How B2B Online Communities Impact Branding Campaigns

George Krautzel, Co-Founder and President, Toolbox.com

• Mission

— To help professionals do their jobs better by providing them with the ability to easily share knowledge with experienced peers

• Existing Communities— IT (10 years), HR (<1 year), and

Finance (<1 year)

— More than 3 million monthly unique visitors

— Over 2.4 million pages of practical user-generated content

• Advertising Services— More than 800 advertising partners,

including: IBM, HP, Oracle, Microsoft, Dell

Who is Toolbox.com?

Consumer Business

Ed

itori

al

User-

Gen

era

ted

• Content is communication, specific appeal• 2-way conversations between friends• Personal experiences, socially driven

• Content is communication, specific appeal• 2-way conversations between peers• Personal experiences, best practices

• Content is carefully vetted, broad appeal• 1-way conversation from experts to readers• News, consumer interests, and trends

• Content is carefully vetted, broad appeal• 1-way conversation from experts to readers• News, case studies, best practices

Where Toolbox.com Fits into the Media Landscape

• Increase productivity and efficiency through knowledge sharing

• Support the “Five Pillars of Professional Knowledge”

— Manage careers

— Stay current

— Solve problems faster

— Research vendors

— Make better decisions

• Tap into tools for peer collaboration

– Personal networks

– Vendor directories

– Blogs

– Discussion groups

– Wikis

How and Why Professionals Use Online Communities

• Trend: consistent increase in social media consumption, up to 4.60 hours per week in June 2009

• Results from the Toolbox.com/PJA Social Media Index Survey of 3,000+ IT pros in each of the four waves

Tracking Social Media Usage Among Professionals

Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

Showcase experience

and expertise

Share knowledge to build professional

reputation

Build a personal network of peers for

networking and knowledge sharing

Professionals Are Building Their Brand

Background on the vendor

White papers, documents, and other

research from the vendor

Community conversation about

the vendor and products

Connections with interested community

members

Companies Are Actively Engaging

Which of the following statements best reflects your attitude about vendor participation in online communities?

Attitudes About Vendor Participation in Online Communities

Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

If you were part of an online community, how important would it be for the participating vendors to provide the following? Please rank on a scale of 1 (most important) to 5 (least important).

What Professionals Want from Vendors in Online Communities

Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

Least ImportantMost Important

Source: Toolbox.com/PJA IT Social Media Index, Wave 4, June 2009

In your opinion, which of the following online communities are most appropriate for vendor participation? Please check all that apply.

Where Professionals Want to See Vendors Participating

The Evolution of Online Marketing

Direct Results

2004-2009 2010-2015

Experimentation

Value: Web as a promotional vehicle

Primary Goals: Trial a new media concept, gain eyeballs, build brand and drive awareness

Measurements: Cost per impression

Marketing Tactics:– Branding – buttons, banners– E-mail – newsletters, list

rentals

1996-2003

Value: Web as a direct results platform

Primary Goals: Drive traffic and lead generation

Secondary Goals: Thought leadership and branding

Measurements: CPL, CPC, brand measurements confirmed through surveys

Marketing Tactics:– Search ads– Lead generation – white

papers, webcasts – Branding - IMUs, larger units,

microsites– E-mail – list rentals

Value: Web as a relationship management platform

Primary Goals: Engaging prospects and customers outside of their Web site

Secondary Goals: Lead generation, drive traffic, thought leadership and branding

Measurements: Cost of sales, customer retention, brand penetration and measurements from direct results stage

Marketing Tactics:– Vendor communities– Two-way ads– Messaging connections using

trigger marketing– Successful tactics from direct

results stage

Relationship

Impact = Site visits/leads

Effort = Funding

Traditional Campaigns

TIME

VALUE

With traditional campaigns there is a direct relationship between funding and results – once a campaign is over, that activity usually ceases (landing page visits, etc.).

Source: Pauline Ores, IBM

Comparison of Marketing ROI – Traditional Campaigns

Impact = Relevance and engagement

Effort = Funding

Social Media Impact

TIME

VALUE

Marketing through an online community allows advertisers to

quickly engage and make an impact with their target

audiences.

Social media marketing requires continuous, steady investment to build and manage the network, with eventual value created as the network grows and becomes self-sustaining.

Comparison of Marketing ROI – Online Community Marketing

Source: Pauline Ores, IBM

After direct vendor sales, online communities ranked as the top interactive information source that IT buyers rely on for purchasing decisions.

Why Brand in Professional Communities

Sun Microsystems Example

Relevant community-generated content

Targeted display ad (keyword, geographic,

demographic)

• Campaign Goals— Build brand— Generate leads

• Target Audiences— SMB focused— Linux, UNIX, storage, and Windows

professionals

• Vehicles Used— IMUs (box, leaderboard)— Sponsored vendor profile— White papers

• Targeting Drives Results— Banners were keyword targeted to

reach the right community members

— Lead-gen assets targeted contextually and demographically

— 62% of leads came from SMBs— 76% of leads came from Linux,

UNIX, storage, and Windows professionals

Sybase Example

Expandable leaderboard ad with

interactive capabilities

• Campaign Goals— Build brand— Generate leads

• Target Audiences— Enterprise mobility focused— Wireless, database, networking,

and SCM professionals

• Vehicles Used— IMUs (box, leaderboard)— Sponsored vendor profile

• Success of Expandable Banners— Keyword targeting placed banners

in front of the right audiences— Interactive banners presented

relevant videos and white papers from the vendor

— 46% of banners served were interacted with by the community

Q&A and Contact Information

George Krautzel

Toolbox.com Co-Founder and President

• Toolbox.com profile: http://it.toolbox.com/people/george_krautzel

• Toolbox.com on Twitter: http://twitter.com/toolboxdotcom