Social Media Marketing for B2B

Cisco Confidential© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 1

Social Media Marketing for B2BCreating and Executing an Integrated Social Media Marketing Plan for Business to Business Marketers

Charlie Treadwell – Digital & Social Marketing Manager, Cisco

February 26, 2013

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 2

Lessons from The Super Dome


Why Social Matters

• It is the new collaboration system between employees, customers and brands

• Most efficient listening and feedback-gathering channel available

• Accelerates word of mouth


62% of adults worldwide use social media

56% of Americans have a social network profile

55% of Americans 45 - 54 are on social networks

80% of Americans 18 – 24 have a profile on social media

Sources: Various, 2012

Did You Know…


90% of of B2B companies actively participate in Facebook

60% of B2B marketers have implemented a social media strategy

53% of B2B companies actively participate in Twitter

73% of all B2B leads are not sales ready


Did You Also Know…


67% more leads a month are created by companies who blog vs. those who don’t

17% of total leads are created via social media by “best in class” B2B social media marketers compared to 5% for the rest

33% of global B2B buyers use social media to engage vendors. 75% plan to in the near future


Why B2B Social Media?


Justifying B2B Social MediaB2B buyers are clearly beginning to rely on social media for a role in the research and purchasing process

It provides consumer insight and connection that has previously been impossible

It is measurable both in direct lead attribution and as an influencer

Social media provides opportunity for innovation and competitive advantage


Not enough?Social media and good content continue to grow as a key contributor to search engine success

It can be much less expensive to execute on compared to alternatives

Social media efforts are cumulative in nature

It’s not going away!


Behaviors of “Best in class” B2B Marketers

Sources: Aberdeen, 3/2012

Expand lead generation activity through social media marketing

Define / focus corporate social media efforts

Develop clear business processes to utilize social media marketing

Support customer service with a social platform

Capture insights into market sentiment regarding products and/or services

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Secondary Strategy

Primary Strategy


The Social Ecosystem Has Changed How We Communicate and Collaborate

OrganizationWeb Sitecisco.com

ContentSharing &

Rating

Forums

SocialNetworks

CiscoBlogs

Blogs

Blogs

Home BasePriority: 1Time Budget: ~50%

OutpostsPriority: 2Time Budget: ~40%

PassportsPriority: 3Time Budget: ~10%

Listening Station Always onTuning in to online conversations

BlogsMicromediaSocial NetworksVideo sharingGeolocationReviews & RatingsCustomer ServiceEventsWikisLive-castingPhoto sharingMusic sharingDocument sharingSocial Bookmarking


70% of a customers buying decision is now made based on information he or she finds online, well before a salesperson has a chance to get involved.

Source: Sales 2.0 Conference, 2011

• Effective use of sales intelligence increases revenue productivity per sales rep by 17%.”

• Source: CSO Insights 2011 Sales Performance Optimization Study


Getting Started


1 2 3 4

4 Steps to Using Social Media

Monitor & Measure

Engage with

Audience

Create the Strategy &

Content

Listening & Defining Audiences


Create a Listening Strategy


Listen Early & Listen Often

firmwaretracking

pushinghistory

routerallows

cloud

ciscoconnect

allowaccess

install

software

usinglinksys

dataautomatic

trust

security

10:00 AM, June 29th, Word Cloud Screen


Gathering Intelligence… not Data

10:00 AM Issue Logged by Listening Team

vEBC Social Media Listening Center

Monitor influencers and sentiment of their posts

Monitor global conversations and geographical activity

Identify trending topics or emerging themes

Monitor sentiment and spikes or viral stories

Monitor shifts in share of voice and product focused activity

SocialMiner: Monitor event attendees, engage, and performance of social media staff


Step 1: Listen and Observe

A. Identify the audience

B. Join the social streams, listening to key conversations

C. Research how peers are using social media channels

D. Understand audience needs

1Listening &

Defining Audiences

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Find Fans and Advocates

Discover Product Issues

Crisis / Risk Management

Product Development Feedback

Competitive Insights

Uncover Influencers

Sales Leads

Capture Industry Trends

Message Penetration

Social Strategy

Identify Emerging Themes

Helps Gaining Insights to Drive Business Results


Listening & Response is handled by a network of liaisons, SMEs and dedicated technical services team

Cisco has a large network of engaged employees with knowledge and expertise

Listening LiaisonPartner/Field

Mktg, etc. Social Media Listening Center, Digital & Social

Media Marketing

Listening LiaisonProduct/Solution Marketing, etc.

SMEs

SMEs

Dedicated Team for Support Response & Engagement,

Technical Services

Listening LiaisonCrisis Comms, etc.

Listening LiaisonProduct/Solution

Mktg, etc.


85% of all business technology buyers engage in some form of social activity while working

Source: Forrester Tech Marketing Navigator, Q1 2012*Source: January 4, 2012, “Global Social Media Adoption In 2011” Forrester report

Business Technology buyers continue to use social for work.And in more ways than you might realize…

Social Technographics™ LadderFor Business Technology Buyers

CreatorsPublish web pages, blogs& upload videos/audio

ConversationalistsUpdate status/Post updates

CriticsComment on blogs &post ratings/reviews

CollectorsUse RSS & tag web pagesto gather information

JoinersMaintain profile onsocial networking sites

InactivesAre online, but don’t yet participatein any form of social media

SpectatorsRead blogs, watch peervideos & listen to podcasts

15%

80%

53%

51%

62%

36%

55%

31% of BT buyers upload presentations or slides to a public presentation sharing web site (e.g. Slideshare)

35% of BT buyers contributeto online forums or discussion groups

31% of BT buyers useRSS (Really SimpleSyndications) feeds

52% of BT buyers read online forumsor discussion groups

52% of BT buyers read customer ratings / reviews of products or services (e.g. Amazon, Epinions, Yelp)

Percentages include BT decision-makers who said that theyengage in selected social activities for business purposes.

Base: 13213 global BT decision makersSource: Forrester Tech Marketing Navigator, Q1 2012

Understand Audience Types


Know the Keywords and TrendsTune in to:

• Mentions of brand

• Keywords you use on the web or search terms

• Products you market, develop, or sell

• Your executive’s name

• Special events or promotions you are running

• Ongoing efforts you are managing

• Competition or others in your industry or segment

• Key customers

• Analysts and members of the press or other media

• Bloggers and other influencers


Advanced Keyword & Topical Analysis

Analysis

Both CCA on Demand and UC saw a fall in total conversation focus. Both Cisco and its competitors maintained their focuses when compared with last month.

Recommendations

Total conversations surrounding collaboration software received a spike in January due to the CES conference and media coverage pertaining. Retain focuses and the landscape will reshift next month.

Top Discussed Topics:

*CCA = Cloud Collaboration Applications

• Source: Radian6 - (Collaboration)

Customer Care

Telepresence

UC

CCACCA Enterprise

CCA Hosted

CCA on demand

Cisco Avg. Competitor

Total conversations


Listening for Marketing

Strategy• Monitoring and responding

Goals• Increase relevance and trust

• Increase customer satisfaction and loyalty

• Support the community

Results• SMB team provides an easier way for

customer to download firmware

• Customer appreciates resolution and posted a comment about the experience, turning a negative into a positive


Listening for Service & Support

Strategy• Monitoring and responding

Goals• Identify top issues

• Provide service and support

Results• Priority 1 (P1) issues discovered and

flagged

• Cases are resolved and closed

• Customer is pleased with the technical support provided


Listening for Product Feedback

Strategy• Monitoring, responding, acting on it

Goals• Listen, engage, and facilitate

Results• Brought the issue to the product

engineers to investigate and determine if it was a systemic product issue

• Partner received new/working system

• Partner appreciates the prompt response and resolution; faith in the product and Cisco is restored and he publicly thanks Cisco (via Twitter)


Listening for Crisis ManagementStrategy• Monitoring, responding, engage

Goals• Improve discoverability of crisis

• Initiate a fast, coordinated response

Results

• Advertisements were pulled down within 24 hours of first Twitter warning

• L.A. Times and other outlets commended Cisco for a speedy response

• Positive media sentiment enjoyed, negative media sentiment avoided

“Kudos for engaging the community…Cisco had no way to predict this - they reacted quickly, then researched and engaged the community - much more than most companies would do. Class act Cisco.”


Set the Strategy

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 30Cisco Confidential 30Cisco Confidential 30© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

“80% of a companies success is getting their organization ready through the right roles, processes, policies, measurement.”

Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analyst, Altimeter Group


Step 2: Set Up Plan

A. Outline how social media fits into the overall effort

B. Determine the type of content that will be used

C. Confirm team participants and budget

2Create the Strategy &

Content


Team Work = Social Media Success

Social Media Effort

Subject Matter

Expert(s)

Social Media Manager(s)

Listening / Metrics

Crisis Manager(s)

Social Media Channel(s)

Blogs

Integrated Plan

Replies Issues

Questions Sentiment

Engagement & Ideas


Life of Content

Content

Created for either a specific moment in time or without an expiration date

Make the most of it!

Online Videos, Slideshare, photos, etc.

Offline

Microblogging, blogging, etc.

RSS, bookmarks,

etc.

Your Socialsphere

Videos, Slideshare, photos, etc.

Microblogging, blogging, etc.

RSS, bookmarks,

etc.

THESocialsphere


White papers, overviews

Data sheets

Emails

Printed materials

Program guides, agendas

Press releases

Offline group discussions

Recorded presentations

Live presentations

Contests / passports

Websites

User groups

Turn Existing Content into SocialBlogs, quizzes/polls, videos, slides

Videos, blogs, forums, quizzes, polls

Blog posts, tweets, and posts

QR codes, social media call-to-actions

Mobile apps

Social media releases

Tweetchats, video tweetchats, forums

Slideshare, videos

Video broadcasts with social Q&A

Geo-location mobile apps

Live feeds, social sign-on, share features

Online communities


Content Types

Awareness Content

Conversations

Activity Content

Crisis Management

Content

Support & Service Content


Conversations Content• Ask questions

• Survey the audience and crowdsource

• Respond to participants

• Provide platform for participants to content curation

• Focus topics on items audience is interested in

• Create interactive regular content

• Tag other participants’ handles / profiles to generate dialogues

• Create polls and quizzes

• Host events in social media

• Highlight a fan/follower’s comment and as appropriate, add your 2 cents to it

• Pull others into the conversation by “@messaging” or highlighting them


Awareness Content

• Announce new products, services, and news

• Bring attention to an important topic

• Introduce new information to audience

• Create an information-sharing environment

• Monitor for content understanding and absorption


Support and Service Content

• Address questions and resolves issues

• Acknowledge feedback

• Involve participants

• Manage crises

• Give participants an opportunity to review or rate


Activity Content

• Contests

• Tweetups

• Tweetchats/video chats

• Forum discussions

• Trivia questions

• Polls


Crisis Management Content

• Retractions and clarifications

• Issue addresses

• Revisions

• Acknowledgements

• Information distribution

• Reputation management

@CiscoNewsUpdate

Fake Handle

@CiscoNewsReal Handle


Engage with Audience


Dee: Yes. And I Apologize for the late response. We've learned that you have an interest in getting a switch. How can we help you further on this?

[Customer]: Networking isn't my forte- I know just enough to be dangerous. I've got three switches at least in my environment already and I'm adding another.

[…full transcript omitted…]

Dee: Since you are not experiencing problems as of the moment, I think the SG200 would be suitable for you. This switch will create a new group outside of your current setup

[Customer]: Yeah, we'll likely just order it form Newegg.

[Customer]: Thanks for your help Dee.

We’re even capturing leads by integrating with our Global Demand Center

Click-to-ChatDee: hi David!

[Customer]: Hello Dee, I see you already know who I am.

Exit Feedback: Excellent Rating!


Using human validation to review human conversations to apply tags for an automated process

Social HubRules & Conditions

Trigger Actions

critic webex P2 support webex P1 buzz webex P3

THENSend to Webex PR

Recommend follow up within 48 hours

buzz webex P3

IF

If “critic”And “webex”And “P2”


Engagement Opportunity Framework

Marketing

Pre-Sales

Igniting Fans

Content Generation

Thought Leadership /

Trusted Advisor

Reputation Management

Product

Research Product Issues

Product Quality Issues

Gather Info for Product

Development

Provide Product Updates

Identify Gaps in Product Portfolio

Support

Resolve Issues and Answer

Support Questions

Critical Support Issues

Promote Cisco Support

Community

Crisis Management

Safety Issue

Website Errors or Problems

Highly Negative Post / Mentions of

Lawsuit

High Medium Low


Step 3: Engage in Social Media

A. Identify existing social media accounts to leverage

B. Outline communication activities and flow

C. Involve team members and executives

3Engage

with Audience


Decision Tree

Login to Engagement

Console

1) Review “My Tasks” in order of priority AND

2) SME Listening Stack

Engage*

Include comments in

the Notes Section

Engage Level: Commented,

Awaiting Reply

Requires follow-

up?

Appro-priate to Engage?

Engage Level: Resolved, no further action

NO

YES YES

NO

*Engage means that you will respondResponse may be posted through EC, sprinklr, etc.

Assign to someone

else?

Customer

confirms resolve?

NO

Reassign; Engage Level: recommended

follow-up

Engage Level: Reviewed, closed, no engagement required

YES

Follow-up; Repeat flow as

needed

YES

NO

Engage Level: Commented,

closed

Outline possible response scenarios and messaging

• Identify the type of responses that require replies

• Identify escalation plans


Create Content that Resonates• Take time to learn about the audience care-abouts and needs

• Get away for “marketing-ease” to have more of a human tone

• Provide interesting content

• Use creative ways to present it in each channel

• Make content delivery fun and easily shared with others

• Integrate content between channels to create a journey

• Identify participants that are more active and verbal within the stream

• Partner with other teams, brands, leaders, and third-parties to increase reach


Visuals and Concise Messages• Include links

• Include hashtags

• Include keywords

• Shorten URLs

• Recognize and reward followers


Social-Sharing Links


Monitor and Track


Valentine’s Day on Facebook


Step 4: Monitor and Track

A. Determine what to monitor

B. Confirm metrics

4Monitor & Measure


Social Media Measurement Compass


Measurement Workflow• Create realistic metric

objectives, mapping back to overall goals

• Monitor throughout efforts

• Gather reporting

• Analyze data

• Yield insights and amend plan as needed

• Implement updated strategies and repeat process


Specific Areas to MeasureCustomer Support

• Support cost reductions

• Onsite support reductions

• Increase resolutions rates

• Improved customer satisfaction

• Support generated leads

Brand Recognition

• Sentiment by volume of posts and impressions

• Number of positive comments generated

• Number of positive reviews generated

• Number of brand “value add” mentions

• Reputation crises resolution time

Product Innovation

• Number of new product ideas

• Number of new product ideas built

• R&D time saved

• Traditional research cost savings

• Percentage increase of awareness

• Share of voice versus competitors

Activity Specific

• Number of interactions

• Amount of additional press/analyst coverage

• Percentage of sentiment

• Number of click-thrus from social channels to central hub

• Number of new followers/fans

• Conversions


Key Takeaways• Review and understand company’s social media policy

• “Listen” twice as much as you post

• Understand the purpose of social media before jumping in

• Establish goals and objectives before using social media

• Create a mix of content types

• Create 2-way dialogues rather than broadcasting messages

• Nurture social media channels

• Gather metrics to create benchmarks moving forward

• Use social media to augment other communication channel efforts

• Drive social media efforts back to centralized or integrated separate hubs

• Include social sharing links in all communication efforts

Thank you.

Documents

Social Media Marketing for B2B