Many tech companies come to us and say "we think we are rubbish online but we are not sure".
Well this report can show you.
In terms of the report's methodology
We analyzed over 250K Employees from 76 global tech brands and Part 1 released today focuses on the performance of 3,100 Global Senior Execs.
Which is a pretty big sample size
Some of the highlights are
"According to McKinsey research digital-enabled sales interactions are now twice as important to customers post Covid-19 so Execs showing up is a key priority.
Our research shows that Execs have increased their social media activity by 31% since the pandemic although there are still 25% of Execs without a LinkedIn account and 52% without a Twitter account."
Let's add in the research that came out yesterday from Simon Kemp about Social Media. Up until now, people have thought that social media was fad or would go away. But social media has pst a tipping point, that there is now more people on social media than not on social media.
The other thing that has happened is that now social media is not a destination, we now live in it.
While I'm biased, but if you are not on social media then you are invisible to your clients.
The Big Selling Reset
The “problem” that companies have today is that they position their company as “buy my products because they are great”.
This is fundamentally flawed because everybody, including their competitors, say exactly the same. We know this from our own experiences.
Nobody is interested in your company and products and we don't have the expertise to tell you apart from everybody else.
You are just a zebra in a herd of zebras.
As a buyer, I know nothing about what your company does so how do I make a choice when all products sound the same? You may say that your company is different or you don’t have competitors but I can show you companies that look and sound the same.
So when you say "buy my product because it's great" it is what everybody says and you are "just another product" and your salespeople are "just another salesperson" with the same generic message.
The Research is In - The World is Online
The second issue they have is that the world is online. As soon as you put your products in front of me through advertising, email marketing and cold calling, I go online and do a comparison.
This will comparison will involve Google searches, reading content on social, asking my network questions, finding out what influencers think.
Anything a company does, advertising, cold calling, email marketing, brochures, will trigger the buyer to search for alternatives online. We all ask ourselves "can we get a better product at a lower price?"
We now know that it is human nature that if you interrupt me with an advert, cold call or email it triggers me to do a comparison. The problem is, that if you are not on social then you are not part of that comparison.
If I tell you the BMW 4 Series is the best car in the world, you will go online and give me a list of cars that are similar or even better. All without BMW or a salesperson knowing you have done it.
I spotted a product on a Facebook Ad the other day and look the product up on Amazon and it was cheaper. So what did I do? Buy it on Amazon of course. Here was a marketing team, spending marketing dollars on Facebook Ads for me to buy from the competition. Why would you do that?
The Companies That Win in this Pandemic
The companies that will win in this pandemic are those that realise they need to cut the corporate rubbish and build relationships and have conversations.... where our customer are, on social.
Know me, like me, trust me.
When we go to social media to get content, we don't look at a company social media page, we look at the employees social media pages. I read an article not because a company has posted it .... we avoid this material because it will say "buy my stuff because it's great". We know it will be biased.
In a universe of 700 million, why would you be instantly forgettable?
Where as, if we read content from our network, the people we know, like and trust .... then this is the stuff we are interested in.
A read a person's post because I like that person.
People buy from people they know and trust.
How People Buy - Case Study
Last November, a BMW dealer in the UK had 28 pieces of inbound to buy a BMW car, they converted 14 of those into sales.
14 sales x 50,000 Euro = 700,000 Euros additional revenue for zero marketing spend.
This was the same month that their competitor, Jaguar Land Rover complained they were not selling cars and were therefore stopping production.
But There is More - Another Business Case Maybe?
In this interview with Danielle Guzman who is Global Head of Social Media for Mercer and we discuss "5 Things to Kick Start Your Employee Advocacy Program" and she shares the value they have gained from empowering their employees with social media.
Mercer are getting 3 to 4 times the attributed revenue than the brand generates. Can you believe that? If the brand is creating $10 million, then empowering your team on social will generate $40 million.
There could be a business case there, my suggestion is that you use an outside company to help you. Hint, hint. ;)
There Are Clear Winners and Losers in This Digital World
There are clear winners and losers starting to happen in the social space.
What you need to do right now ...
Your business needs to get digital skilled. You need to train your sales team in a methodology that will enable them to prospect where your clients are .... on social media. They need to have the skills to build relationships in a world where there are no face-to-face meetings.
They need to be able to accelerate their pipeline and close business through social.
Why?
Because this is where your prospects are right now and if you are not on social, then you are invisible.
If you are ready to give your team the digital skills they need then contact me here.
Employees were split into 3 categories to see how effective each group were at interacting and influencing the external influencer community and senior decision makers: Execs & Senior Management (Board, Exec Management, VPs, GMs) Sales & Marketing Subject Matter Experts Part 1 of our report is focused just on Execs & Senior Management to analyze their presence, activity, engagement and influence with the topical influencer communities and Senior IT decision makers. We analyzed 3,100 Execs & Senior Managers including Board Members, CXOs, GMs and VPs. Part 2 of our report will focus on Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) outside of Top Management.
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