B2B | 1000heads: The Word of Mouth People

IBM: a social business case study

Friday, July 29th, 2011

I’m often asked for case studies of great social businesses, and I must admit that it can be a hard task. Many brands are doing elements of social business well – BestBuy’s customer service, say, or Deloitte’s social recruitment – but very few yet are demonstrating a thoroughgoing commitment to being social from the inside out.

Enter IBM.

These guys are, I believe, pretty much the best example we have right now of a social business. Check out this video from Ted Stanton at the Social Business Summit 2011, charting IBM’s evolution to full social functionality across B2C, B2B and B2E. If you don’t have half an hour to spare, I’ve shared a few key takeouts below…

Ted Stanton, A Journey to Become a Social Business from Bryan Menell on Vimeo.

Their ‘social intranet’ includes over 30,000 specialist communities (some strategic and top down, some grassroots), 18,000 blogs and 12 million chats every day. Lesson: people really do use it, and employee surveys prove its business value to a range of stakeholders from HR (it makes people happy and improves retention) to sales (they do actual business deals in there)
The social media guidelines were written by IBMers in a Wiki. Yes, legal and HR then made amends, but at the core it comes from the people it affects, and everyone is encouraged and guided to build personal profiles in social media
IBM’s Jams, both on the intranet (‘how can we help the Japanese tsunami?) and through external platforms such as developerWorks (‘what will a social business lok like in 10 years time?’), are a brilliant way to gain insight and build relationships between employees but also with competitors, partners, independent consultants, the press and customers
When it comes to starting with social business, there is no magic bullet, just make sure you: communicate the value to everyone; identify the key stakeholders; define the business value for each stakeholder; and organise governance.

Of course, IBM isn’t a perfect example. There are no doubt many regions or areas of the business that don’t feel ‘social’, and Stanton himself admits that ‘it’s a long journey’.

But the important thing here is that a big, global company, with a lot of organisational complexity and a strong legacy, can make a hell of a difference by taking action, trusting its people and giving them the tools to thrive.

If you’re thinking about starting the journey too, get in touch.

B2B and Social Media – #dellb2b

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Last week 1000heads was invited to attend the B2B edition of ‘Social Media Huddle’ hosted by Dell, Google and For Immediate Release [FIR].
The networking event – the third in its series – takes the unconference route in its execution, whereby guests can create their own sessions for others to attend on the day. I’ve been to a few events like this in the past and it can make for a really interesting day as you never quite know what to expect until you arrive.

The #dellb2b event (to give it its proper twitter name) however, had a very specific aim of ‘bringing together senior communications and marketing professionals to exchange and share experiences on B2B social media for their mutual benefit’. Nice.

The big draw in this instance was guest speaker and internationally recognised thought-leader in the social space, Brian Solis.

I’ve known Brian for a few years now but this is the first time I’ve heard him speak in the UK. A master of the soundbite, his talk was insightful and to the point. I’ll post the slides from the day in a second, but first – here’s a snapshot from my notes and tweets for the day [including key quotes from the man himself] -

Brian Solis
James Whatley

“46% of B2B respondents said social media was perceived as irrelevant to their company”

“By not saying anything in social, you’re saying everything”

“B2B marketing spend will grow from $11m in 2009 to $54m in 2011”

“93% of business buyers believe all companies should have a social media presence”

So basically, what BS is saying is that, when it comes to B2B – believe it or not – you should apply the same rules of listening and engagement that you do to consumers – ie: You listen. You learn. You engage. You create.

“What is the ROI?”

“There is no ROI of social media programs.”
“However, there is definitely ROI for social media programs that are setup to do something”

Again. Not new. But a truism.

Some choice tweets?

All in all, plenty of food for thought there, raising a number of issues that we’ll come back to another day.

If you’d like to listen to the presentation yourself, Nevile Hobson has kindly posted the audio version and it may well make an interesting accompaniment to Brian’s slides, embedded below.

Archive for the ‘B2B’ Category

IBM: a social business case study

B2B and Social Media – #dellb2b