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How to leverage B2B social media for IT companies? Haim Oren, The Oren Group TBK- consult- Israel

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Table of contents <ul><li>Facts about social media growth </li></ul><ul><li>Recent research findings on the growing influence of B2B social media </li></ul><ul><li>The new model of the social Web 2.0 </li></ul><ul><li>Key success factors for B2B social media for IT companies and business cases </li></ul><ul><li>Concluding insights </li></ul>

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Some facts about Social media <ul><li>Facebook-- 750 million members worldwide; more than 50% use the site daily. </li></ul><ul><li>LinkedIn--100 million registered users with 2 billion searches in 2010 </li></ul><ul><li>YouTube--Americans stream 2 billion videos each day. </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter- 175 million users, 95 million tweets per day </li></ul><ul><li>More than 80% of online users are active in either creating, participating in or reading some form of social content at least once a month </li></ul><ul><li>Sources: Omniture, HubSpot & Ogilvy Worldwide </li></ul>

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The dawn of the social media Age

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. “ Companies should become social enterprises. First, they must connect to public social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter. Next, they should create a private social networks” CEO Marc Benioff –CEO Salesforce.com “ Nobody is as smart as everybody” Jim Lavoie-CEO Rite-Solutions

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Social media is becoming a marketing standard <ul><li>87% of B2B IT marketers agree that </li></ul><ul><li>“ social media will become a standard tactic like email ” </li></ul><ul><li>Nearly 70% of B2B Companies use social media as part of their marketing mix </li></ul><ul><li>Source; Forrester Research. 2010 </li></ul>

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Social Media is becoming a marketing standard <ul><ul><li>In 2008, only 33% of InformationWeek500 companies used social media tools like; wikis, social networking and blogs to reach out to customers, suppliers, and partners. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>In 2010, that figure shot up to 72%, in one of the most dramatic changes seen in InformationWeek500 data. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Source: Information Week500 survey tracks and ranks the most innovative north American corporate users of information technology with $250 million in annual revenue in 24 industries . </li></ul></ul>

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The top influencers on B2B IT decision makers

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B2B social media is now a part of the IT marketing mix

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Definition for social media for business <ul><li>Social media is an on-line arena developed for the purpose of enabling mass collaboration & communication between business users </li></ul>

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Social media represents a paradigm -shift <ul><li>Web 1.0 </li></ul><ul><li>Read-Only Web </li></ul><ul><li>Brochureware content </li></ul><ul><li>Company controlled </li></ul><ul><li>Monolog </li></ul><ul><li>Company’s Knowledge </li></ul><ul><li>Corporate ‘Speak’ </li></ul><ul><li>Formalized, rational </li></ul><ul><li>Social Web 2.0 </li></ul><ul><li>Collaborative web </li></ul><ul><li>Dynamic content </li></ul><ul><li>Community centric </li></ul><ul><li>Dialog/ Conversation </li></ul><ul><li>“ Wisdom of the crowds&quot; or Crowdsourcing </li></ul><ul><li>Transparent </li></ul><ul><li>Real stories from real people </li></ul>

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Key Success Factors for B2B social media <ul><li>Define a social media strategy & tactical plan </li></ul><ul><li>Develop compelling content </li></ul><ul><li>Define public social media mix </li></ul><ul><li>Create a private engaging online community </li></ul><ul><li>Measure Social ROI </li></ul>

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1.Social media Strategy <ul><li>You can't stumble into social media! </li></ul><ul><li>You must create a strategy that includes the following components; </li></ul><ul><li>Who is the target audience that you want to reach via social media? </li></ul><ul><li>What are your strategic social media goals: </li></ul><ul><li>Build relationships, Branding opportunities, Attract traffic, Generate leads </li></ul><ul><li>Cost effectively communicate w/customers, Identify new sales channels, </li></ul><ul><li>Give customers a voice, Build link popularity etc., </li></ul><ul><li>What business information does your target audience seek? </li></ul><ul><li>What content can you offer them that no one else is offering? </li></ul><ul><li>What is the optimal mix of public social media that can help reach your target audience? </li></ul><ul><li>What is not measured is not managed; How are you going to measure the social media contribution to your business: </li></ul><ul><li>-top line: brand image, reputation, sentiment </li></ul><ul><li>-bottom line: sales, market share, customer life time value etc., </li></ul>

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Tactical plan of action <ul><li>Define roles, polices and procedures within your company that relate to managing social media activity </li></ul><ul><li>Develop social media campaign tactics and timetables to execute strategy </li></ul><ul><li>Develop social marketing architecture to distribute your content to your target audience. </li></ul>

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2. Develop engaging content <ul><li>Content marketing definition: create the right content for the right audience for the right channel </li></ul><ul><li>The key to long term engagement is; developing high value content: information & tips on helping the target audience solve their customer’s problems </li></ul><ul><li>You are in the digital publishing business: develop a content plan which is an editorial calendar that defines the channels to publish and what content they require </li></ul><ul><li>Producing enough content on a frequent basis is key in achieving high engagement level , </li></ul><ul><li>Creating engaging social content is not based on a formula but on a balance between promotions and equity posts. </li></ul><ul><li>Avoid “brochureware’ like content </li></ul><ul><li>Setting up an adequate budget/resourcing to fund on-going thought leadership content development </li></ul>

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Cisco Live Virtual content <ul><li>Cisco launched Cisco Live Virtual , a virtual </li></ul><ul><li>Platform which is an extension of its Int’l Networkers Conferences . </li></ul><ul><li>After the physical conference takes place, a virtual version went live featuring: </li></ul><ul><li>Video taped executive keynotes and seminars presentations </li></ul><ul><li>Session Pdfs </li></ul><ul><li>Blogs and discussion groups </li></ul><ul><li>Chat rooms to network with the exhibitors </li></ul>

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Cisco Live Virtual

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Cisco Live Virtual benefits to users <ul><li>Access over 1,000 live and on-demand technical training sessions, keynotes, and Super Sessions. </li></ul><ul><li>Download session Pdfs prior to the conference </li></ul><ul><li>Build a virtual &quot;briefcase&quot; to manage and organize the content that are of interest </li></ul><ul><li>Network with peers, Cisco experts, and Cisco partners using text and webcam-based chats, buddy lists and v-card exchanges </li></ul><ul><li>Participate in games and win prizes </li></ul><ul><li>Join the conference conversation in the blog center and social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn </li></ul><ul><li>Download Cisco booth content and partner information in the exhibitor resource centers </li></ul>

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2. engaging Content, Cont’d <ul><li>50% of B2B marketers name content as the most effective Search Engine optimization (SEO) tactic. </li></ul><ul><li>Develop targeted social media content optimized for the right key words to rank high in search engine results because this is where potential customers are looking. </li></ul><ul><li>Search engines results pages (SERPs) are an effective type of measurement for your social media efforts. </li></ul><ul><li>Source: MarketingSherpa 2011 B2B survey </li></ul>

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Video –the most effective content form <ul><li>75% of senior executives view work-related videos on business websites at least once a week while </li></ul><ul><li>52% of them watch work-related videos on YouTube once a week. </li></ul><ul><li>Video pulls a higher response rate than text only content </li></ul><ul><li>Source: December 2010 Forbes Insight report </li></ul>

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Online Video benefits to IT marketers <ul><li>Builds engagement with prospects & buyers </li></ul><ul><li>Demonstrate intangible product/service attributes </li></ul><ul><li>Much higher conversion rate: </li></ul><ul><li>12% compared to 1% average conversion rate for text only sites </li></ul><ul><li>Builds creditability with prospects </li></ul><ul><li>Helps to build excitement around physical events before and after ( user conference, trade show etc.,) </li></ul><ul><li>Viral video helps build awareness, word-of-mouth and interest w/o the high cost of broadcast advertising </li></ul><ul><li>Video SEO is 50 times more likely to produce a first-page search result than traditional techniques. </li></ul>

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HP ‘You Tube’ enterprise TV

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3.Public social media channels <ul><li>Your objective is: to achieve a leading mind-share for the company in the primary public social channels like: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube </li></ul><ul><li>Select channels that fit your tactical plan and social architecture </li></ul><ul><li>Then, first step is: setting a Facebook page , a Twitter account a YouTube channel and use them to distribute content. </li></ul><ul><li>Check to see if your content fits the channel, for example: </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter: does the content fit the 140 characters limitation </li></ul><ul><li>YouTube: is it video based? </li></ul><ul><li>Facebook: is it an engaging enough story to fit this channel? </li></ul><ul><li>Roll out sequentially, mastering each channel before expanding to next channel </li></ul><ul><li>Maintain an optimal mix between promotion and equity posts </li></ul>

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Key Social platforms

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3.Public media channels, Cont’d <ul><li>Prioritize social media channels based on how extensively they are being used by their target audiences. </li></ul><ul><li>Metrics to monitor; </li></ul><ul><li>Social Reach; the total number of fans/subscribers across social channels used. </li></ul><ul><li>Social Reach Velocity ; is the growth rate per month per channel used. </li></ul><ul><li>Maintain ongoing presence </li></ul><ul><li>Commit to the number of channels deployed </li></ul><ul><li>Make sure company's content on public social networks is not different than on one’s website </li></ul>

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Cisco use of Public social media <ul><li>Cisco adopted social media since 2008 </li></ul><ul><li>Its social media architecture includes: </li></ul><ul><li>Blogs: 22 external, 475,000 viewers per quarter </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter:108 feeds with 2 million followers </li></ul><ul><li>Facebook:79 groups with 100,000 fans </li></ul><ul><li>YouTube:300+ channels, 2,000+videos, 4 million views </li></ul><ul><li>Flickr:300+ photos, 400,000 views </li></ul>

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Cisco Social media product Campaign <ul><li>Launched in the first half of 2010 its new ASR 1000 router using social media ONLY. </li></ul><ul><li>Coordinated campaigns on Facebook, blogs, forums, video, mobile platforms and gaming sites. </li></ul><ul><li>This ensured that Cisco delivered their messaging to the widest audience using fresh and varied formats appropriate to the context. </li></ul><ul><li>The global virtual launch results: </li></ul><ul><li>Reaching 90 times the usual number of participants </li></ul><ul><li>With reduced costs estimated at over $100K and saving over 42,000 gallons of fuel. </li></ul>

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SAP use of public social media “ SAP Community Network…may be the most extensive use to date of social media by a corporation.” -- Leveraging the Talent-Driven Organization , The Aspen Institute, 2010. 40K visits via blogs 20K followers 18+ accounts 25K fans, 15+ active pages 5 major groups 2M+ members 4 major groups 30K+ members 575+ storefronts Leads & Revenue

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4. Private online communities <ul><li>A new dimension has been added to today’s B2B marketing: the community . </li></ul><ul><li>It is in addition to a broadcast website which the company controls its information. </li></ul><ul><li>An online community enables creating mass collaboration & communications among external audiences such as; customers, suppliers, partners as well as internal audiences: employees </li></ul>

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Benefits of setting up IT private community <ul><li>Satisfy the information needs of your target audience </li></ul><ul><li>Create high engagement by enabling collaboration/communication between your customers, partners, service providers, consultants and industry organizations </li></ul><ul><li>Encourage sharing of information by users </li></ul><ul><li>Distribute existing content from your web out </li></ul><ul><li>by using RSS, widgets, mobile channels, etc. </li></ul>

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Spiceworks Community Strategy <ul><li>Spiceworks is a vendor providing IT management applications such as Network monitoring, helpdesk, PC inventory tools for SMBs </li></ul><ul><li>What : an online community </li></ul><ul><li>For Whom: SMBs </li></ul><ul><li>What : Provide platform to share best practices, solve technological problems and collaborate among SMBs worldwide </li></ul><ul><li>How ; becomes the go-to-place for SMBs to find and share information on SMB system management solutions </li></ul>

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Spiceworks community

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Spiceworks TV

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Spiceworks community branding

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Branded community <ul><li>Spiceworks members help each other do their jobs, share best practices, rate products and solve technology problems, while providing a valued outlet for collaboration . </li></ul><ul><li>Community members call themselves &quot; SpiceHeads .&quot; </li></ul><ul><li>SpiceHeads also recently created their own mascot -- SpiceRex -- to help represent and promote their fast growing network </li></ul><ul><li>These SpiceHeads are responsible for adding over 1,500 new IT pros everyday . </li></ul>

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Spiceworks community metrics <ul><li>1.5 million pros & SMBs IT professionals members in 190 counties; One in every five IT professionals worldwide belongs to the community </li></ul><ul><li>The largest and fastest growing social network for IT and network management software product in history </li></ul><ul><li>The largest knowledgebase for IT information online with; </li></ul><ul><ul><li>100,000 discussions. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>25,000 product reviews </li></ul></ul><ul><li>200 tech advertisers have tapped Spiceworks to sell to SMB IT pros . </li></ul><ul><li>Leading brands like; HP, Google, Dell, Intel, and Rackspace have integrated their offerings directly into Spiceworks </li></ul><ul><li>SpiceHeads currently support 35 million workers, manage 60 million computers and devices, and spend $180 billion annually on technology products -- or 10% of the global IT market spend. </li></ul><ul><li>Spiceworks captures 20% of the market </li></ul>

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The ‘social media chaos’ syndrome <ul><li>Today, in some cases there exists social media chaos in which: </li></ul><ul><li>Different groups/divisions within the company have their own agenda, and run their own social media channels with no regard to the big picture. </li></ul><ul><li>Content and tone are inconsistent with the brand message; creating variance in the customer experience </li></ul><ul><li>Publishing content is done on an ad-hoc basis </li></ul><ul><li>Reporting is completely silo'ed </li></ul><ul><li>Too much relying on the “twitter Strategy” and the “Facebook “ strategy </li></ul><ul><li>Solution ; Place the corporate website at the center and centralize content publication using the hub & spokes model </li></ul>

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Mobile Video Widgets Social Bookmarks Feeds and Content Syndication Public Social channels Blogs & Micro-blogging Hub & Spokes strategy Community

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Hub & spokes strategy benefits <ul><li>Benefits: </li></ul><ul><li>Achieve content & tone consistency with the brand </li></ul><ul><li>Create valuable, relevant & consistent user experience across the social media mix deployed </li></ul><ul><li>Provide implicit customer reference of the brand power & legitimacy </li></ul><ul><li>Improve Search Engine rankings </li></ul><ul><li>Create future flexibility as some social platforms are likely to fade away in the future </li></ul><ul><li>Create a brand asset which grows over time- which is your community </li></ul><ul><li>Focus marketers’ attention away from social technology ‘seduction’ to satisfying community members’ needs, and creating customer value </li></ul>

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Intel Facebook case <ul><li>Intel had 250 Facebook Fan pages: each division/country published their own fan page- anyone can open up a Fan page </li></ul><ul><li>No centralized management of Facebook fan pages </li></ul><ul><li>Resulting in total chaos… </li></ul><ul><li>Adopted the Hub & Spoke model: </li></ul><ul><li>Cut the # of Facebook Fan pages to 40 pages </li></ul><ul><li>Fan Page per country; Intel Germany page, Intel Russia Page etc., </li></ul><ul><li>Each Fan page is managed by a local community manager and </li></ul><ul><li>Intel corporate manager </li></ul><ul><li>Results: </li></ul><ul><li>increased # of Intel fans from 65,000 to 1.7 million worldwide within less than a year </li></ul><ul><li>Achieved a unified Intel Facebook presence on a worldwide basis </li></ul>

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5 . Measuring Social media ROI <ul><li>What is not measured is not managed! </li></ul><ul><li>Measuring Key Performance Indicators on social </li></ul><ul><li>media programs is key in determining their effectiveness. </li></ul><ul><li>Measurement should be done on three categories & two dimensions: </li></ul><ul><li>Categories : </li></ul><ul><li>1. Activity - Any metrics relating to actions your company is taking on social media: # posts & tweets, etc. </li></ul><ul><li>2. Interaction - how your audience is engaging with your social media presence: </li></ul><ul><li>3. Financial Returns </li></ul><ul><li>Two Dimensions : Quantitative & Qualitative </li></ul>

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Social Key Performance indicators (KPIs) Success stories Client testimonials Online press/industry mentions #of leads # of sales Conversion rate; Cost per lead/sale Customer Lifetime value Financial returns Buzz Customer sentiment Brand image # of followers/fans # of views # of content downloads Social Reach Social Velocity Share of social conversations Social profile churn Engagement score: Time spent on site --Pages viewed Audience response # of posts # of Tweets # of video uploads Social media actions by company Qualitative Quantitative

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Concluding insights… <ul><li>Define social media as a core marketing activity, internally as well as externally </li></ul><ul><li>Allocate resourcing & budgeting to fund the activities </li></ul><ul><li>Social media platforms are the means, NOT the end </li></ul><ul><li>Strategy outlives technology and it is platform agnostic. </li></ul><ul><li>Creating thriving social communities is becoming </li></ul><ul><li>a Key Success Factor for IT brands </li></ul><ul><li>In B2B IT social media, your online </li></ul><ul><li>community is core to your brand </li></ul>

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Insights- cont’d <ul><li>Adopt the hub & spokes strategy to overcome ‘social media chaos’ syndrome. </li></ul><ul><li>Invest in creating thought leadership content, continuously </li></ul><ul><li>Treat your employees as your brand ambassadors; </li></ul><ul><li>Define metrics to measure social ROI </li></ul><ul><li>Conduct ongoing stakeholders research to evaluate social media contribution to brand image </li></ul>

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Thank You <ul><li>Haim Oren, partner </li></ul><ul><li>TBK-consult Israel </li></ul><ul><li>Email: h [email_address] </li></ul><ul><li>Twitter:@haimor </li></ul>