Big Company. Personal Touch.

Social media gives B2B firms a human voice
by Meryl K. Evans, Editor, B2B Social Media Digest 

Despite the Internet’s vast resources, people don’t always find what they need, especially when searching for obscure information or something that doesn’t yet exist. Consider an old song from your teen years that keeps playing in your mind. Maybe you only remember a few words, not phrases or lines. If you spend some time, you may find it buried in the information highway haystack. 

Yet if you use Facebook and Twitter, you will most likely find that tidbit much faster. In social media, people want to help and respond to queries. They respond to these queries with valuable information, and post blog entries about the subject. Now, search engines have two new places to go when someone does a query. 

One company has turned “It’s never been done before” types of problems into solved ones by sharing expertise in social media. Emerson Process Management supports organizations with complicated technology and engineering problems that need solving. Social media gives Emerson an accessible and fast way to reach those who need answers. 

Imagine the knowledge that Emerson has with 250 manufacturing locations around the world, 730 patents in 2009 alone and servicing over 150 countries. Social media acts as a bridge that connects the large company’s expertise with the people needing the knowledge. Once content appears on a social network, search engines become aware of it. As search engines discover the knowledge, it brings the company another step closer to customers and prospects. 

Emerson Process Management social media strategy 

Emerson wants to bring its expertise to the surface where customers and prospects can find it. While the traditional approach of connecting and interacting with others works, it takes more time than using social media. Furthermore, people who have problems that need solving don’t have time to wait until they meet the right person. 

The company entered social media by determining its business objectives and communications objectives for key audiences and then coming up with the message and desired outcome. As a result, Emerson has established processes for all of its communications. “Social media-related initiatives are similar in starting with the message phase. We want the participant to use his or her own voice instead of highly processed and tested messaging,” says Jim Cahill, head of social media and chief blogger at Emerson Process Management. 

Cahill lists four reasons for motivating your talent to get to the surface quickly by participating in social media: 

• Gain more visibility. Encouraging your experts to come to the surface through social media will speed up others finding them.
• Listen in real time. Social media is two-way media that allows people to reach out to others and respond. And it all happens in real time.
• Expose expertise. Many refer to this as “thought leadership.” When your talent goes out there and joins the social media fray, they let their knowledge speak for them and the company. This leads to building trust, which leads to business opportunities.
• Find answers fast. Whether the experts or prospects need answers, social media speeds the problem-solving process. Tweet a question, and you can get answers within seconds. Add the answers to Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and other social media resources, and Google and other search engines will pull them up. 

The company is in the business of services, which isn’t tangible. “The intent is to increase our presence at the surface to improve our ability to listen, talk and engage with customers and prospective customers,” says Cahill. 

Building a business case for social media 

The journey began six years ago when Cahill and co-worker, Deb Franke, noticed blog posts appeared high up on search engine results, especially for engineers’ typical “how-to” queries. The timing worked out because the company brought together two business automation systems and a solutions business. Because of this, Cahill and Franke recognized that blogs offered a natural way to add visibility to the company’s experts. 

The foray into social media started with one blog in 2006. Cahill worked with legal, human resources and senior management before launching Emerson Process Experts blog. “After it proved itself as a way to provide visibility of Emerson’s expertise to those using search engines to find it, we embarked on more social media-related activities over time,” Cahill says. Today, the company has seven blogs, many LinkedIn and Facebook groups and employees using Twitter. 

“Social media helps us reach these goals by putting the people behind the technologies and engineering where they can more closely listen, connect and respond to customers and prospective customers,” says Cahill. 

Measuring success 

The most important metric is the number of contacts that come through the blog. Emerson Process Experts blog contains a sidebar with contact information. Cahill wants people to contact him for answers to issues they face. He connects them with the right people in the organization. Metrics include tracking the following: 

• Contacts.
• Monthly visits to the blog.
• RSS subscriptions.
• Visits to content sites with view counts (YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare, etc.).

Every post comes with a CAPTCHA-protected email link to the featured expert. Tracking contacts helps him connect sales opportunities with the blog rather than focusing on conversion because B2Bs have long and complicated sales cycles. 

While this may not have the hard numbers many executives want to see, Emerson Process Management has moved Cahill into the new role of social media head.

 Advice to businesses 

For B2B companies looking to get into social media, Cahill recommends starting with business objectives. “If they are sound, you’ll overcome objectives from legal, human resources and senior management. Patience and persistence are critical. It took us two years from the idea to realization,” he says. 

Emerson had to work around the status quo to get over its biggest social media hurdle. This meant pointing to other companies like IBM and Sun that used social media with success and sharing their social media policies. Again, remembering and repeating the business objective to raise the visibility of the company’s experts remained key. “The final piece, courtesy of some wisdom provided by business blogger Steve Rubel, was to prove it internally,” says Cahill. 

The team demonstrated post visibility by building inside-the-firewall blogs and using a custom Google search appliance to show results. Worrying about privacy and legal risks is not an excuse. This concerned many people when email became more mainstream. Yet, email turned into a business activity that few could do without. 

Emerson Process Management Social Media Elements 

Goal: The primary goal for Emerson is to solve problems as part of its “Consider it solved” promise. Social media gives the company a place to connect with those looking for answers. 

Social media tools: Emerson uses social media to make it easier for people to find experts. Communities also open channels for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange. The company shares content using the following eight resources: 

1. Blogs:  Blogs give Emerson a forum for highlighting the expertise across the company. Staff uses multiple blogs to focus on different areas of the company’s wide knowledge and industries. The life sciences industry blog and data centers blog attract different markets with different problems. 
2. YouTube and Screencast: Staff posts videos that share expertise. These videos also appear on the blog. 
3. Podcasts: Uploading blog podcasts to iTunes and MP3 sites provides greater reach. 
4. LinkedIn: The Emerson brand has a LinkedIn group so users and experts can collaborate, ask and answer questions, share ideas and network. 
5. Flickr: Staff posts images and photos to share knowledge and expertise. 
6. Facebook: Several Emerson brands also have their own Facebook groups that lists basic information.
7. Twitter: Company employees and brands use Twitter to mention new posts and connect with customers, prospects and trade press community members. 
8. Private community: The company runs a forum on its website. 

These resources improve the company’s standings with search engines. The content they create in social media lets experts demonstrate competence, trust, commitment and creativity, all required factors when you’re in the services business. As a result, they can grow the business. 

Results: In three years, the blog has grown from 5,000 monthly visits to over 50,000. Flickr and YouTube alone receive almost 10,000 monthly views. In one year, the company’s Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts went up almost 3,000. These numbers jumped almost another 1,000 in six months. 

Cahill receives 10 to 15 contacts per week. Some are support related, some are sales opportunities or requests for quotes and the occasional, “I didn’t know Emerson did this. Can you send someone to discuss our application right away?” One of these occasionals was for a “greenfield” plant that could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in automation equipment and project services. 

Remember, the B2B sales cycle is long and complex. With millions of dollars in the balance, landing these occasional contacts says that Emerson is doing something right with its social media program. 

The message is clear. Using multiple social networks helps the company reach more people while boosting the company’s findability in search engines. 

About the author

Meryl K. Evans is senior editor at InternetVIZ and the content maven behind the Connected Digest, B2B Social Media Digest and Professional Services Journal. Follow her on Twitter @merylkevans, LinkedIn or on Facebook.