Sydney Tech Breakfast: Presenting the Social Bridge to the IT Committee

The Social Bridge to the IT CommitteeHow trusted content on social media builds relationships with IT buyers

Commissioned study conducted by:Australia

Through decision making process

60%

Buyers are highly informed, savvy, and demanding

Source: CEB, “The Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing”, 2012

First contact with brand

Why is it so critical to foster long-term relationships?

Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013

THE IT COMMITTEE

They work cross functionally

45% Work outside of IT

They include individual contributors and managers

50% are individual contributors or managers

These scarce influencers include more than the IT department and the Executive team

LinkedIn partnered with comScore, Starcom MediaVest Group, and Mashwork to understand today’s B2B IT Committee

comScore: Q3 2013SMG / Mashwork: 2012LinkedIn data: Q2 2013

What are they thinking?

100 IT Committee members

What are they saying?

3,000 tech posts from public LinkedIn Groups

What are they doing?

IT decision makers on LinkedIn


Key Findings

Make the vendor shortlist by fostering long-term relationships, while serving short-term needs via lead generation.

The vendor shortlist is more exclusive and critical than you think.

Social media is not just for connecting with peers. The IT Committee actively seeks insights & conversations with vendors.

The IT Committee actively seeks conversations with vendors on social media


Nearly all of the IT Committee use social networks

2013

90% 95% 2012

78%

Use social network monthly for business

The reason? Social media – LinkedIn especially – provides them with trust, efficiency, relevance, and access

Source: Commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2012

Access

A

Access a broader network

50%

Relevance

R

Relevant context to connect with vendors

34%

Efficiency

E

Quickly find information

47%

Trust

T

Learn from trustworthy peers

66%


TERA continues to drive even deeper utilization across the entire IT decision process

37%36% 22% 48% 71%

Implement

66%

Select

74%

Plan

69%

Scope

76%

Awareness

81%

Influence of social media at each stage of decision making

YoY Increase


As the IT Committee use social to learn and debate, they’re looking to vendors to participate

61%Open to connecting with

vendors on socialReady to have a conversation

with a vendor on social

76%

The vendor shortlist is more exclusive and critical than you think


The IT Committee already have a good idea who they want to work with

vendors make their short listOnly 3

purchased from a vendor that made the short list93%

purchased from a new vendorOnly 1 in 5

Build relationships to make the short list

Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013 15

Old ways of communicating don’t work and can turn off your audience

Top 5 reasons the IT Committee doesn’t connect with a vendor on a social network

02

Talk too much about themselves

03

Don’t believe would provide any credible information

01

Don’t want to receive a lot of marketing materials

04

Not thought leaders in the category


05

None of my peers are following them

Building relationships with the right content is critical to being considered

Traditional lead generation can hurt relationships… social is about earning leads

Sweet Spot

Social Relationships

Valuable Content

Traditional lead generation

Context matters. Credibility and trust drive brand perception and willingness to consider a vendor for the shortlist

2 x more people trust LinkedIn over other websites for

Connecting more efficiently with vendors and relevant companies

Receiving information relevant to my IT decisions


Vendors who interact with the IT Committee at a high rate are more likely to create promoters


Engagement on LinkedIn Prior To PurchaseVendor Net Promoter Score

24

NONE

70

2+ TYPES

Engage the IT Committee everywhere they learn

FEED

MOBILE

GROUPS

INMAIL

Implications for IT Marketers

01

02

03

04

Target more than IT functions in your campaigns.

Ensure your content is authentic, valuable, timely, and customized by decision stage and seniority.

Start earning leads via social in addition to buying leads.

Focus on building relationships to get on the short list.

Begin tracking how often and for what clients you make the short list.

05

©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Marketers AudienceContent

Relationship

How LinkedIn can help


2014 Product Focus in B2B

Targeting PersonalizationAttribution Lead capture


24

Build relationships and earn leads by participating

SLIDESHARE CHANNEL

SPONSORED UPDATES

CAPTURING HAND-RAISERS

PERSONALIZED INSIGHTS VIA API



TrendIn – social listening for your target audienceTrending content analytics to see spiking trends and define content strategy

Spiking Trend

Long-Term Trending Topic

Pop

ular

ity

Time Period

Catching trending topics Defining content strategy

LinkedIn Confidential ©2013 All Rights Reserved

103Peers:

of

Best in class influence

Weaker content influence

IBM 0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

CM

I Sc

ore

DUMMY DATA

Content Marketing Index – measuring impact & influenceHere is how your content marketing influence ranks among your target audience for your key topic

Audience = High-tech professionalsWHO: Topic = Big dataWHAT:

• Accenture

• Cognizant

• Dell

• HP

• Infosys

• Microsoft

• Oracle

• Tata Consultancy

• Wipro

A few tricks and tips we’ve learnt

foo 28

The 4-1-1 Rule

Do This Not This

Going Visual

Inspiration

Empowering Advocates

Photo credit: Min-Chieh Chang

Going Visual

Visual Kicks Texts A**

328,000Views!

The Visual is the New Headline

Meet the Experts

Integrate Your Presentations Across Multiple Channels

Increased referral traffic

Social engagement

Higher quality leads

How do you know if your content is more relevant?

Adobe drives thought leadershipwith Sponsored Updates

50%

more likely to agree that Adobe is “shaping the future of digital marketing”

2.5×more likely to agree Adobe’s Sponsored Updates capture their attention

79%

more likely to agree that Adobe can help optimize their media spend

HubSpot drives high-quality leads with Sponsored Updates

400%more leads within their target audience than lead generation efforts on other platforms

165K+Followers

88%Smart phone

intenders

3XPurchase Samsung

2XRecommend Samsung

Content marketing produces results

How LinkedIn Followers boosted a brand The Story of Samsung Mobile

Igniting New Conversationswith Sponsored Updates

Watch Case Study Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwjZodXI2zM&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwjZodXI2zM&feature=youtu.be

Technology

Sydney Tech Breakfast: Presenting the Social Bridge to the IT Committee