linkedin b2b it committee insights
DESCRIPTION
In 2013 LinkedIn launched global research with comScore, The Social Bridge to the IT Committee, which identified an influential group of tech decision makers, called the IT Committee. This research looked at why the IT Committee are using social media to inform their purchasing decisions, and why marketers need to engage them on social. This research showed how critical it is that we change as fast as possible or continue to hurt the growth potential of our companies. As well as the ability to retain clients. This year we wanted to understand how IT marketers can best educate and engage the IT Committee through content that is truly valuable.TRANSCRIPT
Mike Weir
Vertical Director – Technology Industry
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Nurturing the IT
Committee Is marketing helping or hurting?
Too often, we are the bad party guest
talking about ourselves NON-STOP
3
This lack of value is killing our client
& prospect relationships
4
Today, we have platforms and data
to help us understand the IT
Committee and engage them
5 5
TRUST + CREDIBILITY
M U S T B E
6
Buying decisions are made by a broader group than IT
95% of the IT Committee use social networks for business
More likely to engage with vendors on LinkedIn than other networks
Understanding the IT Committee on Social
7
We surveyed over 2,300 IT Committee members globally
How do you earn TRUST with the IT Committee?
* LOCAL LANGUAGE / LinkedIn Survey and Internal Data: Q2 2014
Germany, N=203
France*, N=202
The Netherlands, N=204
Canada, N=152 US, N=404
UK, N=204
BRAZIL*, N=155
Australia, N=104
India, N=202
Hong Kong, N=155
Singapore, N=104
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia, N=155
UAE, N=154
N. AMERICA EMEA
APAC
8
The Growing IT Committee Who are they and how do you engage them?
The Power of Education without Bias If you’re talking about yourself, you’re doing it wrong
The Expertise You Don’t Know You Have The definition of an expert is broader than you think
Nurture, don’t Disrupt Gating content too early and too often is counter-productive
The Growing
IT Committee
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The IT Committee
10+ million members who influence IT decisions across departments and seniorities
Growing 1.25x faster than general
member growth
11
IT decision making goes beyond the senior IT department
78%
of the IT Committee works
outside of IT
30% 61%
are individual contributors or managers
control part or all of the IT Budget
In which department do you work?
In which of the following stages of IT decision-making are you currently involved?
12
They’re hungry for IT news and information on social
How frequently do you visit each of the following sources to get IT related news and information?
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
Visit Google+ Visit Facebook Visit Twitter Visit LinkedIn
41% 44% 32% 75%
83% use social media for IT News and
Information each month
13
% content from each source very or extremely trustworthy
They trust content on LinkedIn more than any other source
How frequently do you visit each of the following sources to get IT related news and information?
How trustworthy do you feel the content you see from each of the below sources is?
50% 48%
34% 33%
24% 20%
15%
9%
LinkedIn Online Trade/Industry Sites
Google+ Online NewsSites
DiscussionForums
Blogs Twitter Facebook
Visitation │ High Medium Low
The Power of Education
without Bias
of the IT Committee require education to sustain or make a change to their
IT ecosystem
78%
15 How significant is the role education plays in the following types of decisions undertaken by your organization?
16
More likely to consider an IT vendor who educates me through
each stage of the decision process
67% Educating throughout the purchase funnel makes generating leads more effective
17
Education with broad-themed, non branded
content is preferred
52%
53%
59% Most interested in non-branded /
non-sales focused content
More favorable toward an IT Vendor who publishes content
about my industry and topics of interest
More likely to consider an IT vendor who publishes content
about my industry and topics of interest
Start with content about general industry topics, prioritized
for your audience
Author or promote expert content on the direction and
use of your industry’s products
Promote branded user reviews and case studies to drive
consideration and selection of your company
1
3
2
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Three types of education
The Expertise You Don’t
Know You Have
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Influence on tech purchases (by purchase stage and content source)
Experts Rule the Day. But, the Definition of Expert has Evolved
Thinking of a recent or upcoming company-wide technology purchase, how influential is the SOURCE of the information you consume at each stage of the purchase cycle?
56% 53% 53%
63% 62%
49%
45% 44%
59%
47%
33%
29% 30%
34% 37%
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EXPERT CONTENT INFLUENCE USER / PEER REVIEW INFLUENCE BRANDED CONTENT INFLUENCE
Not necessarily on title or connections
Expertise is based on references from others and
demonstrated knowledge
6%
10%
11%
14%
22%
37%
52%
55%
72% References from coworkers and other professionals in their field
Published author or presenter in their field
Has a (on average) 8.5 years of experience
Manages a team
Has a Master's Degree or higher
Is a vice president or more senior
Has 500 or more connections on LinkedIn
Third Party scores (Klout, Kred, PeerIndex, etc.)
Other (Please specify)
21 When you think of a technology subject matter expert (SME), what is the first thing that comes to mind?
Below you see some additional qualities a subject matter expert may have. Please select all the attributes below that are required to be a technology SME.
% Who Believe Each Statement Defines an Expert
The IT Committee is positively impacted
by the actions of your employees
25%
Are more favorable toward a
vendor whose employees
participate in LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups
24%
Are more favorable toward a
vendor whose employees
share content on LinkedIn
Employees
23%
Are more likely to consider
if vendors have experts
publishing on LinkedIn
Experts
23
Utilize the expertise in
your organization to
earn trust
On the world’s largest professional publishing platform
Nurture, don’t Disrupt
25
The IT Committee is anxious about gated content
40% 15%
fear SPAM or sales calls leave the site completely
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you try to download an article or access a product page and are forced to enter your contact information?
of the IT Committee provides fake information when they complete a
lead capture form
59%
26 A Lead Capture for is a technique used by companies to collect contact information, usually when someone downloads a piece of information the company has published or a webinar they
have held. Is the information you provide on Lead Capture forms truthful?
How many of you
have had Mickey
Mouse download
your content?
61% In market
27
Those in market for IT
solutions are more likely to
provide fake information
At least sometimes provide fake info
41% Not in market
28
IT Committee Members actively looking for an enterprise IT Solution (in-market)
Gating content too early or too often decreases consideration
How likely are you to consider an IT vendor whose first piece of content you see requires you to provide your contact information?
41% 81%
are less likely to consider a vendor who
gates the FIRST piece of content are less likely to consider a vendor who
gates ALL content
29
Nurturing leads through content is vital because most are
not ready to talk to sales
When researching a specific major enterprise IT / security solution, how many pieces of content related to that solution do you typically need to consume before you are ready to be
contacted by a sales representative?
of content before they are ready to talk to a sales rep.
5 pieces
The average IT Committee member needs to
consume
30
Lead gen and branding don’t need to be separate
TRADITIONAL
LEAD GENERATION
SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
VALUABLE
CONTENT
SWEET SPOT
31
Publish and promote your content in places on LinkedIn
where the IT Committee is engaging the most
1LinkedIn Internal Data – 4/1/2014 through 4/30/2014
The Feed starts the conversation
2x as active on desktop in the feed than members1
Groups for expert articles & content
2x as active in groups than members1
Ensure content is mobile friendly
25% more active on mobile than members1
32
What does the IT Committee want to hear about from experts?
Base: IT Committee n=181, circle size shows relative % ranked BIGGEST impact
Which of these topics do you see having the biggest impact for your organization and which you would share with your network?
Discussions on how technologyis changing the way we work
Cloud-based applications
Data Management
Cloud Storage
Network Security
“First Look” at new products or solutions
Enterprise Social Networking
Industry Event Promotion andRegistration
% Would Share with Network
% R
anked T
op 4
Topic
s
0% 50% 100%
100%
50%
IT Topics and Intent to Share
33
Marketer Implications
Earn trust with broad-based content that goes beyond your brand’s self-interests
Incorporate an “always on” content strategy with a variety of content – gated and un-gated
Leverage your employees and company specialists as experts
Utilize LinkedIn’s Content Marketing Score to optimize and measure your content
Prepare for the future of LinkedIn
Thank you!