cisco webex/linkedin case study

1. Cisco WebEx &
LinkedIn
B2B Case Study
Paul Acosta
Roosevelt University
BADM 104
Social Media & Business
11/18/2014

2. The Situation
-The B2B company needed to
come up with an innovative social
media campaign to enhance brand
awareness and establish
themselves as the leading solution
for online conferencing.

3. Cisco WebEx Objectives :
-Enhance public awareness
of the business benefits of
sharing ideas and
collaborating online with
start-ups and entrepreneurs.
-Promote brand awareness
of their product to hard-to-reach
B2B professionals.
-Differentiate themselves
from other generic, rival,
free-to-use online
conferencing products.

4. The Plan of Action
-Collaborate with LinkedIn to
sponsor the inaugural LinkedIn
European Business Awards.
-Use LinkedIn Ads to promote
media buzz of Cisco WebEx event
and gain entry submissions, create
engagement and use of their
software, and to encourage
participation.
-Create a LinkedIn group to
provide an interactive community
for nominees.

5. Marketing Strategies
-Promote nominees by increasing
virality of nominee Twitter accounts
and LinkedIn statuses through
LinkedIn API’s (ads) while promoting
Cisco WebEx software as main
sponsor.
-Utilize LinkedIn Polls and LinkedIn
InMails to entice debate on
business topics, strategies,
encourage nominations.

6. “The awards were a great example of
integrating online and social media to
virally extend the campaign reach,
providing us with the opportunity to connect
with a wider audience in a relevant and
compelling way.”
James Campanini
Managing Director of Cisco WebEx
The Award Categories are:
-Best Business Leader
-Best Business Innovation
-Best Business Start Up
-Rising Star of The /year

7. Targets/Goals
● International Awareness
-One of the main goals was to reach and engage
with as many European users of LinkedIn as possible.
● Target Votes
-Each nominee and their nominators was
estimated to encourage about 5 people to vote. It would
equate to about 2025 votes.
● Social Media Goals
-Cisco WebEx was looking to amasse 600
members for the LinkedIn Group and at least 150
followers on Twitter.

8. The Results
● The website for the awards
(linkedinbusinessawards.com)
attracted 134,000 unique
visitors; 500+ nominee
entries, and 11,500+ votes
● The unique Linkedin polls
generated 500 conversations
from targeted professionals.
● Over 900 members joined the
LinkedIn Group and provided
their own unique business
insights.
● Winners were announced at a
live event which brought in
1090 registered attendees.
● 50% of traffic to the awards
was achieved via viral
growth, the Twitter account
achieved 90 new followers.
● The campaign created 325
new leads for Cisco WebEx.

9. ● Cisco WebEx
Software Demo
● A collaboration tool to
help your sales soar
● Questions for the
Judges: Kevin
Eyeres
Videos

10. Results Summary
● Innovative campaign gave Cisco WebEx unique media coverage
and helped them stand out in the online conferencing market,
separating their brand from the rest.
● They were able to affordably market their brand through viral
marketing, social media advertising, and word-of-mouth. The
company saved a lot of money.
● Nominated businesses were using Cisco WebEx software to
communicate with the Awards team who responded to all aspects
of event planning by coordinating with nominated businesses in a
timely and professional manner, which reinforced product
credibility.

11. What I Learned From This Case Study
● Collaboration, communication, networking, and professionalism are the core values that
make up the brand legacy of both Cisco WebEx and LinkedIn. It’s a place for groups to
come together and make things happen.
● Both companies value engagement with others. You sell more of your product or make
others more aware of your brand better by engaging with others. Brands become more
valuable when a conversation is started..
● One of the best ways to generate leads is by getting exposure through genuine traffic. I
think the best way to do that is through ads and being resourceful with your posts and
intended target audience. Cisco WebEx demonstrated this perfectly by utilizing
LinkedIn’s network.

12. ● Cisco improved their SEO by creating buzz-worthy,
shareable, content that promoted their awards event. B2B
companies need to utilize and spread their content through
various social media outlets and use #hashtags to reach
wider audiences.
● One way to strengthen a marketing campaign, is to build
anticipation and engage your audience with great content.
If you get them excited about something than they are
more likely to spread the word.
● Cisco WebEx had to specialize their campaign strategy in
order to get to the hard-to-reach business professionals. If
you want to reach a niche audience, you have to be
specific with who and how you want your ads to be seen.

13. Follow Me on LinkedIn! @
● https://www.linkedin.com/pub/paul-acosta/
5a/168/563
● Tweet me!
@acosta7285