Social Media Strategy for B2B Companies

1. Develop the Social Media(SM) strategy for a B2B Business Segment Team Name: Drink-Spike-Drink Ann Thomas VGSOM,IIT KGP Kumar Priyadarshi VGSOM,IIT KGP

2. Improvised BCG Matrix with Social Media (SM) Industry Growth(IG) Rationale for 3rd Dimension 1.) Permission Marketing 2.) Free Flow of Information 3.) Collaboration 4.) Technology 5.) Globalization 6.) Slowdown : Shrinking of Marketing Budget Market Share (MS) Social Market Share (SMS) Social Market Share = (Organization’s Voice on SM / Total Voice on SM ) Primary SM Value Proposition: Tangible Value = { Supply Chain Cost Reduction, Broader Network, Revenue growth, Cost Reduction} Intangible Value = { Brand image, Communication, Internal Branding , Better Supplier Relationship}

3. Dynamics of B2B Market : Present Situation a.) At Present, Organizations occupy primarily four strategic positions in 3-dimensional space. i.) High Industry growth , High Market share, Low Social Market Share SM Strategy : Invest extensively in SM to maintain leadership position. ii.) Low Industry growth , High Market share, Low Social Market Share SM Strategy : Invest selectively just to maintain market share . b.) i.) High Industry growth , Low Market share, Low Social Market Share SM Strategy: Invest and Communicate augmented value proposition ii.) Low Industry growth , Low Market share, Low Social Market Share SM Strategy: Quit.

5. Inform

6. Market Research

7. Generate Leads

8. Supplier Partnership

9. Crowd sourcing

10. Exchange ideas in B2B

11. Real time communication

12. New product development

13. Complaint resolution

14. Updates on Safety

15. Wiki-manuals

16. Buyer discussions

19. Best Practices

21. Marketing and Sales

22. Marketing and Sales (Contd.)

24. Customer Effort : Brands are communities. Brand is a shared story of organization/Customer experience.

27. Establish Social network and invite to participate

28. Strengthen Old collaborators

29. SM Value Add: Easy to set up, Inexpensive

30. Approve on one idea

33. Monitor the online influencers pain points

34. SM value Add : Greater reach and easy access

35. Provide process knowledge

36. Ask for ideas to improve process

37. Disseminate ideas thoroughly

39. Thanks supporters for Helping in crisis

41. Acknowledge Mistakes

42. Leverage existing relationship

44. SM – Engagement in Product Development Engaging Designers in Social Media Add plug-ins like Vuuch to initiate, monitor, and manage design discussions in SM platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr right from your CAD environment. Use Virtual World platforms during product development and prototyping to communicate effectively with buyers Share Manufacturing best practices through use of Flickr, YouTube, Wikis etc. Engage in Communities on Industry practices like 'Lean Manufacturing‘ Join communities where brands and practitioners 'talk' Ensuring Participation of Vendors and B2B buyers Providing Open-wiki documents which supplier/buyer can also use to their advantage Encourage standardization via discussions on SM platforms. Communicate with largest vendors over SM to give other prospective candidates an idea of the operations and expectations Measuring ROI Design Improvements made Decrease in re-designs Improvement in buyer relations

46. Done for both buyer and supplier on a collaborative SM platform like an Industry forum

47. Improved transparency in supplier selection

49. Create online distribution channels

50. Use Social Media platforms of an industrial group for auctions/biddings and e-commerce

51. Ease of ordering

52. Invite attention to offline distribution channels

53. Share information on trade-shows and events via Twitter, Facebook, Blog Updates etc

54. All users can find details about the efficiency of the logistics from comments/complaints of similar buyers and suppliers in terms of

55. Response Time

56. Costs-Real and Hidden

58. All social media mentions will not be linked to company pages (hash tagged in twitter; @ in facebook; hyperlinked in blogs etc) and so picking the relevant data is tedious

60. Common queries answered in public; Redundancy in service efforts reduced

61. Quicker Responses

62. Higher Engagement with lesser intrusion

63. Capturing ‘problem strings’ early and efficiently.

65. SM- Internal Branding ( Engaging Employees)

68. Evidence of Customers buying on SM

70. Set up and Maintain LinkedIn Profile

72. Engage employees to deliver on brand promise

76. Increased Employee Satisfaction.

77. Increased number of referrals.4 Weeks 8 weeks 24 weeks 36 weeks

81. Does this company value relationship?

83. Old Product : Publish existing customer success stories

84. Validate the Perceived value of the product through communication on SM

85. Communicate Special Promotions, offer Discounts , free Samples to vendors who collaborate.

86. Build an Online Vendor Community

87. Post early updates on future products in this communitySM Value Proposition

89. Engagement time

90. Monitoring time

91. Any paid tools or outside resources

92. Manpower cost

93. Payment for membership in communities

94. Data Secrecy trade-off Cost

95. Training Cost

97. Employee support

98. Supplier Support

101. More Service Opportunities

102. Better Relationships

103. Lesser Opportunity Misses

104. Market research cost savings

105. Lower service staffing levels

106. Lower crisis management costs

108. Stronger relations

109. Opens multiple channels

110. Peer/ Expert support in decision making

111. More product improvement requirements met

112. Information on most recent product upgrades, offers etc

113. Quicker Complaint Resolution

114. Installation, User manuals, Online assistance

115. Brand assurance from the community

116. Associations with wider set of businesses via industry groups

118. New analysis techniques

119. Connecting departments

120. Improved Process Efficiency

121. Lead generations via groups

122. Full time monitoring required

123. Quicker channel creating better relations

124. Identifying reach, advocacy etc. without special effort

126. Integrate with offline channels

127. Ensuring quality of content

128. Consistency between SM messages

129. Amount of data made public

131. Prompt, valid responses

132. Networking and relationship management

133. Participate and engage

134. More individual freedom and responsibility

135. Web access to all

136. Commitment for all time – not only office hours

137. SM activity leadership can be at any point in the organization

139. Non Social Media Platforms ( e.g. Direct Mail, Banner Advertisement )

140. Competitor Activity

141. Non Sector Specific best in Class Soft Metrics Financial

142. SM- Performance Score Card(Balanced External and Internal Social Media Metrics) Social Media Balanced Score Card = Balanced External Social Media Score Balanced Internal Social Media Score Perfect Social Media Balanced Score Card Value = 1 i.e. a well balanced Social Media Program considered world class by external program participants and is efficiently and effectively delivered by the company.

143. Social Media Future Trends in B2B Marketing Google Search Google 'Influence rank' based on how the company influences the community Real time Search results on a keyword search from organization’s social network determined by its Social Relevance Ratings Every buyer and supplier will be given a rating and it will be published on SM to maintain transparency. This is continuously updated based on community sentiment Profiling social media users and identifying good/bad quality raters and reviewers Planning and Forecasting – Social Media Data Identifying the sentiment and demeanour of data (positive, neutral, negative) Using SM data in planning and forecasting exercises Monitoring SM trends for demand forecasts Mobile Social Makreting Geotagging Foursquare, Facebook places etc. will be prominent in B2B Marketing location check-in market

144. Thank You!!! Ann Thomas Gmail: annthomas88@gmail.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513294111&ref=search Twitter: ann_vgsom Kumar Priyadarshi Gmail: krpriyadarshi.nitj@gmail.com Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/linkinrustle Facebook Page : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linkinrustles-Marketing-Theories/116935035016628?ref=ts Twitter: linkinrustle