Are your content marketing efforts truly building trust and credibility with the IT Committee -- the diverse group of decision makers who influence tech buying decisions? The type of content you share, who it comes from, and how you gate it impacts your lead generation efforts. Join us as we present new research that shows how IT marketers can avoid common mistakes and build meaningful relationships with the IT Committee on social media. You'll learn how to: - Develop the trust and credibility to earn quality leads - Leverage the expertise within your company to provide valuable content - Start the sales cycle on the IT Committee's schedule to avoid turning off leads before they convert

1. From Hurting to Helping:
How to Earn Quality IT Leads
with Trust
Dial-in: 877-668-4490
Access Code: 664 574 160
@LinkedInMktg
#ITCommittee

2. Mike Weir
Vertical Director – Technology Industry
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
mweir@linkedin.com

3. Too often, we are the bad party guest
talking about ourselves NON-STOP

4. 4
This lack of value is killing our client
& prospect relationships

5. 5
Today, we have platforms and data
to help us understand the IT
Committee and engage them

6. 6
Understanding the
IT Committee on Social
Buying decisions are made by a broader
group than IT
95% of the IT Committee use social
networks for business
More likely to engage with vendors on
LinkedIn than other networks

7. 7
How do you earn TRUST with the IT Committee?
We surveyed over 2,300 IT Committee members globally
N. AMERICA EMEA
UAE, N=154
* LOCAL LANGUAGE / LinkedIn Survey and Internal Data: Q2 2014
The Netherlands, N=204
Germany, N=203
France*, N=202
Canada, N=152
US, N=404
UK, N=204
BRAZIL*, N=155
India, N=202
Hong Kong, N=155
Singapore, N=104
Australia, N=104
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia, N=155
APAC

8. 8
The Growing IT Committee
Who are they and how do you engage them?
The Power of Education without Bias
If you’re talking about yourself, you’re doing it wrong
The Expertise You Don’t Know You Have
The definition of an expert is broader than you think
Nurture, don’t Disrupt
Gating content too early and too often is counter-productive

9. The Growing
IT Committee

10. 10
The IT Committee
10+ million
members who influence IT decisions
across departments and seniorities
Growing 1.25x
faster than general
member growth

11. 11
IT decision making goes beyond the senior IT department
78%
of the IT Committee works
outside of IT
30% 61%
are individual
contributors or managers
control part or all of
the IT Budget
In which department do you work?
In which of the following stages of IT decision-making are you currently involved?

12. 12
They’re hungry for IT news and information on social
83%
use social media for IT News and
Information each month
75% 44% 41% 32%
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
Visit LinkedIn Visit Facebook Visit Google+ Visit Twitter
How frequently do you visit each of the following sources to get IT related news and information?

13. They trust content on LinkedIn more than any other source
13
% content from each source very or extremely trustworthy
50% 48%
Visitation │ High Medium Low
34% 33%
How frequently do you visit each of the following sources to get IT related news and information?
How trustworthy do you feel the content you see from each of the below sources is?
24%
20%
15%
9%
LinkedIn Online Trade/
Industry Sites
Google+ Online News
Sites
Discussion
Forums
Blogs Twitter Facebook

14. The Power of Education
without Bias

15. 78%
of the IT Committee require education
to sustain or make a change to their
IT ecosystem
15
How significant is the role education plays in the following types of decisions undertaken by your organization?

16. 16
Educating throughout the 67%
More likely to consider an IT
vendor who educates me through
each stage of the decision process
purchase funnel makes
generating leads more
effective

17. Start with content about general industry topics, prioritized
for your audience
Author or promote expert content on the direction and
use of your industry’s products
Promote branded user reviews and case studies to drive
consideration and selection of your company
1
2
3
17
Three types of education

18. The Expertise You Don’t
Know You Have

19. Experts Rule the Day. But, the Definition of Expert has Evolved
19
Influence on tech purchases
(by purchase stage and content source)
56%
53% 53%
63% 62%
49%
45% 44%
59%
47%
33%
29% 30%
Thinking of a recent or upcoming company-wide technology purchase, how influential is the SOURCE of the information you consume at each stage of the purchase cycle?
34%
37%
Awareness
Scope
Plan
Select
Implement
Awareness
Scope
Plan
Select
Implement
Awareness
Scope
Plan
Select
Implement
EXPERT CONTENT INFLUENCE
USER / PEER REVIEW INFLUENCE
BRANDED CONTENT INFLUENCE

20. Expertise is based on references from others and
demonstrated knowledge
Not necessarily on title or connections
% Who Believe Each Statement Defines an Expert
11%
10%
6%
14%
22%
37%
55%
52%
References from coworkers and other professionals in their field
72%
Published author or presenter in their field
Has a (on average) 8.5 years of experience
Manages a team
Has a Master's Degree or higher
Is a vice president or more senior
Has 500 or more connections on LinkedIn
Third Party scores (Klout, Kred, PeerIndex, etc.)
Other (Please specify)
When you think of a technology subject matter expert (SME), what is the first thing that comes to mind? 20
Below you see some additional qualities a subject matter expert may have. Please select all the attributes below that are required to be a technology SME.

21. The IT Committee is positively impacted
by the actions of your employees
25%
Are more favorable toward a
vendor whose employees
participate in LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups
24%
Are more favorable toward a
vendor whose employees
share content on LinkedIn
Employees
23%
Are more likely to consider
if vendors have experts
publishing on LinkedIn
Experts

22. Utilize the expertise in
your organization to
earn trust
22
On the world’s largest professional
publishing platform

23. Nurture, don’t Disrupt

24. 24
The IT Committee is anxious about gated content
40% 15%
fear SPAM or sales calls leave the site completely
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you try to download an article or access a product page and are forced to enter your contact information?

25. 59%
of the IT Committee provides fake
information when they complete a
lead capture form
How many of you
have had Mickey
Mouse download
your content?
A Lead Capture for is a technique used by companies to collect contact information, usually when someone downloads a piece of information the company has published or a webinar they 25
have held. Is the information you provide on Lead Capture forms truthful?

26. 61%
In market
26
Those in market for IT
solutions are more likely to
provide fake information
41%
Not in market
At least sometimes provide
fake info

27. Gating content too early or too often decreases consideration
IT Committee Members actively looking for an enterprise IT Solution (in-market)
27
41% 81%
are less likely to consider a vendor who
gates the FIRST piece of content
are less likely to consider a vendor who
How likely are you to consider an IT vendor whose first piece of content you see requires you to provide your contact information?
gates ALL content

28. 28
Nurturing leads through content is vital because most are
not ready to talk to sales
The average
IT Committee member needs to
consume
5 pieces
of content before they are ready to
talk to a sales rep.
When researching a specific major enterprise IT / security solution, how many pieces of content related to that solution do you typically need to consume before you are ready to be
contacted by a sales representative?

29. 29
Lead gen and branding don’t need to be separate
TRADITIONAL
LEAD GENERATION
SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
VALUABLE CONTENT
SWEET SPOT

30. 30
Publish and promote your content in places on LinkedIn
where the IT Committee is engaging the most
The Feed starts the
conversation
2x as active on desktop in the
feed than members1
1LinkedIn Internal Data – 4/1/2014 through 4/30/2014
Groups for expert articles &
content
2x as active in groups than
members1
Ensure content is mobile
friendly
25% more active on mobile
than members1

31. 31
Marketer Implications
§ Earn trust with broad-based content that goes
beyond your brand’s self-interests
§ Incorporate an “always on” content strategy
with a variety of content – gated and un-gated
§ Leverage your employees and company
specialists as experts
§ Utilize LinkedIn’s Content Marketing Score to
optimize and measure your content
§ Prepare for the future of LinkedIn

32. Thank you!
Additional Resources
• Full Research: lnkd.in/nurtureIT
• Solutions: marketing.linkedin.com
• Contact us: lnkd.in/contact