How to apply and implement social media in B2B marketing? First and foremost, capitalize on the things you are already doing.

1. How
conversations
help you
leverage the
things you are
already doing.
Or: how being an business to business
company makes you more conversation-
worthy than most big brands.
© InSites Consulting
Polle de Maagt (@polledemaagt) and Ashley Smith for InSites Consulting
Conversation readiness 1

2. Hello. I am Polle de Maagt.
I create impact through
conversations at a pretty cool
company called InSites Consulting.
We work mostly because we’re
committed to take research
forward, but brands like
Ben&Jerry’s, Nike, Heineken and
Philips agreed to pay us for it.
© InSites Consulting
Conversation readiness 2

3. Never.
Ever.
Come to me with the excuse that it‟s
difficult for B2B organizations to do
marketing or advertising and to make
use of social media or conversations.
Most things that are normal for B2B, are
skills B2C is struggling to implement.

4. “Twitter is another way for us to engage with our customers, it's
becoming very critical for us,” said Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO of
Eastman Kodak Co. Hayzlett himself is an active Twitter user
(@jeffreyhayzlett), as is his marketing team, including Kodak's
b2b group (@kodakdigprint).
“What b2b marketers, in particular, miss is that these
conversations are going on without them. Just type in your
company name on Twitter search and you'll be blown away—
there are going to be comments about your company and issues
being discussed you weren't even aware of.”
Business to business is about relationship and personal
contact.
So says Kodak.

5. Business to business is about superb products/expertise.
About acts, not ads.

6. Over-the-top-delivery
Makes negative conversations
Over-delivery
Makes positive conversations
Expectation Delivery
Gives no reason to talk
Under-delivery
Makes negative conversations
Business to business is about managing expectations.
About under-promise, over-deliver.

7. Business to business buyers are on social media.
Shown by research by Forrester.

8. Business to business isn’t on social media.
We tried to make a scan of the industry and competitors. Efforts are scattered,
unprofessional and not about conversations. We are in a wasteland.

9. Texas Instruments.
We tried to make a scan of the industry and competitors. Efforts are scattered,
unprofessional and not about conversations. We are in a wasteland.

10. Dell Healthcare.
We tried to make a scan of the industry and competitors. Efforts are scattered,
unprofessional and not about conversations. We are in a wasteland.

11. Dell Healthcare on Twitter.
We tried to make a scan of the industry and competitors. Efforts are scattered,
unprofessional and not about conversations. We are in a wasteland.

12. Philips healthcare on YouTube.
We tried to make a scan of the industry and competitors. Efforts are scattered,
unprofessional and not about conversations. We are in a wasteland.

13. Philips 21:9 Carousel: really show people what it‟s about

14. Learning 1: No central
management
Many companies have cluttered (local)
initiatives that are not centrally
managed.
Result = no synchronization, no vision,
no goals.

15. Learning 2: Modus inertia.
Most accounts are inactive, without any
conversation going on. Being present is a
first step, but we have to engage as soon
as possible.

16. Learning 3: Broadcasting, no
dialogue.
The active accounts are often just
broadcasting messages in push-style.
Social media is about people and
conversations, not about promotions and
ads.

17. Learning 4: No activation.
Most accounts have very little
connections. People need to be aware of
your presence. Show links to social
media channels in all touchpoints
(website, newsletter, offline
communication,...)

18. Learning 5: Static content.
Lot‟s of websites show pictures,
video‟s,...unfortuntaly they cannot be
shared. Everything we show, must be
shareable. If we use video, let‟s think in
YouTube, Vimeo,...For pictures we can
use Flickr. If we build presentations, let‟s
think in Slideshare, if we offer PDF‟s we
use Sribd,...

19. Learning 6: Too rational.
Most companies just share rational
information. We need to go beyond facts
and figures. People identify with humans
and emotions... And don‟t forget: go
beyond text. Think photo, slides,
video,...What do you like most?

20. So, what is this presentation
about? What’s happening with
conversations and social media?
(and you might recognize some things
you are already doing).

21. 1) From customer acquisition to customer retention to
customer advocacy.
KLM went the extra mile with their KLM Surprise campaign.

22. 2) From remarkable talks to remarkable acts.
Volkswagen did a campaign to actually change people‟s behavior.

23. 3) From monetary value to conversation value.
Penguin Books recognizes influentials.

24. 4) From technical to emotional benefits.
Actimel featured is technical benefits, which made it vulnerable towards negative
claims.

25. 5) From product to service.
Delivering happiness at Zappos.

26. 6) From communication to company culture.
Measuring your advocacy by the number of people hat wears your tattoos.

27. 7) From communication to employee advocacy.
A great website by the way.

28. 8) From not getting distracted by technology, but using it.
Wakoopa once was a geek tool, now a very promising marketing research tool.

29. So, this presentation isn’t so
much about advertising, social
media or marketing, but about
relationships and common
sense.
About how applying common sense takes
you halfway to success.

30. Consumer Journey General overview
Let’s have a look at how consumers in a B2B environment make their decisions
Pre-purchase
Help them choose
Legitimise decision making
Loyalty loop
Have loyalty benefits
Treat them based on sales
Start
Orientation Purchase
Post-purchase
Deliver
Polle de Maagt (@polledemaagt) for InSites Consulting, based on McKinsey‟s Consumer Decision Journey

31. Consumer Journey Conversations
If you translate this based on conversation value, you will get a nuanced view.
Pre-purchase
Be there
Neutralize doubts
Have conversation proof
Loyalty loop
Solve problems
Activate to share
Co-create
Start Treat them based on conversation value Purchase
Make it work
Orientation Over-deliver
Be shareable
Post-purchase
Over-deliver
Solve problems
Activate to share
Co-create
Polle de Maagt (@polledemaagt) for InSites Consulting, based on McKinsey‟s Consumer Decision Journey

32. That makes four main uses for
social media and conversations:
1) Solve the problems of your clients
2) Activate your buyers
3) Have a sales process worth sharing
4) Be there before the sales

33. Helping people helps.
Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63% recommends)
and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%).

34. That makes four main uses for
social media and conversations:
1) Solve the problems of your clients
2) Activate your buyers
3) Have a sales process worth sharing
4) Be there before the sales

35. Cisco had one of it’s most successful product launches.
All about B2B and social media.

36. AMEX gathers small business.
All about B2B and social media.

37. Activate your audience to recommend you.
Every customer that leaves Florence‟s B&B Il Giglio d‟Oro is asked to leave a
recommendation at Tripadvisor; it is now ranked #1 of 364 B&B‟s …

38. It is about capitalizing on the stuff you’re already doing.
Kay Mook gained the Antwerp Zoo 300K extra visitors and almost became
product of the year 2009. More at http://polle.me/ccjSNL

39. That makes four main uses for
social media and conversations:
1) Solve the problems of your clients
2) Activate your buyers
3) Have a sales process worth sharing
4) Be there before the sales

40. It is about creating happy customers.
Even in a procedure-heavy company like Starbucks, there is room to put a smile
on customer‟s faces.

41. Create sales promotions that are worth sharing.
The difference between “50% discounted” and “because we love you, we have an
extremely interesting experience you HAVE to see”.

42. Commit random acts of kindness.
Think about small things worth talking about.

43. Make sales easy and easy to share.
Make it easy to subscribe of share your content via twitter, Facebook or other
social buttons. Example: http://polle.me/ij19j4

44. Leverage the power of social commerce.
Groupon is one of the smart promotions platforms.

45. That makes four main uses for
social media and conversations:
1) Solve the problems of your clients
2) Activate your buyers
3) Have a sales process worth sharing
4) Be there before the sales

46. 1. I did a LinkedIn group search and found the group
2. I then did a search for the group on Google
3. The group search led me to find the company’s website
4. While on the company’s site, I used a free website tool and downloaded a white paper
5. The phone rang within 20 minutes of downloading the paper (I hated this part! But was glad, in
retrospect, that I gave them my name and not Mickey Mouse.)
6. I had a good 45 minute conversation about…social media. Yep, that’s right! There was a little bit
of discussion about their website, the tool, their offerings, etc. but most was about social media,
implementing it, how it’s changing marketing. (I loved this part! Even though I knew they are a
marketing a social media application)
7. I had never heard of this company so I went to the MarketingProfs Know-how Exchange forum to
further investigate and to see if anyone else had. I had a hunch, however, that the answers I
received were from the company’s marketers (give them a read, you be the judge), but none-the-
less I was still curious.
8. I then hopped over to Twitter to see if anyone over there had heard of the company, but it was
radio silence. But, coincidently, there just happened to be a bunch of timely tweets appearing
about this company and its new free tool that they released. And how the company “listened” (via
Twitter) to a tweet and actually implemented the suggestions made on the tweeter’s blog. Now
that got my attention!
9. I then signed up for the company’s webinar. I wish I remember where I saw the promo for the
webinar, but I can positively say, I don’t think it was an invitation from the company.
10. Finally, after feeling that I did enough investigation, got a sense of what they could achieve for
me [because it obviously works for them, in my experience] I signed on with this company for
their services. (via)
© InSites Consulting
B2B before the sales: true case how being there before the sales just helps.
Conversation readiness 46

47. 0
Scania makes it easy to find and share information.
Using a social media newsroom.

48. Work together with 23000 other experts.
Using a social media platform.

49. Indium engineers convinced 10 engineers to blog.
On their terms. The results: 3.2 times more web traffic, 2.4 times more leads.

50. O’reilly uses content to grow their company.
And they built new business models on top of it.

51. Bring your sales where the end consumers are.
Bring the sales where your clients are: smart cooperation in content.

52. Will it Blend: designed to help sales people sell the product.

53. Akzo Nobel: Paint.

54. Not convinced?
We asked 500 European marketers how
they perform in terms of return on
investment, turnover growth,
profitability, market share and customer
satisfaction.

55. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
The best performing marketers do three things
that make them stand out.
* Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

56. It’s really simple:
Act human.
Build upon the things you’re
already doing.
Think conversations.
And on top of that: here‟s some structure
to help you out.

57. Observe Facilitate Join
The three pillars of conversation management.

58. Start with observing and listening.
There are simple tools to observe what consumers are doing. Via
search.twitter.com or more advanced tools. But what about customer emails?

59. Facilitate.
UPS facilitates discussions on „New logistics‟ with their B2B clients on Facebook.

60. Join.
Helping helps. Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63%
recommends) and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%).

61. Use pilot projects to learn and change.
Telenet launched a beta product to let consumer help them eventually create a
better product. Think in intrinsic, learning and change KPI‟s.

62. Be maniacal about measuring and tweaking.
Measure views, clicks, but even more important: your return on investment.
Extremely simple, but effective: the Net Promoter Score.

63. You can forget most of the things
I said in this introduction.
But please, remember these 3 things.

64. 1) Conversations drive business.
Companies that connect with
their consumers perform better.
So start the conversation.

65. 2) To drive conversations, exceed
expectations and create stuff
worth sharing.
Don‟t plan only for life time money
value, but for life time conversation
value.

66. 3) Start with observing, but start
with simple ways to drive
conversations.
Start monitoring, start with pilots and
learn while doing.

67. Read the manual.
Seriously.
Read it.

68. I hope I showed some
common sense.
If you liked it, please share my
story.
Send me an email at polle@insites.eu
or find me on twitter at
@polledemaagt.
© InSites Consulting
Conversation readiness 68