Social Media Technology

8/4/2019 Social Media Technology

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We Have the Technology:An exploratory study of business-to-

business social media branding

Ross Brennan Robin CroftMiddlesex University University of Bedfordshire



The premise

● Socialnomics

● Social media celebrate the trivial

● The banal, insignificant● Feeding the celebrity ego

● Huge in B2C

● Authoritative guides are B2C● But almost nobody is talking

about them in B2B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8





Research questions: role of socialmedia in...

● Information-based approach to B2B marketing?

● Managing B2B business relationships?

● Building trust between buyers & sellers in B2B?● In making market-driving companies?



Content Analysis

● 20 expert articles from B2B press

● Focus on social media applications

● Textual analysis (objective)● Purposive selection (subjective)

● Authorial agendas





NameProduct Employee

sOrigin

Oracle Enterprise software 105000 USA

Intel Semiconductors 83500 USA

Cisco Networking 70700 USA

STMicroelectronics Semiconductors 51500 Switzerland

Hynix (E) Semiconductors 50000 Korea

SAP Enterprise software 47600 Germany

Renesas Technology Semiconductors 47000 Japan

Infineon Semiconductors 26400 Germany

Symantec Enterprise software 18400 USA

Qualcomm Semiconductors 16100 USA



LinkedIn

● Used for

○ Discussions

○ Events

○ Internal marketing

○ recruitment

● Used by

○ All companies

○ Nearly 80% of Oracle staff



FaceBook

● Used for

○ Building links

○ Promoting events

○ News, pictures

● Used by

○ Oracle, Intel, Cisco

○ Unofficial Pages



Twitter

● Used for

○ Linking to blogs, white papers, website,other SM sites

○ Quick conversations○ News, press releases... general

engagement

● Used by

○ Major US firms

○ Other registered name but not active



Flickr

● Used for

○ PR shots

○ Library pictures for journalists

○ News, events

● Used by

○ Larger US companies



YouTube

● Used for

○ Video 'white papers'

○ News, events

● Used by

○ Major firms, especially Oracle

○ Smaller firms, though badly done



Blogs

● Used for

○ News, new ideas

○ White papers, future thinking

○ Corporate and public

○ Getting conversations going

○ Often password protected – registration needed

● Used by

○ Major US companies



Social bookmarks

● Examples

○ RSS, Delicioius, Stubledupon, Reddit, Buzz

● Used for

○ Cross linking

○ Sharing

○ Reminding

● Used by○ Major US firms



Findings: Leaders

● Oracle

● Cisco

● Intel

● Symantec

● Qualcom



Laggards

● Infineon

●SAP

● STMicroelectronics

● Hynix

● Renesas



Linkedin

YouTube

FacebookTwitter

Flickr





Surprises?

● Bulletin boards used by techies and geeksbefore WWW

● 75% of Oracle staff on LinkedIn: corporate

culture?

● Non strategic, throw the stuff out there

● Vertical markets, conversations

● Return of Investment



Profile of Leaders

● Thought leaders

○ Information-based marketing

○ Co-creating ideas, innovation

● Maximum visibility

○ availability

○ Reputation

● Virtual communities

○ Trusted relationships

● Market driving



Further questions

● Geography and social networks

○ Regional variations

● Mapping the networks

○ Neural networks

● Impact of corporate culture

○ Social and business hierarchies

● B2C drivers in B2B○ Mass market economies in innovation

Social Media Technology

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