The Channel is the stepchild of the family At least for the last 50 years 75% of world trade goes through channels Mainly through the power of direct marketing How to empower your partners with Social Media

1. Channel Empowerment
Axel Schultze
President Social Media Academy
CEO Xeesm Corp
© Copyright Xeequa Corp. 2008

2. Academy Intro
Social Media Academy started in Jan 2009
The mission is to provide the most
comprehensive social media education
We had over 3,000 participants from 24
countries in our various education programs
Social Media Strategist Certification
Corporate Social Media Education
Channel Empowerment Programs
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3. Social Media Academy Alumni
http://Xeesm.com/KM
http://Xeesm.com/LaureenEarnest
http://Xeesm.com/MikeDubrall
http://Xeesm.com/NancyChou
http://Xeesm.com/TomSwift
http://Xeesm.com/SusanRice
http://Xeesm.com/CatherineSherwood
http://xeesm.com/MarkEldrige
http://Xeesm.com/ElsomEldridge
http://xeesm.com/Steve
http://xeesm.com/MatthiasBeckmann
http://xeesm.com/MatSpar/
http://Xeesm.com/WendySoucie
http://Xeesm.com/LisaRobb
http://Xeesm.com/RMarkMoore
http://xeesm.com/wk4coffee/
http://Xeesm.com/Speciale
http://Xeesm.com/LamiaLee
http://Xeesm.com/Boughty
http://Xeesm.com/Walter
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4. Status quo
The Channel is the stepchild of the family
At least for the last 50 years
75% of world trade goes through channels
Mainly through the power of direct marketing
You HAVE to be in social media
Because 500 MM people are there
Because I can sell you consulting
Earth is a disk
…
Today we make a change
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5. For the next 45 Minutes
Elevate your point of view.
Getting off the tools discussion
and the social chatter
Lift up and take a look from outer
space
Come back and have a few steps
you can do tomorrow without
“Executive Buy-in”
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6. Understand the change
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7. The model of influence changed in its foundation
Number of inquires has dropped to the floor
Request for information – lowest ever
Leads typically represented the start of a
process ending with an “Educated Purchase
Decision” – it was the begin of a sales process
That “education process” has changed!
Lead / inquiry flow over time
1000
+ Internet reg. pages
800
+ TV commercials
600
+ Tradeshows
400
+ Bill boards ????
200
News paper
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
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8. The new product discovery model
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9. © Copyright Social Media Academy 2009 9 Copying or distribution is prohibited

10. Shift in customer education processes
UP UNTIL RECENTLY
The experts in stores, industry analysts and
the “specialists” from the respective
manufacturers were KEY in customer
education.
Whether is was a consumer good or a new
IT infrastructure project; the decision was
mainly influenced by those experts.
AND THAT HAS CHANGED
The most influential force in the customer
education process is the Internet – more
precisely the social web.
Vendors, industry experts, industrial media
lost their influence. Consumers and
corporate buyers moved on to new spaces
for product education – in ALL Industries.
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11. The five #1’s for Social Media In Channels
#1 Overall Business Objective
Be recommended
#1 Change
Creating a social customer experience
#1 Realization
Channel partners own the relationship
#1 Implication
Invest in partner empowerment
#1 Result
Your biggest recommendation base is
your channel
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12. Help your partners
understand the new world
Partners operate in isolation
Channel programs are 20+ years old
Channel marketing lost its edge
Partner relationships are sore
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13. Where to start?
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14. Step by step engagement
Know where your partners are
Tell them where you are
Make sure you know where they are
Engage them into discussions
Help your partners leverage the social web
Make it clear that it is their AND your business
that is at risk
Request to support your social engagement
Make them your recommendation engine
Help them engage with their clients
Make them what partners always were – the
powerful middleman in the recommendation
chain
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15. Know where your partners are
Introduce your own social
presence first.
Xeesm.com/yourname
Find where your partners
hang out in the social web.
Simply by asking them
Or upload your partners
and use “Social Finder”
Care and share
Connect with as many as possible
Visit them at least once a week
You can reach 100 partners each week that way
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16. Your daily social engagement
20 Minutes each day (4% of the day):
Day 1 listen / read several posts
Day 2 chime into a conversation
Day 3 comment on blogs, groups, tweets
Day 4 care about their personal lives
Day 5 making introductions
Day 6 Feature your partners on other blogs
Day 7 suggesting an interesting site or post
Day 8 invitation to your own group
Day 9 Feature them on other sites
Day 10 Make them heroes on your presence
Do care – be social – be helpful
You don’t need executive buy in to do this
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17. Professional Social Relationship Management
Create your social address
book of partners
Get the social presence of
your partners
Make visiting your partners
a daily routine
You see last touches
You see the progress of
achievement (5 objectives)
Instead of browsing and
searching through Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn :
Focus
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18. Help your partners leverage the social web
Educate your partners on how their sales
organization can gain from being in the social web
Help them understand how their outbound sales team
can double customer reach by connecting with clients
in the social web
Help them stop the email marketing spam
Help them focus and avoid the random chatter
Develop a program that:
Encourages to engage with customers
Motivate to share expertise
Reward based on activities in the social web *
Reward for reusing your content, retweet… *
The first time you can easily extend rewards based
on brand loyalty – not only revenue
* = Only if you put out monetary rewards you need executive buy-in
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19. Social Media Based Partner Program
Objectives
Guidance
Rewards
Review
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20. Make partners your recommendation engine
Reward their social presence big time
They are your recommendation platform like no
direct sales organization ever can have
Leverage their recommendations
Re-tweet their content
Feature their posts
Bring them to the forefront of YOUR social
engagement
Make them heroes for recommending you
Got channels?
Amplified and accelerated by social media
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21. Are they you looking for an ROI?
Looking for Social Media ROI is looking for an
excuse to not engage.
ROI is $ gained over $ spent
How much do you spend for your fan page? $0.00
How much cost your Wordpress Blog? $0.00
How much cost your Twitter account? $0.00
How much do you spend for SEO to get “traffic” which
is a list of meaningless IP Addresses in your weblog?
Help your partners understand that Social
Media doesn’t cost money – and the time they
spend is with their customers, not with tools.
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22. Summary
Your channel can recommend your products
like no direct sales force ever can
Social media is the most powerful tool to
leverage your channel
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23. Phased Approach
Phase I
Find and meet your partners in the social web
Train your partners how customers make their
educated purchase decision
Phase II
Create powerful social media partner programs
Develop new rewards programs
Create an integrated strategy
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24. Resources – Connections
Http://socialmedia-academy.com
Http://xeesm.com
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2698760
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2785151
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1768647
http://www.socialmedia-
academy.com/blog/index.php/us-
program/channel-enablement-610/
http://xeesm.com/_/site/index.php/starter-
kits/channel-empowerment-kit/
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25. Questions & Answers
Q+A
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26. Thank You
+1 (650) 384 0057
xeesm.com/AxelS
xeesm.com/MaritaR
http://SocialMedia-Academy.com
+1 (650) 384-0057
http://xeesm.com/SMACAD
© 2009 Social Media Academy. All rights reserved. This content is protected under the copyright law of the United States. It is
prohibited to make full or partial copies or extractions of this documentation without the explicit written approval from the Social
Media Academy.
All materials contained herein are the property of the Social Media Academy and its faculty and may only be used, by an enrolled
student for his or her own educational benefit.
Social Media Academy | 228 Hamilton Ave. | Palo Alto, CA 94301 | (650) 384-0057
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27. About
The Social Media Academy is an education and research institute
providing education for business professionals from all industries on
how to best apply social media to their respective businesses. The
main emphasis is to help business managers and consultant to get a
comprehensive education on Social Media, including strategy
development, planning, execution, tools, resources ways to report
and analyze development and success and help understand the
evolutionary changes in our society. As part of the educational
development, the Social Media Academy conducts research exploring
the ongoing changes in the field and support the continuous learning
process as well as monitor ongoing changes in the field.
The main course is the institute’s leadership class which focuses on
how to plan, implement and engage with social media in all business
areas including marketing, sales, product development, service &
support, logistics, administration and engineering.
The Social Media Academy is based in Palo Alto, California. For more
information go to http://www.socialmedia-academy.com
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