You Drive BusinessThe Role of Social Media in Sales December 2014

Are you part of the sales process?

41% of respondents to the 2011 Inside the Mind of the B2B Buyer survey said they engaged with a sales representative only after their initial research was conducted on various options

24% said they engaged with sales after a preferred list of vendors was already established.

Where do buyers look?

10

12

21

23

27

27

29Technology or solution provider subject matter experts

Technology or solution provider sales people

Peers/colleagues

Industry analysts

Management consultants

Sourcing advisors

Universities, think tanks

Source: ITSMA, How B2B Buyers Consume Information Study, 2012

What were the first three sources of information you turned to when you began your information search? % of Respondents (N=299)

Company Lens: Business EnablementPHASE AWARENESS LEAD GEN NURTURE CONVERT ENGAGE

Objective

Higher Search RankingsPublicityGenerate Interest

Attract those in the buying processCapture Leads

Continue outreach with those not yet ready to buyMove up the purchase lifecycle

Move target from prospect to buyer

Continue engagementCross-sell/upsellManage post-purchase dissonance

Common Tools

White PapersResearchTweetsLinkedIn GroupsSlideshare Decks Podcasts Speaking Opps

White PapersResearchROI CalculatorsViewpointsCase StudiesWebinarsSpeaking opps

NewslettersCustom White PapersResearchSpeaking opps (for prospect)DemosCo-hosted webinars

Sales PresentationPricing ModelsProposalsCase StudiesAnalyst reccos

NewslettersProject updates/photosCase StudiesAnalyst reportsSpeaking opps (for the client)Workshops

How buyers use social media

ZIFF DAVIS ENTERPRISE ASSET TRAK

YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS CONVERSATION

THE CONSUMER IS SATURATED

Content plan for sales

PHASE INITIAL RESEARCHPROBLEM DEFINITION

SHORTLISTING SOLUTIONS &

VENDORSFINAL SELECTION POST-PURCHASE

QueryIndustry trendsCompetitor

CasesAnalyst

viewpoints

Operational Benchmarks Technology

Platforms Frameworks ROI

Locations, financials, corp governance Referrals Specific

Solutions Competency Cultural Fit

Best solution Demonstrated

competency Pricing strategy

Rationalizing purchase Benefits Deepen or

disengage

Safe Social

The best brand ambassadors

ARE EMPLOYEES

WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT ?

Opens up a multitude of avenues

Differentiate yourself from others

Prolonged careers

Better stature & networking in society

WHY SHOULD THE COMPANY DO IT ?

Build Visiblity

Build Organizational crediblity

Strong personal brands add value to corporate brands and vice-versa

Tool Employee Content

Twitter Links to industry articles along with comments, company news, retweets of company tweets

FacebookLinks to industry articles along with comments, Shares of company posts, Liking company posts, friending clients you know personally (and creating a separate list for them)

LinkedIn Answers to technical questions, Sharing jobs, Engaging in company-run group, Attending company events

YouTube Sharing, liking company posts, links to relevant videos

Slideshare Decks made in public forums such as conferences

google+ +1s for relevant articles, shares of company articles, circle for clients, Hangouts with that circle if appropriate

What’s OK

What’s NOT ok

Financial data

Client information of any type

Internal memos, decks, announcements

Departures, Appointments (unless public)

Anything that contradicts company’s stated position

Anything that contradicts a client’s stated position

The shoals

Facebook is more intimate than the other tools and so requests to connect should be made only to clients you know really well. In the case of employees, you should wait for your reportees to invite you, and never insist that you be ‘friends’

Sharing your views on politics, religion, locally sensitive topics can polarize your network

Define what constitutes harassment, improper language, bad behaviour in electronic media - even in your employees’ personal capacity

Set a guideline for sharing company photos on social media - usually it is that it should not be embarrassing to the employees in the shot, and personal information (like tagging) cannot be provided without permission

Playing safe

Disclose your employer

Disclaimer ‘views are personal’

Follow the ‘listen, respond, engage’ cycle in your social media engagements

When you make a mistake, apologize immediately and fully

What does success look like - individualWhat does success look like?

Acknowledged expert in that field

Known by name not by org title

Personal reputation = > company reputation

Friday 3 December 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katmere/62037353/sizes/m/

What does success look like?

% increase in inquiries through Social Media sites

Increase in downloads of content

Requests for information through social channels

% increase in # of touchpoints with customers and prospects

% increase in conversions through nurturing

MARKETING STRATEGY

Product launches, brand integration, rejuvenation and

identity, international

marketing plans, turnkey marketing

solutions

INSIGHTS India’s only serious

marketing newsletter. Quarterly Journal on

the Futurist CMO. CXO conferences- The Futurist CMO and Great Indian

Marketing Summit

COMMUNITY India’s only peer

community for marketers, with a

reach of around 10,000 across

channels. Forum featured in

LinkedIn’s Hall of

CONSULTING. EDUCATION. COMMUNITY.

The Paul Writer team hosts India’s largest peer community for marketers at paulwriter.com, curates India’s only marketing quarterly “The Futurist CMO” and convene the highly acclaimed Futurist CMO and Great Indian Marketing Summit conclaves.

Paul Writer, was founded in 2010 by Jessie Paul, a marketing expert, author of No Money Marketing (Tata McGraw-Hill, 2009). She has held a variety of senior marketing positions including CMO for Wipro’s technology business and Global Brand Manager of Infosys.

312-313 PRESTIGE MERIDIAN 2, 30 M G ROAD, BANGALORE 560001 paulwriter@paulwriter.com