Using Social Networking Sites for Lead Generation: Marketing Sherpa Success Story

If your company markets and sells to businesses, it is difficult to find examples of successful lead generation campaigns using social networks.  Successes using social networking sites by consumer companies abound.  Thanks to the intrepid Marketing Sherpa team, we have a rare business-to-business example with the recent case study from Information Builders, an enterprise software vendor.  Information Builders markets and sells business intelligence software to enterprises.

Social Networking Site Participation Challenge

How can a company participate in an industry online group, bulletin board or other social networking site without appearing to be just “selling”?  Kudos to companies like Information Builders that do the pick-and-shovel work of commenting and adding to the conversation on these sites.  But according to their Director of Internet Marketing, Chris Boylan, “…there’s only so many times you can jump into a discussion without seeming to be invasive.”

Boylan wanted to find a way to use the B-to-B social networking sites as a way to provide relevant content, his firm’s white papers, to offer assistant to the professionals debating key industry issues.

Information Builders’ B-to-B Social Networking Site Campaign

They tried to reach prospects that were early in the product purchase research stage (just ‘shopping’)and those openly seeking advice about business information systems (maybe ready to start a short list of vendors).  Information Builders followed 5 steps:

Step 1:Invested one year learning about the social networking site’s member interests.  The company designed a new white paper series around the issues being discussed at the online site, ITToolbox.com They also sponsored an email discussion group in the network.

Step 2: Created a mix of white paper titles.  Information Builders addressed several subjects to demonstrate both their thought leadership and their ability to manage tactical issues such as software implementation.

Step 3: Promoted the white papers across the network.  They leveraged the different sections of ITToolbox.com to mine potential prospects.  They used their multiple channels such as RSS feed dedicated to Business Intelligence, Weekly email newsletters, ITToolbox’s white paper alert, as well as the site’s blogs, and discussion groups. 

Step 4: Used a customized registration page to capture lead qualification information.

Step 5: Added leads to their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for sales or marketing follow up.  They used disciplined follow up to identify prospects. Those that identified a budget went directly to sales for immediate action.   Those without a budget were directed to marketing for a nurturing campaign.

Results:
The social networking audience was receptive to the white paper offers that were relevant to their online activities.  The campaign exceeded its goal for total leads by over 42 percent.  The campaign turned out to be one of the best online marketing performers for the company.  Sales made as a result of this program delivered a 750 percent return on investment. (Wow!)

Impressive results.  Information Builders has demonstrated that your B-to-B company can successfully generate leads and sales using industry social networking sites. 

• This is an excellent example of marketing as two-way, authentic customer conversations.  First the company ‘listened’ for 12 months.
• Your chances of success are better with a program tailored specifically to the online site you select.   This is a prime example of using traditional marketing—really know your audience with a ‘new’ marketing channel—social networking.

Here is link to complete case study.

Any more examples of success using social networking site marketing programs?  Can you see your company creating a program like this one?