B2B Buzz: Interview with Hoovers’ VP of Marketing, James Rogers

Marketo had the chance to interview Hoovers’ VP of Marketing, James Rogers, live at Dreamforce 2010. He discussed the importance of data cleansing, data append and the strengthening of data in order for sales and marketing teams to be more effective through the use of reliable data throughout the funnel. While the hot topic for Hoovers at Dreamforce may  have been the data cloud, James Rogers discussed the importance of B2B social media. Read below for a quick summary.

Hoovers’ blog is B2B Buzz, a community of business information experts. Hoovers is making considerable headway to be present in social media, through their blog, their mobile app, and much more. James Rogers explained how businesses need to “lower the walls” and participate in the online community. Because what is learned from that community – through the sharing of ideas and consumption of feedback – not only helps the way the company does business, but can improve the product they sell to the marketplace.

The impact of a corporate blog can be phenomenal. If you take the right steps to attain collaboration, bring in industry expertise and try your best to learn and share best practices, you’re moving the needle forward towards a more mature marketplace. Social media is something everyone can benefit from – better customer relationship, improved product, etc. Social media also exposes the company to other vendors, analysts, not to mention, millions of potential customers, as opposed to just a handful.

To learn more, watch the video below.