Building an Industrial Social Media CommunityISA Marketing and Sales Summit

Introduction.

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Welcome.

Presenters:• Brian Joosse

o VP, Digital and Social Media Strategy at Symmetri Marketing Groupo 15+ years in digital strategy and social media strategy development and

implementation• Elena Smith

o Marketing Manager, EGS Electrical Group, Emerson Corporation

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About Symmetri Marketing Group.

Marketing for the selling organization.Whether deployed through direct or indirect channels, our goal is to leverage communications across all phases of the customer’s buying process to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the selling organization.

• Established September 2003• Based in Chicago, IL• Formed out of Leo Burnett Technology Group• Named to BtoB Magazine, Top Agency List (2008 – 2012)• Named to Inc. Magazine, Inc. 5000 List (2008 – 2012)• Annual award winner in national and regional business-to-business

competitions

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EGS Electrical Group.

As a global manufacturer of electrical products for commercial, industrial, hazardous and adverse environments, EGS Electrical Group, a business of Emerson, offers the industry’s best known and most highly regarded brands.

From the latest innovations to familiar products that have led the industry for decades, the brands of EGS Electrical Group offer durability, safety, quality, easy installation and global availability.

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Appleton.

Since 1903, the Appleton brand has been the hallmark for electrical products designed to protect people and equipment while delivering reliable power. All products are manufactured with the highest quality materials and finishes.

With the addition of ATX product lines and ongoing new product introductions, Appleton offers certified protection for any environment, from ordinary commercial settings to hazardous locations (NEC, CEC, IEC, ATEX, and more) and the harshest industrial conditions – onshore or offshore, in any region of the world.

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Appleton: Target Audiences & Selling Strategies.

Appleton’s primary target audiences are specifying engineers, electrical engineers and maintenance engineers within hazardous and industrial facilities, including oil and gas facilities, refineries, wastewater treatment plants and manufacturing facilities. They also focus on developing relationships with Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms as a direct influencer of products that get specified into a facility.

Appleton goes to market through distribution channels in global locations. Their marketing efforts focus primarily on awareness building to end-users through traditional advertising efforts as well as education and maintaining share of mind with their distribution sales representatives.

Genesis.

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Emerson’s commitment to social media.

Emerson Corporation has committed to developing social media across all brands

(more to come)

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Developing the market strategy.

In 2011, Symmetri developed a go-to-market strategy for the Appleton brand, focused primarily on the oil and gas market. As part of the research, Symmetri completed several one-on-one interviews with engineers within the oil and gas industry.

These interviews proved invaluable in understanding the customer and the category. Symmetri determined that to gain greater traction with end-user customers, especially upstream with corporate engineers, EGS Electrical Group needed to better communicate their understanding the problems end-users face, and that EGS Electrical Group havs the products and expertise to solve them.

It was also identified that EGS Electrical Group needed to focus on educating emerging markets on the importance of quality, safety, reliability and ease-of-use.

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Social media audit.

• In 2011, audit showed a low number of resources for learning about new technologies and solving problems in electrical industry

• 68% of industry social chatter occurred on blogs or forums• Competitors were building awareness through integrated PR and social media

communications

Online Share of Voice (SOV)Social Chatter by Media

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Identified opportunity.

From the positioning research and social media audi, Symmetri discovered an unmet need in the marketplace: an information-driven, knowledge sharing platform for engineers in hazardous locations.

Insight. Interviews with end-customers led to a realization of an unmet need for content on industry – customers did not have a central source of knowledge for information on their industry. Discovery also showed a decrease in Appleton brand recognition for areas outside of North America.

Strategy. Develop and manage a community website dedicated to the interests and concerns of specifying engineers in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of oil, gas, chemical processing or other hazardous location facilities.

Strategy.

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Our strategy: reach multiple audience types.

PRODUCT

BRANDED

BRAND NEUTRAL

SOLUTIONScompany websites

white papers, articles, company blogs

forumstrade

media

advertisingemail

committed customers

product questers

brand committed problem solvers,

innovators

independent problem solvers,

competitor customers

We had two gaps that could be filled via social media and content marketing. We are unlikely to reach competitor loyalists without neutral, solutions-based content.

Power Panel

AppletonBlog

EGS website

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Our initial social media strategy was two-fold.

Build relationshipsBuild awareness globally

Establish leadership position

Purpose: Provide a non-branded resource where engineers can learn about new technologies and engage in discussion and collaborative problem solving

Purpose: Create a branded platform and channels to demonstrate Appleton expertise and breadth of product solutions

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Objectives.

Show expertise, innovation and leadership by authoring high-value content

Build equity and mindshare with our target audience through the curation and distribution of high-value content

Foster community growth and encourage peer-to-peer interaction as a way of bringing value to participants and monitoring industry activity to uncover actionable business intelligence

Position EGS Electrical Group brands (primarily Appleton) as sponsors, hosts, participants, and editors of the community

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Use the community to meet objectives.

Content is king. In order to showcase EGS Electrical Group as an innovative thought leader, Symmetri worked in conjunction with internal subject mater experts and representatives in the field to develop highly relevant, timely and informative blog posts that showcased expertise into the challenges and solutions the industry was facing.

Find the right audience. The messaging of the community and the content generated was focused at a very niche market – one that is vital to the Appleton brand business but also difficult to reach.

Listen. To provide products that meet the industry’s needs, EGS Electrical Group used the community to listen to the conversations occurring between end-users to better understand trends and needs for future product development as well as market development.

Formation.

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Technical requirements: Telligent platform.

Emerson had purchased a corporate program to utilize the Telligent platform. Telligent specializes in developing online communities, providing a turnkey system for large corporations, such as Emerson.

Symmetri was required to use the Telligent platform rather than build a proprietary program. Thus, significant investigation was required to fully understand the platform, the customization options and technical limitations of the platform.

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Process: Operating Plan.

To ensure all parties (both agency-side and client-side) were versed in the online community, it’s planning and maintenance requirements, Symmetri developed an Operating Plan that provided the roadmap for the community.

Items such as site elements, tone and style notes, content planning and social media strategy were included in the Operating Plan.

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Process: Editorial Calendar.

As part of the content planning process, Symmetri developed an Editorial Calendar that would serve as the guide for an integrated content strategy. Symmetri would pre-plan topics for each month based on input from subject matter experts. Content was planned three months in advance to ensure adequate time for interviewing thought leaders, developing the content and receiving approval.

The Editorial Calendar provided information on relevant industry information, such as upcoming events, as well as pre-scheduled social media posts for Twitter and Facebook.

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Resourcing.

Symmetri. To actively manage two social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook) as well as moderate active on the blog/discussion forum, Symmetri utilized an internal social media manager and copywriter. Tasks included:• Researching recent news articles• Commenting/posting in the voice of

the Power Panel Admin• Moderating activity • Interview subject matter experts• Write weekly blog post

EGS Electrical Group. Although Symmetri actively managed the Power Panel Community, it was important to ensure members of the EGS Electrical Group business and Appleton brand were involved in the community. Requested tasks included:• Posting and asking questions on a

regular interval• Reading and reviewing comments

for community members• Providing input on key topics from

subject matter experts• Reviewing all written content prior

to posting

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Social channels.

To help build the brand, Symmetri utilized social media channels to promote content and post to a larger audience.

Symmetri utilized appropriate Twitter search functionality, including the use of relevant hashtags, shortened links for tracking and updated content daily/weekly.

The process also called for design and description development of each social media channel. Symmetri kept a similar look/feel across all social channels to maintain brand recognition of the newly formed Power Panel Community.

Launch.

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Internal engagement.

To support the launch of the new Power Panel Community, Symmetri needed to encourage participation from the internal EGS Electrical Group thought leaders. This included:• Hosted webinars to announce the

new community and provide direct channels for participation

• Created an incentive program for activity, including a random-drawing winner for an Apple iPad

• Developed one-sheet handouts for quick tips on participation and links

• Sent weekly/monthly reminders as a call-to-action for participation

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External audience generation.

One of the Power Panel Community’s main objectives was to provide a forum for end-users to ask questions and discuss industry trends and challenges. Keeping this objective in mind, Symmetri completed several external promotional activities to encourage participation, including:• Sent promotional emails through Electrical

Construction & Maintenance publication (3 email blasts) promoting the new online community

• Developed hand-outs and short presentations for the sales team to use when meeting with end-customers

• Partnered with key distributors to promote through their social channels and website, including banner ads and pre-developed posts

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Community and social growth.

The Power Panel Community launched July 2012. Utilizing social media as the primary continued growth driver, the community saw growth through the remainder of 2012:

285 members118 internal (Emerson) members167 external members

266 Twitter followers1,225 tweets sent – 228,195 impressions

112 retweets to content on Twitter

34,155 extended impressions

4,700+ visits18,200+ pages viewed3.84 average pages per visit3:35 average time on site

73 discussion questions96 responses

73 blog posts31 comments/responses

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However, 2013 Power Panel growth is stagnant.

Gained 120

Gained 31

Gained 26

Little outside promotion and exposure to audiences beyond social hindered growth and brand awareness.

• Social follower growth on Twitter for Power Panel tapered off through first half of 2013; Appleton growth during the same time is 4x that of Power Panel

• Despite similar outreach and calls to actions, Power Panel Facebook has generated a limited audience (Power Panel Likes: 28; Appleton Likes: 67)

Gained 145

Gained 112

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And the community lacked engagement.

July

Augus

t

Septe

mbe

r

Octobe

r

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

Janu

ary

Febr

uary

Mar

chApr

ilM

ay

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

External

Internal

From July ‒ December 2012: 203 new members; January ‒ May 2013: 76 new members

• Surge in January and February was due to promotion push at external events/conferences

• No new replies in the discussions since February 2013

• Last blog comment was from an internal person in May 2013

Membership Growth

Lessons Learned.

Our target utilizes social media.

• Our target audience is solution-driven

• They are more likely to respond to content that solves a specific purpose or problem

• They recognize companies, brands and products and are more likely to talk about and/or follow them on social

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Engineers are using LinkedIn more than other channels.

32April 10, 2023

Electrical Engineer & Instrumentation Group25,000+ members, 500+ last week

Hazardous Area Equipment & Installation Forum2,668 members

• LinkedIn has exploded in growth in the last year: 1,000,000+ Oil & Energy and Mechanical & Industrial engineers across companies like Schlumberger, BP, Baker Hughes, Haliburton, Shell

• Social is now the “community”: people are using LinkedIn and other social channels for news, discussions and opinions instead of more traditional community websites

• LinkedIn provides easier entry to social media for our target because it provides them company info, peer networking, jobs and focused conversation

• Competitors all have page presence, with a total following of 6,000+; no sponsored groups or targeted statuses gives Appleton an opportunity to better reach and engage with the audience

Brand assets & culture drive engagement.

• Brand helps drive exposure: branded videos and content (case studies, byline articles) help further extend the brand name and positioning on social channels and in traditional media outlets

• Personality works: people and company culture/history content generates interest because it connects people on a deeper level with the brand

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Healthcare Facilities Today article

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Projects are discussed in social media.

$3-million boost for new oil research lab at MUN

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Analysis.

Social is the new community site. Traditional community sites are decreasing in use because of the growth of the broader social web.

Big opportunity on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is growing more rapidly than other channels for the engineer audience and oil/gas, industrial sectors. Despite decent followings, competitors are not reaching target audience through content or conversation.

Brand matters. Strong brand presence and assets drive more value than third-party sites; Power Panel as a brand is not recognizable, so value is diminished.

Companies and projects can drive insight. Focus should be on more than just engineers: companies and projects are just as important.

Content needs to be narrow and solution-driven. Engineers respond to specifics: what products to use, why they are useful and how they help solve their problems.

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What you can do to launch a social community.

Understand your target audience• How do they find information?• Is peer engagement important to them?

Understand the environment• Do communities already exist?• Can your audience get what they need from other sources?

Build internal support• How can we profit from this?• Are stakeholders excited?

Plan properly• Do we have enough funding and bandwidth to manage?• How do I get content and participation?

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Thank you!