Social sharing in B2B: Understanding the cycle of influence

www.cognitomedia.com

Vivienne Hsu Director, Cognito

Who’s on our webinar today

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Steve Thomson MD UK, Keller Fay, an Engagement Labs Company

Eli Singer CMO, Engagement Labs

Katie Kinnear Social Media Manager, Cognito

How advocacy drives success in B2BSteve Thomson, Keller Fay

www.cognitomedia.com 4

We are social animals

• We live in a connected world

• We seek out the opinions and advice of others: Family, friends, colleagues, peers, experts

• We like to share our experiences & help others

The world of science is revealing we are “hard

wired to be social.”


Everyone wants to be talked-about, recommended

"We want to be the most talked-about brand at World Cup. We knew we were going to do something real-time, that isn't completely brand new to us, but it is at this scale.”

- Tom Ramsden, brand marketing director for Adidas Football

“Out assets are our people, capital and reputation.”

- Goldman Sachs


Advocacy and Conversation have proven impact on customer decisions

Social dialogue has been shown to impact:

üSales

üCustomer loyalty

üSearch

üWeb visits

üBrand health & reputation

üAttractiveness as an employee

Ensuring positive advocacy towards your company is not a ‘nice-to-have’


Proven impact across a range of B2C categories

Econometric analysis consistently shows that

word of mouth is a driver of sales, search and

other brand outcomes

Analysis shows that the revenue growth of the brands with

the highest advocacy levels is far above

the industry average

Boston Consulting

75% percent say they turn to

peers to push them toward or

away from a purchase.


But what about B2B?

• Do WOM and advocacy factors drive business decisions?

• Don’t we simply need to be active in LinkedIn?

• Can we influence how people talk about us?


Business and social networks are enduring


Growth of social media (inc. internal platforms)

Collaborative &complex decision-making

Globalization & better connections

Requirement for diligence, thoroughness

Information on tap

Evidence that B2B decisions are (increasingly) influenced by social factors

It’s the professional way to make decisions


Business decision makers acknowledge social impact

What role did social media play in your research process?

• 53% of buyers said they relied more on peer recommendations, versus only 19% of buyers surveyed in 2012

• 37% of buyers said they spent more time using social media to research solution


Advocacy and influence: Internal / External

Role of internal ‘influencer’ long-accepted in B2B modelsExternal influence facilitated by the growth in social media, user/supplier content

Motivations, content, channels, networks will be different• Internal: can be mandatory• Social signaling vs. keep-it-to-yourself• Discreet networking vs social media

BOTH will have impact


“We found that, on average, 5.4 people now have to formally sign off on each purchase.

Complicating matters, the variety of jobs, functions, and geographies that these individuals represent is much wider than it used to be.”

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Internal: Decision-making is more collaborative


• What are the characteristics of influence & advocacy?

• How do we drive advocacy higher?

• How do we measure the impact of our actions?

A CEB survey of nearly 600 B2B buyers found that nearly half the people who reported a willingness to buy a product or

service were not willing to publicly advocate for it.

Willingness to buy and willingness to advocate are not the same


A strategic framework for activating advocacy

What’s the brand story?: Identify drivers of advocacy –distinctive & viral brand messages

Target the talkers: Profile & reach active advocates & influencersActivate passive advocates

Choose your channels Identify touch points which drive advocacy

Deliver excellent Product & service

experiences

Social, WOM & implications for measurementEli Singer, Engagement Labs


To grasp the State of Social Media in 2016,it’s helpful to have a perspective

as to where the industry is coming from.


Social: How we’re evolving

Text

Imagery

Video

FRAGMENTATION


FRAGMENTATION

EVERYWHERE



FRAGMENTATION

EVERYWHERE

EVERYONE



In 2016:

Bite Sized | Image Centric | Faster


Giphy Closes $55 Million Series C At A $300 Million Post-Money ValuationFeb 16, 2016

Imagery increasingly important


Measurement exists inmany shapes and sizes


Point Solutions

Social measurement


Macro Solutions

79 92 71 75 79 79 4 92 96 21 66 72 69

Social measurement


Consumers need to see your message

7 timesto notice or even remember it.


Identifying influencers

Online & offline

Those willing to speak

Provide content & context to share


Remember:

Offline advocacy needs to be activated

• Understand real-world triggers (content but also situations, business needs)

• Ideally measure actual advocacy

• Design/plan digital content to travel offline – and factor this into ROI

Social measurement

The social sharing opportunity for B2B FSKatie Kinnear, Cognito


Challenges and opportunities

B2B challenges

1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity

2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions

3. Longer sales cycle

4. An “unsocial” community

5. Change resistant company structure

6. Compliance and risk

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B2B challenges


Opportunities for social sharing

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• Recommendation in niche areas of expertise counts for even more

• Social sharing provides an opportunity to build trust and deepen relationships over time

• Increasing number of targeting opportunities and tools



B2B challenges




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• Make the complex accessible

• Create targeted, highly-relevant content that gives you credibility

• Differentiate yourself as an educator who provides timely, useful information that addresses customer needs

• Empower your spokespeople and experts to share their knowledge



B2B challenges





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• Play the long game

• Use social sharing to provide value at every step of the sales cycle

• Social sharing, thought leadership and advocacy engender trust and strengthen relationships over time



B2B challenges






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• Social recommendation is important to people – B2B or B2C.

• Focus on advocates who are already engaging

• Adopt a social tonality in your communications



B2B challenges







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• Hard to overcome internal mindset, fear of new processes and technological hurdles

• Even small steps in social sharing reap great rewards and recognition in this industry

• Maximise the efficiency of your marketing and impact the bottom line



B2B challenges






6. Compliance and risk


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• Build in compliance from the start

• Guide and empower employees by establishing guidelines and providing training

• Increasing number of tools and resources available to help mitigate risk

Questions, comments? Please contact [email protected]

[email protected]

Social sharing in B2B: Understanding the cycle of influence

Marketing

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