B2B SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES

UK examples

Bringing together best practice

There is a real dearth of social media case studies when it comes to business to business. The scarcity is even more profound when you are looking for examples from UK companies.

This document is a work in progress and has been designed to be shared and updated.

The hope is that collating best practice examples will help B2B organisations establish benchmarks and create proof cases.

If you think we have missed a great case study, then please drop a comment on our blog at:

http://blog.immediatefuture.co.uk/b2b-social-media-case-studies

Through the use of Facebook and Twitter, Dell has developed its Trade Secrets campaign creating conversations with small businesses as well as promoting its latest product – the Dell Vostro 130

The campaign focuses on the idea of first impressions. Dell developed a dedicated app on its Facebook page, ‘Dell for Business,’ and encourages tweets using the hashtag #TradeSecret for Dell customers to share their secrets to making a good first impression. There have been more than 1500 contributions to the Trade Secrets programme as of April

Alongside this, Dell is building relations with key influencers and asking them to join the programme to share their thoughts

- Multiple platforms used

- Aimed at SMEs

- Generating buzz and creating conversations

http://www.facebook.com/DellBusiness#TradeSecrets

Dell – Trade Secrets campaign

In 2007, BT created Tradespace – a social networking site dedicated to SMEs as a place for them to network with potential business partners and promote their own product/services

The site has more than 350,000 business profiles of which 40% are new customers to BT

There is a strong and active community; businesses can add news upload content; and book appointments

Tradespace also has a presence on Twitter with over 3,600 followers

- Engages in dialogue with customers- Aimed at SMEs- Community site

http://www.bttradespace.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/bttradespace

BT - Trade Space

Canary Towers is the FTAdviser’s online community that is designed specifically for finance professionals.

The online platform encourages conversation between members through the forums and blog section of the website.

Site users can engage with online content by commenting on and recommending articles, take part in forum discussions and access and contribute to a number of blogs run by industry experts.

- Community site- Aimed at independent financial

advisers- No communication from FT, only

members

http://www.ftadviser.com/community

FTAdviser – Canary Towers

The Virgin Media Pioneers campaign was set up to bring together young people and business professionals. The campaign encourages young people to share their ideas and seek advice and guidance from business professionals.

The website is filled with rich, shareable content and creates a space for conversation. Virgin Media Pioneers uses Facebook and Twitter to update its fans and followers with the latest news from the project.

- Multi-platform campaign- Community site- Aimed at business professionals and young

people

http://www.virginmediapioneers.com/

Virgin Media – Pioneers

Avanade, the business technology specialists, created an online video campaign called #askavanade

The campaign launched at the Gartner CRM event where attendees were encouraged to ask Avanade a questions on Twitter using the #askavanade hashtag. Avanade reordered the answers and posted them on YouTube – creating rich, shareable content

#askavanade was designed to increase awareness of the brands at events, but has also been used to meet different business objectives.

- Encourages conversation on Twitter- Generates shareable content- Aimed at tech professionals

http://www.youtube.com/user/AvanadeUKhttp://twitter.com/avanadeuk

Avanade- #askavanade

HP has established a dedicated LinkedIn group for its small business customers. The group acts as a discussion forum for SMEs to ask questions and get tips and advice from others

This is accompanied by the HPBizAnswers Twitter profile that features the latest news, advice and guidance relevant to its small business customers. Customer service queries are also responded to on Twitter

- Multi-platform campaign- Aimed at SMEs- Engages in conversation with customers

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/HP-Business-Answershttp://twitter.com/HPBizAnswers

HP – Business Answers

To support its small business customers, Microsoft set up a brand presence on both Facebook and Twitter as a space for its customers to communicate with Microsoft and have access to the latest news and advice

This is supported by a dedicated SmallBiz website from Microsoft that hosts an online community, support and resource centre

- Aimed at SMEs- Multi-platform campaign- Generate shareable content

http://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftSmallBizUK http://twitter.com/#!/MicrosoftSB http://www.youtube.com/user/MicrosoftSB

Microsoft – SmallBiz

So Renewable set up a dedicated Twitter profile for live chat roundtables between energy professionals and enthusiasts on Twitter to debate the future of renewable energy

A hashtag was created for the discussion, #RenEn11 and participants were encouraged to tweet their thoughts, views and questions using this hashtag to be included in the debate

This proved to be a great way of virtually bringing together key people in the renewable energy space to discuss issues

- Engages in conversation- Encourages dialogue on Twitter- Aimed at energy professionals and groups

http://twitter.com/EnergyPanel

So Renewable - SO Energy RoundTable

Doctors.net implemented a seven month practical learning based campaign in conjunction with Patient Safety First to encourage changes to be made to working practices

Doctors.net, the largest active network for doctor and nurses in the UK, produced content on the network including downloadable resources, video content, case studies, blogs, forums and news. The content is only available to view by members on the network

Doctors and nurses can be a hard group to engage with, but Doctors.net used targeted and specific information to generate buzz and conversation among its audience

- Aimed at doctors and nurses- Closed community- Downloadable and shareable content

http://about.doctors.net.uk/Home

Doctors.net – Patient Safety First campaign

RICS – Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has developed an online community for its members supported by social media profiles on all the major channels.

A discussion forum and blog section have been created on the main RICS website where RICS members and other property professionals can discuss industry matters

This is accompanied by a presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube. The dedicated LinkedIn group is a discussion platform. Twitter and Facebook are used as news and information services by the RICS . Flickr and YouTube are used as content sharing tools

- Aimed at RICS members and property professionals

- Presence on major social networking sites- Shareable content

http://www.rics.org/community http://www.facebook.com/ricssurveyorshttp://twitter.com/#!/RICSsurveyors http://www.youtube.com/user/ricsmediacentrehttp://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=88902&trk=anet_ug_grppro http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricssurveyors/collections

Psion set up a dedicated community, Ingenuity Working, aimed at technology professionals and its customers. Its focus is knowledge sharing

The sites host blogs and discussion forums as well as downloadable resources and support

Psion also has a number of social media platforms alongside this on the main social networking sites including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Psion also shares content through its YouTube channel

- Creates conversation between technology professionals

- Use of social media platforms alongside communities

- Downloadable resources available on website and shareable content on YouTube

Psion – Ingenuity Working

http://community.psion.com/http://www.facebook.com/PsionLivehttp://twitter.com/#!/psionlivehttp://www.youtube.com/psionlivehttp://www.linkedin.com/company/psion

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