nurturing the it committee lead: is marketing helping or hurting?

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Nurturing the IT Committee Is marketing helping or hurting?

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This sneak preview of the latest LinkedIn IT research was presented during our 2014 Tech Roadshow. Learn more about how tech brands should build trust and credibility with IT Committee members on LinkedIn.

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Page 1: Nurturing the IT Committee Lead: Is Marketing Helping or Hurting?

Nurturing the IT Committee Is marketing helping or hurting?

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EARNED TRUST + CREDIBILITY

M U S T B E

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 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

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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

Overview

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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

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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?

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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

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 % 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 News Sites

Discussion Forums

Blogs Twitter Facebook

 Visitation │ High Medium Low

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The Power of Education without Bias

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of the IT Committee require education to sustain or make a change to their

IT ecosystem

78%

11 How significant is the role education plays in the following types of decisions undertaken by your organization?

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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

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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  

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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

14

Three types of education

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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  

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 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)  

17 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

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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

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Utilize the expertise in your organization to earn trust

On the world’s largest professional publishing platform

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Nurture, don’t Disrupt

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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?

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of the IT Committee provides fake information when they complete a

lead capture form

59%

22 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?

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61% In market

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Those in market for IT solutions are more likely to provide fake information

At least sometimes provide fake info

41% Not in market

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 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

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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

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Lead gen and branding don’t need to be separate

TRADITIONAL LEAD GENERATION

SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS VALUABLE CONTENT

SWEET SPOT

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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

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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 technology is 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 and Registration

% Would Share with Network

% R

anke

d To

p 4

Topi

cs

0% 50% 100%

100%

50%

IT Topics and Intent to Share

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LinkedIn Product Roadmap: Bringing IT Committee members and you together

Targeting Lead capture & Nurturing

Personalization Attribution

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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