Our POV on how Social Media is now part of the B2B imperative.

1. THE ONLINE
M O V E M E N T:
W H AT B 2 B
MARKETERS
NEED TO KNOW

2. It may be time to throw away those brand books you accumulated in the
1990s. Web 2.0 has changed the rules.
And not just for the Amazons, Southwest Airlines, and Dells of the
world. The online conversation has moved well beyond the retail,
consumer and technology spaces. And it’s leaving businesses much more
exposed than they’re accustomed to, or comfortable with. Tabling the
social media discussion until next year, or the year after that, could be
a costly mistake. And almost certainly will result in lost opportunities.
“If you have a brand, you’re under threat ...
and business-to-business
Our mission is to create ideas that build the fortunes of our clients. companies are most vulnerable.”
That means (among other things) staying on top of the changing
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Forrester Research, Inc.,
marketing and communications landscape and sharing our insights Groundswell, Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
with our clients and friends. We hope you find our point of view of
interest. We welcome your thoughts and questions. Online technology is growing at a thundering pace. It astounds even
the most enlightened; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. No one can
predict with certainty what’s next or what’s best. The only thing we
know for sure is the way we communicate (and market our products and
sell our services and build our brands) is very different than it was even
five years ago – and it will continue to change – at an unprecedented
and unpredictable speed.
It’s an exciting time in our industry. So much is possible.

3. H O W I M p O R TA N T I S T H I S , R E A L Ly ?
One thing has remained consistent over time. People – including your
employees, customers, investors – love to share their opinions, ideas
and experiences. They thrive on interaction. Of course, the difference
85.3 percent today is they’re able to have these discussions online with dozens,
hundreds, or even thousands of people they haven’t even met before.
And they are in complete control of when, where and how they
will connect, and what they will experience. Individuals around the
of B2B buyers globe are logging in several times a day to learn about issues, explore
industry trends, research specific brands and product benefits, and
determine what companies they will do business with and/or invest in.
They may never call you. They may never visit your physical facility or
surveyed would go even your Web site. But they will form impressions of your brand. They
will make judgments about the strength of your management team,
the reliability of your products and the imagination of your people.
They will make purchasing decisions. And they will influence others’
online to research purchasing decisions. All from their laptop or hand-held device.
Virtually anyone can write a review, start a blog, post a comment,
facilitate a discussion group, even ignite a movement. The snowball
purchases.
effect of online communication has shifted the balance of power. In
The Long Tail, author Chris Anderson, credits the Web for “unifying
the elements of a supply chain revolution that had been brewing
for decades.” The Internet’s unlimited shelf space allows companies
to serve niche markets with a variety of products, and do it cost-
effectively. The same is true of news and information delivery. It’s not
about the mainstream and the majority anymore. The Internet makes
it possible for any company, news organization or citizen journalist
to emerge overnight or, conversely, to spiral quickly downward
without warning. The “groundswell,” as Forrester calls it, “is global,
unstoppable and affects every industry … And it’s utterly foreign to
the powerful companies and institutions – and their leaderships – that
run things now.”
While there’s a good deal of debate over what we call it, where we
house it and how we manage it, we’re here to tell you: It isn’t going
away. And you really need to consider the implications and possibilities
of the social Web in every aspect of your business.
Source: Enquiro Business-to-Business Survey

4. M O S T I M P O RTA N T W E B 2 . 0 T E C H N O L O G I E S
North
Europe Asia-pacific China India Total
America
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
(%)
Web services 57 62 45 48 58 58
Social networking 35 28 29 31 22 32
Blogs 37 21 48 35 46 31
Wikis 27 28 20 18 37 26
Among Web 2 .0 technologies that companies use for business purposes,
Video sharing 20 19 22 22 26 20 social networking ranks second in importance behind Web services,
according to a 2008 global survey by The McKinsey Quarterly. Social
podcasts 20 20 21 7 23 18 networks ranked higher than wikis, podcasts, video sharing and RSS.
RSS 18 17 7 15 14 16
peer-to-peer 9 13 12 22 11 12
prediction markets 7 9 5 14 6 9
Rating 7 9 7 4 9 8
Mashups 6 10 3 3 6 7
Tagging 6 6 4 4 7 6
Source: The McKinsey Quarterly, “Building the Web 2.0”

5. It’s also one of the most cost-effective research tools around. Still,
fewer than 45 percent of B2B marketers have begun to use tactics like
blogs, Webinars, podcasts and social networking, according to a
2009 study by Forrester. We think that number is going to rise, and rise
quickly, over the next few years. We’ve all seen diminishing returns
from mass advertising, the traditional trade show, static newsletters,
and the one-size-fits-all press release. If our companies are going to
thrive in the 21st century, we have to think and behave differently.
That doesn’t mean abandoning proven strategies, but we do need
to learn to use some tools differently, and think about adding a few
new ones to the mix. Your customers want to know you, up close and
personal. They want dialogue. They want to know that if something
goes wrong, they can trust you to make it right. They want to
understand the technology behind your product. They want to
talk with your engineers about potential design enhancements.
They want to discover new applications through your other
customers. They want to know what’s coming next. And they
want to feel involved in the process.
Social media allows you to connect more personally, frequently
and cost efficiently with your customer (or other intended audience).
Corporate brand messaging is not enough. Product information
A R E yO u TA L K I N g T O M E ? is not enough. Your customers are looking for a relationship.
You know this better than we do. They want insight, thought
leadership and guidance. Conventional marketing methods
If you are involved with your organization’s management, strategic can’t deliver personality, perspective or credibility the way social
planning, research, marketing, sales, advertising, public relations, media can.
investor relations, public affairs, human relations, legal counsel,
product design, or customer service – and you haven’t at least started
listening to the “conversation” – you’re missing a huge opportunity.
The best way to determine the potential role for social Web relations
in your organization starts with simply paying attention to what’s
being said about you online. Monitoring the conversation can give
you valuable insight into your customer, alert you to product defects
and other potential problems, provide usable product development
ideas, arm you with up-to-the-minute competitive and market data,
and reveal all kinds of other business opportunities.

6. A N T I C I PAT E D M A R K E T I N G B U D G E T
C H A N G E S B Y TA C T I C
Marketing Budget Changes
Tactics used
Decrease (%) No Change (%) Increase (%)
$ Company Web site 11 42 47
Search marketing 15 38 47
Online video, podcasts
16 43 42
or rich media
Many business-to-business marketers are projecting increases or Webinars, Webcasts 14 45 41
no change in budgets for Internet-based programs, and anticipating E-mail 11 50 39
budgets for traditional advertising to drop.
Discussion forums, social
11 53 36
networks or communities
Blogs 7 58 34
Executive breakfasts,
25 43 32
seminars and events
Other Web 2.0 media 14 55 31
Inside sales/telemarketing 15 54 31
public relations 17 53 30
Online display ads:
31 42 28
banner, pop-ups
Virtual trade shows 40 35 25
Direct mail 34 43 23
Radio 48 32 21
Trade shows, conferences
43 40 17
(in person)
Outdoor media 54 31 15
print advertising 55 30 15
Sponsorships 40 46 14
TV advertising 51 36 13
Source: “B-to-B Marketing in 2009: Trends in Strategies and Spending,”
a study by MarketingProfs Research Insight

7. 2
W H E R E D O I S TA R T ?
While social media isn’t a magic bullet, we believe in today’s high- Then there’s the issue of transparency. Social media requires it. If you’re
tech, high-touch environment; it can be an amazingly effective not transparent, you’re toast. End of discussion. The problem is: B2B
communications, marketing, research and relationship-building tool. marketers (and, by the way, B2C marketers as well) have worked hard
But we know that with newness comes change and with change, a and invested heavily in building their brands. A lot of research, analysis
lot of questions. The five areas of concern we hear expressed most and planning went into developing message platforms. We know that
often are discussed in brief below. consistency of message is critical. How do we manage our brand and
reputation in this environment?
The sooner (and better) you understand the social Web, the sooner
you’ll be in a position to make the new world work for you. Your
customers are having experiences with your brand and talking about
it; you can’t stop them. The same goes for your competitors. Your
1 investors. Your employees. The media. People are going to voice – and
sometimes broadcast widely – opinions about your brand. You need to
listen and react to what they say. You need to figure out how to give
them information and access that will enhance their brand experience.
You need to correct misinformation, but also admit mistakes when you
Who’s going to do it? Where does the function belong? make them. We want to help you get the snowball of conversation
Who has the time? going in the right direction. It’s a powerful thing.
These are fair questions. But, we all find ways to get things done
when we’re committed to them and when we know they are going
to help us achieve our business goals. So that’s the real question we “Social media, done properly, is the closest thing yet to one-on-one
need to ask ourselves. Will this deliver the desired business outcome? conversation between even the largest companies and the millions
If not, don’t do it. If yes, divide and conquer.
of people they do business with ... In truth, your customers have
As to who specifically participates in a social media initiative? It
depends. Know this, though, the geek (and we use that term with always “owned” your brand ... The difference with social media
great affection) doesn’t suddenly become the subject expert. And is that you can listen to millions of people and learn, day-by-day,
the subject expert doesn’t have to become a techie, either. Marketers
and communicators who understand the social Web can help with how your brand is performing, where your company is strong,
things like audience segmenting, research, strategy and process
development, content ideas, monitoring and analytics. But they
and where you have work to do; and then, you can join in
don’t write the blog or participate in the online forum. The expert the conversation and positively influence your brand for the better.”
does. (Of course, in some cases, the marketing guy could be the
“expert:” you get our point.) Joel Postman, SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate

8. 3 4
What about the whole competitive issue? Why would any company What will legal say? Will they make time to review every post
want to tell anyone – let alone its biggest competitors – about its and comment?
next product rollout, its proprietary processes, what R&D is working
on, how they solved a customer problem, how they acquire new Let’s hope not! In all seriousness, we know corporate counsel can be
customers? Are you insane? a tough sell. After all, it’s legal’s job to protect the company from
litigation and liability. It’s tough to expand your company’s exposure
to the market and at the same time reduce its exposure from a legal
“If your products suck and your customers standpoint. But there are ways to manage these issues. For example,
many companies establish parameters for online comments by
hate you, you probably have good reason to company associates. In the most conservative cases, there may be
fear negativity ... For most companies it isn’t an issue ... guidelines identifying the limits of what can be said, which areas are
off limits and which are open for personal perspective, reflection or
unhappy customers are a fact of life ... In the interpretation. In the case of company-sponsored forums or blogs,
same way that a ‘no comment’ is seen as you can opt to review posts/comments before they’re published –
especially initially, as everyone gets comfortable with the idea. Your
the quintessential pR dodge, refusing to company also has a right to remove comments that do not follow
posted guidelines. Discussion groups can be by invitation only and
acknowledge and respond to customer concerns
can be password protected. A clear and pervasive mission helps, too.
is simply an invitation to more criticism.” A company with high integrity that trusts and values its employees,
customers and shareholders will be able to make the leap.
Paul Gillin, Secrets of Social Media Marketing
It is in the DNA of business-to-business companies to be extremely
cautious about any sharing of information, particularly when it
comes to customer relationships and new product development.
It’s easy to treat everything as a trade secret and avoid dialogue
with the public. But the direction in all business sectors is toward
greater openness. Consumer behavior is changing – globally –
and your customers are part of this new consumer culture. These
new expectations will surely carry over to you. When you discuss
information in an open forum, including ideas that may not be
perfect or polished, you will build credibility with your audiences.
Where you limit public access and remain closed with your
information, you will build suspicion. Now is the time to make smart
discriminations about what can be shared with key audiences seeking
real-time dialogue with you.

9. 5
u.S. B2B AD SpENDINg ON
SOCIAL NETWORK SITES
And finally, what’s the value? What’s it going to do for me? How am
I going to measure the return on investment? And at what cost?
What do we have to throw off the bus in order to get on board with this?
2007 $15
More than 80 percent of companies believe that
2008 $40 (169%)
social media is most effective in accomplishing brand-building
2009 $80 (99%) goals, followed closely by goals for attracting Web site visitors.
But marketers obsessed with only tracking social media
2010 $125 (55%) results quantitatively are missing the point and
may find themselves employing much less effective
2011 $165 (32%)
social media tactics for the sake of measurability.
2012 $210 (27%) “2009 Social Media Marketing and PR Benchmark
Guide,” MarketingSherpa LLC
Includes display, rich media, search, widgets, applications and other forms
of advertising targeted to a business audience on any social network. There are technologies and service providers working hard to perfect
social media monitoring and measurement. In the meantime, we can
learn a lot simply from the content and quality of the conversation.
The ability to know and understand your customers’ concerns and be
able to respond to them personally – in real time – is certainly valuable.
Further, you can very easily detect peaks and valleys in the volume of
online conversation, and compare that to Web hits, inquiries, sales,
advertising schedules, or any number of other metrics. Also, social
media is relatively cheap – or at least has the potential to be. There’s
eMarketer says U.S. marketers will spend $80 million in 2009 no printing, little (if any) production, and often no charge for space.
advertising to a business audience on social network sites. And because Web 2.0 lends itself quite nicely to targeting specific
The market has seen huge growth in the past two years and is demographics, behavior and work styles, there’s very little waste. But
expected to exceed $200 million by 2012. And by 2012, U.S. B2B the question of value is more complex than that. And it really requires
social network ad spending is expected to reach $210 million. an examination of your specific situation, audience, and desired
outcomes. Social Web planning and measurement should consider –
and ideally be integrated into – your overall business, marketing and
communication plans.
Source: eMarketer, August 2008

10. listen
set
track and
objectives
evaluate
I N T E G R A T I N G
S O C I A L M A R K E T I N G
I N T O T H E M I x
create a
facilitate content and
and amplify strategy
identify
influencers
engage and tools
Social marketing should be considered within the context of overall
business, marketing and communication goals.

11. Description Owner Risk Reward
Social Active listening, Marketing, Exposure Builds
Networking reading and public relations, relationships
(e.g., LinkedIn, commenting on customer Lack of with customers,
Facebook) blogs, message service, HR, conversation prospects,
SO M E O F T H E p I EC ES pA R T S boards, forums, product control employees
chat rooms, development – and other key
microblogs virtually anyone stakeholders
and other (everyone) in
We’ve talked about the social Web in fairly abstract terms. And there’s user-generated the company Helps you
good reason for that. One of the big benefits to communicating in content monitor issues –
the social Web space is the ability – in truth, the requirement – to making you
LinkedIn has smarter about
personalize. Your approach will be necessarily different from other more than your business,
companies with different audiences, brands, objectives, budgets, 38 million industry,
histories, cultures, CEOs ... the list goes on. But, it’s worth taking a look members in customers,
over 200 competitors
at some of the more commonly used tools, platforms and technologies countries, and other key
associated with social media. representing influencers
170 industries
Allows you
Facebook is to identify
used over 34 and correct
million times problems or
every day misperceptions
and respond
Industry-specific to customer
networks concerns in a
are gaining timely fashion
popularity
(e.g., Toolbox, Sparks ideas
LawLink and for product
the ACS development
Network)
Blogs Personal CEO, product Requires Lets you
(Authoring) journal of designer, time from connect
“posts,” engineer, committed regularly,
usually with marketing person(s) easily and
links and manager, inexpensively
photos HR – anyone Requires with customers
with passion transparency and other
Should be and ideas who and does not constituents
updated can represent permit a lot
regularly – at your company of corporate Positions execs
least once per well oversight as experts,
week, ideally company as
more often May have Must be open thought leaders
multiple to criticism
authors Humanizes the
organization,
building
credibility
Can showcase
products, etc.
Helps SEO

12. Description Owner Risk Reward Description Owner Risk Reward
Instant Web Web, Immediate Allows personal podcasts Regularly AV, marketing or Time and cost Educational
Messaging applications marketing or response and real-time scheduled communication associated opportunities
serving as communication required to conversation and updated professional with content
real-time, text- professional questions and online audio development, Completely
based instant requests programming production and control the
communication driving traffic message
between two Audio can be
or more people downloaded to Mobile
on the Internet a computer or
MP3 player Constant,
flowing news/
Forums, Online Facilitators are Time Provides a information
Message discussion that most often investment platform to
Boards, allows people chief marketing monitor issues, SEO
Chat Rooms to participate officers, No conversation trends and
when and how product control customer
they choose managers/ sentiment, Webcasts Broadcast AV, Web, Time and cost Simultaneous
developers, allowing you Internet using marketing or associated interaction
Your company division heads, to quickly flag streaming communication with content between users
can facilitate chief engineers/ and address media professional development,
and/or scientists, potential crises technology production and Great
participate industry before they driving traffic educational
in discussions administrators evolve tool
hosted by
others Provides Lead
opportunities generation
for insight and
testing
Online Video, Company- AV, marketing or Time and cost Brings ideas
Demonstrates
presentation created videos, communication associated to life, i.e., a
your technology
and photo PowerPoints professional with content picture is worth
prowess
Sharing and images development, 1,000 words
and interest
(e.g., youTube, uploaded to production and
in industry
SlideShare, the Internet, driving traffic Great for
Flickr, available for education,
myebook) simultaneous demonstration
Virtual Trade A temporary, Marketing or Less personal Simultaneous viewing and interaction
Show live, virtual communication interaction live interaction
(e.g., unisfair) space allowing professional with target between The audiovisual Potential to
similar users to customers/ users on counterpart become “viral”
connect with audiences multiple levels to blogs
one another SEO
without travel, Opportunity to
via the Internet connect with
key audiences
Lower cost
and time
commitment
than traditional
trade shows

13. Description Owner Risk Reward Description Owner Risk Reward
Microblogging A combination CEO, marketer, Requires Facilitates easy, Wiki (e.g., A Web site Web, Accuracy of Effective
(e.g., Twitter, of blogging, product time and immediate, Wikipedia) updated and marketing or information knowledge/
yammer) instant manager, HR, transparency frequent modified by communication data sharing
messaging and customer communication various levels of professional Time tool
news feed. Can service – No conversation with audience users, including investment
be an open or anyone with control readers, Sparks
private network knowledge Provides a face/ editors and collaboration
and dedication personality administrators
Limited space to your behind the
for posting organization organization
updates and builds Web Apps Applications on Web, Time to create Expansion
available – in Must have the personal (e.g., widgets, a browser or marketing or of online
most cases, capacity to relationships iphone other platform communication community
140 to 160 actively listen with stakeholders applications, blog designed professional presence
characters and participate Facebook for a specific
in real-time Provides a applications, etc.) function – Encourages
eMarketer conversations platform for examples Web visits,
reports customer include news interaction
12 million service feeds, weather
are tweeting guides, quizzes Potential to
in 2009 and Helps drive and games become “viral”
projects Twitter traffic to other
users will jump social networking
to >18 million platforms and Real Simple Notifies blog Web, Time to create/ Allows key
in 2010 Web sites Syndication subscribers of marketing or update audience
(RSS) new postings communication members to
and site professional receive news/
Search Engine Techniques Unpaid: SEO May be con- Ensures updates information
Optimization to help your professional/ sidered costly, prospects, updates
(SEO) brand(s) team, Web depending customers immediately
come up early master or on industry, and other key
and often in interactive selected constituents Creates a
search engine team member keywords find you when following
keyword and strategy they are in of people
searches Paid: Preferably employed decision- interested
• Organic a certified SEM making mode in your
Organic SEO is professional Paid search is organization
done through working with short-lived Increases
Web site structure, interactive awareness
content, social team
networking Positions
and internal company as
and external leader and
links. (Organic executives as
search results experts
are used
74 percent
more often
by B2B buyers
than paid
results)
• Pay-per-click
Paid SEO (also
called pay-per-
click) guarantees
placement,
much like
paid media
advertising

14. Description Owner Risk Reward
Tags Keywords Web, N/A Helps search
attached to marketing or optimization
a blog post communication
or Web site, professional
working to RECOMMENDED READINg
distinguish your
post from other
information on
the Internet We hope we’ve convinced you to take the next step. Even if it’s just
listening. Or reading a book, or a blog or two. Following are some of
Online Internet real Web, Cost Drives traffic to
our personal favorites:
Advertising estate marketing, company site
designated media Less credibility and increases
for promoting communication visibility on the
Forrester Research, Inc., Groundswell: Winning in a World
online business professionals Internet Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh
and driving Bernoff, 2009 – the bible, as far as we’re concerned
consumer Builds brand
traffic
Can be Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester), www.web-strategist.com/blog
highly
interactive
and/or The Society for New Communications Research, www.sncr.org
educational
Maintains SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate by Joel Postman, 2009
control of
message,
design and Scott Monty (Ford), scottmonty.com
delivery
Paul Dunay, buzzmarketingfortech.blogspot.com
Charlene Li, blog.altimetergroup.com
The NewPR/Wiki, www.thenewpr.com
Seth Godin, sethgodin.typepad.com
Secrets of Social Media Marketing by Paul Gillin, 2009

15. Contact:
Beth Hallisy, ApR
bhallisy@marcusthomasllc.com
216-292-4700
marcusthomasllc.com
Highlands Business Park 24865 Emery Road Cleveland, Ohio 44128