Social Media for B2B companies

@edmajor1

Contents

1.  Introduction

2.  Case studies

3.  Empowering employees for social selling

Part 1: Introduction

Background to Orca Social

•  Founded by Jonathan Wichmann formally of Maersk Line and Ed Major formally of Oracle

•  The premise is that social media should be managed in house

•  We help companies scale their efforts internally via workshops, strategic reviews, webinars and best practice research

Why is social media having such an impact?

•  The media landscape has been democratised. People are sharing and creating media themselves.

•  People trust their peers and make important decisions based on recommendations from friends and peers

•  Employees – not least millennials – are attracted to companies that are modern and transparent.

•  84 of B2B buyers (C-level/VP Executives) have used social to assist with company purchasing decisions. (IDC, 2014)

•  It’s an efficient way for corporates to establish genuine relationships

What B2Bs can use social media for =

What B2Bs shouldn’t use social media for = DIRECT SALES + NEW CUSTOMERS + CREDIBILITY

BRAND PERCEPTION + SERVICE + INSIGHTS CULTURAL CHANGE

+ EFFICIENCY GAINS + INDIRECT SALES

Socially engaged companies are reaping the benefits of relationship economics

•  A month ago Altimeter Group published a report on “Relationship Economics”.

•  In short, their research shows that genuine communication and engagement in social media helps businesses grow relationships with employees and customers while improving the bottom line

Consumers don’t ‘like’ companies.

Consumers couldn’t care less about brands.

•  College students in the US: "Nearly half stated they didn't believe brands should be on social media"” (Cocentric, 2014)

•  "Most social media users feel negatively towards marketing strategies by companies on social media sites.” (YouGov, 2013)

•  “83% of consumers have had a bad experience with social media marketing.” (Pitney Bowes, 2014)

•  68% of american consumers “always” or “mostly” ignores brand posts on social media. (Kentico, 2014)

Part 2: Case studies

GE: Branding and content

•  Has invested heavily in social. •  An impressive presence – and many things for other B2Bs to

‘piggy back’. •  Videos, Instagram, blogs, the story. •  Struggling to make a business impact due to top-down agency-

driven approach. •  Next step will be to get it integrated better into business

processes in the BUs.

AGCO: Becoming a thought leader

•  Before launching their own social profile AGCO analysed the current behaviours of their target audience

•  By using UGC they were able to be authentic in the stories they tell.

•  They create their own content too

•  3 tips from AGCO

1) Define your objectives

2) Establish a listening function

3) Join the conversation

•  The Ombré Effect. •  Identifying new trends using Google Trends and tracking

influencers. •  Validation via social media communities. •  Product development and launch aided by an engaged

community.

L’Oréal: Trend prediction

IBM: Ready-made social messages

o  A marketing-led support approach for:

1.  Sourcing prospects 2.  Managing pipeline 3.  Producing content 4.  Training sales representatives 5.  Measuring performance

o  Results? IBM say they are generating “considerable sales”

ABB: Internal collaboration

o  Reasons to embrace it:

•  Knowledge sharing •  Transparency •  Crowdsourcing of ideas

o  Main takeaways:

•  It’s a journey, not a sprint. •  You need to invest time and resources in

it. •  It’s about a culture of sharing. And about

breaking the silos. •  McKinsey: 20-25% productivity

improvement for knowledge workers.

Maersk Line: Empowering employees to tell your story

Maersk Line: Empowering employees to tell your story

•  It doesn’t have to be a big operation.

•  Rely on authenticity and personality rather than control.

•  Use what you got. •  Your primary job: To define the

framework and the workflow. •  Let the employees tell the story.

Part 3: Empowering employees for Social Selling

You need your colleagues (now more than ever)

•  Most important people to engage?

•  Reach out and get the organisation on board.

•  What kind of content will they want to share?

•  Empower them to participate. On average, the employees have 10x as many connections as the brand.

•  In order to create momentum internally you need to get the right people on board; those who can influence the rest. Use e.g. snowball sampling to identify hidden influencers.

•  It’s all about becoming “socially enabled.

Mapping your content infrastructure

Content

Dedicated staff Internal copywriters, journalists,

campaign managers, videographers etc.

Voluntary staff From all functions – contributing

with blog posts, photos, video etc.

External voluntary professionals Journalists, bloggers etc. publishing on

own site or doing guest posts

External hired professionals Agencies or freelance content

producers hired by the company

Engaged fans and followers All sorts of stakeholders – e.g. photos via

Instagram or retweetable tweets

Social Selling

•  The sales funnel has changed •  Empower your sales reps to become thought leaders •  Value-based selling •  Getting in early: Teaching where the customers are learning

The average purchase decision is 57% complete, and more than 10 information sources have been consulted, by the time a supplier is engaged.

Learn Define Needs Access Options

Make Decision

Source: CEB, 2012

What B2Bs can use social media for =

What can B2Cs learn from B2Bs and social selling Influence at an earlier stage of the buying stage Create valuable content Make use of ambassadors who can tell your story Let go of sales KPIs Market your company (Employees & Brand)– not your products

Any questions?