Social Media for B2B Technology Companies - A MarketPlane presentation

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

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Social Media for B2B Technology Companies - A MarketPlane presentation

by Ronnie Ray

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