Why Social Media Matters

Leigh Hopwood6 September 2011

Website www.reddmarketing.co.uk

Email leigh@reddmarketing.co.uk

Call 07746 249132

LinkedIn /leighhopwood

Twitter @leighhopwood

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Skype leighhopwood

About Me

• Passionate about marketing

• 15 years experience marketing B2B technology– 6 years with a vendor– 8 years with an SI– 1 year specialist agency

• Mum to 3 year old twins

About Redd Marketing

Marketing Audit

Marketing Strategy

and Planning

Marketing Mentor

MarketingResourcing

TacticalMarketingServices

ProjectManagement

PartnerMarketing

What is Social Media?

According to Wikipedia

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video.

What is Social Media?

What is Social Media?

It’s just another communication channel

but

it’s two-way

and it’s personal

The Growth of Social Media

Why it matters to us…

93% of marketers use social media for business• 75% of B2B companies are increasing their spend in social

media in 2012*1

• Of B2B technology decision makers*2:– 90% participate in Video– 80% participate in Blogs– 80% participate in Wikis– 69% participate in Social Networks– 53% participate in Podcasts

*1Source: B2B Marketing Social Media Benchmarking Report 2011*2Source: KnowledgeStorm

Why it matters to us…

• 69% of B2B buyers use social networks "primarily for business networking and development.“*1

• 90% of B2B companies are using LinkedIn or Facebook*2

• 88% of B2B companies have a Twitter presence; 77% display a LinkedIn page*3

• 21% of B2B companies can consistently demonstrate ROI from social media investment*4

• 46% of companies using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or a company blog acquired a customer from that channel in 2010*5

*1Source: KnowledgeStorm*2,3,4Source: B2B Marketing Social Media Benchmarking Report 2011*5Source: HubSpot’s The State of Inbound Marketing 2010

Why it matters to us…

• Direct interaction with your target audience• Potential to build your network and beneficial

relationships• Real time delivery of communications• Message amplification• Opportunity for a B2B technology company to be

humanised • You can win business, improve customer relations,

improve brand reputation, increase operational efficiencies...

ExamplesTechnology Company Social Media Result

Lenovo (hardware) Community website 20% reduction in call centre activity

Moonfruit (web hosting) Social media mix 20% increase in sales

Genius.com (marketing automation provider)

Social media mix 24% of its social media leads convert to sales opportunities

Reality Digital (online community platform vendor)

Social media mix 72 leads over the first three months of its social media project, at a cost of roughly $9,000

Sun (hardware) Blogging Increased thought leadership

Archer Technologies (provider of risk and compliance solutions)

1) Archer Community

2) Archer Exchange (app store)

1) 20 new members, 4,000 unique visits and 400+ downloads every week

2) 17,000 unique visits, 90,000 page views and 1,200 downloads

Enhanced product development from user feedback directly helped form 3 new products

InfusionSoft (CRM) Social media mix Need for less customer service agents, whilst increasing customer satisfaction by 10%

Examples

• How social media helped Cisco shave $100,000+ off a product launch http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/cisco-social-media-product-launch/

• How Kinaxis achieved 2.7 x increase in website traffic, 3.2 increase in conversions and 6 x increase in registration of community members http://socialmediab2b.com/2010/06/b2b-case-study-online-community/

• How GE MarkNet gained 3,200 members in a community and saved £250,000 in a single project http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/02/b2b-social-media-example-ge-marknet/

How to make it work

1. Follow the latest advice; the online world is always changing

2. Understand the channels and tools available

3. Identify the channels where your audience is engaged

4. Define your objectives and how you will measure success

5. Ensure you have corporate buy-in; board level and your experts

6. Create a social media policy and strategy

7. Integrate social media and networking into your broader marketing

mix

8. Cross-promote your channels giving your audience choice

9. Review and analyse your communications; what’s working, what

isn’t?

10. Remember the pitfalls; your message could be taken the wrong way

A&Q