The document discusses the role of B2B online communities in enhancing branding campaigns, emphasizing how professionals leverage these platforms for knowledge sharing and networking. Toolbox.com serves as a case study with over 3 million monthly visitors and effective vendor engagement strategies, highlighting advertisers' needs for targeted content and community presence. It outlines the shift in online marketing towards building relationships and sustaining engagement through community-driven interactions, ultimately improving brand visibility and lead generation.

2. How B2B Online Communities Impact Branding Campaigns
George Krautzel, Co-Founder and President, Toolbox.com

3. Who is Toolbox.com?
• Mission
— To help professionals do their jobs
better by providing them with the ability
to easily share knowledge with
experienced peers
• Existing Communities
— IT (10 years), HR (<1 year), and
Finance (<1 year)
— More than 3 million monthly unique
visitors
— Over 2.4 million pages of practical
user-generated content
• Advertising Services
— More than 800 advertising partners,
including: IBM, HP, Oracle, Microsoft,
Dell

4. Where Toolbox.com Fits into the Media Landscape
User-Generated
• Content is communication, specific appeal • Content is communication, specific appeal
• 2-way conversations between friends • 2-way conversations between peers
• Personal experiences, socially driven • Personal experiences, best practices
Editorial
• Content is carefully vetted, broad appeal • Content is carefully vetted, broad appeal
• 1-way conversation from experts to readers • 1-way conversation from experts to readers
• News, consumer interests, and trends • News, case studies, best practices
Consumer Business

5. How and Why Professionals Use Online Communities
• Increase productivity and efficiency through knowledge sharing
• Support the “Five Pillars of Professional Knowledge”
— Manage careers
— Stay current
— Solve problems faster
— Research vendors
— Make better decisions
• Tap into tools for peer collaboration
– Personal networks
– Vendor directories
– Blogs
– Discussion groups
– Wikis

6. Tracking Social Media Usage Among Professionals
• Trend: consistent increase in social media consumption, up to 4.60 hours per
week in June 2009
• Results from the Toolbox.com/PJA Social Media Index Survey of 3,000+ IT pros
in each of the four waves
Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

7. Professionals Are Building Their Brand
Share knowledge to
build professional
Showcase reputation
experience
and expertise
Build a personal
network of peers for
networking and
knowledge sharing

8. Companies Are Actively Engaging
Community
Background on the
conversation about
vendor
the vendor and
products
White papers,
documents, and other
research from the
Connections with
vendor
interested community
members

9. Attitudes About Vendor Participation in Online Communities
Which of the following statements best reflects your attitude about vendor participation in online communities?
Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

10. What Professionals Want from Vendors in Online Communities
If you were part of an online community, how important would it be for the participating vendors to provide
the following? Please rank on a scale of 1 (most important) to 5 (least important).
Most Important Least Important
Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

11. Where Professionals Want to See Vendors Participating
In your opinion, which of the following online communities are most appropriate for vendor participation?
Please check all that apply.
Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

12. The Evolution of Online Marketing Relationship
Direct Results
Experimentation  Value: Web as a relationship
management platform
 Value: Web as a direct results  Primary Goals: Engaging prospects
platform and customers outside of their Web
site
 Primary Goals: Drive traffic and lead
 Value: Web as a promotional vehicle generation  Secondary Goals: Lead generation,
drive traffic, thought leadership and
 Primary Goals: Trial a new media  Secondary Goals: Thought branding
concept, gain eyeballs, build brand leadership and branding
and drive awareness  Measurements: Cost of sales,
 Measurements: CPL, CPC, brand customer retention, brand penetration
 Measurements: Cost per impression measurements confirmed through and measurements from direct results
surveys stage
 Marketing Tactics:
– Branding – buttons, banners  Marketing Tactics:  Marketing Tactics:
– E-mail – newsletters, list – Search ads – Vendor communities
rentals – Lead generation – white – Two-way ads
papers, webcasts – Messaging connections using
– Branding - IMUs, larger units, trigger marketing
microsites – Successful tactics from direct
– E-mail – list rentals results stage
1996-2003 2004-2009 2010-2015

13. Comparison of Marketing ROI – Traditional Campaigns
Traditional Campaigns
With traditional campaigns there is a direct
relationship between funding and results –
once a campaign is over, that activity
usually ceases (landing page visits, etc.).
VALUE
TIME
Impact = Site visits/leads
Effort = Funding
Source: Pauline Ores, IBM

14. Comparison of Marketing ROI – Online Community Marketing
Social Media Impact
Social media marketing requires
continuous, steady investment to build
and manage the network, with eventual
value created as the network grows and
becomes self-sustaining.
VALUE
Marketing through an online
community allows advertisers to
TIME quickly engage and make an
impact with their target
audiences.
Impact = Relevance and engagement
Effort = Funding
Source: Pauline Ores, IBM

15. Why Brand in Professional Communities
After direct vendor sales, online
communities ranked as the top
interactive information source that
IT buyers rely on for purchasing
decisions.

16. Sun Microsystems Example
• Campaign Goals
— Build brand
— Generate leads
• Target Audiences
— SMB focused
— Linux, UNIX, storage, and Windows
professionals
• Vehicles Used
— IMUs (box, leaderboard)
— Sponsored vendor profile
— White papers
• Targeting Drives Results
— Banners were keyword targeted to
reach the right community
members
— Lead-gen assets targeted
contextually and demographically
Relevant community- Targeted display ad — 62% of leads came from SMBs
generated content (keyword, — 76% of leads came from Linux,
geographic,
demographic)
UNIX, storage, and Windows
professionals

17. Sybase Example
• Campaign Goals
— Build brand
— Generate leads
• Target Audiences
— Enterprise mobility focused
— Wireless, database, networking,
and SCM professionals
• Vehicles Used
— IMUs (box, leaderboard)
— Sponsored vendor profile
• Success of Expandable Banners
— Keyword targeting placed banners
in front of the right audiences
— Interactive banners presented
relevant videos and white papers
Expandable from the vendor
leaderboard ad with — 46% of banners served were
interactive interacted with by the community
capabilities

18. Q&A and Contact Information
George Krautzel
Toolbox.com Co-Founder and President
• Toolbox.com profile:
http://it.toolbox.com/people/george_krautzel
• Toolbox.com on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/toolboxdotcom