Trickle-Up Socialnomics: How BtoB Firms Can Leverage Social Media

Trickle-Up SocialnomicsTM

How BtoB Firms Can Leverage Social Media

Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD

Founder, The Denovati Group

©April 2014, All Rights Reserved

1 Trickle-up Socialnomics™: Leveraging Social Media in the BtoB Context

©Courtney Shelton Hunt

The Denovati Group

April 2014, All Rights Reserved

*Socialnomics™ is a term

coined by Erik Qualman, a

social media thought leader

who wrote a book by the

same name in 2009. You

can learn more about

Socialnomics by visiting

their website.

Executive Summary

This white paper describes Trickle-Up Socialnomics™* – how BtoB (business-

to-business) firms can view their supply chain as a Social Media Chain and

leverage it to identify business opportunities and increase revenues. Just as

leaders of BtoB firms take a different approach to marketing and business

development in general, they need to recognize the limitations of applying

social media tactics used by BtoC (business-to-consumer) firms to their

businesses. They must think about how to leverage social media in unique

and contextually-appropriate ways.

The purpose of this paper is not to tell leaders of BtoB companies they should engage in social media.

Rather, it is intended to help them better understand what they can do.

New technologies don’t fundamentally change what a firm is trying to achieve. What they do offer are

potentially better ways to pursue those objectives. Social media initiatives should be integrated into an

enterprise’s other business development activities; however, limited resources may necessitate trade-

offs. The expected utility of various efforts should be compared to determine which can produce the

highest possible return relative to the required investment. Social media approaches are often superior

because in addition to other benefits, they enable firms to access “actionable intelligence” from more

high-quality sources faster and more cheaply than traditional communication channels.

The Social Media Chain can be conceptualized as follows. The upper half of the model represents the

Listening Chain, and the lower half represents the Engagement Chain. It incorporates both private

(boxed) and public communications.



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Participants in the Social Media Chain can listen to the publicly-shared communications of any other

participant, even without a direct connection. Though engagement can also occur across levels,

participants will generally engage directly with their own clients and prospects. Listening to and

engaging with other Social Media Chain participants can enable BtoB firms to identify and pursue new

business opportunities and better serve existing customers. Although engagement itself can’t be

focused on selling, listening and engaging can both lead to revenue-generating opportunities.

This paper describes the Social Media Chain and provides examples of how participants can both listen

to and engage with individuals and organizations at different levels. It also provides examples of the

Trickle-Up Socialnomics™ effect resulting from these activities.



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Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 4

Should BtoB Enterprises Engage in Social Media? ..................................................................................... 5

The Supply Chain as Social Media Chain .................................................................................................... 6

How the Social Media Chain Works ......................................................................................................... 10

The Trickle-Up Socialnomics™ Effect ....................................................................................................... 16

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 17

About The Denovati Group ...................................................................................................................... 18



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*Socialnomics™ is a term

coined by Erik Qualman, a

social media thought leader

who wrote a book by the

same name in 2009. You

can learn more about

Socialnomics by visiting

their website.

Introduction

Leaders of many BtoB (business-to-business) firms are uncertain – if not downright skeptical – about

how social media can help them achieve their business development objectives. Tempted by the media

hype and low barriers to entry, some BtoB firms have experimented with establishing a presence on

some of the best known social networking platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), but many of

these experiments have met with limited results.

Generally speaking, poor results can be attributed to a failure to recognize that:

• The approaches used by BtoC (business-to-consumer) firms cannot be applied wholesale

to their businesses.

• Popular social networking channels may not be the most appropriate places to engage

with current and potential BtoB customers.

• The social media universe is much larger than the “big three” social networking

platforms.

• Although it may not require a huge cash investment, the time commitment necessary

for social media success should not be underestimated.

• Tactical experimentation is not the same as strategic implementation. Even a low-cost

investment is no bargain if it is not strategically oriented.

Just as they take a different approach to marketing and business

development in general, leaders of BtoB enterprises need to employ social

media in unique and contextually-appropriate ways. In this white paper, I

introduce the idea of Trickle-Up Socialnomics™* – how BtoB firms can view

their supply chain as a Social Media Chain and leverage it to identify

business opportunities and increase revenues.

Although the model is built around participants in a classic manufacturing

supply chain, the underlying ideas are transferrable to virtually any

organization since they all operate within economic ecosystems in which

participants are directly and indirectly connected to each other.



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Should BtoB Enterprises Engage in Social Media?

The purpose of this paper is not to tell leaders of BtoB companies they should engage in social media. In

my view, "should we or shouldn't we?" is the wrong question – or at least it shouldn't be the first

question. The determination whether and how to leverage social media will be unique for each BtoB

enterprise, but it generally involves the following steps:

• Identify (or revisit) strategic goals and objectives and assess whether and how social

media technologies can help achieve them.

• Assess current business development approaches and determine if new approaches

leveraging social media might be more effective.

• Develop a plan for integrating new technologies if they can improve the efficiency and

effectiveness of business development efforts.

During the evaluation process, it’s important to put social media in perspective. Social media should be

viewed as “new tools for doing old things.” In other words, new technologies don’t fundamentally

change what a firm is trying to achieve: increased revenues, decreased expenses, higher net profits.

What they DO offer are potentially better ways to pursue those objectives. In addition, the pursuit of

social media initiatives should be integrated with an enterprise’s other initiatives and programs. From a

business development perspective, that means that rather than simply layering social media on top of

more traditional efforts, leaders should determine how to weave them into the overall fabric of their

business development, marketing, sales, and customer service efforts to increase the synergy among

them and maximize potential results.

With limited resources, integrating social media initiatives may necessitate trade-offs. The expected

utility of various efforts should be compared to determine which can produce the highest possible

return relative to their required investment. Some of the reasons that social media can produce a

“bigger bang for the buck” include:

• The ability to get more information about leads, trends and significant developments

from a wider array of sources, more quickly than through traditional channels.

• The ability to reach a greater number of people faster, with less effort, at lower cost,

and in places they’re likely to “hang out.”

• Greater control over communications and conversations, by providing outlets for

stakeholder complaints and concerns that the enterprise can address directly (rather

than having them voice their concerns somewhere else).

• The ability to generate business opportunistically as well as strategically.



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The Supply Chain as Social Media Chain

Here is a conceptualization of the Supply Chain as Social Media Chain. For purposes of this illustration

I’ve included five participants in the classic manufacturing supply chain, represented by blue/yellow

ovals and avatars. The model doesn’t include all relevant participants for a manufacturing supply chain

and doesn’t recognize the inherent messiness and nonlinearity of the relationships among participants. I

simplified the components to focus on the core social media themes, which should be transferrable to

more complex configurations.

The top half of the diagram shows what I refer to as the “Listening Chain,” with different layers of

listening for different types of participants. The bottom half of the diagram shows the “Engagement

Chain,” which is where dialogue and other interactions occur.



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The Listening Chain

Any participant in the Social Media Chain can listen to any other participant’s publicly-shared

communications. The layers in the listening chain are as follows:

• The orange “sound waves” indicate listening between parties that are directly

connected. For example, Dealers can listen to Consumers.

• The green “sound waves” indicate listening between parties that are one layer removed

from each other. Component Producers can listen to Distributors, for example.

• The red “sound waves” indicate listening between parties that are two layers removed

from each other. Manufacturers, for example, can listen to Consumers.

• The gray “sound wave” indicates listening between parties that are three layers

removed from each other. Component Producers can listen to Consumers.



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The Engagement Chain

Although participants in the Social Media Chain can listen across all levels, their engagement will

generally be focused on their direct relationships. There are two basic types of engagement:

• Public: All participants can share information and ideas openly through a variety of

means and can invite conversation from other participants. The initiation of these

exchanges is indicated by the teal “sound waves.”

• Private: Participants can engage in private interactions with other participants with

whom they’re directly connected. These exchanges can take the form of single

conversations or more complex interactions. The simpler, more transactional

interactions are indicated by the blue/yellow dialogue links, and the more complex,

relationship-oriented interactions are represented by the boxed exchanges.



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Listen First, Then Engage

Many people think that leveraging social media means using the platforms and technologies to push

messages out. The tendency to focus on “talking” not only reflects a misunderstanding of the power of

these channels for gathering information, it can also lead to wasted effort if the push communications

are not valued by their recipients and/or do not pull them into an interaction with their senders. BtoB

enterprises are better served by focusing their initial social media efforts on listening, for several

reasons:

• It is a very powerful way to gather “actionable intelligence” about what is happening in

the industry, as well as with customers, prospects, and competitors.

• The firm may not have the resources or staff with the expertise to actively engage.

• The firm can maximize the effectiveness of their efforts when they do engage by

following and learning from the activities of earlier adopters.

In addition, although rules of engagement are outside the scope of this paper, there are three basic

rules that should be kept in mind to maximize the effectiveness of leveraging social media for

engagement:

• Companies should not assume, “if we build it, they will come.” When a company

establishes public social media channels, they should identify them as official sites, add

links on their websites to connect to them directly, and promote them through a variety

of channels. Similarly, companies leveraging private social media channels should

ensure that the folks using them understand and are trained in how to use them

effectively.

• Even in a BtoB context, engagement is “IwithI.” Ultimately social media engagement

boils down to engagement between and among individuals. That means companies

should ensure that individuals who engage on their behalf do so with a human rather

than corporate voice, and that they respect the individuality and fundamental humanity

of those with whom they are interacting.

• Engagement does not mean selling. It means participating in conversations, offering

expertise, asking and answering pertinent questions, creating and strengthening

relationships, and being a good citizen. Selling may be the end game, but service is the

name of the game.



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How the Social Media Chain Works

To illustrate how the Social Media Chain can work, we’ll start with the BtoC level (Dealers and

Consumers) and work our way back through the chain to Component Producers. For each participant, I

describe how they can use social media to listen to and then engage with their direct clients. It’s

important to remember, however, that other participants in the Social Media Chain could also be

listening to publicly-shared messages and may respond, so engagement can occur across all levels.

Given the layered nature of the Social Media Chain, each set of suggestions is intended to build on the

preceding one(s). Therefore, rather than repeating specific tactics, I focus on additional and/or unique

activities that can be employed by each type of participant for both listening and engagement. The

suggestions are intended to be illustrative rather than exhaustive.

Dealers

Listening. As indicated in orange, Dealers can listen directly to Consumers through a variety of means.

Focusing on their own brand, the brands they sell, and their competitors (both other dealers and other

brands), they can, for example:

• Set up Google alerts to notify them when a brand has been mentioned in cyberspace.

• Follow specific Tweeters, identify and track Twitter hashtags, and search for tweets that

don’t include hashtags.



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• Like Facebook pages and follow the news and other information shared, as well as the

dialogue exchanged on their walls.

• Subscribe to YouTube channels; search for and “favorite” specific videos.

• Find and follow Pinterest boards and Instagram accounts.

• Subscribe to blogs written by loyalists and/or product experts.

• Join special communities (e.g., Facebook groups, private online communities, and

discussion boards).

Engagement. Dealers can leverage social media to communicate directly with past, current, and

prospective customers in a variety of ways. They can use various channels to broadcast messages and

invite Consumers to interact with them. For example, they can:

• Use Twitter to share relevant information and resources and receive questions and

comments.

• Establish a Facebook page and share information, resources, pictures, and videos, in

addition to allowing others to share too.

• Create a YouTube channel that features self-created videos as well as videos created by

others that they’ve “favorited.”

• Establish their own Pinterest and/or Instagram accounts to share their own visual

images, as well as those created by others.

Dealers can also encourage private interactions with Consumers. For example, they can:

• Add a chat feature to their website that allows people to ask questions and get answers

in real time.

• Create private social networks with key customers to conduct market research, get

feedback on specific ideas or initiatives, and/or to identify potential improvements in

products and services.



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Distributors

Listening. Like Dealers, Distributors can listen directly to Consumers through the means defined above.

Distributors can also listen directly to Dealers through the social media presences they create for

engaging with Consumers, as well as through other channels. They can, for example:

• Set up Google alerts to notify them when current/prospective Dealer clients and/or one

of their relevant brands has been mentioned in cyberspace.

• Follow Dealer clients and prospects on Twitter and LinkedIn (both individuals and

organizations), as well as other social channels like those mentioned above, to stay

current on their activities and issues and learn about significant changes and

opportunities.

• Join industry-specific and professionally-relevant LinkedIn groups and monitor the

discussions taking place.

Engagement. Like Dealers, Distributors can leverage social media to communicate in a variety of ways.

They can use various channels to broadcast messages and invite others to interact with them. For

example, they can:

• Use Twitter to share relevant information and resources, either directly or by retweeting

items shared by others.

• Get all relevant externally facing folks on LinkedIn (or other networking groups) and

have them connect with Dealer representatives.



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• Participate in LinkedIn groups by sharing news items and engaging in discussions.

• Demonstrate expertise by answering questions raised by others through LinkedIn,

Facebook, and other networks and discussion forums.

• Write blog posts to demonstrate expertise and/or key competitive differentiators. These

posts can be guest posts on other blogs and/or their own. Self-run blogs are also a great

way to share relevant news, press releases, and/or case studies.

Distributors can also encourage private interactions with Dealers. For example, they can:

• Reach out to current and prospective clients in response to a trend, issue or question a

Dealer might have raised through a public social media channel.

• Establish (semi)private channels (e.g., LinkedIn groups or private social networks) to

address industry or brand-specific issues and challenges.



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Manufacturers

Listening. Like Dealers and Distributors, Manufacturers can listen directly to Consumers through the

means defined above. They can also listen directly to Dealers and Distributors through the social media

presences they create for engaging with other participants. And they can employ the same kinds of

listening tactics that Distributors do.

Engagement. Manufacturers can leverage social media to communicate in the same ways that Dealers

and Distributors do, both publicly and privately. Given their focus on product creation, they can target

their engagement to both end users (i.e., Consumers) and other supply chain participants (e.g., Dealers

and Distributors).

Although it’s not illustrated in the simplified Social Media Chain model, Manufacturers can also engage

privately with Dealers and Consumers as well as Distributors. Depending on the industry, product, and

brand, Manufacturers can:

• Create a private social network of Consumers to conduct market research, get feedback

on specific product ideas, and/or to identify potential improvements.

• Establish private networks of Dealers to address confidential industry or brand-specific

issues and challenges, as well as to share best practices.



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Component Producers

Listening. Like other Social Media Chain participants, Component Producers can listen directly to

Consumers through the means defined above. They can also listen directly to Manufacturers, Dealers

and Distributors through the social media presences they create for engaging with other participants.

And they can employ the same kinds of listening tactics that Distributors do.

Engagement. Component Producers can leverage social media to communicate in the same ways that

Dealers and Distributors do, both publicly and privately. Component Producers can also encourage

private interactions with Manufacturers. For example, they can:

• Reach out to current and prospective clients in response to a trend, issue or question

they or a Consumer, Dealer, or Distributor might have raised through a public social

media channel.

• Create a private social network of key customers to get their feedback on specific ideas

or initiatives and/or to identify potential improvements in products and services.

• Establish a private channel for managing large-scale projects and/or highly-customized

products.



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The Trickle-Up Socialnomics™ Effect

The idea behind Trickle-Up Socialnomics™ is that listening to and engaging with other Social Media

Chain participants can enable BtoB firms to identify and pursue new business opportunities and better

serve existing customers. Although engagement itself can’t be focused on selling, listening and engaging

can both lead to revenue-generating opportunities. Here are some examples of how this can work:

Distributors

Listening. Listening to conversations in cyberspace, a Distributor senses a growing dissatisfaction among

Dealers (who are not current clients) with their current supplier(s). The Dealers are not actively seeking

a new supplier, but they’re likely to be more receptive to a prospecting call than they had been in the

past. The firm adjusts its sales plan to prioritize these prospects.

Engagement. To improve its service, a Distributor creates a private social network to form an advisory

group of current clients to identify and analyze problems and brainstorm solutions. Even though these

Dealer clients are geographically disbursed and in different time zones, they are able to communicate

asynchronously in a shared space with threaded conversations. The advisory group produces multiple

benefits: the Distributor improves its service and strengthens its relationship with key clients, making

them “stickier.” The Dealers benefit from the improved service and are able to pass along those benefits

to Consumers. They also form close relationships with other advisory group members and leverage each

other’s expertise to address other challenges and issues.

Manufacturers

Listening. A Manufacturer of specialty containers follows the activities of wine and beer making

hobbyists and discovers there is demand for certain types of containers that are not currently

manufactured. It reaches out to other end users of its products via various social media platforms to see

how universal the demand is and to assess whether further exploration into expanding its product line is

warranted.

Engagement. Given limited resources, a start-up firm has decided to focus only on pursuing new clients

in the US. It can easily provide its products to other regions, but it doesn’t have the sales staff to make

the necessary investments to cultivate those markets. Because it has established a strong digital

presence, however, a prospective overseas client can learn about them, their products and expertise

and reach out to them for more information and/or to request a proposal.

Component Producers

Listening. Following the conversations of Consumers, Dealers, and Manufacturers, a company learns

there may be a quality issue with a part provided by a competitor. It recognizes the concern being raised

is directly connected to a factor its engineers had just improved in its own product line. The firm wasn’t



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planning to announce these changes broadly, but it decides that under the circumstances promoting its

quality improvements might be a good idea.

Engagement. A firm produces highly-customized parts for an OEM (original equipment manufacturer).

The parts have complicated specifications that change through the course of a multi-month design

process. The firm used to use email and conference calls to manage the design projects, but switches to

a private digital network to manage the project using advanced social technologies. They can store,

share, and edit master project files, maintain a master timeline, and create and manage a single project

calendar. They can also use the platform to create and manage threaded conversations on specific

issues and develop wikis for different topics. By increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of project

management, they are better able to meet the client’s needs while reducing costs.

Conclusion

The goal of this paper is to help leaders of BtoB companies better understand how they can use social

media to achieve their business development goals through enhanced communication. As I mentioned

in the introduction, it is not intended to tell leaders they should leverage new digital technologies, or

even if leveraging them is necessary.

The paper also doesn’t address how an company should get started and expand/maintain their efforts

over time. Nor does it address the challenges inherent in pursuing social media initiatives (e.g., time and

information management issues, ROI questions, intellectual property risks). Those questions and more

are addressed via our SMART Resources and the SMART Blog. I encourage you to check them out.



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About The Denovati Group

The Denovati Group (denovati.com) enhances the success of

individuals and organizations in the Digital Era through an alliance

that provides thought leadership and guidance, research,

consulting and training services, and a professional community

that fosters the sharing of information and best practices. These

objectives are accomplished primarily through:

Denovati Solutions: helps individuals and organizations function

more efficiently and effectively in the Digital Era through the

design and implementation of innovative and leading-edge

strategies and programs (denovati-solutions.com).

SMART* Resources: offer in-depth treatment of a variety of topics related to the applications and

implications of social and digital technologies. These resources provide both strategic and tactical Digital

Era guidance for individuals and organizations. They include the SMART* Blog, as well as white papers,

(e)books, and research reports, and graphically-oriented pieces that provide at-a-glance information

(denovati.com/smart-resources).

SMART* Courses: provide digital literacy training through an online platform that offers the benefits of

text-based books, video tutorials, self-paced learning, and group-based instructor-led coaching in a

single package (smart-courses.com).

(*SMART = Social Media And Related Technologies)

The Denovati Difference

The Denovati Group distinguishes itself from other seemingly similar organizations in three ways:

• Our approach is inclusive and balanced

• We believe technology is about people

• Our ultimate goal is YOUR success—we want to help individuals and organizations

- Maximize the benefits of leveraging social and digital technologies, while minimizing risks

- Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their digital engagement efforts

- Enhance the likelihood of success in achieving goals and objectives

- Save time and money over the long term

Connect with The Denovati Group

In addition to our websites, blog, and email list, you can find, follow, and engage with The Denovati

Group through a variety of social and digital channels. Just search for Denovati on the following: