the rise of b2b communities

Day 1 – DIGITAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Marketing, Sales and Social Media @ CeBIT Campus 2015

Managing Director Skotidas

The Rise of Online Communities for B2B Social Selling

Tom Skotidas

The Internet + Social Networks Have Changed B2B Buyer Behaviour Forever.

Salespeople and Account Managers Are No Longer the Key Information Sources

for B2B Buyers.

Buyer Shift

Source: Corporate Executive Board (www.executiveboard.com)

Commoditised language and price sensitivity creep in to the Buyer’s psyche at 57%

What Has Been the Result of This Buyer Shift?

Buyers Are Using Digital Channels.

Social Networks Are the Most “Social” of all Digital Channels.

And Where Buyers Go, So Do B2B Professionals.

The Rise of Social Networks for B2B

•  7,500,000 members in ANZ •  61,000,000 members in Asia Pacific

–  28,000,000 in India –  5,475,000 in China –  930,000 in Hong Kong

•  11,000,000 members in Southeast Asia

–  1,400,000 in Singapore –  3,560,000 in Indonesia –  2,635,000 in the Philippines

LinkedIn has over 330 million members globally

Source: LinkedIn (November 2014)

Popularity of LinkedIn


Source: Google Trends (28 November 2014)

Search Volume Trends in ANZ (Keyword = “LinkedIn”)



Search Volume Trends in Asia (Keyword = “LinkedIn”)

Twitter has over 283 million users globally •  74,000,000+ are in Asia Pacific

•  2,100,000 are in Australia •  250,000 are in New Zealand

Google+ has over 300 million members globally SlideShare consists of more than 15 million uploads globally.

Source: GlobalWebIndex via Quartz, (December 2013)

Source: SlideShare, (November 2014)

Source: EMarketer, (June 2013)

Popularity of Other Platforms

This Uptake in Social Networks Has Created a Worldwide Trend

Among B2B Professionals.


Search Volume Trends Worldwide (Keyword = “Social Selling”)

Rise of Social Selling

What is Social Selling?

Social Selling is the Process of Social Marketing for Sales Enablement.

Personal Brand is now Equal to Company Brand

The Social Seller

Social Selling via B2B Communities

Group Controls •  Organisations can own a category name

•  Content and member moderation settings are baked-in

•  Members can be selectively invited to (or excluded from) the group

Pros of B2B Communities

Relationship Acceleration •  Conversations between Managers and Members flourish almost instantly

•  Discussions threads can be used for market intelligence



Performance Tracking & Ownership •  Tracking of links is centralised

•  Membership Database is centralised


Community over Individual •  Community Theme Provides 50% of the Relationship between Managers and

Members

•  Reduces the “extreme” importance of Person-to-Person relationships in 1st Degree Social Selling

•  Allows the B2B organisation to continue conversations with members even after a Social Seller leaves the building

First-Generation B2B Communities

Philips LinkedIn Groups

Aon Hewitt LinkedIn Groups

Cisco

•  Cisco is associating itself with “Data Integration & Insights” in Asia Pacific

•  Uses its business leaders

as Group Social Sellers, to lead discussions and form relationships with CIOs and CTOs

•  Group drives inbound and outbound lead generation within APAC with CIOs and CTOs

LinkedIn Groups

Pros & Cons of LinkedIn Groups

Pros

•  LinkedIn drives millions of users to its platform •  Groups are easy to set up •  Great introduction to Communities for B2B organisations

Cons

•  Groups are owned by LinkedIn •  LinkedIn Platform changes can affect the operation of groups •  Limited enterprise functionality

Next-Generation B2B Communities

Next-Gen B2B Communities

WomenInFocus.com.au Next-Gen B2B Communities

Community Analytics: Identifying Member Actions & Behaviours


Gamification: Behavioural Reinforcement / Social Prospect Identification


Polling & Audience Insights


Event Management: Member Networking


Marketing Technology Integration


Responsive Design for Mobile Devices


Social Business Enablement: Own Your Social Asset


Thank You and Let’s Connect!

[email protected] linkedin.com/company/2108433 @Skotidas youtube.com/SkotidasSocial