A presentation on how an equipment finance and leasing company may use social media and social networking for marketing and communications purposes. Findings from original grant research conducted in summer 2010 are included.

1. Real-World Social Media for the Equipment Leasing & Finance Company Web Seminar December 1, 2010

2. 2 Today’s web seminar is based on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation’s Study “Social Networking for the Equipment Finance Industry” and brought to you by the ELFA Academy and the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation.

3. 3 Presenters Suzanne Henry Four Leaf Public Relations LLC Steve Guido Oracle Financing David Wiener The Alta Group

4. 4 Suzanne Henry Four Leaf Public Relations LLC

5. 5 “Monologue has given way to dialogue.” ~Brian Solis* *Brian Solis. “Social Media Manifesto,” (11 June 2006)

6. 6 What is Social Media? Online social interaction that is relatively Open & public Where the users are in control Where the purpose is connection, sharing and influence Twitter Facebook, MySpace YouTube Blogs LinkedIn Flickr Digg

7. 7 The Social Media Realm Attribution: Brian Solis http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/2735401175/sizes/l/

8. Strong Growth 1.9 billion people worldwide are active Internet users. 77.4% use the Internet in North America 80% of U.S. Web users now regularly making use of social media tools 43% of the 2009 Inc. 500 reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy 91% of the Inc. 500 were using at least one social media tool in 2009 (up from 77 percent in 2008) Facebook: 500 million users // LinkedIn: 75 million members // Twitter: 106 million accounts 51% of social media users are age 35 and older 8

9. B2B Marching Toward Social Media According to a study* of chief marketing officers: Businesses currently allocate 6% of their marketing budgets to social media Expected increases:10% during 2011 and 18% over the next five years B2B services companies reported the largest planned increases in social media spending, from 7% to 11% of overall marketing budgets, over the next year *Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business/American Marketing Association. CMO Study (February 2010) 9

10. 10 Equipment Finance Industry Survey results from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation Survey on Social media, summer 2010 1,000 equipment finance professionals surveyed, 14% response rate

11. 11 Equipment Finance Industry Late adopter/ Lag best practices 35% of respondents just got started in social media usage in the last 6-12 months 51% block at least some of the social media channels Yet, in the next 12 months 41% of recent survey respondents report their organization will be more active and expand into new social media 40% believe they will maintain about the same level of social media activity No one said they will reduce their social media activity

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14. 14 Four Horsemen of the Social Media Realm Twitter Blogs Private, online communities LinkedIn Facebook and Plaxo have a place on a case-by-case basis

15. More Important to Note Tools, channels and venues will change Understanding social media culture will ensure a nimble and effective effort The new culture: Is transparent & personal Operates on “lethal generosity” Has redistributed influence among “the people” Individuals have power for both developing content and as a consumer Includes various “payment forms,” including connections, referrals, praise, promotion, knowledge, competitor intelligence 15

16. Power to the People Individuals valued over corporate entity Employees considered most credible Social media users want “thinking” individuals talking, posting, tweeting Social media has unleashed a level of individual empowerment that many believe will be impossible to retract 16

17. Return on Investment Still Elusive. Yet… “69% of survey respondents reported that their companies gained measurable business benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues.” ~2009 McKinsey Global Survey report on Web 2.0 usage Deploying social media technologies “to foster collaboration among employees, customers and business partners is highly correlated with market share gains.” ~A September 2010 McKinsey Quarterly report on a survey of global executives on the impact of “participatory Web 2.0 technologies (such as social networks, wikis and microblogs) 17

18. 18 Engaging the Four Horsemen Twitter, blogs, Private communities, LinkedIn

19. Six Phases of Involvement Prepare Listen Plan Invest Engage Learn No template exists Organizational goals, objectives and company characteristics mean a custom social media program 19

20. Prepare Understand the new culture Form a cross-functional social media team Identify goals and objectives Know thyself 20

21. 21 Questions to Ask Do you have individuals on staff already involved in social media/networking? (SMN) Who are your current SMN evangelists? Do you understand the culture around SMN? What are you willing to talk about (or not talk about) in a public forum? Why do you want to get involved in SMN? Brand development? Sales and marketing? Employee recruitment? Is there anything related to SMN that you already know senior and middle management cannot get behind? How much time are you willing to allocate to SMN activities? Do you trust your employees to be spokespeople? Do you have policies and procedures in place that will affect SMN activities?

22. Listen Gather intelligence Engage in social network anthropology What is valued? Who are influencers? Get your “data house” in order Devise way to get employee’s observations and experiences in the mix Incorporate CRM Use Web analytics and other tools 22

23. 23 Questions to Ask Where are the customers? What do they want to talk about online? What is being shared online? What is the overall tone of the conversations? Who is influencing others? What triggers meaningful reactions or responses? What are you trying to find? Sales leads? Brand mentions? Competitor intelligence? Who and what discussions are gaining traction and interest, and why? Who is going to do the intelligence gathering? What is transpiring online that would impact or inform business objectives? How will it be shared with others within the company? Where would your presence be most advantageous (to both you and the online community)? How should the data be synthesized? How and where will the data be housed? How will you synthesize what individual employees are finding online?

24. Plan Have a plan and a strategy Identify what to measure Identify risk areas 24

25. 25 Questions to Ask How deeply are you going to get engaged? Where are the high risk areas? Which channels will you commit to? What is going to be shared online? What will be contributed? Who is going to be involved in the effort, from strategic decision-makers to main, corporate spokespeople? Who will do what, when? And, who is responsible for content making its way to social channels? Will departments and support individuals have their own online presence? What needs to be in place, technology-wise? How will success be determined and measured? By profits and revenue, risk management gains, brand improvements or increases in digital IP? 25

26. Invest Become discoverable, searchable, shareable Determine the need for new communities Select the right channels and tools Dedicate resources Identify “real” content 26

27. 27 Questions to Ask Are you engaged in SEO and optimizing the corporate web site currently, and to what extent? Is there a need for a new, private community of customers? What are the right SMN channels to invest in? What kind of resources can you dedicate? How much time are you reasonably willing to commit to, and is it enough? Are you willing to educate yourself and your employees to SMN and the desired outcomes of the company being involved? Are you “open” enough? Do you allow SMN during work hours? What is your story? What parts of your story are applicable to SMN activities? What do you have to contribute? Are you willing and able to produce in the way of multi-media content, and over time? 27

28. Engage Let the brand personality shine Determine level of participation Understand the four B2B social media horsemen Promote the effort Reward success 28 28

29. 29 Questions to Ask What will be your level of participation? If we choose LinkedIn: Who is most important in the company to have a presence? Do we want individual or corporate Twitter streams? If blogging: Who will do it? What will we say? How are we going to reach influential bloggers? How will we contribute to private online communities? Does Facebook make sense for us? What is your brand’s personality? Who are you talking to online and what voice should be adopted to reach them? How will you recognize and reward success? What will you do to ensure sustainability? How will conversations online be handled? How will you handle missteps, failures and negativity that may arise?

30. Learn Adjust, abandon, change Analyze, monitor Calculate ROI Optimize 30

31. 31 Questions to Ask Did you reach your goals and objectives? What occurred? What were the results? Feedback that led to positive change? New ideas and markets? Cost savings? Process improvements? Increased brand awareness? Connections, especially those that led to sales and marketing gains? What activity and content have influence online? Did you meet anyone new that led to a positive outcome? Are your customers talking to you differently now? Are you reaching prospects? What needs to be changed immediately? What processes are helping/hindering?

32. When Social Media Does Not Make Sense Companies that have Small number of customers Unhappy employees Significant upper management cynicism or disdain over social media Unclear strategic imperative for social media Companies in highly regulated industries where communication is dangerous under any form 32 32

33. 33 Social Networking for the Equipment Finance Industry A report commissioned by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, produced by Four Leaf Public Relations LLC What is today’s B2B social media landscape? What are the equipment finance industry’s social media attitudes, behaviors and activities? What are current strategies, tools and channels being used today by B2B industries? What are the best practices and what results are being produced? Who is successfully using social media for marketing purposes? What do I need to do to incorporate social media and networking into my marketing and communications efforts? 33

34. 34 Thank you for your participation today! If you have any additional questions or comments, please feel free to email Alexa Carnibella at acarnibella@elfaonline.org,or to the presenters listed below: Suzanne E. Henry Four Leaf Public Relations LLC suzanne@fourleafpr.com Twitter: @SuzanneHenry LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/suzannehenry Steve Guido Oracle Financing steve.guido@me.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sguido/ David Wiener The Alta Group dwiener@thealtagroup.com Twitter: @dwAdvisory LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wienerdavid