Case Study: The Power of Social Media and Cisco myPlanNet

Cisco myPlanNet 1.0 The Power of Social Media and Word of Mouth: Behind the Numbers

The Concept
Create an educational and engaging tool to encourage learning and/or a walk down memory lane
Let people walk in the shoes of a telecom company leader making research, technology and business decisions
Translate the speeds and feeds directly to value for Jane Doe, MomAndPop and WorldWideMegaCoporation
Set stage for what’s next
Become a CEO. Change the World. http://www.cisco.com/go/myplannet

Foreword
The goal of these next few slides is to show the results of our Cisco myPlanNet go-to-market strategy and highlight how social media and WOM continue to play an important role in spreading the word
This presentation not only looks at social media by the numbers but also considers its impacts beyond number of fans, downloads and page hits
It might be helpful to view some sample slides from the go-to-market plan and learn about the development of Cisco myPlanNet before reading this presentation. Both presentations are available at http://www.slideshare.net/petra1400

The Hypothesis
Social media and WOM have the power to fuel growth and become significant contributors to the success of a campaign
WOM = Word of Mouth

The Questions
How does social media fit into the overall go-to-market strategy?
How is social media driving the success of Cisco myPlanNet?
What were our biggest challenges?
What are the key takeaways?

A Quick Review: Connecting Traditional and Social Media
Primary objectives: drive awareness, drive downloads
Traditional and social media hand in hand
Integrate between traditional and social media and within social media
Messaging
Tie main message theme to social media messaging
Adjust main message to fit social media channel and create channel –specific content as appropriate
Channel Use
Leverage main creative and assets in social media
Point social media postings back to game landing page
Start bookmarking and share press/blog mentions
Cross link , cross link, cross link
Phase 1 (~6 weeks) Phase 2 (6+ weeks)
Primary objectives: keep top of mind, encourage engagement, new downloads
Traditional media to
Focus on long-term program/event insertions and support social media as needed
Seek out social media opportunities in programs/events
Social media to drive this phase
Keep content fresh to give a reason to return
Create activities to encourage participation
Experiment, Listen, Monitor, Assess and Choose Action
Educate
Share myPlanNet development and marketing experience with others
Take advantage of one channel for communication in another, synchronize communication channels , cross link

A Quick Recap on What We Did Inform Act Participate Read Watch Listen Socialize *Home Page, Game Arcade, Green IT Page, Discussion Forum, Facebook Shoutout *Executive Briefing Center *Data Center of the Future *Broadband Stimulus, University Relations, Sales, Partner, Launch integration *myPlanNet Game Support Page. Game also available from Cisco Mobility and Collaboration Communities *Functionality on web site Web, Widget Integration Banners Shows and Events (Demos, URL Cards, Signage) Newsletters Biz Card-sized URL Card Cross Links Direct Email Welcome Ad Content Synd DCoF* Virtual Booth Facebook Fan Page, Ad Cisco, Event and Third Party Blogs Twitter, Slideshare , StumbleUpon, YouTube , FB myCiscoCommunity JIVE Platform Integration Program Integration Bookmark and Share Cisco Learning Network* Sales “Pass Along” Assets Digital Signage EBC* Customer Courtesy Laptops Forrester Podcast Videos Public kick-off at ITU Geneva in Oct 2009: game demo, URL cards, blogs, tweets

Spreading the Word on the Internet How is myPlanNet content distributed online?
Cisco driven: Cisco myPlanNet team uses social media to communicate about content
Crowd driven: Everyone else uses social media, WOM to pass on Cisco myPlanNet link and content

Spreading the Word on the Internet (cont’d)
Engineered (i.e. Seeded): Cisco myPlanNet team creates content
Will need to use to get started
Have some seeded content in case you hit a plateau and want to move forward the conversation
Organic (i.e. Crowd driven): Everyone else creates content
People will respond to, share your content, and even add their own opinion if they find it interesting
Let users freely share and comment
Engage with them to learn more
What kind of content is distributed online? Bottom line: hope for and encourage organic content growth but be ready to jump in if needed and know when to pull back and let things unfold naturally We know what’s working and what’s not because we keep monitoring our key social media channels

Communication Budget by Media Type* Cisco Owned Paid Earned and Social Media *Excludes asset development costs **Includes demo and related costs $0 Approx. $30,000** Approx. $100 per day for Facebook ad Bottom line: in our case, $30,000 in new media ads would give us coverage for a longer period of time than the same amount in traditional media BUT, Is our new media investment worth the effort and money?

The Results by the Numbers Traditional methods and social media hand in hand Social media, web 2.0 and WOM First press mention Podcast with analyst *Only includes downloads from Cisco.com link, Excludes downloads from 3 rd party sites

What Do These Numbers Mean for Social Media?
Traditional outreach programs* helped kick things off
Social media and WOM needed a little more time to pick up, BUT
When they did, we started seeing tremendous organic growth in terms of new players, fans, page hits, game downloads and score uploads
Note excerpt from foreign language Facebook fan page *E.g., web postings, newsletter insertions, content syndication, banners

The Results Beyond the Numbers
Showing a different side of Cisco
Connecting with customers and partners in an innovative and fun way
Creating a different type of engagement opportunity with the Cisco influencer community
Press attention without PR outreach
Several press and blog mentions: Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, BroadbandBreakfast.com, Network World, etc
1 press article appeared in multiple publications, thus helping further spread the word

The Results Beyond the Numbers (cont’d)
Third-party informal endorsement and/or promotion
1 person creating a blog, article or post resulting in many others finding out about Cisco myPlanNet
Friends forwarding the game is a better testimonial than if it was coming from Cisco
Broader and deeper global connection in a short amount of time
Ability to reach a wider audience within a short period of time
People creating blogs and reposting Cisco myPlanNet link with own commentaries in local languages have helped broaden and deepen reach into areas otherwise not covered by traditional outreach programs

Putting It Together: The Life of a Game Taking on a Life of Its Own Thanks to the Power of the Crowd Cisco announces Cisco myPlanNet Facebook fan page attracts new fans daily Press articles Blogs Discussions Then Cisco myPlanNet takes on a life of its own Tweets Circulation in languages other than English Reposting by 3 rd parties on own download sites The power of the crowd

Example: The Power of the Crowd in Action Promoting Game through Marketing of Game Corporate blog on Cisco myPlanNet Social Media Award (not seeded by Cisco myPlanNet Team) 90 people re-tweet corporate blog 66 comments generated on corporate blog The power of the crowd

Example: The Power of a Tweet Promoting Game through Marketing of Game Cisco employee tweets about award from her personal account (1,000+ followers) Cisco employee ‘s follower re-tweets announcement (7,000+ followers) Cisco employee ‘s follower ‘s re-tweet reaches Cisco’s CTO, Padmasree Warrior who re-tweets announcement (1.4+ million followers). 4 others re-tweet announcement Cisco employee sends “Thank You” note to 5 people who have re-tweeted her original announcement

What Were Our Biggest GTM Challenges?
This program was a side project and considered an experiment in social media versus a key initiative, therefore, we had extremely limited resources and Cisco’s high-profile and/or corporate-level web 2.0 channels were not available to us
Our tip: get creative and make your campaign integrated at every point to increase your chances of getting noticed. Once things take off and you can show the results, you may want to start up your conversations again with owners of high-profile and/or corporate-level channels
We are a very, very small (but dedicated) team
Our tip: experiment and once you learn what’s working, keep your efforts focused on what’s helping most. Have an agreement early on on how to handle opinions, when to address them, how and when to let them go (this will also help you stay focused). Prioritize your initiatives

What Were Our Biggest GTM Challenges (cont’d)?
Qualitative (blog) monitoring and listening done manually
Our tip: use automatic monitoring and listening tools and make sure they’re in your budget from the beginning. Doing so manually will take a lot of time and effort and will be harder to stay on top of
Very early on, we were unclear about how people were going to use the Facebook fan page and JIVE platform - and if they were going to use them - so we experimented. After a few weeks, we got some answers…
Our tip: experiment and put users in the driver seat. Watch what they are doing and what they are responding to and how. Use these findings to adjust your plan. Continue to experiment

What Are the Key Takeaways?
Integrate
BETWEEN traditional media, if any, and social media AND WITHIN social media
Example: cross links between platforms (e.g, your blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc), “one voice” everywhere to help cut through clutter
Experiment, listen, engage, monitor, assess, act
Watch people’s reaction to your engineered content
If something doesn’t catch on, move on
If it is working, ride the wave
Talk TO and WITH people (not AT them)
Example: Facebook ad and mini games on fan page have been successful

What Are the Key Takeaways? (cont’d)
Don’t take things personally
Social media is about opinions – favorable and not so favorable
Decide upfront how you want to handle good and not so good opinions
Example: we linked some good comments/articles to our blog, chose to stay away from commenting on negative comments (but monitored them) and addressed some common questions (e.g., Mac?) on the Game Support page, Facebook and in presentations
Be familiar with your limitations early on
Know the technical, business and legal limits and requirements of the tool you want to market before you start marketing it
Know the technical, business and legal limits and requirements of the platform you are looking to use
The sooner you know these limitations, the sooner and more effectively you can redirect your marketing campaign
Example: we would have loved to do a big contest for this game but this was not possible for us

What Are the Key Takeaways? (cont’d)
Be committed
It’s easier to get into social media than to keep it going. Have a plan to keep the momentum going
Monitor your progress and have (engineered) content ready to go should it be needed - but don’t force your content on users, especially at the expense of organic content
If your campaign includes social media only for a certain period, set an exit strategy in the planning phase
Example: 7 months after introduction, the Cisco myPlanNet team continues to keep the momentum going on Facebook, blogs, social bookmarking, SlideShare, etc.
Be patient
Social media and WOM are not going to happen overnight
Example: see “The Results by the Numbers” slide

Closing Words
We believe that these slides have proven our hypothesis: social media and WOM do have the power to fuel growth and become key contributors to the success of a campaign
What’s next for Cisco myPlanNet? Phase 3. This next phase is about deepening the conversations via social media and spreading the word by highlighting the marketing engine
Created by Petra Neiger April 2010 www.linkedin.com/in/petra1400 www.slideshare.net/petra1400 www.twitter.com/petra1400

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Case Study: The Power of Social Media and Cisco myPlanNet

by Petra Neiger on Apr 28, 2010

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Case Study: The Power of Social Media and Cisco myPlanNet — Presentation Transcript