Social Media: B2C to B2B

Social Media… … the ordering, buying, reviewing, selling, customer retention, brand-building, buzz-generating tool so you can make money in the new century medium Are you paying attention?

What is social media?
Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings.
Wikipedia

What social media is not
Social networking
Social networking has always existed
Exchange of ideas between two or more people
E-commerce
Limited to online or mobile monetary transaction between parties
Can be a function, component or result of social media

What is social media…to business?
The use of Internet- and mobile-based tools to engage customers, collect consumer data, share information and generate awareness.

Is social media relevant?
Facebook.com- Social Network Site 150 Million Active Users Fastest growing Demo 30+
Flickr.com-Photo Sharing App hosts more than two billion tagged images
Twitter.com- micro-blogging site 5,979,053 people answering the question “What are you doing now?” in 140 characters!
Wikipedia.com- Information Sharing Source 684 Million visitors/ 75K active contributors
Youtube.com- Video Sharing 5 billion online US videos 44% share of all online videos
Digg.com-Social News site #3 referring source of traffic to NY Times. 30K visitors/ month

Is social media relevant?
A.C. Nielsen created multi-million dollar company focused entirely on measuring social media
Founded in late ‘90s, PlanetFeedback was a website that attracted consumer opinions of products and services; earned revenue from advertising
Purchased by Intelliseek in 2004
Purchased by A.C. Nielsen in 2006 and combined with R&D company to become Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Focused entirely on online brand monitoring
Legitimizes and measures consumer response in a virtual world

Types of social media
Weblogs/Blogs—Blog.Wired.com, Okeeffepr, TwoBitsAndAByte
Microblogs—Twitter
News dissemination (Social Media Release)—PitchEngine.com, Google News, Twitter
E-Newsletters
E-mail
Social media networking sites—Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Groups
Aggregators—FeedBurner, FriendFeed
Wikis—Topic-specific Wikipedia pages
Online photo/video sharing galleries—YouTube, Flickr
Podcasts
Text messaging
Internet forums
Event forums—Meetup.com
Custom Applications—Twit2Win

Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths
Real time
Generates direct consumer demand
Rapidly increasing usage
Increases search engine rankings
Accessible
Easy-to-use
Cost-effective
Organic
Strong…and growing…user base
Weaknesses
Difficult to measure
Time Consuming
Still evolving

Social media for B2C
Cincinnati Sports Leagues (CSL) (gocsl.com)
Objectives
Promote CSL activities
Attract interest from advertisers
Social Media Components
Facebook page—426 friends, Brian updates and monitors, posts events
Twitter profile—attract followers
Soapbox.com—blogged daily 1 week to promote CSL to older/business audience
Results
Increased brand awareness
Frequent customer interaction
Personalization—strong friend base

Social media for B2C
Identifying the most useful tools to actively engage and measure your customer base
Striking a balance between ‘in property ‘tactics and ‘out of property’ tactics
Building value with ‘in and out’ of property SM tools!
Integrating SM into the operations of your business. Avoiding apathetic use!
Identifying what metrics you use to determine success/ failure of SM tool/ campaign

Social media for B2B
General Data Company (general-data.com)
Objectives
Promote products to targeted healthcare prospects
Build awareness as experts on healthcare data capture/workflow
Healthcare blog
Promote via FeedBurner, RSS feed, etc.
“ Live blogging”—Client interviews industry authorities at conferences; streams/posts interviews via GD’s blog
Social media releases—all GD news
YouTube Station—post video demos, etc.
Soapbox.com—blogged daily 1 week to generate Greater Cincinnati awareness
Results
Increased awareness
Recognized as industry authority by prospects
Increased search engine rankings
Network TV Coverage—Personal ID Patient Wristbands featured on CBS’ The Doctors

Social media for B2B
Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. (millerwelds.com)
Objectives
Preferred resource on all things welding
Increased Web traffic
Website—content rich and SEO optimized
Minisites—devoted to specific welding apps and interests (e.g., motorsports)
E-Newsletters
RSS Feeds
Blog—prominence on home page
Results
Go-to site for welding information
Website provides rich, relevant, fun experience
Drives e-commerce purchases

How not to use social media
Motrin (Johnson & Johnson) (motrin.com)
Objective
Sell Motrin
Irreverent video designed to appeal to young mothers suffering from back pain associated with baby slings/carries
Posted ad to YouTube and Motrin.com
Results
Small # of “mommy bloggers” were offended; posted scathing remarks on Twitter
Motrin apologized and pulled ad immediately
Motrin pulled entire campaign
Motrin wasted all money spent on campaign
Later Findings
Motrin heard from same mommy bloggers that they were disappointed video was pulled
Mommies wanted their concerns addressed, not dismissed
Motrin failed to engage and befriend bloggers; lost potential customers

Why does social media matter?
It’s the way people of all ages and demographics are communicating
Studies show consumers research products online before buying
True for B2C and B2B
Why wouldn’t you build your online relationship with them…NOW?
Website
Blog
Social networking profile
Wiki
Podcast
E-newsletter…
Its usage is growing rapidly
Vital part of marketing mix
Engages customers like no other medium
Natural evolution of marketing and PR
Traditional advertising isn’t working; declining usage/revenues

Questions?

Blog Example
Blog
Online mechanism for sharing information
More personal and dynamic than typical website
Can be separate from or component of corp website
Typically ties into overall marketing/PR strategy
Can allow comments from visitors; can monitor comments
Easy to create using free, downloadable blog software
Best used for sharing information of interest to or that specifically benefits targeted users
Serves as home page for many business websites

Microblog Example
Twitter
Leading microblog
Limit of 140 characters per entry
Allows people to follow each other in real time from any location with Web/mobile access
Simple to use
Nearly 6 million users worldwide
Increasing usage among businesses, individuals, politicians and PR pros as news dissemination device
Growing number of reporters take story pitches from Twitter ONLY

Social Media Release Example
Social Media Release
Online news dissemination device
Immediate delivery to numerous social and business networks
Large and growing mainstream/trade media subscriber list
Often preferred means of receiving story ideas/pitches
Rapidly growing user base
Easy to use
Typically free of charge

Social Media Networking Site Example

Social Media Aggregator Example
Social Media Aggregator
Online tool
Enables users to publicize and “push” their content feeds (blogs, websites, podcasts, e-newsletters, etc. to numerous online audiences at once

Podcast Example
Podcast
Free video or audio series downloaded to and playable on iPods, computers, TVs, mobile phones, or similar mobile media devices
Enable users to view or listen to preferred content almost anywhere at anytime

Event Forum Example
Event Forum
Set up custom events online
Choose whom to invite
Allow others to join
Specific to topic, location, etc.

Custom SM Application Example
Social Media Application
Custom sweepstakes application driven by Twitter
Launched Jan 14, 2009
640 followers by Feb 4
Objective
Cascade: Gain Twitter followers to drive traffic to blog and then to website
Current Campaign
Freedom Center Family Membership
Launched Feb 3
30 followers in first 3 days
Campaign ends Feb 10

Social Media: B2C to B2B

by guest25ed5c on Feb 27, 2009

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Social Media: B2C to B2B — Presentation Transcript