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Presentation on how and why vendors are leveraging B2B online communities to build relationships with their customers and prospects.
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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