Mlc social media_showcase[1]

SALES, MARKETING, AND COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICE
MARKETING LEADERSHIP COUNCIL®

Social Media Showcase

COPIES AND COPYRIGHT
As always, members are welcome to an unlimited number of copies of the materials contained within this handout. Furthermore, members may copy any graphic herein for their own
internal purpose. The Corporate Executive Board Company requests only that members retain the copyright mark on all pages produced. Please contact your Member Support Center
at +1-866-913-6451 for any help we may provide.
The pages herein are the property of The Corporate Executive Board Company. Beyond the membership, no copyrighted materials of The Corporate Executive Board Company may
be reproduced without prior approval.

LEGAL CAVEAT
The Marketing Leadership Council has worked to ensure the accuracy of the information it provides to its members. This report relies upon data obtained from many sources, however,
and the Marketing Leadership Council cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information or its analysis in all cases. Furthermore, the Marketing Leadership Council is not engaged in
rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. Its reports should not be construed as professional advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances. Members requiring
such services are advised to consult an appropriate professional. Neither The Corporate Executive Board Company nor its programs are responsible for any claims or losses that may
arise from a) any errors or omissions in their reports, whether caused by the Marketing Leadership Council or its sources, or b) reliance upon any recommendation made by the Marketing
Leadership Council.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
■ Branded Online Communities ................................................ p. 4
a. American Express OPEN—Financial Services Company
b. Pitney Bowes—Manufacturing and Services Company

■ Non-Branded Online Communities ....................................... p. 22
a. Dunkin Donuts—Restaurant Company
b. Caterpillar—Manufacturing Company

■ Corporate Blogs......................................................................... p. 33
a. Indium—Manufacturing Company
b. Marriott—Hospitality Company

■ Twitter .......................................................................................... p. 49
a. United Linen—Services Company
b. Progress Software—Software Company

■ Online Videos ............................................................................. p. 62
a. Johnson & Johnson—Health Care and Beauty Company
b. DuPont—Chemical Company

■ Virtual Worlds ............................................................................ p. 73
a. Cisco—Software Company
b. Wells Fargo—Financial Services Company

■ Wikis ............................................................................................. p. 84
a. Intuit—Tax Software Company
b. Ford—Automotive Company

■ Appendix ..................................................................................... p. 95

From the MARKETING LEADERSHIP COUNCIL®
of the SALES, MARKETING, AND COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICE
www.mlc.executiveboard.com

© 2009 The Corporate Executive Board Company.
All Rights Reserved. MLC8982119203

3

BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES

WHAT THEY ARE
Branded online communities host a group of people with similar interests
on a platform built, maintained, and branded by the company.

WHAT THEY HELP YOU DO
■ Absorb customer information by collaborating with users to improve

products/services.
■ Listen to users to get their feedback.

■ Animate your users by building a sense of community.

■ Support your users by providing easy-to-ﬁnd solutions to their problems.

■ Talk to users and target your message more effectively.

WHO IS DOING IT RIGHT
■ American Express OPEN ............................................................................................p. 6

■ Pitney Bowes ....................................................................................................................p. 11

of the SALES, MARKETING, AND
COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICE


4

BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES

IS A BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITY RIGHT FOR YOU?

Does your company have the resources to build, monitor, and maintain an online community?
Start-up costs are signiﬁcant in terms of awareness building and content spending. While some costs do dissipate over
time, many companies underestimate the permanent, ongoing maintenance costs. One company found that initially one
FTE was required to monitor every 100 key contributors (the 5% of users who generate 95% of the content).

Are you willing to surrender a certain amount of control over your message?
User-generated content chieﬂy drives communities, so encourage uses to take an active role. However, remember that
posts are generally permanent, searchable, and associated with your brand (regardless of any disclaimers).

Do you have a meaningful purpose that will drive users to network with each other?
Your community will be more successful if you seek to engage on a deep level with a smaller set of dedicated users, rather
than broadly with a wider audience, as those core users will drive engagement with others.

Do you have the time and resources to wait for the community to build itself?
With correct planning and implementation, eventually much of the content on your page will come from users.
Until then, you will have to put in a higher level of effort to keep the page interesting and up to date.

Do you have a plan to drive content?
You need a plan for three types of content: user-generated, external and freelance submissions (i.e., bloggers), and
company-generated.



5

AMERICAN EXPRESS’S OPEN FORUM

WHO IT IS
American Express OPEN is
part of a global payments,
network and travel company.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Potential Customers:
Small Businesses Owners

WHAT IT DID
To generate brand awareness
and consideration, American
Express OPEN created an
online community with
extensive content and a
“connectodex” to help users
make meaningful business
connections with each other.

Source: American Express; http://www.openforum.com/.



6


WHAT IT IS DOING RIGHT

Providing Valuable Teaching Content: American Express OPEN targets users with content that teaches them about
running a business, which establishes American Express OPEN as an advisor and thought leader, rather than just a credit
card provider and keeps leads warm even if they are not yet ready to buy.

Balancing of Open and Premier Content: While prospective clients can access many of the online offerings, some are
restricted to American Express cardholders, rewarding additional engagement with tangible beneﬁts.

Facilitating Peer Networking: Networking tools like the connectodex allow users to generate leads for their own business
and drives a stronger sense of community, which drives return visits. The connectodex also creates a clear ROI for
involvement with the site.

Integrating with Web Site: Highlighting the forum on the main site drives traffic and reinforces the users’ conviction that
American Express is dedicated to interacting with them, driving a more secure relationship.

RISKS IT IS UP AGAINST

Overcoming the Short Shelf Life of Subject Matter: Content that focuses on recent economic and business
developments will need frequent updating to remain relevant.

Utilizing Cross-Promotion: Bringing in content from outside bloggers may boost the blogger’s brand rather than
American Express’s.

Source: Marketing Leadership Council research.



7


INTEGRATING
WITH WEB SITE
To maximize traffic, BALANCING
American Express OF OPEN
OPEN integrates its AND PREMIER
online community CONTENT
into the American Enough material
Express Web site is available to
and promotes it as a demonstrate the
stand-alone microsite. community’s
value to
prospective
clients, but
PROVIDING
the most
VALUABLE
interesting tools
TEACHING CONTENT
are reserved
Open Forum enables
for existing
American Express
customers to
OPEN to share
demonstrate the
insights on running
clear beneﬁts
a small business,
of an American
positioning the brand
Express card.
as an advisor, not just
a credit card provider.

Source: American Express; http://www.openforum.com/.



8


OVERCOMING THE SHORT
LIFE OF SUBJECT MATTER
Partnering with experts helps
American Express secure a
steady stream of new
content to keep the users
returning regularly to the site.

UTILIZING CROSS-
PROMOTION
Experts lend credibility while
driving new traffic to the site
through cross-promotion
on other channels; however,
they must be carefully
screened to ensure that they
will connect with users.

Source: American Express; http://www.openforum.com/connectodex/alltop-1?username=guy-kawasaki-1.



9


FACILITATING PEER
NETWORKING
Facilitating lead
generation for its
users drives revisits.

FACILITATING PEER
NETWORKING
Giving users the tools
to identify peers with
similar interests or
complementary skill sets
builds a stronger sense of
community and increases
the odds that users will
return to the site.

Source: American Express; http://www.openforum.com/connectodex/.



10

PITNEY BOWES’S USER FORUM

WHO IT IS
Pitney Bowes is a
manufacturer and provider
of mailing technology and
services.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Current Customers:
Mailing Professionals

WHAT IT DID
To increase customer delight,
Pitney Bowes created an
online community where
customers can collaborate
to resolve their technical
problems.

Source: Pitney Bowes; http://forums.pb.com/.



11



Developing Internal Metrics: Pitney Bowes determines metrics to measure ROI to drive internal stakeholder buy-in; it has
identified how many service calls types of posts avert and the cost of those calls, allowing it to calculate overall costs
saved by the forum.

Identifying Community Leaders/Influentials and Solutions: Pitney Bowes allows users to either give a post “kudos” or
“accept as solution” identification, making it easier for users to identify the solution that other known users have vetted,
increasing customer delight and loyalty.

Engaging Lead Steerers: Pitney Bowes reaches out to the most frequent users of its site to express its thanks and seek
out feedback, driving customer engagement and feelings of gratification among its most powerful and useful advocates.

Identifying and Humanizing Pitney Bowes Employees: Pitney Bowes clearly identifies its employees and provides in-
depth biographical information about them to drive a sense of connection with users and to ensure that users see the
forum as operating openly, creating trust and attachment with the company.

Seeking Out Customer Opinions and Issues: Pitney Bowes seeks out customer opinions about the forums and hosts
events about common problems to ensure that all customer needs are being met, ensuring that the forums act efficiently
to solve customer problems early on.


Getting Answers to Customers: Pitney Bowes must monitor forums and step in with its expertise when users are not
receiving answers (or are receiving wrong answers) to maintain the utility of the site for users; however, it must also drive
customer-generated answers as those are both cheaper and preferred by users.

Niche Audience: Pitney Bowes’s audience for the forums is small (around 3,000 users in the forums), which increases the
importance of finding and retaining forum members to maintain an acceptable threshold of engagement. However, the
niche nature of the forum does mean that it will attract more dedicated users.
Source: BDI Conference; Marketing Leadership Council research.



12


SEEKING OUT
CUSTOMER
OPINIONS
Pitney Bowes
caters to
customer wants
and expectations HUMANIZING
by seeking PITNEY BOWES
customer EMPLOYEES
feedback about Identifying the
the forums and moderators with
Pitney Bowes pictures and
products. biographical
information drives
a sense of personal
connection.

Source: Pitney Bowes; http://forums.pb.com/.



13


IDENTIFYING
COMMUNITY
LEADERS/
INFLUENTIALS
Identifying users
as new or regular
contributors gives
regular contributors a
sense of importance
and ensures that
their knowledge and
dedication do not
leave the site.

Source: Pitney Bowes; http://forums.pb.com/t5/Equipment-
Hardware-and-Supplies/DM100i-Insurance/m-
p/5488#M1494.
IDENTIFYING SOLUTIONS
Users can ﬁnd the post that answers their
question, facilitating quick navigation to
the solution in the future and smoothing
the customer experience.



14


SEEKING IDENTIFYING
OUT ISSUES SOLUTIONS
Pitney Bowes Identifying the
heads off new content that users
problems before have found most
they arise by useful facilitates
hosting “ask the navigation,
experts” events smoothing
in the forums for the customer
speciﬁc issues. experience.

Source: Pitney Bowes; http://forums.pb.com/t5/ASK-THE-
EXPERTS-Preparing-For/bd-p/EXPERT-Move_update.
IDENTIFYING PITNEY BOWES EMPLOYEES
Clearly identifying Pitney Bowes employees
establishes that the forum is operating
transparently, ensuring customer trust.



15

BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES: HOW TO GET STARTED

Once you’ve determined a branded online community is right for your company, do the following:

STEP 1: Determine which customer segment you are going to target.

STEP 2: Find a vendor to build the community or determine internal resourcing.

STEP 3: Determine the supporting structure of content for your community.

STEP 4: Develop guidelines for when, how fast, and who should respond to user comments.

STEP 5: Decide how you will drive users to your community.

Additional Tool:
■ Online Community Building Toolkit



16

COMMUNITY VIABILITY ASSESSMENT

CUSTOMER FIT BRAND FIT MARKETING FIT
Understanding customers and their needs Achieving brand objectives through Achieving overall marketing goals through
community community
■ Customer Demand ■ Fit with Brand Positioning ■ Organizational Fit
– Would a community satisfy a particular – Is the idea of community consistent with – Does the community ﬁt with the brand’s
customer need?
the brand positioning? broader advertising philosophy?
– Has the customer expressed a desire to – How well does the brand positioning – Can a community be leveraged to support
participate in a community around the
support the scope of a community? sales and other organizational goals?
brand?
– How would a community add value to ■ Fit with Other Communications ■ Resource Intensity
the life of the customer (i.e., information, – Can the community build measurable – Do we have the resources to create and
entertainment, socialization)? brand loyalty? sustain a community over time?
■ Customer Potential for Engagement – Can the community extend or build – Do we have the technology to successfully
up the brand or brand products in the build and maintain a community?
– What is the potential for the target
intended way?
customer to be social or share ideas ■ External Partnerships
through a community? ■ Brand Communications – How will a community affect our current
– Could customers become emotionally – What is the community’s expected tenure business partnerships?
invested in a community? On what level? (i.e., long-term versus temporary strategy)? – What is the potential to form new
– Can a community be embedded in other partnerships through a community?
brand communications?
■ Competition
– Should community serve as a focal
point for a particular brand or product – Are there other available resources that
campaign? address similar customer needs (i.e.,
other communities, whether advertiser-
supported or not)?



17

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

[Name of Company] is requesting proposals from online community platform providers.

Background:

Current Situation:

Objectives:
• Marketing Objective: [e.g., increase brand awareness by 5%]
• Business Objective: [e.g., decrease cost to serve of this population by 10%]

Target Audience:
• Demographics of Target
• Psychographics of Target

Budget:
A budget of [insert amount] has been dedicated to establishing an online community for user support, inclusive of one-
time start-up costs and ongoing maintenance for the calendar year.

Proposals:
All proposals should indicate the following:
• Brief company background
• Current and past clients and current billings
• Key account representatives and support structure
• Identification of any outsourcing of work
• A clearly defined scope of work
• Specific recommendations to achieve specified objectives
• Projected return for total investment
• Proposals to be presented to the leadership team on [insert date] at [insert pitch location].



18

ONLINE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES CHART

MARKETING CUSTOMER SERVICE IT LEGAL

Community Building Phase

Post ground rules for community participation. Due 1 September

Select and aggregate content that customers will ﬁnd
Due 30 September Due 30 September
valuable.

Integrate community with corporate Web site. Due 15 October

Add community URL to marketing materials. Due 1 December

Collect real-time metrics (e.g., unique visitors, time spent). Begin 1 October

Community Management Phase

Select vendor to police customer-generated content. Due 15 December Due 15 December

Track long-term brand and marketing metrics (e.g., brand
Begin 1 January
affinity, lead generation).

Introduce new Web elements that refresh community
Due 30 January
format (e.g., video, chat room).

Identify and reward key community inﬂuencers. Begin 1 February



19

ONLINE COMMUNITY PROMOTION PLAN

INTERNAL PROMOTION VEHICLES

Cross-promote your online community on your company’s other social media vehicles (e.g., Twitter account, YouTube
channel).

Ask employees to include your community URL in their e-mail signature.

Include a link to your online community in company communications (e.g., press releases, whitepapers).

Include a link to your online community in your next e-mail marketing campaign or customer newsletter.

Add the online community URL to your call center menu and hold messages.

EXTERNAL PROMOTION VEHICLES

Conduct a phased rollout, allowing your brand passionates ﬁrst access to the community to spark word-of-mouth
referrals.

Use SEO to ensure your online community appears in search listings.

Monitor and respond to brand mentions in social media channels with a link to your online community.



20

FINGER ON THE PULSE
Community Measurement Dashboard

Key Feature #1: Customized Views
GOODNITES DASHBOARD Community managers view the full METRICS CHECKLIST
Illustrative dashboard (tab A) while other marketers
access an important subset of data (tab B). ■ Community Metrics
Time spent on site
A B Key Feature #2: Unique visitors per day
Benchmarks
Returning visitors per day
Using biweekly data,
Time Online per Visit E-Mail Open Rate community managers Page views per visit
can establish community Home page drop-off rate
Y Mins. performance benchmarks.
E-mail opt-in rate
Z Mins. Y%
E-mail open rate
X Mins.
X% Key Feature #3: Trouble Number of search engine referrals
Spot Identiﬁcation
Number of Web site referrals
Easily noticing a drop in
First Second Third Jan. Apr. July Number of new e-mail addresses collected
e-mail open rates allows
Visit Visit Visit community managers to
quickly change e-mail ■ Brand and Marketing Metrics
content and format to
Notes: Visitors per Day Brand loyalty
■
drive greater community
Send participants e-mail after
participation and Brand equity
second visit showcasing latest
content. interaction with customer. Sales/product volume
■ Refresh content midmonth to

prevent drop-off in visits.

Key Feature #4: Annotations 1 July 31 July The marketing metrics will vary
according to your organization’s
Community managers can business goals, so select the
customize notes and insights measurements most appropriate
about the community to facilitate for your business.
decision making and ensure that
key learnings are captured.



21

NON-BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES

WHAT THEY ARE
Non-branded online communities are social networking sites where companies
interact with users in an environment that the users have already established.

■ Listen to your users by reading their posts about your brand.

■ Talk to your users to boost brand awareness and share interesting content.

■ Animate your users to drive your word-of-mouth message.

■ Absorb lessons from your users by engaging and collaborating with them.

■ Dunkin’ Donuts ................................................................................................................p. 24

■ Caterpillar ...........................................................................................................................p. 28



22

NON-BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES

ARE NON-BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES RIGHT FOR YOU?

Does your target audience use non-branded online communities?
Searching the communities for related content or for your competitors’ presence can give you an idea of who is using
the community.

Do you want to share a wide range of content without devoting as many resources as a branded online community
requires?
Non-branded online communities allow you to share a wider range of content than Twitter or a blog, without requiring as
much upkeep as a branded online community.

Are you willing to surrender a certain amount of control over content?
The more users you have, the more control they will have over the content of your page. Non-branded online communities
also impose a certain format on your content.

Do you have the time and resources to wait for the community to build itself?
With correct planning and implementation, eventually much of the content on your page will come from users through
posts. Until then, you will have to put in a higher level of effort to keep the page interesting and up to date.



23

DUNKIN DONUTS’ FACEBOOK

WHO IT IS
Dunkin Donuts is a coffee
and donut retailer.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Current and
Donut Fans

WHAT IT DID
To increase sales, Dunkin
Donuts uses its Facebook
page to drive word-of-mouth
promotions.

Source: Dunkin’ Donuts; http://www.Facebook.com/DunkinDonuts?v=wall&viewas=1560632397#/
DunkinDonuts?v=wall.



24



Driving Advocacy: Dunkin Donuts’ “Keep your Coolatta” contest rewarded Facebook users who had made their proﬁle
picture a picture of them and a coolatta (Dunkin Donuts product), driving word-of-mouth marketing and customer
awareness of the product.

Driving Interactivity: Dunkin Donuts makes its Facebook page interactive with polls and applications, increasing the
“stickiness” of its page, and driving customer engagement.

Minimizing Response Time: Dunkin Donuts responds quickly to user comments, particularly negative ones, to ensure that
its customers are receiving good service and that the word-of-mouth message remains positive.

Coordinating with Offline Channels: Dunkin Donuts reposts and/or repurposes content from offline channels to drive
a uniﬁed and smooth customer experience across channels, ensuring that all messages are reinforcing rather than
undermining each other.


Negative User Reactions: As Dunkin Donuts has gotten more fans, it has had more negative content to confront,
including profane, user-generated content, which can hurt customer perceptions of the brand.

Prioritizing Responses: As the page becomes more popular, Dunkin Donuts must develop a strategy for dealing with the
high number of responses, both positive and negative, to ensure that customers know that their feedback is valued.




25


MINIMIZING
RESPONSE TIME
Responding quickly to
complaints can turn a
dissatisﬁed customer
into a satisﬁed one,
ensuring that the word-
DRIVING
of-mouth message
INTERACTIVITY
remains positive.
Polls and games
increase interactivity
and drive customer
engagement.

COORDINATING
WITH OFFLINE
CHANNELS
Posting references to
Dunkin Donuts in the
news or media drives
brand awareness.

Source: Dunkin’ Donuts; http://www.Facebook.com/DunkinDonuts?v=wall&viewas=1560632397#/DunkinDonuts?v=wall.



26


COORDINATING
WITH OFFLINE
CHANNELS
Highlighting offline
contests increases
publicity and
drives customer
engagement.

DRIVING
INTERACTIVITY
Fun quizzes keep
the tone of Dunkin
Donuts’ Facebook
page light and
approachable.

Source: Dunkin’ Donuts; http://www.Facebook.com/DunkinDonuts?v=wall&viewas=1560632397#/DunkinDonuts?v=app_4949752878.



27

CATERPILLAR’S FACEBOOK PAGE

WHO IT IS
Caterpillar is a manufacturer
of construction and
agricultural equipment.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Current and
Construction Workers

WHAT IT DID
To build brand awareness,
Caterpillar uses its Facebook
page to provide engaging
content about its products.

Source: Caterpillar.



28



Embracing User-Generated Content: Caterpillar actively solicits Caterpillar-speciﬁc content from its users but focuses on
lighter content to ensure that users enjoy spreading the word-of-mouth message, increasing the likelihood that they will
do so.

Adopting the Right Tone: Caterpillar adjusts its tone to that of its users, ensuring that the conversation proceeds at
a level the fans are comfortable with and that they are put off neither by over-familiarity nor by an overly corporate
message.

Driving User Interest: Caterpillar piques user interest by posting announcements about coming contests to drive return
visits to the page and the world-of-mouth message.

Integrating Platforms: Caterpillar uses its Facebook page to keep users updated about Caterpillar content
and contests across platforms, which increases site visits overall.


Global Accommodation: Since Caterpillar is a global company, it must ﬁgure out a way to deal with the many comments
and suggestions that are posted in languages other than English to ensure that no customer feels like their contribution is
not valued.

Developing Response Guidelines: While it is easy to determine when a company should respond to complaints or
requests, it is harder to determine when to respond to neutral or positive posts in order to drive a conversation with users.




29


ADOPTING THE
RIGHT TONE
Caterpillar adjusts
its responses to
fan content to
reﬂect the context
of the posting,
driving customer
engagement.

EMBRACING USER-
GENERATED
CONTENT
Caterpillar solicits
content from its
users to ensure
that the page is
acting as a two-way
communications
channel but keeps the
content fun to keep
customers engaged.




30


INTEGRATING DRIVING USER
PLATFORMS INTEREST
Caterpillar promotes Caterpillar not only
its other social uses its Facebook
media channels to page to promote
drive traffic and contests and
engagement across giveaways, but it
platforms. also posts heads-up
about the contest
ahead of time, driving
user interest in the
Facebook page and
revisits.




31

NON-BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES: HOW TO GET STARTED

Once you’ve determined non-branded online communities are right for your company, do the following:

STEP 1: Develop a content strategy that focuses on strong content and more frequent updates in the initial
phase until you reach a certain threshold of users.

STEP 2: Adapt offline marketing mechanisms (contests, etc.) to the community. Do not neglect adjusting
length and tone of messages.

STEP 3: Develop guidelines for when, how fast, and who should respond to user comments.

STEP 4: Adjust your tone to that of your users; if they engage you in personal or inconsequential conversations,
allow the conversation to move in that direction.

STEP 5: Integrate your account with your Internet properties, including your Web site and other social
media channels.



32

CORPORATE BLOGS

WHAT THEY ARE
A Web log—or “blog”—is a frequently updated Web site featuring original
commentary and links to related Web sites.

■ Talk with users in order to establish position as an industry thought leader.

■ Animate your users to boost brand awareness/visibility through word

of mouth.
■ Listen to your users by tracking comments.

■ Indium Corporation .......................................................................................................p. 35

■ Marriott ................................................................................................................................p. 39



33

CORPORATE BLOGS

IS A CORPORATE BLOG RIGHT FOR YOU?

Does your target audience read or contribute to blogs?
To make the most of social media, start where your target user is already active.

Is your industry “blog friendly”? Have you seen competitors or other thought leaders in your space
succeed using blogs?
Blogging tends to work best for niche audiences.

Can you identify a speciﬁc objective for your blog?
Blogging without a strategy or objective will result in a blog with no coherent personality that jumps
around from post to post.

Do you have employees who will regularly devote time to maintaining your blog?
Writers who are excited about what they are writing about need to update blogs regularly.



34

INDIUM’S BLOGS: WHEN CONNECTIONS COUNT

WHO IT IS
Indium is a manufacturer and
supplier of metal products.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Purchase Inﬂuencers:
Engineers

WHAT IT DID
To establish itself as an
industry thought leader,
Indium hosts a selection of
employee-written blogs that
discuss a range of engineering
and manufacturing issues.

Source: Indium Corporation; http://www.indium.com/blogs/.



35



Driving Interaction: Bloggers respond quickly to users in comments and incorporate suggestions in future blog posts,
which reassures users that their input is valued, leading to a higher number of return visits.

Driving Users to the Blogs: Indium prominently features the blogs on its Web site, increasing traffic to the blogs. It also
uses RSS feeds and blog rolls to drive revisits and keep leads warm.

Responding to Users: Bloggers respond quickly to user comments and incorporate them in future posts, ensuring that
users feel that their opinion is valued and increasing opportunities to learn from and adapt to customers.

Displaying a Clear Call to Action: Linking to relevant upcoming events drives traffic to offline venues where
representative of the company can move them along the purchase cycle.


Maintaining a Consistent Look and Feel: Graphics and templates differ across the different Indium bloggers, highlighting
their individuality, but hindering a cohesive experience for the user.

Mitigating Legal Risks: Blogging about technical topics may increase the company’s legal exposure if the blogger
makes a mistake.

Driving Traffic: With so many company bloggers to choose from, Indium misses an opportunity to drive cross-traffic
by not having its bloggers link to other Indium bloggers.




36


DRIVING USERS DRIVING USERS
TO THE BLOGS TO THE BLOGS
Indium prominently RSS feeds and
features the blogs on blog rolls help
its corporate Web site, users quickly
which drives traffic and easily stay
by emphasizing the up to date and
importance Indium keep leads in the
places on connecting pipeline.
with customers.

USING A PERSONAL
TOUCH
Including the
names, pictures,
and biographies of
bloggers helps to
“humanize” Indium,
driving customer
engagement.
Source: Indium Corporation; http://www.indium.com/blogs/.



37


DRIVING
INTERACTION DISPLAYING A
Quizzes, polls, CLEAR CALL
surveys, and TO ACTION
other widgets Linking to relevant
drive customer upcoming
engagement. events drives
traffic to offline
venues where
representatives of
the company can
move them along
RESPONDING
the purchase cycle.
TO USERS
Showcasing
blogger
responses to
reader comments
demonstrates how
the company is
implementing user
suggestions.
Source: Indium Corporation; http://www.indium.com/blogs/Dr-Lasky-Blog/.



38

MARRIOTT’S “ON THE MOVE”

WHO IT IS
Marriott is an international
hospitality company.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Current and
Travelers

WHAT IT DID
To build brand awareness,
the company’s CEO, Bill
Marriott, discusses recent
events at Marriott and reﬂects
on his personal experiences.

Source: Marriott.



39



Making a Personal Connection: “On the move” has a clearly deﬁned author and personality, facilitating a sense
of personal connection between the blogger and the readers and attachment to the brand as symbolized by
Bill Marriott.

Driving Traffic Across Platforms: Marriott provides clear links to other relevant Marriott Web sites, including
its “Marriott in the Kitchen” blog, ensuring that each site builds on the success of the others.

Providing Other Formats: The blog also provides recordings of the blog entries so that users can choose
to listen to the entries rather than reading them, smoothing the user experience and increasing the user
attachment to Bill Marriott through voice.

Suggesting Similar Content: Directing users to content similar to their current interest increases the stickiness
of the site.


Blogger Loyalty, Not Company Loyalty: Because “on the move” relies on the personality of one employee, it
also relies on the presence of that employee at the company to maintain blog readership.

Lack of Responses: Marriott does not take the opportunity to respond to comments, contributing to reader
disengagement.




40


SUGGESTING DRIVING
SIMILAR TRAFFIC ACROSS
CONTENT PLATFORMS
Categorizing blog Linking to other
entries by topic Marriott sites
helps users ﬁnd and blogs drives
more information traffic across
on the topic they platforms and
are interested in, helps users ﬁnd
increasing the the most relevant
amount of time information.
spent on the site.

Source: Marriott.



41


MAKING A PROVIDING OTHER
PERSONAL FORMATS
CONNECTION Blog entries are
Bill Marriott isn’t recorded, allowing
afraid to address users to interact
personal experiences with whichever
in his blog, putting format they are
a human face on most comfortable.
Marriott. He also
ends each of his blog
entries in the same
way, creating a sense
of continuity to which
users can develop an
attachment.

Source: Marriott.



42

CORPORATE BLOGS: HOW TO GET STARTED

Once you’ve determined a corporate blog is right for your company, do the following:

STEP 1: Establish your corporate blog strategy.
Template  p. 44

STEP 2: Identify the ﬁrst person (or people) to blog for your company.
Checklist  p. 45

STEP 3: Select your blogging technology platform.
Scorecard  p. 46

STEP 4: Develop an editorial calendar to establish a regular posting cadence.
Template  p. 47

STEP 5: Create a plan for driving traffic to your blog.
Ideas  p. 48

Additional Tools:
■ Suggested Metrics  p. 97
■ Social Media Use Policies and Response Guidelines  p. 101



43

SAMPLE CORPORATE BLOG STRATEGY

1. Audiences: Whom do you plan to reach and inﬂuence with your blog?
■ Current Customers ■ Social Media (Bloggers, etc.) ■ Mainstream Media (Print,
■ Prospective Customers ■ Suppliers/Vendors Broadcast)

2. Objectives: What do you intend to achieve with your blog?
■ Drive Web Traffic ■ Educate and Inform Audiences ■ Revitalize Brand Image
■ Collaborate with Customers ■ Generate Sales Leads ■ Enhance Positioning as
Innovator/Thought Leader

3. Content: What relevant, timely topics do you plan to publish?
■ Insights ■ Announcements ■ New Product Offerings
■ Views on the News ■ Industry Trends ■ Company Happenings

4. Content Creation: Who is going to create/edit all of this content?
■ CEO ■ Junior Staff ■ Other Senior Leaders
■ CMO ■ Our Agency ■ Other: ____________________

5. Frequency: How often do you plan to post?
■ Daily ■ Weekly ■ Monthly
■ Two to Three Times per Week ■ Biweekly ■ Quarterly

6. Measurement: What will success look like?
■ Number of Comments ■ Number of Blog Mentions ■ Increase in Newsletter Forwards
■ Number of Readers ■ Increase in Web Traffic ■ Other: ____________________

7. Promotion: How will we drive traffic to the blog?
■ Customer Newsletter ■ Trade Publications ■ Other Social Media Platforms
■ E-Mail Marketing Push ■ Company Web Site ■ Other: ____________________



44

CORPORATE BLOGGER APPROPRIATENESS SCREEN

Is this person empowered to speak on behalf of your brand?

Do you trust this person to respond to audience comments in an accurate and timely manner?

Is this person a credible voice for your ﬁrm?

Is this person a subject matter expert?

Does this person have a genuine/authentic voice?

Is this person excited about blogging?

Does this person have the time to dedicate to blogging (est. two to eight hours/week)?

Will this person continue to have time for blogging in the foreseeable future?

Is this person committed to continuing on in this role at your company for the next 12 months?



45

BLOGGING PLATFORM EVALUATION SCORECARD

KEY CRITERIA TO CONSIDER Promotion/Tracking Capabilities
■ Does this site submit to major blog tracking sites
Cost (e.g., Technorati, Google Alert)?
■ Does this platform offer different tiers of service? ■ How quickly does the platform index in search engines?
■ What initial start-up costs will you incur (e.g., custom ■ Is this platform the industry standard for your business?
setup, domain name registration)? ■ Does this platform provide basic monitoring stats
■ What ongoing costs can you expect (e.g., yearly (e.g., traffic, referrer, trackbacks)?
registration fees, hosting fees)? ■ Does this platform support RSS feeds?
■ Does this platform allow word or IP banning?
Blog Design and Management Tools
■ Is this platform easy for your blogger(s) to use
Technical Support
(e.g., spell check, preview function, ﬁle types accepted)?
■ Is this platform intuitive for your audience to use
■ Does this platform offer 24-hour customer support?
(e.g., search function, archive, navigation options)?
■ During what hours of the day does this platform
■ Can this platform integrate seamlessly with my
conduct routine maintenance?
company Web site?
■ Does this platform provide tutorials to help you educate
■ How customizable is this platform (e.g., widgets, audio,
your staff on how to use the service?
video)?
■ Does this platform work well on a mobile device?

■ Does this platform work well on your audience’s

preferred Web browser?
■ Does this platform employ any spam blockers?



46

EDITORIAL CALENDAR: COMPANY BLOG

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

Topic

Keywords/Tags

Links to Include
■ Past Blog Posts
■ Third-Party Blogs
■ Whitepapers
■ Product Pages
■ News Articles

Features of Post
■ Photo Upload
■ Video Upload
■ Podcast Component
■ User Survey/Quick Poll
■ Widget/Application Component
■ Live Chat



47

BLOG PROMOTION PLAN

INTERNAL PROMOTION VEHICLES

Cross-promote your blog on your company Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., accounts.

Ask employees to include your blog URL in their e-mail signature.

Include a link to your company blog in company communications (e.g., press releases, whitepapers).

Include a link to your company blog in your next e-mail marketing campaign or customer newsletter.

EXTERNAL PROMOTION VEHICLES

Submit your URL to blog search sites and directories (e.g., Technorati, MyBlogLog).

Comment on other industry blogs and link back your own blog.

Link to others’ blogs in your blog posts or include them on your blog roll.

Post an interview or invite a well-known blogger in your industry to write a guest post.



48

TWITTER

WHAT TWITTER IS
Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows users to post or publish brief
messages of 140 characters or less (“tweets”).

WHAT TWITTER HELPS YOU DO
■ Talk to your users by keeping them updated with quick new blasts.

■ Animate your users to boost brand awareness and visibility.

■ List to your users by following them on Twitter.

■ United Linen .....................................................................................................................p. 51

■ Progress Software .........................................................................................................p. 54



49

TWITTER

IS TWITTER RIGHT FOR YOU?

Do you want to link users to other content or to your other social media sites?
Tweets make it easy to share quick updates and other information with users.

Do you have employees who can regularly devote time to maintaining your Twitter account?
Twitter needs to be updated regularly by a user who is excited about the content and the medium.

Is your industry “Twitter friendly”? Have you seen other competitors or thought leaders in your space succeed
using Twitter?
Searching for industry terms, your name, and your competitors’ names in Twitter will let you know if your target
demographic is present and how active they are.

Do you have a steady cadence of news/insight to share with your audience?
Twitter accounts rely on a stream of brief insights and links to keep audience engagement high.



50

UNITED LINENS’ TWITTER

WHO IT IS
United Linen is a provider of
linen and uniform products
and services.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Customers and
Restaurant Owners

WHAT IT DID
To drive customer
engagement, United Linen
Source: Twitter.
uses Twitter to share
interesting articles and events
and to interact with users one
on one.



51

UNITED LINEN’S TWITTER


Interacting One on One: Sending personal messages to other users increases user engagement.

Integrating of Offline and Online Channels: United Linen uses Twitter to drive offline interactions with possible
customers, driving lead generation.

Leveraging Specific Customer Knowledge: Targeting a customer with specific content demonstrates knowledge of their
customer’s business, driving customer loyalty.

Monitoring and Responding to the Conversation: Reaching out to users twittering about their company gives
United Linen input into the conversation.

Ensuring a Content Value-Add: Passing along relevant information to customers increases the value of the Twitter
account to the users.


Small Customer Base: United Linen has a small and specific customer base, so it may have to proactively reach out to its
customers on Twitter rather than relying on its customers finding it to build a critical base.

Twitterer Loyalty, Not Company Loyalty: The Twitter account relies on the personality of its marketing director, Scott
Townsend, to drive visits. If Mr. Townsend leaves the company, United Linen may have trouble transferring that loyalty to
its next Twitter user.




52

UNITED LINEN’S TWITTER

INTERACTING MONITORING AND
ONE ON ONE RESPONDING TO THE
Sending personal CONVERSATION
messages to other Reaching out to users
users increases user twittering about their
engagement. company gives United
Linen input into the
conversation.
INTEGRATING OF
OFFLINE AND ONLINE
CHANNELS
United Linen uses
Twitter to drive offline
interactions with
possible customers,
driving lead generation.
ENSURING A CONTENT
VALUE-ADD
Passing along relevant
LEVERAGING information to
SPECIFIC CUSTOMER customers increases
KNOWLEDGE the value of the Twitter
Targeting a customer account to the users.
with speciﬁc content
demonstrates
knowledge of its
customer’s business,
driving customer loyalty.

Source: Twitter.



53

PROGRESS SOFTWARE’S TWITTER

WHO IT IS
Progress Software is a
provider of application
infrastructure software.

WHO IT IS TARGETING
Current and
Software Users

WHAT IT DID
To drive brand awareness,
Progress Software uses its
twitter account to direct
readers to papers and articles
relevant to its industry.

Source: Twitter.



54



Frequent Posts: Progress Software has a good frequency of posts, ranging from zero to ﬁve a day and never going more
than two or three days without posting, driving customer engagement.

Encouraging Use of Other Platforms: Progress Software uses its Twitter to link to its other social media platforms, driving
traffic across all platforms and cutting down on the need for content generation.

Displaying Knowledge of the Community: Progress Software often “retweets” links from other users (reposting links that
other Twitter users have posted), which drives customer engagement and positions Progress Software as involved in the
thought leadership community.


Balancing Company and Third-Party Content: While retweeting is an excellent way of driving user engagement, it must
be balanced with Progress Software content to ensure that the company’s value proposition is highlighted.

Impersonal Account: Progress Software does not identify the person behind the Twitter account, which may hinder its
ability to develop a personal connection with its followers.




55


ENCOURAGING
USE OF OTHER
PLATFORMS
Highlighting other
ways to get in
touch with Progress
drives traffic across
platforms.

DISPLAYING
KNOWLEDGE OF
THE COMMUNITY
Retweeting interesting
articles involves
Progress in the
community, driving
user engagement
and demonstrating
Source: Twitter.
involvement with
thought leaders.



56

TWITTER: HOW TO GET STARTED

Once you’ve determined Twitter is right for your company, do the following:

STEP 1: Explore the platform: search for your name, your competitors’ names, and any other terms that will give
you an idea of how the conversation around your industry is taking place.

STEP 2: Develop a content and marketing strategy for your Twitter account.

STEP 3: Develop guidelines for when to respond to user comments.

STEP 4: Adopt your tone to that of your users.

STEP 5: Follow other users on Twitter (both your customers and thought leaders in your ﬁeld) and retweet
interesting content that they post.

Additional Tools:
■ Twitter Dictionary  p. 58
■ Twitter Guidelines  p. 59
■ Sample Twitter Monitoring Tools  p. 60
■ Sample Twitter Management Tools  p. 61



57

Mlc social media_showcase[1]

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

La actualidad más candente

La actualidad más candente (16)

Destacado

Destacado (6)

Similar a Mlc social media_showcase[1]

Similar a Mlc social media_showcase[1] (20)

Último

Último (20)

Mlc social media_showcase[1]