(http://theb2bpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Erika_Heald_1.jpg)Erika Heald (@sferika (https://twitter.com/sferika)) is Head of Social Media and Content Marketing for Anaplan (https://www.anaplan.com/?utm_source=b2bpodcast&utm_medium=erikaheald&utm_campaign=triblio), a SaaS modeling and planning platform for sales, operations, HR, and finance. Anaplan just last week hosted the Hub conference which featured 27 industry leaders and more than 40 educational sessions delivered by actual Anaplan users. The company is on fire and clocked 230% bookings growth in 2014 with even more growth expected ahead.

(http://theb2bpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Anaplan-Logo-300x147.png)

 

Prior to heading up content at Anaplan, Erika spent the past 15 years helping startups and Fortune 500 organizations like Charles Schwab and United Health Group define content processes to drive lead generation and customer loyalty by leveraging compelling, shareable, targeted content. Erika has seen a lot of changes in content marketing but the biggest difference she notes is the formalization of the "content marketing" industry.

In this conversation we talk about content curation best practices, how content can help companies grow and Erika shares the biggest mistakes that B2B companies are making with their content marketing and lots more. Press play and get ready for a heaping serving of valuable B2B content marketing nuggets :

What are best practices for doing B2B content curation?
Companies should use tools to make their content curation work smarter. Instead of doing content curation ad hoc learn how to leverage tools like Zapier (http://www.triblio.com/zapier/?utm_source=b2bpodcast&utm_medium=erikaheald&utm_campaign=b2bpodcast) of IFTT to become more efficient and effective with content curation. One recipe/zap that Erika uses automatically puts tweet favorites onto a spreadsheet that she can go back and repurpose and reuse. Below is Erika's presentation from last year's Content Marketing World conference. The deck covers a practical approach for creating a content curation road map, to streamline your curation process.

Building Your Content Curation Road Map: 5 Steps to a More Efficient Content Curation Process (//www.slideshare.net/Erika_Heald/building-your-content-curation-road-map-5-steps-to-a-more-efficient-content-curation-process-38913547) from Erika Heald (//www.slideshare.net/Erika_Heald)

 
What was the most innovative content idea that you executed this past year?
To drum up buzz for Anaplan's Dreamforce appearance they did a Buzzfeed article titled "21 Problems Only Dreamforce Attendees Will Understand (http://www.buzzfeed.com/anaplan/21-problems-only-dreamforce-attendees-will-underst-10lqd)" which turned out to be a great success and was even tweeted by Tony Robbins.

LOL 21 Problems Only Dreamforce Attendees Will Understand http://t.co/1TSotH6TRk (http://t.co/1TSotH6TRk) Yes, I'm the Keynote speaker opening day Monday Oct 13th.
— Tony Robbins (@TonyRobbins) October 7, 2014 (https://twitter.com/TonyRobbins/status/519598476703698944)

They also found that during the holiday season it's a great time to socially interact with your audience something that many B2B organizations weren't doing at the time.

 
What are the biggest content marketing mistakes that you've seen B2B companies make?
One of the biggest and most frequently made mistakes that Erika see is when brands try to newsjack a hashtag or jump on a trend that's not relevant to their brand. Sometimes it can be cute but it's more likely to backfire.

[Tweet ""Too many marketers get caught up in the zeitgeist of chasing after a hashtag without it being relevant." - @sferika"]

Do not use holidays like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, 9/11 and others to further your marketing goals. There are ways to talk about these holidays and Erika covers an example of how she did it when working at Charles Schwab.