needed, as they have helped us stay informed of changes, updates, and even some cool marketing tricks.

Google AdWords and Bing Ads

Let’s begin with Google AdWords. When you’re running ad campaigns, it’s crucial to know (as far in advance or as immediate as possible) when something is changing as it can affect your day-to-day work and impact results. That’s why a subscription to Google AdWords official blog and/or its blog for agencies are the first must-have references.

Google launched its Academy for Ads back in 2016 and it covers Google AdWords, programmatic, DoubleClick and much more. According to Google, only 50 percent of marketers say they’re confident in their knowledge of digital advertising, hence this portal can help you brush up on different paid strategies or learn where to start from scratch. There’s something for everyone – even seasoned marketers, and courses/trainings categorized by difficulty level or categories.

On the other hand, Bing Ads also has a great resource section with tons of guides as well as an insights page with industry trends and success stories. One of my favorite materials is the top differences between Google AdWords and Bing Ads, which is highly useful for beginners or to explain to clients the unique elements of each search engine.

For day-to-day changes to the platforms, check out Ginny Marvin, who provides updates via Search Engine Land articles and Barry Schwartz from Rusty Brick, Search Engine Roundtable, and Search Engine Land.

Another great resource is PPC Hero, which covers so much more than just AdWords and Bing. It’s updated and relevant on a variety of PPC issues and challenges. It has up-to-date information on beginner topics, as well as exploration of more advanced themes. 

Facebook Ads

Facebook keeps leading the social scene (yes, this includes B2B companies); in order to receive updated information about changes in the platform or updates, we recommend checking out Jon Loomer and Susan Wenograd’s blogs.  They’re well-respected in the field and are frequent contributors at influential marketing publications, as well as conference speakers.

Another great resource is Facebook Business News, which is frequently refreshed with new insights, stats, and events. 

LinkedIn Ads

Marketers tend to complain about LinkedIn Advertising saying it is not user-friendly. But they have been working on making their help pages easier to digest. To start, check out our post that covers many of LinkedIn Essential Resources and Guides. It offers a solid base of resources to understand how the platform works and how it can be best leveraged for B2B marketing initiatives.

Also highly recommended is following AJ Wilcox from B2Linked on Twitter for LinkedIn updates and trends.

Twitter Ads

Finding a resource that was purely focus on Twitter was a tough task, nevertheless the platform has a subdomain that focuses on all marketing-related news, solutions, and success stories.

There’s also a section for resources and guides where you will be able to find Twitter’s best practices and there’s even a section for marketing agencies.

In terms of third-party resources, Hootsuite created a complete guide for businesses that covers basic questions, such as why you should advertise on Twitter and the relationship between ad types and goals, and how to set up a basic campaign.

BigCommerce also has an eCommerce Guide (2018 updated) that goes in-depth into Twitter shopping funnels by industry and best practices.

Quora Ads

Quora advertising is still very new; the platform came out of the beta during mid-2017. But considering the great performance advertisers are seeing as a result of targeting high-intent users, it is easy to understand why more advertisers are adding Quora Ads to their marketing mix.

To begin, start with Quora’s help pages, which are regularly updated and very easy to follow. Another great resource is the Pros and Cons of Quora Advertising from Zato Marketing, as well as this Step-by-Step Guide for Creating Quora Ads from AdStage.

Since Quora is so new, it’s essential for advertisers to keep up with the latest enhancements to the platform. For example, it is worth mentioning that there are two new targeting options available, which were not available when the above mentioned guides were created. The first is interest targeting, which targets users on any page of Quora based on their recent behavior on the platform. The second is question targeting, which allows you to target specific questions on the platform and deliver a marketing messaging that is highly targeted.

Reddit Ads

Reddit has grown a lot and many advertisers still don’t realize the potential of this site. It’s one of the top 10 most visited sites in the U.S. and, according to Reddit, the website received 274 million unique visitors in January 2017, most of them from the United States and under the age of 35 years.

For starters, Neil Patel created a start-to-finish guide with tons of examples and account creation step-by-step. Hanapin Marketing also created a very helpful beginner’s guide for Reddit Advertising.

After launching your campaigns, I highly recommend checking the Reddit Ads Subreddit where you will be able to find updates and new information. 

Other great resources & hidden gems

On social media, many PPC professionals ask questions or participate in different online communities. This post from Social Media Today showcases some of the best Twitter chats for online advertising; I found #PPCChat to be the best, but they are all valuable.

Another underutilized resource is the different account teams that each platform offers; the account or agency’s representatives can always offer a hand when needed. We definitely enjoy working with them and finding new creative ways to achieve our clients’ goals.

Here at KoMarketing, we write blog posts related to all areas of B2B digital marketing, as well as cover the latest studies and research in our industry-specific news.

Finally, you might be thinking, how am I going to keep up with all these awesome sites and resources!? If that’s the case, I love Digg Reader because it is free and easy to use, but some colleagues prefer Feedly, which is very intuitive. Other options include Newsblur, Netvibes or Flipboard.

Final Thoughts

With a rapidly evolving industry, the only way to stay up-to-date is to be able to find valuable and trustworthy resources that can be quickly accessible. If you have other resources that I didn’t cover, please share them below or get in touch with me on Twitter.