The Social Bridge
to the IT Committee
How trusted content on social media
builds relationships with IT buyers
Commissioned study
conducted by:Australia

Through decision
making process
60%
Buyers are highly informed, savvy, and demanding
Source: CEB, “The Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing”, 2012
First contact
with brand

Why is it so critical to foster
long-term relationships?

THE IT COMMITTEE
They work
cross functionally
45% Work outside of IT
They include individual
contributors and managers
50% are individual
contributors or managers
These scarce influencers include more than the IT
department and the Executive team
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013

LinkedIn partnered with comScore, Starcom MediaVest Group,
and Mashwork to understand today’s B2B IT Committee
comScore: Q3 2013
SMG / Mashwork: 2012
LinkedIn data: Q2 2013
What are they thinking?
100 IT Committee members
What are they saying?
3,000 tech posts from public
LinkedIn Groups
What are they doing?
IT decision makers on LinkedIn

Key Findings
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
Make the vendor shortlist by
fostering long-term relationships,
while serving short-term needs via
lead generation.
The vendor shortlist is more
exclusive and critical than you
think.
Social media is not just for
connecting with peers. The IT
Committee actively seeks insights
& conversations with vendors.

The IT Committee actively seeks
conversations with vendors on
social media

Nearly all of the IT Committee use social networks
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
2013
90%95%
2012
78%
Use social network monthly for business

The reason? Social media – LinkedIn especially – provides
them with trust, efficiency, relevance, and access
Source: Commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2012
Access
A
Access a
broader network
50%
Relevance
R
Relevant context to
connect with vendors
34%
Efficiency
E
Quickly
find information
47%
Trust
T
Learn from
trustworthy peers
66%

TERA continues to drive even deeper utilization across the
entire IT decision process
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
37%36% 22% 48% 71%
Implement
66%
Select
74%
Plan
69%
Scope
76%
Awareness
81%
Influence of social media at each stage of decision making
YoY
Increase

As the IT Committee use social to learn and debate, they’re
looking to vendors to participate
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
61%
Open to connecting with
vendors on social
Ready to have a conversation
with a vendor on social
76%

The vendor shortlist is
more exclusive and critical
than you think

The IT Committee already have a good idea who they want to
work with
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
vendors make their short listOnly 3
purchased from a vendor that made the short list93%
purchased from a new vendorOnly 1 in 5

Build relationships to make
the short list

Old ways of communicating don’t work and can turn off your
audience
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013 15
Top 5 reasons the IT Committee doesn’t connect with a
vendor on a social network
02
Talk too much about
themselves
03
Don’t believe would provide
any credible information
01
Don’t want to receive a lot of
marketing materials
04
Not thought leaders in
the category
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
05
None of my peers are following
them

Building relationships with the right content is critical to
being considered

Traditional lead generation can hurt relationships… social is
about earning leads
Sweet Spot
Social
Relationships
Valuable
Content
Traditional
lead generation

Context matters. Credibility and trust drive brand perception
and willingness to consider a vendor for the shortlist
2 x more people trust LinkedIn over other websites for
Connecting more efficiently with vendors and relevant companies
Receiving information relevant to my IT decisions
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013

Vendors who interact with the IT Committee at a high rate are
more likely to create promoters
Source: commissioned study conducted by comScore in Australia on behalf of LinkedIn, Q3 2013
Engagement on LinkedIn Prior To Purchase
Vendor Net Promoter Score
24
NONE
70
2+ TYPES

Engage the IT Committee everywhere they learn
FEED
MOBILE
GROUPS
INMAIL

Implications for IT Marketers
01
02
03
04
Target more than IT functions in your campaigns.
Ensure your content is authentic, valuable, timely, and
customized by decision stage and seniority.
Start earning leads via social in addition to buying leads.
Focus on building relationships to get on the short list.
Begin tracking how often and for what clients you make the short
list.05
©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Marketers AudienceContent
Relationship
How LinkedIn can help
©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

2014 Product Focus in B2B
Targeting PersonalizationAttribution Lead capture
©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Build relationships and earn leads by participating
24
SLIDESHARE CHANNEL
SPONSORED UPDATES
CAPTURING HAND-RAISERS
PERSONALIZED INSIGHTS VIA API
©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

TrendIn – social listening for your target audience
Trending content analytics to see spiking trends and define
content strategy
©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Spiking Trend
Long-Term
Trending Topic
Popularity
Time Period
Catching
trending topics Defining content strategy

LinkedIn Confidential ©2013 All Rights Reserved
103
Peers:
of
Best in class
influence
Weaker content
influence
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
IBM
CMIScore
DUMMY DATA
Content Marketing Index – measuring impact & influence
Here is how your content marketing influence ranks among your
target audience for your key topic
Audience = High-tech professionalsWHO: Topic = Big dataWHAT:
• Accenture
• Cognizant
• Dell
• HP
• Infosys
• Microsoft
• Oracle
• Tata Consultancy
• Wipro

A few tricks and tips we’ve learnt

foo 28
The 4-1-1 Rule
Do This Not This

Going Visual
Inspiration

Empowering Advocates

Photo credit: Min-Chieh Chang
Going Visual

Visual Kicks Texts A**
328,000
Views!

The Visual is the New Headline

Meet the Experts

Integrate Your Presentations Across Multiple Channels

Increased
referral traffic
Social
engagement
Higher
quality leads
How do you know if your content is more relevant?

Adobe drives thought leadership
with Sponsored Updates
 50%
 more likely to agree that
Adobe is “shaping the future
of digital marketing”
 2.5×
more likely to agree Adobe’s
Sponsored Updates capture
their attention
 79%
 more likely to agree that
Adobe can help optimize their
media spend

HubSpot drives high-quality leads
with Sponsored Updates
400%
more leads within their target
audience than lead generation
efforts on other platforms

165K+
Followers
88%
Smart phone intenders
3X
Purchase Samsung
2X
Recommend Samsung
Content marketing produces
results
How LinkedIn Followers boosted a brand
The Story of Samsung Mobile

Igniting New Conversations
with Sponsored Updates
Watch Case Study Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwjZodXI2zM&feature=youtu.be