Twitter B2B Case Study: Barriers and Learning (+Results, just added)

Other Popular Posts:    Analog Bridges to Social Media      “News” as Sales Collateral      Twitter Blurs the Line      Email The Scoopdog Team

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(Read time = 3-4minutes)  Woooo hooo!  Ring the bells, light off the rockets… a round for the house!  A software client company we shepherd just dipped a toe into Twitter waters as part of a tech product launch.  Sure, it felt a bit like the Wild West, at times – and it wasn’t exactly the global, social media mega-initiative Agency-types might have wanted, but it was importantly, a start.

Most interesting, for discussion here,  were the observations regarding the barriers to social media engagement… issues that surfaced due to knowledge gaps, the perceptions around urgency and behavior, and the inconsistencies of stakeholder engagement.  Hoping this summary case study will prompt some feedback and additional learning as others plan first-time social media experiences.

New content just added late 8/27: Results after the week-long push:

*  6 company tweets supporting traditional PR/AR news and briefings from a corporate account w/250 followers (audited narrow for content interest).

*  Additional tweets supporting rich-media content (video clips, whitepapers, benchmark lab report)

*  6 RT throughout the week from associated company Twitter accounts

*  6 ePub stories;  4 blog posts (all very in category)

*  20+ follower re-tweets, again to narrow audience communities very much in category/useful.

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Back to the Story: Surprising barriers and complexity…

unexpected epiphanies…

Good news: the client team found a way to navigate the maze of internal turf, knowledge gaps and imagined fears…   Nothing bad happened (yes, some had visions of employees tweeting amok, of authorized spokespersons being seduced to public misstep by Twitter’s  real-time click stream).  The better news: it was a visible first, small step toward evolving a blueprint for participation and understanding of the business advantages presented by the new, social media tools and channels.

Barriers to Social Media Engagement:  No formal social media policy.  No previous company-branded social media outbound campaign.  A skittish  legal department.   A traditionally conservative marketing mentality.   A virtual marketing community operating from multiple offices/multiple time zones.  Oh… and of course, there was the usual deadline pressure and last-minute “…OMG now we gotta pay attention…” hurdle.

The Collaboration Matrix Required for Success:  As is B2B typical, an outbound initiative requires a matrix of intense collaboration.  Just this small Twitter/web page execution required touching 10+ groups… PR, AR, content experts, marketing communications, social media advocates, copy writers, graphic designers, web developers, metric  specialists, rich-media producers, eLearning staff, legal and the senior executive leadership team, IT , and of course layers of management on several fronts.  (Whew!  Just writing the stakeholder list down should cause most Agencies and Advocates pause.)

The Big Lesson Learned

Don’t underestimate the time/energy required to teach, ground the team with explanations so that real conversations around strategy/execution can start… and that the most critical element driving first-time success is the old-school relationship dynamic as the core team struggled thru roles/responsibilities, and the trust needed to bridge knowledge gaps and ultimately execute. 

Smaller, Important Epiphanies along the Way:

• The social media advocates underestimated the knowledge gaps w/in the production and marketing communications teams, and the consequences stemming from these knowledge gaps w/r/t strategy and implementation.
• That SM required a shift away from “business as usual” behavior… wasn’t seen as an urgency by the tactical teams, and took far too long to seep into the collective consciousness.
• Advocacy needs to be “plural” (ie, there needs to be more than one voice, and advocates must discover each other for support in the face of disinterest, delay and disinformation.
• Turf concerns will still hinder efficiency.  Twitter blurs the line between marketing, PR, web, advertising, training, etc.
• Conference calls, email and webex remain poor substitutes for hammering thru time-critical discussions  F2F.
• Existing agency resources contributed little
• Stakeholder managers engaged inconsistently: at times delegating too much too low, at times wrestling w/granular detail rather than trusting those with experience/knowledge.
• Distinctions between traditional outbound/web v. Twitter’s real-time nature impacted greatly the thinking and deliverables around metrics/measurement;  Most stakeholders did not understand the viral nature of social media, blogging, etc.  
• Core skills needed to be trained ahead of need.
• Existing spokesperson policy and practices were not seen as easily transferrable
• The opportunity for customer dialogue actually caused concern among some.
• Perceptions of what “starting small” meant were vastly different between those w/slight social media experience and those w/out.

Results:

• One British journalist otherwise unavailable for traditional media briefings took the on-line assets and gained a significant jump in reporting the news; the client gained coverage scale and scope, beyond the norm.
• Competitors with same-day, same technology news were confronted with having to share the social media landscape for the first time.
• Social media infrastructure requirements were discovered first-hand and can now more specifically be discussed and made useful
• The need for real-time metrics and the differences in reporting for social media v. traditional website and old-media were exposed and debated.
• Nothing bad happened; fear of the unknown was blunted; the door for more was opened.

With coverage now rolled up and analytics presented,  conversations have turned from “starting” to “sustaining”. 

Another very valuable outcome was that relationships were newly formed between otherwise isolated social media advocates w/in the client company itself.  This “leadership from the middle” is, I suspect, from where the social media vision will be most spoken.  And, while at times painful, the experience clearly hinted at the possibilities social media can add to the marketing mix. 

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Twitter Blurs the Line: Sorting Out Branding, Adv/PR and Marketing Opportunities

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(Read Time = 2-3 minutes) With Twitter seeping further into the collective B2B outbound mainstream, agencies, clients… consultants and entrepreneurs must grapple over who “owns” it, what policies/practices will be used for governance, and the type metrics which will need to be applied to compare/contrast this channel w/more traditional means for outreach and marketing communications. 

The good news, unlike most previous evolutions of outbound channel alternatives, Twitter doesn’t come with budget requirements.  Resources, to be sure, are needed, but it’s not as cash-driven as traditional media.  Still, content… management… and metrics drive the accountability and Twitter, Facebook and the like can be no different.  How a company and its outside support agencies view their Twitter approach seems more to dictate the management framework than intrinsic values associated with the new medium itself.

If primarily a public relations approach, discussions will center more on headlines/140c, news cycles, measuring coverage, and spokesperson authorization;  if used to drive traffic or support promotional calls to action, the focus will be more akin to direct marketing and conversion;  those that seek actual customer feedback and dialogue would message and measure accordingly.

Would like to other professionals weigh-in on this, focusing here on the B2B consequences rather than consumer or personal use.  Among the usage models we’ve observed five which seem to be capturing most discussion and experimentation:

• Push messaging platform, either PR, Adv or Marketing-driven
• Traffic generator
• Instant message call to action promotions
• Listening dashboard for brands/branding
• Customer feedback/dialogue
• News feed

An August 2009 study was just released which categorized a sample of 2000 tweets as falling into the following categories:  News, Self-Promotion, Spam, Conversational, Pass-Along Value, and Pointless Babble.  This report did not attempt to carve out any vertical segments.

Anecdotal observations suggest that the entry point most B2B companies test first is the addition of Twitter to some larger “listening dashboard” initiative, additive to established brand/messaging monitoring.  This “listening/learning” step avoids the requirement for evolving policies/practices, running the legal gambit normally associated w/an outbound voice, and avoid the need to quickly answer the “who owns it…” question.   We observe that the “listening” comes as a result of interest from marketing brand managers looking to gain a business advantage, or the PR/AR, corporate marketing/marcom teams as an extension of their traditional outreach roles.

A short Twitter history lesson:  created in 2006; tipping point seems to have been the South x Southwest Ffestival  in 2007  20K to 60K ranked as ranked Twitter as the third most used social network (Feb09);  Twitter was used by candidates in the 2008 US presidential campaign; and in March 2009, Doonesbury began to satirize Twitter.

Evolution of approach, seems to be the real watchword especially for companies just beginning to test the waters.  Social media advocates w/in the company and/or agency will cry for speed… be frustrated with the knowledge gaps between those engaged and those who don’t yet understand even basic social media marketing concepts.

Advocates need to patiently link social media to historic/analog counterparts as a way to quicken understanding and lessen concern.  Twitter can be a platfor for both “old media” (ie one-way) push messaging/marketing or  the newer “social media” (two-way) channel which encourages active listening and dialogue.  There’s a solid multi-year track record of exploration and marketing use, particularly among consumer companies. The lesson to learn is that Twitter/social media use seems to be an evolutionary process, from: listening/learning, to PR and push messaging, then to branding/education, followed by customer community feedback, dialogue and finally sales/sales influence.  Noise levels will continue to frustrate marketers and audience communities alike, a constant frustration that only grows worse when you wander the social media landscape.

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Marketing/Marcom Passion Makes a Mockery of Retirement

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(Read time = 2 minutes) To all of you  energetic, enthusiastic marketing, communications and social media  mavens… to the consultants, the wanna-be’s and the interns in-the-making… Whether you’re on the client side or agency side, here’s a piece of career advice from a seasoned, savvy, and oft-scared veteran.

Turn back now!!!  Get out while you can!!  This business is addictive!!! 

If the American Cancer Society knew about B2B marketing communications, they would make every publisher slap a warning label on every marketing textbook, every blog and every single tweet: ” Warning – this job will stick to you forever; ingest at your own risk; if the conndition persists, count your blessings and seek professional mentoring.”

  I know this from proud and  personal experience.

You see, I had this plan.  Retire after my multi-decades as a branding, PR and marketing communications professional.   Play golf.  Teach at the university level.  Play golf. Explore Social Media. Play golf.  Entertain the grandkids.  Play golf. 

But I only got it less than half right. 

I “retired”  six odd months ago, and I had accepted an adjunct teaching job at a CA prestigious university;  ponied up some pennies and took my wifeand self  on a short second honeymoon.  Then, I got caught up on LinkedIN and started my Facebook Page which, of course, resulted in signing I up for my Twitter account.  I even played golf.  Once.  I even had time to start a corporate learning business to take marketing training to technology companies. 

Twenty-seven days later, I was back at work. 

First my former employer followed through with a consulting contract.  Then a long-time colleague put me together with an extremely promising company with a great strategic communications challenge.  Then there were the graduate students who needed tutorial assistance with class projects and the papers to grade.  Within 45 days I felt alive, challenged and having the time of my life. 

Oh, and then this voice from my PR past called with an offer to blog, test the social media waters and stay intellectually current. Damn you, my old-dog friend!  You see, B2B communications is not job, it’s not career,  and it’s not a profession.  To be done well, it has to be a passion.

The beautiful thing is I’m doing what I truly love to do: teaching some of the best and brightest students at a university and on corporate campuses; molding ideas, positioning them, fighting the marketing fight on two fronts.   And now writing a blog.   In other words, I’m making a mockery of retirement.

So … run, hide, become a lawyer or CMO of a start-up, or a knuckle-baller in the grapefruit league.  Whatever, ’cause once the marcom bug bites, you just can’t shake the fevor, you just can’t stop.  And that’s all goodness, it’s just (thank goodness) not real retirement.

Oh, one good piece of news.  I’ve dropped two strokes off my handicap.  It must be because I’m retired.

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ScoopD’s Digest: 10 Overlooked Reads Worth the Look: Buffett, Facebook, CMOs/Twitter Commentary, Earth Aliens, the BBC, et al

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(Read time = 3 minutes) Articles you may have missed from some oft overlooked sources, and some stalwarts.  Commentaries on Facebook, Twitter… telephones and Earth’s own aliens- and giants like Buffett, Apollo 11 and the BBC .  A perfect diversion for a mid-business day read.  Let me know if you have others to include on the list. 

THE MONTHLIES

1.  MIT Technology Review: “Privacy in the age of Facebook”

2.  Fast Company: “Daddy Givebucks”   Three years ago, Warren Buffett gave each of his kids $1 billion to give away — suddenly thrusting them into the philanthropic elite. Here’s what they learned.

3.  Scientific American:  “40^th Anniversary of Apollo 11”  Neil Armstrong interview, NASA features, the moon landing through Soviet eyes.  All this in more.  SA editors have compiled a plethora of content that speaks to mankind’s giant leap.

4.  The Economist:  “Cutting the cord: America Loosing Its Landlines” The decline of newspapers has been much reported, but another staple of American life is being dealt a death blow:  the telephone landline.  Some estimates suggest the last cord will be cut sometime in 2025.

5.  Discover Magazine:  “Earth’s Own Aliens: They Light Up & Live in the Deep” Marine biologist Edie Widder’s underwater spy camera is an underwater SETI, finally giving humans a chance to see the freaky world of deep-ocean bioluminescent animals.

 

THE BONUS ROUND

***  (Video) Kevin Spacey explains Twitter to Letterman

*** (Conan O’Brien: The Tonight Show Video Clip) Shatner Does Palin’s Resignation

 

ONLINE, the DAILIES and WEEKLIES

1.  New York Times: “PR2.0 in Silicon Valley”

2.  Slate.com: “Domain Names – Don’t Pay”

3.  Business Week:  “Twitter Dominates CMO Social Network Plans” 

 

BLOGS WORTH A LOOK

“Old Media” Blogs the New Media – what I like is the fundamental old journalism rigor of sourcing/checking. doesn’t mean they always get it right but does provide reading that’s a step removed from citizen journalism.

 

1.  dot.com BBC News The web at 20 and other topical technology conversations.

2.  WSJ Tech Blog:  Digital topics by the baston of print  

3.  Harvard Business Review Several and varied blogs on business, technology topics.

Enjoy!

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“News” as Sales Collateral: Is Your Outbound Strategy Keeping Up with New Media Opportunities?

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(Read time = 2-3 minutes) One lesser known (but growing) aspect of a B2B outbound strategy is use of the typical news release more as sales collateral rather for its ability to gain editorial coverage.  PR traditionalists will be aghast, but consider that in today’s world of diminishing media revenues, editorial staff cuts and the increased reliance on automated tools – a client company’s messaging now has a better than ever opportunity to sail thru to publication virtually untouched/un-edited.

The boon causes me to propose a “news as sales collateral” approach, thus adding a perceived high-value asset to the sales tool kit. 

Editorial coverage has always had greater customer credibility than any paid advertising or the usual sales call banter.  Once a news release is “dropped on the wire”, the bots and RSS, Google and the search engine look-alikes all combine to scale the message widely.  As audience communities increasingly rely on automated news feeds, the diminishing human editor touch provides greater opportunity to cloak marketing messages in the perceived legitimacy of “news”.

Certainly, the traditional journalist/analyst briefings remain important.  There’s clearly value in gaining space inside an enterprise story, opinion article and roundups.  But the collateral aspect of a news release adds a valuable tool to sales’ arsenal. 

I’m not advocating deceptive marketing, but pointing to an emerging opportunity for nimble marketers to add a powerful sales tool.   Journalism has always has a “consumer beware” aspect – this more true now regarding news consumption than ever.  Human editors as gateways for validation, fact-checking and source confirmations are a vanishing breed. We can lament the trend but should recognize the opportunity.

Client and Agency strategies need to deploy a refined “news” rating criteria when evaluating stories for consideration.  It’s no longer sufficient to think in terms of major or minor… you must now add the category of “News as Collateral”, where the primary purpose of a drop is not to gain editorial coverage in the traditional sense, but to be “published” in a format/forum perceived by your customers as credible while retaining your market messaging principally untouched.  Then pointing your sales force to the site link and/or providing them with a digital PDF which can be delivered as credible proof to the message at hand.

Add in the additional wrinkle of now being able to tweet, blog and post to the various social network sites, and suddenly a small, minor news release can become a powerful tool in gaining share of voice w/in a target audience community.

Are you/your PR teams and strategies keeping up with this shift away from traditional human editorial touch… perhaps it’s a conversation worth having.

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Put “Relationships” Back into Public Relations: B2B Clients/Agency Reap the Benefits

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(Read time = 2 minutes)  Core contributor and longtime PR professional, Chuck Byers, weighs-in with his pointed take on the 2.0 world, and a need to be mindful of fundamental core principles when executing on a public relations strategy.  Enjoy, and don’t hesitate to add your own comments to keep the dialogue going.

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Sometimes we have to go backwards before we go forward, and that is becoming particularly true within the practice of marketing public relations.

It’s my observation that product promotion has largely replaced the beneficial activity of relationship building. This is a sad consequence, especially since social media has focused intense attention on community and trusted relationships.  Promotional bombast has replaced relationship building.  There are plenty of players involved in this sad affair.  No one is blameless.  Not the public relations agencies, not the corporate marketing and corporate public relations departments and not the reading public who accept such drivel.  

Take the humble news release as a ghastly example

Grab a random handful of technology news releases.  Where is the relationship building?  Instead of providing a bridge to fulfilling needs … a sort of how can I help you offer … there’s hyperbole of the basest sort. When defining quotations PR people worry not about what will  motivate the target audience to evaluate a product or service … another critical step in relationship building … but rather whether person quoted from “our” company is the same rank as they person quoted from “their” company.  In the name of Edward Bernays, where’s the customer motivation in that? Instead of figuring out what can be done to help the target audience solve their problem, the news release has become one more arrow to fire at the competition in the war for market share.

Today’s B2B purchasing influences are focused on two things: price and relationships.   Hard-driving price negotiation clearly shrinks margins.  Building relationships not only influences repeat purchase and develops barriers to exit but also creates added value that justifies improved margins. 

There is no risk involved here.  Substituting benefits for braggadocio never upset any customer. 

It is time for all of us to pause, revisit the most basic element of public relations … relationships …. and ask , particularly at this time when reaching out to our key constituencies is so critical in jump starting our economy, am I really building bridge to my constituencies?  Am I practicing public relations principles or press agentry?  I submit that it will be the practitioners of public relations and those companies and institutions … not-for-profits, special interests and others … who will lead us out of the recession.

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