Social Media for B2B Technology Companies - A MarketPlane presentation
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Webinar: Social Media for B2B Technology CompaniesRonnie RayAlison O’Brien MarketPlane Consulting Inc.
Contact Us:
info@marketplane.net @Marketplane on Twitterwww.marketplane.net/blogMarketing Professionals in IT Management Group on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/wtKij
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Questions?
Thank you for attending!
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