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Social media made a roaring entrance in 2008 and gained even more notoriety in its ability to engage the masses on the heels of the U.S. presidential election. But, while there are any number of success stories, experiences deploying social media for business have been anything but consistent, particularly for the uninitiated. This short presentation is intended to begin the discussion about how to approach and explore social media marketing as a component of your branding, PR and demand generation initiatives, particularly for B2B enterprises.
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Social Media for B2B Enterprises A Guide to Getting Started
by Mike CichonJanuary 27, 2009
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What is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?
Primary Goals:
Premise: Consumers saturated and fatigued
by impersonal broadcast messages
The Web has changed the way consumers shop and buy
Traditional “out-bound” programs produce low quality “leads”
More sophisticated consumers want to be educated not sold-to
Educating prospects before initial sales contact will shorten sales cycles
Growing influence via peer interaction, personal referrals, and “at large reviews”
High volume / low level of interaction
Knowledge x-fer relegated to Sales
Argument: Interruption-based tactics
(e.g., email) are becoming ineffective
Drive increased inbound website traffic, reduce “buying friction,” and augment paid search
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Elements of SMM
Building and maintaining your on-line presence Corporate website and 3rd party sites
Developing rich persona-based content Many tools and communication vehicles
Participating in discussions on the Web Establish an organic path to your product / company
Measuring / monitoring Define meaningful metrics and use them to analyze
results
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Hosted and placed content
Associate expertise, authenticity and transparency with your brand
Corporate Website
Web-PR
Forums Social Bookmarking
Blog / Micro-Blog
Wikis / Directories
Other Social Media
Social Networks
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A few notable social media tools
Must Haves Nice to Haves Website
SEO and web-analytics (Google) Blog (Wordpress, Twitter,
Technorati) Marketing automation
(Marketo) Web-PR
Optimized, direct to consumer press releases (Vocus / prweb)
Wikis / Directories Wikipedia, ZoomInfo
Brand Monitoring Google Reader / Blog, Twingly,
SocialMention, Backtype
Social Bookmarking Delicious
Social Networks LinkedIn SIG Facebook Fan Page
Other Digg Flickr StumbleUpon YouTube Buzzlogic Buzzmetrics
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Types of content
Basic content Webinars / seminars
Whitepapers
Value calculators
How-to guides
Advanced content Videos / podcasts
E-books
Tools / toolkits
Flash demos
Examples
Conversation Agent e-Book
Fast Company.TV
Hubspot Grader
Rearden Commerce Demos
“On the Web, you are what you
publish.”
David Meerman ScottThe New Rules of Marketing
an PR
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Participating in the blogsphere
Listen Identify top bloggers and subscribe to
their feeds Configure alerts / widgets to search
for mention of company and key competitors
Join the conversation Start blogging and actively
commenting Adopt a conversational tone Give perspectives and ask for input Link to influencers and encourage
them to link to you
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Measuring success (Best Practice)
1) Measure traffic, validate source Unique visitors eMail / RSS subscriptions
2) Correlate to leads
3) Correlate to conversions (closed deals)
Jan FebMarAprMay Jun Jul
Aug SepOct
Nov Dec
0 1 2 2 5 6 7 5 8 8 7 15
Track to ROI and benchmark to other programs
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Other (anecdotal) metrics
Inbound website links Blog visitors / links Twitter follows /
retweets Posts on forums Votes for blog articles Delicious bookmarks LinkedIn connections Questions answered on
Yahoo Answers Fans / friends on
Facebook Views on YouTube StumbleUpon visitors
Metrics like these illustrate
increased touchpoints,
interactions, and conversations,
but are a bit less traceable to
pipeline performance
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Important questions to ask yourself
Who are your target buyers and how do they use the Web Are the social technographics of your target market
favorable
Where do your prospects hang out on the web What sites and blogs do they visit on a regular basis
Who are the thought leaders in your market Brief them on your products and invite them to contribute
Is social media appropriate to your goals / timeframe Social media takes marketing resources for R & D For B2B companies, measurable benefits will likely
take 6 or more months to materialize
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Other considerations …… stage of the product and market*
New ProductNew Market
New ProductExisting Market
New ProductRe-segmented
Market
• Target market might recognize need, but is unaware a solution exists
• Innovators will recognize solution when they see it
• Few if any active shoppers
Mark
et
Typ
eM
ark
et
Ch
ara
cte
risti
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Role
of
Socia
l M
ed
ia
• Well educated target market aware of need
• Many active buyers, late majority value shoppers
• Early adopters seeking next generation solutions
• Well educated target market aware of need, but predisposed to existing solutions
• Many active buyers and value shoppers
*Reference: The Four steps to the Epiphany
Educate the market and create demand especially among early adopters as there is no ready mass market
Generate broad awareness and buying interest by augmenting traditional demand gen, advertising, PR, and channel strategies
Cultivate debate or conflict to re-orient buyers and divide the market, creating a niche or segment that can be dominated.
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One last thought…
“When thinking about what social media is going to
do for your business, please be wary of setting it up
to be the salvation, the be-all, the life raft. It’s a set
of tools, a strategy, and a handful of tactics. It’s not
always appropriate. It’s not always the best thing in
the world. But it’s not a guaranteed everything.”
… ChrisBrogan.comSocial Media is not a Life Raft
January 23, 2009Social media should usually complement (not replace) traditional
demand generation, PR and advertising programs
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Social media marketing summary
1. Ensure a professional presence everywhere on the Web your target market is likely to visit and provide links to your content
2. Place conversational mentions of the company / product in various blogs, forums and other editorial venues where target prospects are likely to encounter and consume them
3. Make the company / product easy to find via natural search1. Develop appropriate keyword, content and link strategies
4. Enlist the help of market influencers to engage in on-line thought leadership discussions
5. Attract visitors to higher value content and provide them access via registration and opt-in programs
6. Define and measure success metrics / tailor programs
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Recommendations
Start by optimizing your website for keyword search
Optimize press releases for keyword search
Evaluate / adjust paid search campaigns
Start a blog, use keyword anchor text in subject lines
Monitor your brand for mentions across the web and comment when / where appropriate
Develop a strategy to build inbound links to your website
Develop a comprehensive content / collateral plan and allocate appropriate resources to it
Compare to other programs and adjust as necessary
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Thank You!
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About Mike Cichon
I am a Web2.0 / SaaS marketing specialist with extensive hands-on experience in go to market strategy and execution.
Over the course of launching several products to market I have developed a consistent track record and deep hands-on experience in messaging / positioning, go-to-market planning, and crafting effective demand generation programs.
Over the past 10 years I have enjoyed working with several technology companies in Silicon Valley. I’ve learned from experience how to use the latest marketing and public relations strategies to help products get noticed in today’s crowded markets.
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