More than Twitter 1

More than TwitterSocial media and the tech buyer

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We are now a number of years into the ‘social media revolution’. In this time we’ve seen the flourishing of social networks – from the now fading stars of Myspace and Bebo to the thriving LinkedIn and all conquering Facebook. We’ve seen the massive growth of micro-blogging – primarily in the form of Twitter – and are beginning to see the emergence of location-based networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla. Communities of all kinds are now sharing more information more easily in more places than ever before.

As marketers, these developments have lead to a wide range of interesting questions:

• Whereshouldwetakeourcommunications?

• Howshouldweengagewiththesenetworks?

• IssocialandB2Bcompatible?

• Hastheroleofmarketingfundamentallychanged?

• Willwhatwedowork(andhowwillweknow)?

The available data is, to put it mildly, mixed.

In one corner we have the new wave of social media advocates and consultants who say that the role of marketing is now to simply engage in the conversation on customers’ terms. At the extreme, the message is ‘be social or be dead’ and that all non-social activity is frankly redundant.

In the other corner we get the traditionalists who claim that social media can’t be measured, is a distraction and cannot deliver against bottom-line objectives. They argue it is better to stick to the tried and tested methods that can be shown to work.

The truth, as always, is likely to be somewhere in the middle.

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Bright shiny things and the magpie effect

Those of us who’ve been in marketing for some time have all seen fads come and go. The allure of the new can be almost irresistible. And the pressure to get on board with the latest approaches is pervasive on almost every blog and magazine we read.

In our more rational moments of course we’ll see that the past is littered with approaches that were just as bright and shiny in their day. It wasn’t so long ago that everyone was focused on Second Life as being the place to be. While consumers still seem to be going there in increasing numbers (826,214inMarch2010,up13%year-on-year)1 agencies and marketers have largely moved on.

The current darlings consuming pixels on marketing blogs are, of course, Twitter and Facebook.

Atthetimeofwriting(September2010)Twitter’sincreaseinusersappearsto continue apace. While they are somewhat reticent to give out too much detailontheirusers,theyrecentlyclaimedtohave145millionpeopleregistered with them2. This is, of course, an enormous number. But, as many have pointed out, a registered user is not the same as an active user.

1http://blogs.computerworld.com/16303/second_life_layoffs2http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/09/03/how-many-people-are-actually-using-twitter/

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Over85%ofuserspostlessthanonceperday.Overafifthhaveneverpostedatweet.Infact,just5%ofusersaccountfor75%ofallactivity3. This still leaves some pretty big numbers of course.

Facebookisadifferentstory.Thecompanyclaimsover400millionactiveusers,halfofwhomloginonanygivenday.Some35millionusersupdatetheirstatuseverydaytoo.Andastaggering5billionpiecesofcontentareshared every single week 4.

While other social networks have gone into possibly terminal decline, Facebook appears to have created a self-perpetuating community.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget bespoke business network, LinkedIn. Foundedwaybackin2003,LinkedInnowhasover75millionusersin200countries and boasts a wealth of special interest groups for every sector. It is also beginning to add a range of social features to lift it out of its status as merely a CV farm.

With numbers like these, you’d be forgiven for thinking that only a fool wouldn’t jump in with both feet. But the numbers on their own don’t tell the whole story.

3http://www.twittertrafficstats.com/alarming-twitter-statistics-revealed/4http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-facts-figures-for-2010/

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Therearesomekeyquestionsthatmustbeansweredfirst:

• Whatareothermarketersdoinginsocialmedia?

• What’sworkingforthem?What’snot?

• Howdocustomersandprospectsviewcorporatesocial mediaactivity?

In the following sections, we’ll take a look through a selection of current and recent research to try to separate the reality from the hype so you can make a more informed decision on social media. The focus will be primarily onB2Band,wherepossible,specificallyontechnologybuyers.

Who’s doing what?

Everyoneistalkingaboutsocialmedia(especiallyinthesocialmedia). Buthowmanymarketersaregettinginvolved?

AccordingtoForresterresearchfrom20095,atthattimearound30%ofcompanies were using discussion forums, social networks or communities. Of course a year is a long time in marketing so we can safely assume that thishasincreased–youcanfindstatisticsthatplacethisfigurenowatanywherebetween55%and75%(althoughtheirreliabilityissomewhatopentoquestion).

OneinterestingfindingfromtherecentlypublishedB2BBarometerfromCircle Research, however, is that the perceived relevance of social media issteadilyfallingamongB2Bmarketers.Overthepastthreeyears,thepercentage of client-side marketers who believe social media is relevant to B2Borganisationshasfallenfrom71%downto53%6.

5ForresterQ12009B2BMarketingBudgetsAndTacticsOnlineSurveyWithMarketingProfs6http://www.b2bbarometer.co.uk/

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This may go in part to explain Forrester research from this year that shows thatbudgetsattachedtotheseactivitiesarestillverymodest(andhavenotincreased):

• Blogsaccount,onaverage,forjust2%ofmarketingbudget (down1%from2009)

• Socialnetworksmakeupanother2%

• AndTwitteraccountsforjust1%7

Now these activities do not typically cost a lot of money. The real expense, and still a major barrier for many marketers, is time. And this may not be accountedforinthesefigures.Plus,widespreadbudgetcutbackswillhavehad an inevitable restricting effect.

Certainly the appetite to do more is there. The same Forrester survey shows that marketers plan to increase spending in every category of social media. But before everyone runs out and puts up a Facebook fan page, it isinterestingtoseewhatmarketersareactuallydoing(hint:it’snotwall-to-wallFacebook).

IntherecentB2BBarometerstudyfromCircleResearch,respondentswereasked about the social media channels they were using.

Thetopfivewereasfollows:

7ForresterQ12009B2BMarketingBudgetsAndTacticsOnlineSurveyWithMarketingProfs

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Admittedly Facebook comes in at number six with just over a third of respondents taking part but the overall picture is far more complex and nuanced.

As we will see, this confusion over what activities are right for the business, what customers really value and what role social activity takes in the purchase decision is leading to some strange choices of where to invest.

What’s working? What’s not?

There is still the sense that many companies are simply playing at social media. They are dipping their toes in the water as much for the experience (andappearanceofdoingso)astomeetanyhardbusinessmetrics.IntheaforementionedB2BBarometersurvey,amassive79%ofrespondentsdonotmeasuretheimpactoftheirsocialmediaactivities.(Althoughtoputthisincontext,43%don’tmeasurethereturnontheirentiremarketinginvestment.)

Emily Riley from Forrester sums it up well:

Marketers don’t think they’re very good at measuring social media: On average, they rate their own efforts to measure social initiatives at 4.5outof10.Andthere’snosilverbullet–dependingonmarketers’objectives and the technologies they’re using, any of dozens of different metrics could be appropriate. But one thing’s for sure: With the need for accountability rising, marketers can’t keep pretending that fans and followersareusefulsuccessmetrics.In2010,marketerswillfinallystartto focus on the metrics that match their objectives – and metrics that their CMOs already know and trust. 8

As Emily points out, so much depends on the objectives. In this regard thereareechoesofapreviousagewhenanyactivitycouldbejustifiedsimply on the basis of ‘raising awareness’. Of course today this might be justifiedas‘joiningtheconversation’.

8TopSocialComputingPredictionsFor2010,December18,2009

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Fortunatelyothersdomeasureeffectiveness(albeitimperfectly).

MarketingSherpa’s2009B2BMarketingBenchmarkSurveyaskedrespondents to assess the effectiveness of a number of social media tactics. The answers allow us to focus in on the business technology market and look encouraging. The following were seen as effective:

• Maintainingacorporateblog–38%ofrespondents

• Maintainingbusinessprofilesonsocialnetworks–37% of respondents

• Creatingpodcasts–31%ofrespondents

• Onlineviralmarketing–28%ofrespondents9

Of course, without the hard metrics it is impossible to get an objective viewofjusthoweffectivethesetacticsreallyare(andagainstwhatobjectives).Thissimplyhighlightsthecriticalimportanceofdeterminingmeaningful objectives and how they will be measured before creating a social media strategy and all its associated tactics and programmes.

It’s the customers, stupid

Fundamentally, whether and how much you use social media should come downtoonething–yourcustomers.Wherearethey?Whyaretheythere?Andwhatwillbetheeffectofengagingtheminthatcontext?

Returning to the impressive statistics from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, these are useful only if those people are the right people and in the right frame of mind to engage with you. Otherwise you are back to what is essentially the same interruption model of traditional mass-market advertising.

9MarketingSherpaB2BMarketingBenchmarkSurvey2009

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Fortunately, here we have some hard, recent statistics on how European tech buyers use a wide range of media to inform their purchase decisions10. The results shine new light on the kinds of social media technology marketersshouldbeinvestingin(asopposedtowhatthehypemightleadustobelieve).Whilethedatacoversarangeofemerginginformationsources(egvirtualevents,richinternetapplicationsetc),herewe’llfocuson the social networking tactics.

10NorthAmericanandEuropeanB2BSocialTechnographicsOnlineSurvey,Q12010,Forrester

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In top spot are technical support forums and discussion groups. We sometimes forget that these kinds of networks have been around for a long time and are the natural community for many tech buyers. They have a long history of relatively unmediated contact between vendor and buyer and are excellent predictors of the likely relationship a buyer can expect in future. Oddly, they are often largely ignored by marketers.

Second place is taken by virtual trade shows and conferences.

Ratings and review sitescomeinthird.ThesearesitessuchasDigg,DeliciousandStumbleUpon.Thisclearlydemonstratesthepowerofthecrowd in shaping opinions.

Interactive and 3D demos place fourth.

Interestingly private online community sitescomeinatpositionfive,oneposition ahead of open, public social networks(LinkedInetc).Thisshowsthe importance of relevance. The private networks are more focused, have a tighter sense of community and are generally better moderated than the publicalternatives(eventhespecialistgroupswithinthosenetworks).

In seventh to ninth positions come wikis, podcasts and blogs. Wikis are one of the unsung heroes of the social media world and have huge marketing potential for companies to demonstrate how they can helpusersachievetheiraims(theyarenot,however,aplaceforovertselling).WiththewholesaleadoptionofMP3playersandsmartphones,podcasts offer one of the best ways of delivering media and content on the move. And blogs are still one of the default options for communicating with customers.

Atthebottomofthetableintermsofsocialmedia(injointlastplace)comes microblogging (ieTwitter).Thecurrentdarlingofthesocialmediauniverse is used less by technology buyers for making decisions than any othersocialmediaoption(just5%claimtobeinfluencedbyit).Sowhiletherearesome145millionregisteredusers,forthemostparttheyarenotusing the service to make technology buying decisions.

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As we mentioned before, given the relative effectiveness of the varying tactics, marketers’ future investment plans can begin to look more than a littleodd.ThesamesurveyaskedwhichoftheabovetacticshightechB2Bmarketers plan to use more of in the coming year. The results are revealing:

• 60%ofB2BhightechmarketersplantoincreasetheiruseofTwitter(injointlastplaceforinfluence)

• 62%plantodomorevideorecordings(affectingjust8% ofcustomers)

• 64%plantoincreasetheiruseofopenpublicnetworksversusjust24%whowillinvestinthemoreinfluentialprivatecommunities

• Andjust32%plantoincreasetheiruseofsupportforumsanddiscussiongroups(innumberonespotfortheinfluencetheycarry)11

To be clear, all these tactics have a place in the marketing mix. Against the rightobjectivesandtherightaudience,anyofthemcandeliversignificantresults.Butwithoutclearlydefinedtargetsandadeepunderstandingofthe role each tactic can play, ultimate success will be, at the very least, an exercise in hope over expectation.

What does it all mean?

While this article has sought to debunk some of the hype around social media, one thing is clear: social media is important. It represents a fundamental shift in how marketers and brands engage with their customersandprospects.However,itiscriticaltolookatthetypesofsocialmediaavailabletodeterminetheirsuitabilityformeetingspecificbusiness objectives and the results they can deliver for your business.

Much of the blogosphere appears to be adopting a tweet-or-die mentality. The evidence, however, doesn’t back this up.

Only5%oftechnologybuyersuseTwittertoinformtheirbuyingdecisions.Considering the cost in time of properly engaging with customers via microblogging,itisdifficulttorecommenditabovemanyothersocialmedia activities. The exception, in our opinion, is the use of Twitter to publicisetime-limitedoffers(theDellOutletmodel)orasanadjuncttotechnical support.

11NorthAmericanandEuropeanB2BSocialTechnographicsOnlineSurvey,Q12010,Forrester

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The answer is both more complex and, in some ways, simpler than the hype would have you believe.

Itiscomplexinthattoreallyseethebenefitssocialmediacanoffer,itiscritical to integrate all your activities. It means using what works, focusing time and budget into what will deliver the greatest value to your business. And it means tracking results so that you can adapt and improve results over time.

The simplicity comes from the fact that you are probably already using a number of the most effective tools and services. The question is: are they gettingtheattentiontheydeserve?Canyouclearlyseetheeffectsofeachtacticyouemploy?Andareyouabletomovebeyondthe‘fansandfollowers’ aspect that Forrester’s Emily Riley talks about to focus on the tangibleeffectuponyourbusiness?

Indevelopinganeffectivesocialmediaprogramme(orintegrating socialmediaintoyourexistingstrategy)itisimportanttolookatwhereyour customers can be found, what they’re doing there and which are the most effective channels for engagement. In doing so you can both develop a deeper relationship with your customers and clearly demonstrate how your approach is making a tangible, positive difference to your business objectives.

Want to know more?

In this white paper, we’ve merely scratched the surface of how social media should be used by today’s technology marketers. If you would like to delve deeper into the current research or discuss how social media can be used to deliver tangible results for your business, please get in touch.

We are happy to meet you for a no obligation discussion. Simply contact Michael Wrigley at michael@b1.com or call him on 020 7349 2266.

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