building b2b online communities- best practices
TRANSCRIPT
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Building B2B Online Communities
Vanessa DiMauro CEO, Leader Networks
SNCR Board Member, Research Co-Chair @ vdimauro April 1, 2012
PRSA Conference
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Many Companies Are Responding Chaotically To The Social Chatter
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Wiki
B2B
B2C
Blog
Web 2.0
YouTube
RSS
On-line Community
Thought Leadership
Customer Retention
Unstructured Information
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Product Groups
Product Development
Sales & Channel Partners
Customer Service
Marketing
Distribution
Customer Service monitors Facebook, Twitter etc. for angry customers
Customer Service resolves customer issues
Customer Service doesn’t share issues with internal stakeholders
Customer Service doesn’t pass on pleased customers to Sales or Marketing
Marketing focuses on getting fans & followers to view its marketing campaigns
Marketing doesn’t use Facebook, Twitter, etc. to transact Marketing doesn’t mine interactions to identify new customers or feedback
Which Can Result In Social Media Muddle
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Online community
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The Shift From Chaos To Focus To move from a set of discrete interactions to a dynamic and connected ecosystem of influence relationships.
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Online Customer Communities Changes Business As Usual… For The Better
Deepen client relationships to
increase retention
Build greater brand equity
Provide better customer care
Shorten product innovation cycle
Extend accelerate product &
services delivery
Deliver improved
financial returns
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Social Capital In-person + online
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Online Community’s Day Has Come!
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Fact
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of organizations
surveyed in 2010 are engaged in private
online communities hosted by the
companies that sell them computer
hardware, software and the services.
ITSMA 2010 report, How Customers Choose Solutions Providers, 2010: The New Buyer Paradox, by Julie
Schwartz, Katie Espinola and Olivier Nguyen Van Tan.
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Fact
49% of all B2B companies manage an
online community dedicated to customers
or prospects, and a third planned to create
a customer community in the near future.
Business.com Business Social Media Benchmarking Study (2009)
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Which Companies Need Online Customer Communities the Most? Common Characteristics of the Early Community Builders
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Customers
• Willing to share information with other customers
• Have purchased a platform product and need to communicate with each other about how to capitalize on it
• Willing to participate in off-line user groups or in person customer summits
Customer problems
(which their products or services addresses)
• Critical, ongoing and ever-changing
• Knowledge for solving problems becomes obsolete quickly
• Customers gain major value by learning from the experiences of other customers
• Urgent need to share experiences
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Three General Models For Community
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Gated Public Hybrid
Select, narrow target audience Acceptance criteria Protected dialog Managed topical agenda Sponsor supported
Open call, all interested Member directed Public forum Big bang Ad generated support
Tiered membership Consensus/Trend driven Public forum w/ private area Thought leadership Hybrid Revenues
Initial purchase of a product / service, product / service upgrade (e.g. new functionality), new application (e.g. increased footprint inside or outside of an operating / business unit) and ongoing maintenance (very profitable and predictable).
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Improving the Way You Enhance Your Products/Services The Case of Palladium Group’s Execution Premium Community
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Community Fast Facts
Sponsoring Company: Palladium Group (founders of the Balanced Scorecard approach to corporate measurement) Audience: Senior strategy professionals from organizations worldwide Size: More than 2,700 organizations Launch date: April 2010 Won multiple awards including SNCR Best Online Community
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About Palladium Group’s XPC
• Help practitioners of the Balanced Scorecard share knowledge
• Increase customer intimacy
• Raise awareness of products and services
• Tap into leading trends in strategy execution
• Create a new revenue-generating service line
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Case for Community
• More than 50% of the membership from non-US countries, deepening Palladium’s market reach
• Drives conference attendance, consulting projects and publishing arm of Palladium
• Revenue-generating in first 6 months
• Over 15% of new members come from peer referrals
Results to Date
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Deepening Customer Intimacy and Enhancing Product Development The Case of LexisNexis Investigators Network (LNIN)
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Community Fast Facts Sponsoring Company: LexisNexis Audience: Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Size: More than 7K registered members Launch date: April 2010 Won Forrester Groundswell Award 2011
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About the LNIN Community
• Appeal to federal, state and local law enforcement
• Bridge the gap between law enforcement
• Service clients better
• Add value to the customer’s purchase decision
• Maintain strong market position
• Over 4000 members in its first year, 1,700 agencies/ 50 states
• Three new product enhancements implemented
• Law Enforcement trends and hot spots
• 1100+ members have made peer-to-peer connections
• Analysts from Gartner recommended that law enforcement managers “leverage the at-large community for access to more information”
Case for Community
Results to date
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Three Operational Processes Communities Needed To Succeed
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Expert community facilitation
A healthy balance of Institutional content (IC) and
user generated content (UGC)
Persistent and programmatic outreach
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Types Of Members And How To Activate Them
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Fame seekers
Connectors Problem Solver
Key Characteristic Seeks opportunities to grow reputation showcase thought leadership
Seeks opportunity to be valued. Connect people with each other and with content
Reticent participant but overcomes in order to get answer to their questions
Motivators Public recognition appreciation
Off-line and online appreciation Validation thru forum post
Timely response & Information Thought leadership post
Example Rewards Member spotlight Bylined article opportunity Shout-out in newsletter or in a discussion
Additional responsibility as content curator or people matcher
Offline supplemental research or pointers to content or people who may help them
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People come for content
and stay
for community!
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Online Customer Communities Changes Business As Usual… For The Better
Deepen client relationships to
increase retention
Build greater brand equity
Provide better customer care
Shorten product innovation cycle
Deliver improved financial returns
Extend accelerate product &
services delivery
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Social Capital In-person + online
Enhancing the brand because the online community can’t be quickly duplicated by competitors – it takes time to build a vibrant community
Lowering the cost of customer service by having customers solve each other’s problems
Identifying nascent customer needs before competitors recognize them – and before customers have well-articulated them
Providing a large and ongoing customer research panel
Enabling customers to easily share detailed information on how they’re using their offerings with one another, which increases their value
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Current Target Outcome Delta / ROI
General Metrics
Site Metrics
Business Metrics
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Corporate Objectives
Business / Functional Unit Objectives
Community Initiative (Business Case / ROI)
– Financial – Customer – Process – Learning & Growth
Community Initiatives Should Be Aligned With Business / Functional Unit And Corporate Objectives
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Thank You!
For more information please contact me
Vanessa DiMauro
CEO, Leader Networks
617-484-0778
Read the blog -> http://blog.leadernetworks.com
http://www.leadernetworks.com
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