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Social sharing in B2B: Understanding the cycle of influence
www.cognitomedia.com
Vivienne Hsu Director, Cognito
Who’s on our webinar today
2
Steve Thomson MD UK, Keller Fay, an Engagement Labs Company
Eli Singer CMO, Engagement Labs
Katie Kinnear Social Media Manager, Cognito
How advocacy drives success in B2BSteve Thomson, Keller Fay
www.cognitomedia.com 4
We are social animals
• We live in a connected world
• We seek out the opinions and advice of others: Family, friends, colleagues, peers, experts
• We like to share our experiences & help others
The world of science is revealing we are “hard
wired to be social.”
www.cognitomedia.com 5
Everyone wants to be talked-about, recommended
"We want to be the most talked-about brand at World Cup. We knew we were going to do something real-time, that isn't completely brand new to us, but it is at this scale.”
- Tom Ramsden, brand marketing director for Adidas Football
“Out assets are our people, capital and reputation.”
- Goldman Sachs
www.cognitomedia.com 6
Advocacy and Conversation have proven impact on customer decisions
Social dialogue has been shown to impact:
üSales
üCustomer loyalty
üSearch
üWeb visits
üBrand health & reputation
üAttractiveness as an employee
Ensuring positive advocacy towards your company is not a ‘nice-to-have’
www.cognitomedia.com 7
Proven impact across a range of B2C categories
Econometric analysis consistently shows that
word of mouth is a driver of sales, search and
other brand outcomes
Analysis shows that the revenue growth of the brands with
the highest advocacy levels is far above
the industry average
Boston Consulting
75% percent say they turn to
peers to push them toward or
away from a purchase.
www.cognitomedia.com 8
But what about B2B?
• Do WOM and advocacy factors drive business decisions?
• Don’t we simply need to be active in LinkedIn?
• Can we influence how people talk about us?
www.cognitomedia.com 9
Business and social networks are enduring
www.cognitomedia.com 10
Growth of social media (inc. internal platforms)
Collaborative &complex decision-making
Globalization & better connections
Requirement for diligence, thoroughness
Information on tap
Evidence that B2B decisions are (increasingly) influenced by social factors
It’s the professional way to make decisions
www.cognitomedia.com 11
Business decision makers acknowledge social impact
What role did social media play in your research process?
• 53% of buyers said they relied more on peer recommendations, versus only 19% of buyers surveyed in 2012
• 37% of buyers said they spent more time using social media to research solution
www.cognitomedia.com 12
Advocacy and influence: Internal / External
Role of internal ‘influencer’ long-accepted in B2B modelsExternal influence facilitated by the growth in social media, user/supplier content
Motivations, content, channels, networks will be different• Internal: can be mandatory• Social signaling vs. keep-it-to-yourself• Discreet networking vs social media
BOTH will have impact
www.cognitomedia.com
“We found that, on average, 5.4 people now have to formally sign off on each purchase.
Complicating matters, the variety of jobs, functions, and geographies that these individuals represent is much wider than it used to be.”
13
Internal: Decision-making is more collaborative
www.cognitomedia.com 14
• What are the characteristics of influence & advocacy?
• How do we drive advocacy higher?
• How do we measure the impact of our actions?
A CEB survey of nearly 600 B2B buyers found that nearly half the people who reported a willingness to buy a product or
service were not willing to publicly advocate for it.
Willingness to buy and willingness to advocate are not the same
www.cognitomedia.com 15
A strategic framework for activating advocacy
What’s the brand story?: Identify drivers of advocacy –distinctive & viral brand messages
Target the talkers: Profile & reach active advocates & influencersActivate passive advocates
Choose your channels Identify touch points which drive advocacy
Deliver excellent Product & service
experiences
Social, WOM & implications for measurementEli Singer, Engagement Labs
www.cognitomedia.com 17
To grasp the State of Social Media in 2016,it’s helpful to have a perspective
as to where the industry is coming from.
www.cognitomedia.com 18
Social: How we’re evolving
Text
Imagery
Video
FRAGMENTATION
www.cognitomedia.com 19
FRAGMENTATION
EVERYWHERE
Social: How we’re evolving
www.cognitomedia.com 20
FRAGMENTATION
EVERYWHERE
EVERYONE
Social: How we’re evolving
www.cognitomedia.com 21
In 2016:
Bite Sized | Image Centric | Faster
www.cognitomedia.com 22
Giphy Closes $55 Million Series C At A $300 Million Post-Money ValuationFeb 16, 2016
Imagery increasingly important
www.cognitomedia.com 23
Measurement exists inmany shapes and sizes
www.cognitomedia.com 24
Point Solutions
Social measurement
www.cognitomedia.com 25
Macro Solutions
79 92 71 75 79 79 4 92 96 21 66 72 69
Social measurement
www.cognitomedia.com 26
Consumers need to see your message
7 timesto notice or even remember it.
www.cognitomedia.com 27
Identifying influencers
Online & offline
Those willing to speak
Provide content & context to share
www.cognitomedia.com 28
Remember:
Offline advocacy needs to be activated
• Understand real-world triggers (content but also situations, business needs)
• Ideally measure actual advocacy
• Design/plan digital content to travel offline – and factor this into ROI
Social measurement
The social sharing opportunity for B2B FSKatie Kinnear, Cognito
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions
3. Longer sales cycle
4. An “unsocial” community
5. Change resistant company structure
6. Compliance and risk
30
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
Opportunities for social sharing
31
• Recommendation in niche areas of expertise counts for even more
• Social sharing provides an opportunity to build trust and deepen relationships over time
• Increasing number of targeting opportunities and tools
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions
Opportunities for social sharing
32
• Make the complex accessible
• Create targeted, highly-relevant content that gives you credibility
• Differentiate yourself as an educator who provides timely, useful information that addresses customer needs
• Empower your spokespeople and experts to share their knowledge
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions
3. Longer sales cycle
Opportunities for social sharing
33
• Play the long game
• Use social sharing to provide value at every step of the sales cycle
• Social sharing, thought leadership and advocacy engender trust and strengthen relationships over time
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions
3. Longer sales cycle
4. An “unsocial” community
Opportunities for social sharing
34
• Social recommendation is important to people – B2B or B2C.
• Focus on advocates who are already engaging
• Adopt a social tonality in your communications
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions
3. Longer sales cycle
4. An “unsocial” community
5. Change resistant company structure
Opportunities for social sharing
35
• Hard to overcome internal mindset, fear of new processes and technological hurdles
• Even small steps in social sharing reap great rewards and recognition in this industry
• Maximise the efficiency of your marketing and impact the bottom line
www.cognitomedia.com
Challenges and opportunities
B2B challenges
1. Niche audiences with a focus on quality over quantity
2. Complexity of your products, services and solutions
3. Longer sales cycle
4. An “unsocial” community
5. Change resistant company structure
6. Compliance and risk
Opportunities for social sharing
36
• Build in compliance from the start
• Guide and empower employees by establishing guidelines and providing training
• Increasing number of tools and resources available to help mitigate risk
Questions, comments? Please contact [email protected]