Social Media for B2B Technology Companies - A MarketPlane presentation

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Webinar: Social Media for B2B Technology Companies Ronnie Ray Alison O’Brien MarketPlane Consulting Inc. Contact Us: [email protected] @Marketplane on Twitter www.marketplane.net/blog Marketing Professionals in IT Management Group on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/wtKij

description

Are you a B2B technology marketer exploring how to use Social Media to promote your company, products and brand? This presentation addresses this issue covering the following - * Why B2B marketers should build Social Media campaigns? * Best practices and case studies on social media successes and pitfalls from within the B2B technology segment * Examples and best practices for building B2B Social Media campaigns

Transcript of Social Media for B2B Technology Companies - A MarketPlane presentation

Page 1: Social Media for B2B Technology Companies - A MarketPlane presentation

Webinar: Social Media for B2B Technology CompaniesRonnie RayAlison O’Brien MarketPlane Consulting Inc.

Contact Us:

[email protected] @Marketplane on Twitterwww.marketplane.net/blogMarketing Professionals in IT Management Group on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/wtKij

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The Social Media PhenomenonNing -One million social networks - YoY traffic up 283 percent - 5.6 million people in the US

Bebo- YoY traffic up 148 percent - Strong in Europe- 6.1 million people in the US

LinkedIn - Doubled its size in the past year-15.8 million people in the US- 3rd in total size

Twitter -YoY traffic is 2,565 percent-13 million people in the US

Facebook-March 2009 69.1 million visitors-- 1st in total size

MySpace-March 2009 55.9 million visitors-2nd in total size

Forrester definition of Groundswell“A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than traditional institutions like corporations”

The transition from “shouting” to “participation and conversation” is a fundamental change in Marketing

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Changing The Way We Communicate

Lexis Nexis Technology Gap Survey April 09

Baby Boomers (1964 or earlier)

• 7 hours a day on a PC• 1.1 hours a day on an

iPhone or Blackberry• Receive 69 emails a day• 24% befriend clients on

social networking sites• 28% are likely to blog

about work• 14% access social

networking sites from work

Generation X (1965 – 1979)

• 7.8 hours a day on a PC• 1.7 hours a day on an

iPhone or Blackberry• Receive 63 emails a day• 44% befriend clients on

social networking sites• 42% are likely to blog

about work• 39% access social

networking sites from work

Generation Y(1980 or later)

• 8.5 hours a day on a PC• 4 hours a day on an

iPhone or Blackberry• Receive 40 emails a day• 47% befriend clients on

social networking sites• 43% are likely to blog

about work• 62% access social

networking sites from work

All generations agree - the line between professional and personal life is blurring

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The Social Technographics™ of B2B Buyers

Groups include people participating in at least one of the activities monthly.

Source : Forrester Research Presentation B2B Social Media, Feb 2009

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B2B Marketing with Social Media

Base: 50 Webinar attendees, responding to a pre-Webinar survey

What is your current approach to social media strategy?

Source : Forrester Research Presentation B2B Social Media, Feb 2009

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An Array of B2B Social Media Tools

• Blogs– Corporate, Individual, Public (Ulitzer)

• Wikis– Product/Solution Enabling

• Social Networks– Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace

• Microblogging– Twitter, FriendFeed

• Forums/Groups– Google Groups, open knowledge sharing

• Online Video– YouTube, blip.tv, Vimeo

• File Sharing / Podcasting– Scribd, Slideshare

• User Community– Private knowledge sharing

• Bookmarking– Digg, Delicious, Reddit

• WOM (Word of Mouth)

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Align Social Tools with Objectives

Social Media Tools Impact on Social Media Objectives

Thought Leadership Brand Awareness Demand Generation Customer Loyalty

Blogs High High Medium Low

Microblogs (Twitter, FF) Medium Medium High High

Social Network Presence

Low High Medium Low

Forums / Groups Medium Medium High Low

Online Video Medium Medium Medium Low

File Sharing / Podcasts High Medium Medium Low

Wikis Medium Low Low High

User Community Low Low Medium High

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Success Stories: Blogging

SUN • CEO blogs regularly• Provides employees with a

free blogging platform and basic guidelines for blogging

• Over 3,000 sun employees blog about projects they are working on

Benefits• Increased thought leadership

in the blogosphere

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Success Stories: Blogging

NetQoS• Provides commentary and

practical problem solving• Oversight by CTO and CEO• Linked to by the Washington Post,

Network World, PC World, ComputerWorld, and LinuxToday

• Has been on the front page of Digg.com and Programming.reddit.com

• Listed on Slashdot six times since the blog's inception.

Benefits• Increased thought leadership

in the blogosphere

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Success Stories: Microblogging

BreakingPoint SystemsCompany “tweets” included:• Used TweetScan to track

relevant key terms and respond to them

• Re-tweeted relevant information• Notices of new blog posts,

webinars• Fun entries (e.g., trivia

questions, quizzes)• Informal focus group questions

Benefits• Thought leadership• Brand awareness• Demand generation

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Success Stories: Online Video

SolarWinds• Very popular NetFlow

video (16,680 views)• 48 videos on YouTube

– Tutorials– Customer chat– Product demos– Tradeshows– Fun – Technology focused

Benefits• Demand generation• Thought leadership

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Success Stories: Social Networks

Spiceworks• 520+ fan Facebook

community enables them to connect with users – where their users go on the web

• Supplements a community portal on their website

• Content includes– Announcements– Events– News– Sneak Peaks

Benefits• Customer loyalty• Demand generation

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Success Story: Product Launch

Marketing objectives:

1. Thought leadership Strong buzz from influential

bloggers, analysts and press

Open source cloud monitoring WP (file sharing)

2. Brand awareness Google page rank on key cloud

terms

tool set downloads

Increase in web traffic

Project: Launch an open source cloud initiative and monitoring tool set

MarketPlane’s ResultsThought Leadership

- Prelaunch discussions and briefings led to impactful posts by bloggers, solid coverage by industry analysts, and press coverage

- WP was positively referenced in several blog posts. WP hosted on Scribd had 678 reads

Brand Awareness-Vendor’s cloud initiative captured 5 of the top 20 targeted keyword spots and a #4 ranking on Google.

-Toolset had 250+ downloads during the launch

- Overall, vendor had a 18% increase in page views; 14% increase in new traffic during the launch

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Many Benefits of Social Media

• Improved search engine presence

• Broader awareness at lower cost

• Pinpointed influencer targeting

• Energized customers become powerful evangelists

• New sales leads • Higher rate of

conversions• Faster progression

through the buying cycle

• Repeat business from existing customers

• Feedback from real people

• Stay ahead of competitors

• Community driven support

• New idea generation

• Validate product roadmap

Build Reach Drive Revenue Cement Leadership

Social media enables all of the above at lower costs than traditional means

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Building a Social Media Strategy:Points to Consider

• Social Media is not about the tools; its about your audience and the relationship you establish with them

• Your objectives should decide what tools to use; not the other way around

• Your goals should measure delivery against your objectives

• The best measure of social activity is the level of audience participation

• Social conversations about your brand will happen with or without you

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Building a Social Media Strategy: Phased Approach

Product feedback mechanismSALES

PRODUCT MGMTENGINEERING

SALESMARKETING

SALESMARKETING CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Competitive Research

Build Web traffic

Generate Qualified Leads

Track Your Brand Community Building

$

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Sales go UP!

Support costs drop

More Prospect

s

Faster product

cycle

Brand AwarenessThought Leadership

Improve/Manage Brand Build customer loyalty

$

YOUR ORGANIZATION

Gain Competitive Edge

Market share

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Campaign Example: Brand Monitoring

Social Media Objective

Social Audience Social Media Tools Goals

Brand Monitoring# of incidents tracked# of active interventionsQualitative insights

Competitive Activity Keyword based Google Alerts, Twitter Search

# of incidents trackedQualitative insights

Customers RSS of customer blogs, Twitter search, Social aggregation sites

# of active interventions# of comments on interventions

Influencers Blogs and Twitter # of active interventions# mentions based on interventions

Prospects Professional groups on Linkedin, Google etc..

# of active interventions# of comments on interventionsQualitative insights

Media Blogs and articles # of incidents tracked# of active interventions

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Campaign Example: Demand Generation

Social Media Objective

Social Audience Social Media Tools Program Goals

Demand Generation # of incremental leads

Professional groups on Linkedin, Google, Ning ..etc

Forums/ Group Active Participation and Incorporation

# of discussions, comments# web traffic from social site

Direct to Prospects Twitter # of followers, tweets, retweets# web traffic

10 top Bloggers and Analysts

Blog commenting and link backs

# of responses# web traffic

Direct to Prospects Corporate blog Page rank improvement (assuming SEO is constant)# of comments, blog traffic

Direct to Prospects Online Video / Podcasts / Filesharing

# of views/downloads# shared

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Social Media Takes Time, Effort and Domain Expertise

Activity Description Time / Month

Comprehensive Brand Monitoring Monitoring, reading, analyzing across all social media channels

80 hours per month

Blog writing 8-10 blogs / month 30-40 hours per month

Twitter, Friend Feed New tweets and responses uncovered by monitoring

20-40 hrs per month

Social Group Participation Reading and responding to topical discussions

10-20 hrs per month

Top Influencer Targeting Reading and responding to topical discussions

10-20 hours per month

TOTAL 200 hrs per month

Note: This does not include activity like reading blogs and articles for informational purposes that is now integral part of all our jobs

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Social Media Best Practices

1. Useful content, not sales pitch2. Comment first. Become a genuine and active member3. Keep it brief and simple4. Provide your opinion, not just facts5. Be honest and open6. Link to other social content, don’t speak in a vacuum7. Be consistent and responsive8. Prepare to let go of control9. Make social media part of your signature10. Provide / solicit executive support for social media

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What Can MarketPlane Do For You?

Brand monitoring

Blog authoring

Twitter community development

Social group monitoring

Social media and CRM integration

Wiki platform evaluation and program management

Community platform evaluation and program management

Marketing automation platform management

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Questions?

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Thank you for attending!