Webinar: Social Media for B2B Technology
Companies
Contact Us:
Ronnie Ray
Alison O’Brien
info@marketplane.net
MarketPlane Consulting Inc.
@Marketplane on Twitter
www.marketplane.net/blog
Marketing Professionals in IT Management Group on
LinkedIn http://bit.ly/wtKij

The Social Media Phenomenon
LinkedIn Ning
- Doubled its size in the past year -One million social networks
-15.8 million people in the US - YoY traffic up 283 percent
- 3rd in total size - 5.6 million people in the US
Forrester definition of Groundswell
“A social trend in which people use
technologies to get the things they
need from each other, rather than
Bebo
Twitter traditional institutions like
- YoY traffic up 148 percent
corporations”
-YoY traffic is 2,565 percent
- Strong in Europe
-13 million people in the US
- 6.1 million people in the US
The transition from “shouting” to
“participation and conversation” is a
fundamental change in Marketing
MySpace Facebook
-March 2009 55.9 million visitors -March 2009 69.1 million visitors
-2nd in total size -- 1st in total size

Changing The Way We Communicate
Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y
(1964 or earlier) (1965 – 1979) (1980 or later)
All generations agree - the line between professional and personal life is blurring
• 7 hours a day on a PC • 7.8 hours a day on a PC • 8.5 hours a day on a PC
• 1.1 hours a day on an • 1.7 hours a day on an • 4 hours a day on an iPhone
iPhone or Blackberry iPhone or Blackberry or Blackberry
• Receive 69 emails a day • Receive 63 emails a day • Receive 40 emails a day
• 24% befriend clients on • 44% befriend clients on • 47% befriend clients on
social networking sites social networking sites social networking sites
• 28% are likely to blog about • 42% are likely to blog about • 43% are likely to blog about
work work work
• 14% access social • 39% access social • 62% access social
networking sites from work networking sites from work networking sites from work
Lexis Nexis Technology Gap Survey April 09

The Social Technographics™ of B2B Buyers
Groups include people participating in at least one of the activities monthly.
Source : Forrester Research Presentation B2B Social Media, Feb 2009

B2B Marketing with Social Media
What is your current approach to social media strategy?
Base: 50 Webinar attendees, responding to a pre-Webinar survey
Source : Forrester Research Presentation B2B Social Media, Feb 2009

An Array of B2B Social Media Tools
• Blogs
– Corporate, Individual, Public (Ulitzer)
• Wikis
– Product/Solution Enabling
• Social Networks
– Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace
• Microblogging
– Twitter, FriendFeed
• Forums/Groups
– Google Groups, open knowledge sharing
• Online Video
– YouTube, blip.tv, Vimeo
• File Sharing / Podcasting
– Scribd, Slideshare
• User Community
– Private knowledge sharing
• Bookmarking
– Digg, Delicious, Reddit
• WOM (Word of Mouth)

Align Social Tools with Objectives
Social Media Tools Impact on Social Media Objectives
Thought Leadership Brand Awareness Demand Generation Customer Loyalty
Blogs High High Medium Low
Microblogs (Twitter, FF) Medium Medium High High
Social Network Low High Medium Low
Presence
Forums / Groups Medium Medium High Low
Online Video Medium Medium Medium Low
File Sharing / Podcasts High Medium Medium Low
Wikis Medium Low Low High
User Community Low Low Medium High

Success Stories: Blogging
SUN
• CEO blogs regularly
• Provides employees with
a free blogging platform and basic guid
elines for blogging
• Over 3,000 sun employees blog about
projects they are working on
Benefits
• Increased thought leadership
in the blogosphere

Success Stories: Blogging
NetQoS
• Provides commentary and
practical problem solving
• Oversight by CTO and CEO
• Linked to by the Washington Post,
Network World, PC World,
ComputerWorld, and LinuxToday
• Has been on the front page of
Digg.com and
Programming.reddit.com
• Listed on Slashdot six times since
the blog's inception.
Benefits
• Increased thought leadership
in the blogosphere

Success Stories: Microblogging
BreakingPoint Systems
Company “tweets” included:
• Used TweetScan to track
relevant key terms and respond
to them
• Re-tweeted relevant information
• Notices of new blog posts,
webinars
• Fun entries (e.g., trivia
questions, quizzes)
• Informal focus group questions
Benefits
• Thought leadership
• Brand awareness
• Demand generation

Success Stories: Online Video
SolarWinds
• Very popular NetFlow
video (16,680 views)
• 48 videos on YouTube
– Tutorials
– Customer chat
– Product demos
– Tradeshows
– Fun
– Technology focused
Benefits
• Demand generation
• Thought leadership

Success Stories: Social Networks
Spiceworks
• 520+ fan Facebook
community enables them to
connect with users – where
their users go on the web
• Supplements a community
portal on their website
• Content includes
– Announcements
– Events
– News
– Sneak Peaks
Benefits
• Customer loyalty
• Demand generation

Success Story: Product Launch
Project: Launch an open source cloud initiative and monitoring tool set
Marketing objectives: MarketPlane’s Results
1. Thought leadership Thought Leadership
- Prelaunch discussions and briefings led to
 Strong buzz from influential impactful posts by bloggers, solid coverage
bloggers, analysts and press by industry analysts, and press coverage
- WP was positively referenced in several
 Open source cloud monitoring
blog posts. WP hosted on Scribd had 678
WP (file sharing) reads
Brand Awareness
2. Brand awareness
-Vendor’s cloud initiative captured 5 of the top
 Google page rank on key cloud 20 targeted keyword spots and a #4 ranking
on Google.
terms
-Toolset had 250+ downloads during the
 tool set downloads launch
- Overall, vendor had a 18% increase in page
 Increase in web traffic views; 14% increase in new traffic during the
launch

Many Benefits of Social Media
Build Reach Drive Revenue Cement Leadership
• Improved search • New sales leads • Feedback from real
engine presence people
• Higher rate of
• Broader awareness at • Stay ahead of
conversions
lower cost competitors
• Faster progression
• Pinpointed influencer • Community driven
through the buying
targeting cycle support
• Energized customers • Repeat business • New idea
become powerful from existing generation
evangelists customers • Validate product
roadmap
Social media enables all of the above at lower costs than traditional means

Building a Social Media Strategy:
Points to Consider
• Social Media is not about the tools; its about your audience
and the relationship you establish with them
• Your objectives should decide what tools to use; not the other
way around
• Your goals should measure delivery against your objectives
• The best measure of social activity is the level of audience
participation
• Social conversations about your brand will happen with or
without you

Building a Social Media Strategy:
Phased Approach
Faster
Market
Sales go product
share
UP! cycle
$
Product feedback PRODUCT MGMT
Generate Qualified Leads Gain Competitive Edge
mechanism ENGINEERING
SALES
$ Support
More costs
Prospects drop
Build Web traffic Improve/Manage Brand Build customer loyalty
CUSTOMER
SALES
SUPPORT
MARKETING
Thought Leadership Community Building
Brand Awareness Track Your Brand Competitive Research
SALES
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
MARKETING
YOUR ORGANIZATION

Campaign Example: Brand Monitoring
Social Media Social Audience Social Media Tools Goals
Objective
# of incidents tracked
Brand Monitoring # of active interventions
Qualitative insights
Competitive Activity Keyword based Google # of incidents tracked
Alerts, Twitter Search Qualitative insights
Customers RSS of customer blogs, # of active interventions
Twitter search, Social # of comments on interventions
aggregation sites
Influencers Blogs and Twitter # of active interventions
# mentions based on interventions
Prospects Professional groups on # of active interventions
Linkedin, Google etc.. # of comments on interventions
Qualitative insights
Media Blogs and articles # of incidents tracked
# of active interventions

Campaign Example: Demand Generation
Social Media Social Audience Social Media Tools Program Goals
Objective
# of incremental leads
Demand Generation
Professional groups on Forums/ Group Active # of discussions, comments
Linkedin, Google, Ning Participation and # web traffic from social site
..etc Incorporation
Direct to Prospects Twitter # of followers, tweets, retweets
# web traffic
10 top Bloggers and Blog commenting and # of responses
Analysts link backs # web traffic
Direct to Prospects Corporate blog Page rank improvement
(assuming SEO is constant)
# of comments, blog traffic
Direct to Prospects Online Video / Podcasts # of views/downloads
/ Filesharing # shared

Social Media Takes Time, Effort and
Domain Expertise
Activity Description Time / Month
Comprehensive Brand Monitoring Monitoring, reading, analyzing 80 hours per month
across all social media channels
Blog writing 8-10 blogs / month 30-40 hours per month
Twitter, Friend Feed New tweets and responses 20-40 hrs per month
uncovered by monitoring
Social Group Participation Reading and responding to topical 10-20 hrs per month
discussions
Top Influencer Targeting Reading and responding to topical 10-20 hours per month
discussions
TOTAL 200 hrs per month
Note: This does not include activity like reading blogs and articles for informational purposes
that is now integral part of all our jobs

Social Media Best Practices
1. Useful content, not sales pitch
2. Comment first. Become a genuine and active member
3. Keep it brief and simple
4. Provide your opinion, not just facts
5. Be honest and open
6. Link to other social content, don’t speak in a vacuum
7. Be consistent and responsive
8. Prepare to let go of control
9. Make social media part of your signature
10. Provide / solicit executive support for social media

What Can MarketPlane Do For You?
 Brand monitoring
 Blog authoring
 Twitter community development
 Social group monitoring
 Social media and CRM integration
 Wiki platform evaluation and program management
 Community platform evaluation and program management
 Marketing automation platform management

Questions?

Thank you for attending!