B2B & Social Media

Social Media & Business to Business Marketing Presented by: Sandor Kiss April 14, 2009 TeamThink Inc. [email_address] (E) www.teamthink.ca (W) 403.809.3488 (M)

I hope I can trigger one idea that helps you get better results using social media.
Overview of Social Media
Examining the Social Media Toolbox
Blogs
LinkedIn
Twitter
Case Study
Closing Thoughts

Social Media Overview What is it Really? Using the Web the way it was meant to be used.

Social media is characterized by user/ customer centric principles.
Make it easy for users to interact.
Limit the information requirements to begin the relationship.
Give away for free, or a whole lot less (Hulu, Epinions).

Democracy reigns.
Amateurs can beat the pros.
Wikipedia
Anyone can create content.
Blogs
The audience decides what matters.
Digg
Cambrian House

Once you remove constraints NETWORKS form …

… in fact crazy amount of NETWORKS.

Low cost technology accelerates the formation of networks.
Go to Vivalogo.com and you can see a list of the top 40 Free downloadable social networking software
No developers on your team – try Small World Labs.
$30,000 will get you a social networking site.

The social media equation = Community.
User Centered Principles
+
Democratic Underpinnings
+
Networks
+
Enabling Technology
=
Community

The web used to be “restrictive”. Enabling Technology User Centered Principles Democratic Underpinnings Social Networks Skill Required Barriers Censorship/Editing Not Pervasive

Anyone can now create an online presence that forms into a true community. Enabling Technology User Centered Principles Democratic Underpinnings Social Networks Less Skill Required Must Have The Crowd is In Control Pervasive

Social media cannot be ignored by marketers.
“ Nearly 3 out of 4 adults currently participate
on the social web compared to 57% in 2007.”

Social media should not be confused with social networks.
Social media relies on information created by people using popular, low cost technologies
Often referred to as user generated content (UGC)
Popular tools include:
Wiki’s
Podcasts
Blogs
Video & photo sharing
Tag Sharing
Social networks

Today’s Social Media Toolkit Discussion
Blogs
LinkedIn
Twitter

“The blog is the Swiss Army knife of social media.”
Demonstrate thought leadership using text, video, audio, images, presentations
Blogs can be the focal point of your marketing activity
Twitter Email RSS Facebook LinkedIn Blog

If you think blogs are passé think again. They are not even mainstream.
Hurdles
Conservatism
Companies cutting costs
Unsure how to measure ROI

Blogs may not seem that sexy– but they carry a lot of weight.
Credible among business and IT professionals
Can improve natural search results
Generate insights for corporations
Creates communities of interest – buyers more willing to listen to peers than sales reps
Shortens sales cycles & generates leads
57% of business and IT professionals rated blogs equally or more credible that vendor white papers, news outlets, industry associations and analyst reports. 32% of 273 decision makers said that blogs were 1 of 3 top resources to support decisions.

Best Practices: Creating a “Reader Centric” experience.
Demonstrate thought leadership & offer relevant content
Create a sustained conversation
Blogs should not read like white papers, press releases or resemble a sales pitch
Add search capability to your blog
Include an email sign up
Provide easy access to contact information

Case Study: Network Appliance
Industry: Data Storage
Competition: HP, EMC
Challenge: Seeking non-traditional methods for PR
Solution :
C-Level Blog
Sought strong communicator & respected technologist (EVP)
Visitors could not publish to blog but could email the executive
Presented thought leadership & “controversy”
Marketing gave executive 5 blogs as homework to prepare
Didn’t promote blog
Results
4600 visitors during first month of blog launch
19,000 visitors in Month 2
Typical monthly visits: 17,000 to 19,000/month

Social networks cannot be ignored by marketers.
“ 35% of adult Americans now use a social
network such as LinkedIn or Facebook.”

LinkedIn is not an overnight phenomenon.
2004
840,000 members.
10,000 are venture capitalists.
Bay Area is the densest concentration of users, with 120,000 members there.
2009
38 million members in 200 countries
New member is joining every second
Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are members

Most sources point out that success on LinkedIn stems from creating effective groups.
Groups provide a top permission based prospect gathering service
Seed discussions with quality content on topics that matter
Talk to analysts
Scan customer/prospect discussions
How to seed the groups with members
Encourage employees, alumni, partners and even customers to join a group
Provide time for employee to spend on the tool
Coach your employees to answer questions and offer input
Every event is an opportunity to create a new group

Shameless self promotion doesn’t go over well anywhere except at this function.

Twitter is an “overnight” phenomenon.
Launched in March 2006.
January 2008: 500,000 unique visitors
December 2008: 4.43 million unique visitors (An increase of 752% compared to the previous year)

Many large brands are failing at using Twitter to their benefit.
Twitter squatters are camped on their domain
No clear strategy on how to add value
Too personal or not personal enough
It feels a little “freaky” when a brand starts following you
Cannot demonstrate ROI or cannot agree on how to measure ROI
No one cares about the brand
No due diligence to determine if their customers use Twitter

Case Study: Dell Computers
Approach
Set up multiple Twitter addresses
Identified an individual who is Dell’s “face” for social media
Pace communications: @DellOutlet about 2 tweets/week
Tweet during peak business hours
Not driven by building followers and volume of content published
Low key approach – build 1 to 1 relationships with consumers and bloggers
Results
50,000 followers
Attributed $1 million in sales to Twitter
Intercept online conversations/ comments that are/can be detrimental to brand

Putting it all together.
“ Think about integrating social media campaigns into your marketing mix – not just experimenting with tactics in a one-off manner.”

Social Media Case Study: Breaking Point
Industry: IT (Networking Equipment) Start Up Company
Challenge:
Limited Budget
Target market skeptical of marketing
Niche market of hard to find professionals
6 Point Solution :
Created a blog to start conversations and steer traffic towards
Created a Twitter account
Created a LinkedIn group
Modified press release strategy to obtain blogger coverage
Promote social media channels on web site
Measured growth of social media accounts and traffic

The company’s social media strategy showed a correlation between the use of social media and the company’s web traffic and leads.
Campaign Results
10,230 unique blog page views in months 4-6
280 Twitter followers
141 members in their LinkedIn Group
155% increase in unique web site visitors
Seminars Email Trade Shows Web 4% 1.5% 17% 20.5% 4% 23% 75% 55% Pipeline Influencer Leads by Source

Breaking Point used a targeted approach to starting conversations.
#1: Created a blog to start and join conversations.
Set up a blog to attract an audience
Used tools to scan the web to locate conversations relevant to their industry
Tweetscan
Google Alerts
Boardtracker.com
If a relevant conversation was located, team members weighed in

Breaking Point sought to add value with their tweets.
#2: Created a Twitter account.
Posted notices of new blogs, webinars, polls, trivia and informal group questions
Used Tweetscan to locate professionals looking for advice on equipment testing
Retweeted interesting information their audience would find useful

Breaking Point quickly found that LinkedIn provided a better vehicle than Facebook to reach its audience.
#3: Created a LinkedIn group.
Established a group related to network test equipment and security – not the company products or services
Group members led conversations and added value by:
Providing vendor advice
Reviews/suggestions for industry events
Feedback on testing approaches/programs
Ongoing moderation and contributions

Breaking Point was more strategic with online press release efforts.
#4: Modified press release strategy to obtain blogger coverage.
Increased frequency of releases to 1x/week
Shortened releases and included many links to specific portions of the web site
Changed release time from 8AM to early afternoon to target West Coast bloggers
Plugged releases using Twitter, LinkedIn group and PitchEngine

Simple tactics were used to increase connection to the brand.
#5: Promote social media on web site and email.
Email signatures included links to Twitter, blog and LinkedIn group
News section included “Join Us” links to set up Twitter feed and join the LinkedIn group

Breaking Point measured results to assess effectiveness.
#6: Measure growth of social media accounts and web traffic.
Social Media Channel Growth
Blog page views
Twitter followers
LinkedIn group members
Compared marketing metrics
Unique site visitors
Leads
Leads by source
Marketing influenced pipeline activity

Closing Thoughts
I Have a Marketing Department
Get buy in to develop a campaign
Identify core blogging team
Make a commitment
Integrate social media into your marketing arsenal
I Am the Marketing Department
You cannot do it all
Share you knowledge: Consider contributing versus creating
Focus on Using LinkedIn as your primary social network tool

B2B & Social Media

by TeamThink Inc. on May 13, 2009

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