Alan Belniak @abelniak, Director of Social Media at PTC and co-chair of MassTLC's social media community presented a case study on how PTC is working with online influencers.

1. Influencing the Influencers
A MassTLC Social Media Cluster Presentation
Alan Belniak / @abelniak
January 31, 2012

2. 2
 An age-old issue with a shiny new name
 We make stuff. People buy stuff.
People are skeptical of us talking about
our stuff. People believe other people
when they talk about our stuff.
 “Well, woopty-doo. What does
it all mean, Basil?!” 
 It means that we need to
be friends with ‘the other people’.
What is “Influencer Management”?
image source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRt2_OLY3Ho

3. 3
 30 years ago, the main groups of people that
published opinions (and influenced) were
analysts and major media publications.
 Now, anyone can publish.
 The number of ‘other people’
just grew exponentially. And the
ways for them to share content
grew. And the ways to find them
and their content grew as well.
Why Is This a Big Deal Now?
The way we view it…
image source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/106502

4. 4
Publication Proliferation = Stratified Credibility
Control
Credibility
“Traditional”
Media Coverage
Advertising
“Brand
Journalism”
Analyst
Coverage
Blogosphere &
“Twitterverse”
Paid
Earned
Social
Owned

5. 5
How is PTC Responding to This Shift?
The PTC Story is Evolving
 Product-centric  solutions-oriented storytelling
 A challenge for new markets (lack of ‘legacy
leadership’)
 The good news: elevate our stature with the
influencer community and focus on
thought-leadership
 Hurdle 1: need to clearly articulate the challenges
our customers face and how to resolve them
without talking about product features
 Hurdle 2: ‘product news’ garners more clicks
 Hurdle 3: bring influencers who know us along for
the journey, while introducing ourselves to
a whole new cast of characters
image source: www.nileseldredge.com/companion.htm

6. 6
 List of Tier 1 influencers and publications, per geography
– shared among all PR/corporate communications staff
 Traackr-collected list of influencers, based on key words
 PR/Corporate Communications review every quarter, including agency
– review coverage (location, person, volume, sentiment)
– review potential new additions to Tier 1 list
– review potential removal from Tier 1 list
 Review internal press release pipeline
– match stories up against influencer interest/publication beat
– as appropriate, reach out
 Engage with these influencers
– social media has made people more findable and more reachable than ever before
 Use clipping service and social media monitoring to track coverage
So, How Do We Do This at PTC?

7. 7
 Speed affects the ability to influence an editor or author
 Social media has changed that speed
 Use tools to get to a point to establish and maintain a relationship
 Use these tools as another way to engage in an ongoing dialogue
 We need to use social channels as one of many tools to keep an edge
In Summary…