Social Media - Transforming B2B Organizations: Contemporary Concerns Study

Contemporary Concerns Study
Project Report and Whitepaper on

Social Media
TRANSFORMING B2B ORGANIZATIONS
Submitted to Prof. Seema Gupta
by
Viveka Sra (1211158)
Vishrut Shukla (1211314)

Thursday, 07 November 2013

Acknowledgement
We would like to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to our project guide Prof. Seema Gupta
for providing us the opportunity to take up this study under her kind and able guidance. Her
constant inputs to explore topics both in depth and breadth within the scope of this project have
enabled us to learn more about such a trending phenomenon in the industry today.
We would also like to extend out thanks to the helpful and cooperative employees, managers and
communication team members of Cisco Systems (Bangalore) and Oracle Corporation (Bangalore)
offices who provided us with some inputs in the form of primary data and interactions for this
project.
-Viveka Sra (1211158)
Vishrut Shukla (1211314)

Purpose and Need of the Project
The project titled “Social Media: Transforming B2B Organizations” is a study on the usage of social
media (both public & enterprise) by B2B technology firms Oracle Corp. & Cisco Systems, Inc. Social

media are already getting labelled as propellers of the next phase of the global Internet
story by enabling social networking. While most users of social networking via Internet
websites such as Facebook,
Google+ and LinkedIn are
individuals, an increasing
number of businesses and
enterprises are establishing
their presence on these
platforms. Apart from using
the public social media
services,
enterprises
are
looking to leverage the power
of social networking within
the organization as well to
promote greater employee engagement via sharing and collaboration using similar
platforms. There seems to be a significant difference in how businesses use social media
within and outside the enterprise. Given the pivotal role social media play in today’s
networked businesses; this contrast needs to be examined wholesomely and
systematically.

Project Objectives
Through this study project, we aimed to achieve the following:
1. Assessing the different types of social media platforms used by the organizations
under study;
2. Exploring the purposes of various platforms employed by the organizations;
3. Evaluating the effectiveness of the deployed social media platforms against the
intended objectives laid down by the organizations;
4. Developing a best practices whitepaper with guidelines to help employ social media
in similar organizations.

Project Deliverables
The following are the deliverables we promised:
1. Detailed Report with Analysis of Social Media Strategy of the two B2B organizations;
2. Evaluation criteria of the effectiveness of the organizations’ social media strategy;
3. A detailed set of guidelines for new organizations aiming to leverage social media
for achieving certain organizational objectives in the form of a whitepaper
The following sections detail the work done in the project.

Phase 1: Exploratory Study
The two organizations under study recognize the huge opportunity presented by the social media.
The role of social media is not only important in removing the communication barrier between
organizations and customers but also in getting closer to its stakeholders. A number of industry
statistics have indicated the growing use of social media by B2B organizations around the world. To
justify the context of this study, we have captured some of these statistics in Appendix A.
Oracle and Cisco both are progressing on the path of leveraging this medium and have taken several
initiatives in this direction. An analysis of the present activities will provide insights into the social
media strategy of the organizations. A study of these activities will also help in developing
strategies for the future. In Phase 1, we thoroughly collected all social media presence for both the
selected organizations.

Social Channels Used by Enterprises

Oracle Corporation
Oracle carries out a gamut of activities1 under ‘Social Applications’. Important ones are as follows:


Oracle Blogs: A forum where Oracle executives, employees, and non-employees alike
exchange views about customer requirements and best practices for using Oracle and
industry-standard technologies. This is a continuous feedback loop that helps Oracle stay in
touch with the needs of the overall community
o Technology Network Blogs
o Oracle Application Blogs



Oracle Discussion Forums: It is a common community platform for accessing information,
communication and sharing projects and sub spaces.



Oracle Wiki: This is a forum for contributors to share information with each other, and with
the world.



Oracle Social Media Directory: Lists various social channels on which Oracle is present Oracle on Facebook, Oracle on Twitter, Oracle on Google+, Oracle on LinkedIn, YouTube

Cisco Systems
Cisco uses social media extensively for connecting with customers, partners, students, employees
and fans on the internet. By 2010 numbers (pretty old), Cisco maintains over 100 Twitter handles,
26 Facebook pages, 300 YouTube channels, 61 communities and 37 blogs 2. To avoid duplicate and
cross-marketing of these accounts, it has internal lists identifying the owners (mostly contract
employees, very few permanent), which provides an easy way to communicate with each other.
Cisco uses the following media to connect with customers, partners and general public:


Public Networks: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Slideshare



Cisco created individual social media touch points (eg: Twitter handles, Facebook pages,
Flickr galleries etc.) for large events (eg: Cisco Live) where live coverage can be updated and
real-time inputs from customers, partners, employees and user communities can be
obtained.



The company is moving to adopt and weave social across the enterprise with the recent
launch of a Social Media Listening Centre (an offering of Salesforce.com) that demonstrates

1 Source:
2 Source:

Oracle Website: http://www.oracle.com/index.ht ml
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4883 0785 /How- Cisco-Oper ationalizes- Social-Media-for-Repeated-Success %EF%BF%BD

its commitment to the voice of the customer. It allows Cisco to harness and capture social
intelligence to make data driven decisions. Using listening centres, seniormost executives at
Cisco efficiently identify engagement opportunities across social channels.


Cisco Quad/Webex Social: Internally, the Cisco WebEx Social has become a virtual water
cooler where people can meet and get to know each other outside of a particular task.



Cisco Blogs: The official blog – ‘The Platform’ carries Cisco’s insights into evolving trends,
new projects and how technology landscape is changing.



Cisco Use Support Communities & Cisco Buzz: A real-time tracking platform where
mentions of Cisco on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter are listed and
followed up.

Channel to Content Mapping
Enterprises are using the above mentioned platforms for different kinds of communication and
engagements targeting different audiences. In Phase 1, we mapped typical messages and
communication to individual social channels used by each organization.

Cisco Systems
Channel

Type of Communication





Facebook
Google+






Twitter





Posts connecting fans to product and brand, promoting
media campaigns started on other platforms
Insights into industry trends & data
News about execs & achievements
Posts about upcoming events and messages to build
buzz for launches
Enterprise success stories associated with Cisco
products
Connecting with fans on festivals, public holidays &
event anniversaries
Links to News, Data Footprint, Giving Back, Support
Community etc. as apps within Facebook
Means of communication b/w Cisco employees, peers,
clients, customers & potential customers
An effective tool to communicate in crisis, able to reach
many people in a short amount of time
Use of hash tags (eg: #ciscolive) to promote buzzing
Cisco events as trending topics in Twitterverse
Separate Twitter handles for different business units,
countries and event: Support, Collaboration, Security,
Telepresence, India, Partner Summit, Cisco Live, Cisco
Enterprise, Learning@Cisco, Mobility etc.
Asks & answers questions in addition to participating
in and hosting Twitter chats around relevant hashtags

Example

Metric

Facebook
page,
Google+
page, more
post
examples in
Appendix B

451,087
likes; 12,421
talking
about Cisco
on
Facebook;
3,729 people
tagged at
Cisco on
Facebook

Parent
twitter
handle on
Twitter

220,815
followers of
Cisco on
Twitter;
6,292 tweets
from official
Cisco handle



YouTube






Flickr




LinkedIn






Blogs





Communities



Cisco leverages YouTube to host videos we develop for
many purposes, such as tradeshows, commercials,
how-to’s, interviews, blogs and more.
YouTube provides greater visibility of assets which
they have previously created
Cisco’s official channel hosts executive interviews,
panel discussions between technology experts, behindthe-scenes preparations for events, recordings for
sessions of various public events
Cisco PR covers Cisco culture and workplace related
videos, CSR initiatives of Cisco, Product & Technology
– success stories of major deployments, Employees
talking about Cisco, event preparations and feedbacks

Official
YouTube
Channel,
Cisco PR
YouTube
Channel

44,446
subscribers
on official
YouTube
channel

Cisco uses photos as part of their online press kits for
traditional media to access and include in online
newsrooms, print news and feature stories.
Uses Flickr as a single point for media and bloggers to
access their product launch and events photos

Official
Flickr photo
stream

3,984
Photos since
April 2008

LinkedIn page content is limited to Cisco’s technology
updates, new technology trends and executive
interview and comments on new products
LinkedIn is used as a medium to highlight different
career opportunities across businesses in Cisco
Also captures current and previous employees of the
company and lets LinkedIn users find job changes

Official
company
page on
LinkedIn

507,685
followers of
Cisco on
LinkedIn

A total of 35+ blogs hosted on http://blogs.cisco.com/
cover various technology and product specific topics
‘The Platform’ is the main news blog of Cisco that
captures general news from the company relevant to
technology enthusiasts, industry watchers and fans
Blog posts are written by designated employees and
engineers who abide by social media policies of Cisco
Blogs up-level a discussion, highlighting Cisco’s
elevated commitment to a particular topic & position
Cisco’s spokespeople as thought leaders on the
relevant topics

One of the
most
accessed
news blogs
of Cisco

37 different
types of
blogs of
Cisco on the
Internet

Used to engage technology enthusiasts and customers
of a particular Cisco product/service in discussions
and problem solving
Customers/users and Cisco employees both actively
help fellow community members resolve problems,
discuss about newer technologies & deployment
scenarios

Communities
on Cisco
Support
websites

A total of 61
communities
currently
operating

Oracle Corporation
Channel

Type of Communication



Facebook
Google+













Twitter





YouTube





Separate pages for different Business units such as
Oracle Retail, Oracle Peoplesoft etc along with a page
for Oracle on Facebook
Posts connecting fans to products and brand, acting as
one stop destination for information/ campaigns across
platforms
Insights into industry trends & data
Communication from the management
News about execs & achievements
Posts about upcoming events, forum to register for such
events and messages to build buzz for launches
Enterprise success stories associated with Oracle
products
Connecting with fans on festivals, public holidays &
event anniversaries
Links to News, Data Footprint, Giving Back, Support
Community etc. as apps within Facebook
Using Facebook as a forum for recruiting employees
Means of communication b/w Oracle employees, peers,
clients, customers & potential customers
An effective tool for communicating the utility and
relevance of products
Use of hash tags (eg: #FusionHCM) to promote latest
developments or implementations of Oracle Products as
trending topics in Twitterverse
Separate Twitter handles for different business units,
countries and event: Oracle, Oracle Financial Services,
Oracle Open World, Oracle Magazine, Careers at Oracle,
Profit, Oracle Higher Education, Mobility etc.
Using Twitter as a forum for recruiting employees
YouTube is a medium of communication through videos
of products, commercials, how-to’s, interviews,
upcoming events and more.
YouTube provides greater visibility of assets which they
have previously created
Oracle’s official channel hosts executive interviews,
product implementation stories, advertisement of
Oracle products , recordings for sessions of various
public events
Features separate channels for various business suits
like Java etc, countries like Oracle in China, Team Oracle
etc.

Example

Metric

301,008
likes; 9,240
Facebook
talking
page,
about
Google+
Oracle on
page, more
Facebook;
post
3,729
examples
people
in
tagged at
Appendix B
Oracle on
Facebook

Parent
twitter
handle on
Twitter

Official
YouTube
Channel

139,181
followers of
Oracle on
Twitter;
4,734
tweets from
official
Oracle
handle

12,898
subscribers
on official
YouTube
channel


Flickr





LinkedIn








Blogs






Networks/ 
Communities


Flickr is a medium for sharing screenshots for some of
the Oracle Applications like Business Intelligence,
Fusion etc.
Flickr is also a repository of events photos, employee
activities etc.

Official
Flickr
photo
stream

2,078
Photos
since April
2008

LinkedIn page content Oracle’s technology updates,
new technology trends and executive interview and
comments on new products
LinkedIn is used as a medium to highlight different
career opportunities across businesses in Oracle
Also captures current and previous employees of the
company and lets LinkedIn users find job changes
The page also connects you to various other Oracle
products and services and featured groups

Official
company
page on
Linkdedin

732,127
followers of
Oracle on
LinkedIn

Oracle Blog Center, is the blogging community of Oracle
which segregates the blogs into Technology Network
Blogs and Oracle Application Blogs
A total of 50+ blogs hosted under Technology Network
Blogs cover various technology and product specific
topics
Oracle Application Blogs is the blogging community
where Oracle stakeholders express opinions on various
applications
Blog posts are written by designated employees,
executives and non employees as well
Blogs are a medium of discussion about customer
requirements, industry trends and also an important
feedback loop

50 +
different
The official
types of
Blog Center
blogs of
of Oracle
Oracle on
the Internet

Oracle has multiple networks such as the Oracle ACEs,
Oracle Partner Network, Oracle Technology Network
etc
Used to engage technology enthusiasts and customers
who use various Oracle Products
Customers/users and Cisco employees both actively
help fellow community members resolve problems,
discuss about newer technologies & deployment
scenarios

Networkss
on Oracle
website

4 broad
networks
engage
many users

Phase 2: Descriptive Study
Once we had identified all the different social channels used by the two organizations we picked up
the most popular ones to study them in detail to understand their usage, capabilities and
limitations. We performed a detailed analysis of select social media channels from the perspective
of both the organizations and have aggregated the findings along with examples.

Analysis of External Social Media Channels

Cisco Systems
Channel

Examples

Facebook
Google+

Main FB Page
“Chris Young, SVP, Cisco Security Group talks
with Fox Business on acquiring Sourcefire.”
“Cisco announces agreement to acquire
Sourcefire to accelerate security vision of
continuous and pervasive advanced threat
protection - http://cs.co/6038ZezY”
“Want Gen Y's perspective on what attracts
them to a particular company? Hear Cisco
Gen Y employee perspectives on what they
want in the workplace. - cs.co/6037Zjq5”
“Cisco Catalyst Instant Access is here to make
your life (and your campus network
operations) far simpler. The Techwise TV
team looks at all of the problems this solution
can solve in our next episode of Demo
Thursday! - http://cs.co/6039ZZEV”
“Did you know that search engines are 27
times more likely to deliver malicious content
than counterfeit software? Learn about how
you can stand up to security threats:
http://cs.co/6033ZXJF #infographic”
“By 2025, 75% of the world’s workforce will
be made up of Generation Y workers. How can
you attract this top talent? Get some tips from
industry leaders at Cisco, Google, and Twitter
in a panel discussion on the workforce of the
future tomorrow at 6:30 pm PT by following
the #GenYatWork13 hashtag!
http://cs.co/6038Zp1a”
“Cisco Live U.S. 2013 (35 photos)
Photos from Cisco Live 2013 in Orlando,
Florida. — at Cisco Live.”

Analysis
Cisco has a clear demarcation in its
social media usage purpose for its
main page and technology/domainspecific pages on Facebook.
Engagement Audience –
Organizations’ main page targets fans,
general public and customers –
basically anyone on the social
network. The technology-specific and
domain-specific FB pages tend to be
targeted towards system admins,
product users, current and
prospective customers, technology
followers etc.
Intended Purpose - Brand building,
information dissemination, new
product features, executive
viewpoints, promoting thought
leadership, communicating industry
leadership and CSR efforts beyond
business, photos and videos of key
organization events via the main page.
The purpose of domain-specific pages
is to help adoption, usage,
deployment, troubleshooting and
upgrade of products in a revenuefocused manner. The technologyspecific and domain-specific FB pages
focus more on technical information,
competitor comparisons, technical
resources for customers and system
administrators.
Tonality – For Your Information
(FYI)- type tonality, usually
supplemented with URLs to full
articles/blogs/other media reports
etc., questions or industry facts

“From 1988 to today – Cisco has received its
10,000th U.S. patent! Cisco EVP and Chief
Development Officer, Pankaj Patel remarks on
this milestone: http://cs.co/6036ZOtK”
Technology/Domain-Specific Pages
“Cisco UCS Outperforms HP and IBM Blade
Servers on East-West Latency Read the full
post here: http://cs.co/6038ZdKg. Without
providing any supporting data, HP and IBM
have been incorrectly asserting that Cisco
UCS unified fabric would increase latency and
slow blade-to-blade traffic. Cisco ran the tests,
and the results were simply amazing.”

related to business to generate
interest and engage fans in case of
main page. For domain-specific pages,
the tonality is to instigate some action
on the part of the audience.
Feedback – Audience can post
comments and responses on the
Facebook page and the admins reply
and appreciate the interaction by
directing them to relevant posts,
articles, company and product
websites etc. for more information.

“Remember that awesome configuration
example you saw? Remember where you saw
it? Don’t worry! You can search for config
examples, tech notes, and FAQs by title,
technology, date, and type on the TS
Newsletter Tech Docs page.
http://cs.co/6033ZJ8S”
YouTube

Global Channel
Various Playlists like: About Cisco, Careers,
Cisco Newsroom, Corporate Social
Responsibility, Executive Management
Video: “Moving the World to IPv6”
See how Cisco's best-in-class technologies
ease IPv4 to IPv6 transition -- without
overlaps, duplicates, or loss of performance
and connectivity. Your experience can be
smooth, non-disruptive, and carry minimal
risk.
http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/
Video: “Cisco UCS Director Enables
Comprehensive FlexPod Management”
See how Cisco UCS Director provides a singlesystem depiction of the FlexPod environment.
UCS Director is a vital companion for the
FlexPod data center architecture, providing a
holistic shared-infrastructure management
experience with centralized automation,
orchestration, and provisioning. Learn more:
http://cs.co/jlbYT3d4.
Subscribe to Cisco's YouTube channel:
http://cs.co/Subscribe.
Video: “Cisco Partner Summit 2013:
Collaboration Breakout DX650 Demo”
Watch Rowan Trollope, SVP and GM,

Cisco only maintains a global YouTube
page and not specific technology or
domain pages. Cisco maintains
country or region-specific pages
separately on YouTube, which host
videos specific to use-cases and
product launches for that region.
Engagement Audience – The target
audience are technology enthusiasts,
networking professionals, system
administrators who are aware of
Cisco products.
Intended Purpose - Information
dissemination, new product features,
executive viewpoints in industry
events and talks, promoting thought
leadership, pushing new technology
and industry standards, CSR efforts
beyond business, event photos and
videos of key organization events,
inside news from Cisco employees etc.
Always links back to more detailed
product page or whitepapers.
Tonality – Panel-discussion and talks
with employees and industry leaders,
tones used communicate subjects are
excited about new technology,

Collaboration Technology Group, and Sean
Curtis (@CiscoDemoGuy) demonstrate the
Cisco Desktop Collaboration Experience
DX650 at the 2013 Cisco Partner Summit
Collaboration Business Transformation
Session. Click here for more information on
the Cisco DX650:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/
Video: “Cisco IR Video Series: Small Cells 101”
This video will provide you a basic education
on small cells and Cisco's strategy in this
market. As we continue to address the
challenges our Service Provider customers are
facing today small cells technology will play a
key role.

Twitter

collaborative tone to stress to
importance of entire ecosystem for
product/solution success, tone used
for reporting news/latest
developments.
comments and responses on
the videos. The nature of discussion is
not generic and more on the
technology front.

Global Account
“Connected living is a reality through the
#IoE. Cisco VP @MarieHattar tells us more
http://cs.co/6013ZYJV via @Cisco”(27th July)

On numerous social media watchdog
sites all around the world, Cisco is
treated as a leading example of how
well B2B brands can utilize Twitter.

“Congratulations to Cisco training partner
@GlobalKnowledge for their #socialmedia
prowess! Now over 100,000 Twitter followers!
#gk100k #sm”

Engagement Audience – Cisco’s
Twitter page (@Cisco) targets fans,
technology enthusiasts and
customers. Very frequently, it also
mentions and interacts with Cisco
partners congratulating them on
achieving milestones and highlighting
the same. Domain-specific pages like
Cisco Support, Cisco CSR, Cisco UK &
Ireland, Cisco India, Cisco Channels
(for partners) etc. restrict content
based on relevance to the
domain/business/geography.

“Increasing the Value and Relevance of Data
in Motion http://cs.co/9008ZgMw via Cisco
SVP @carlosdominguez #IoE”
“Peace Through Profits? The Tech Ventures
That Are Reshaping The Israeli-ArabPalestinian World http://onforb.es/12ilk80
via @forbes #Cisco”
“Connected living is a reality through the
#IoE. Cisco VP @MarieHattar tells us more
http://cs.co/6017Z91P via @Cisco”
“Nice summary of #CiscoLive13 in Orlando
from @DanMunro. Thanks for joining us!
http://cs.co/6010Zgru #CLUS
@LearnLakeNona @Forbes”
“We asked: would you rather have 10 k more
in salary per year or the ability to work from
home? #GenYatwork13
https://vine.co/v/hmZipgLVBO0”
“As tech gets smarter, computers get smaller.
What tech have you seen transform over the

Intended Purpose – Primarily brand
building, information dissemination,
new product features, executive
organization events via Twitter
Photos and Videos sharing. Almost
every Twitter post links back to other
media like blog posts, articles,
whitepapers etc. Hashtags are used
specifically to get feedback and
audience participation at the time of
live events (eg: #CiscoLive), product
announcements (eg: #CiscoASR9K) or
latest campaigns (eg: #IoE) etc. Polls

years? #TransformationTuesday
pic.twitter.com/TJb7jX7ddu”
“From Ethernet to TelePresence, Cisco Hits
10,000-Patent Milestone
http://shar.es/AMuxy via @eWeekNews
#patents”

are also conducted by Cisco on
Twitter to gather user opinion on
topics of interest using hashtags.
Many a posts also carry questions to
start a virtual contest from readers – a
typical method of engaging audience
with the Cisco brand.

“I saw what you patched last summer. Show
us your craziest cabling! #datacenter
pic.twitter.com/1lBENJOsq2”

Tonality – Usually tonality is filled
with questioning or exclamation –
which gives a feel of an important fact
or research discovery and encourages
"Good morning, India!! We are now @Cisco on readers to click on the links to know
@Twitter. Please join us in the Twittersphere. more. The tonality is to instigate some
(Note: we were formerly @CiscoSystems)”
action on the part of the audience.
Domain/Country/Business Specific Pages
Cisco Support @cisco_support 25 Jul: “David
is studying for his CCIE & practicing cabling
in his living room. Where’s the oddest place
you’ve worked with cables?”

Feedback – Twitter is the most
engaging among all social media
platforms for Cisco. Using hashtags
and @Cisco mentions, the readers
interact continuously with the brand.

Cisco Channels @Cisco_Channels 26 Jul:
“What #Cisco partners need to know about
The Impact of #Cloud Consumption Models
http://cs.co/6019ZcPT”
“Happy Friday #Cisco partners! Follow
@PartnerVelocity for updates on top of
innovative marketing solutions, offers, events,
and more! #FF”

LinkedIn

“Forbes cover story on peace through profits
with Cisco CEO John Chambers: “The way to
end this conflict is to create a very large
middle class and be inclusive in how you go
after it across all individuals, regardless of
age, religion or gender,” says John Chambers,
CEO of Cisco. Read more:
http://lnkd.in/YqVqnq”
“Why the Cloud Cannot be treated as a Onesize-fits-all when it comes to Security
cs.co - Cloud Security Alliance Blog > CCM >
Why the Cloud Cannot be treated as a Onesize-fits-all when it comes to Security Despite
the fact that cloud providers have long since
differentiated themselves on very distinct
offerings based on cloud...”(only a link)
“Cisco Systems See how the Saskatchewan

LinkedIn is being used by Cisco as the
Facebook of the professional world
for only those activities that affect the
bottom line of business and revenues.
Engagement Audience – Cisco’s
LinkedIn company page targets
technology enthusiasts, tech admins
and customers. Another target group
is that of students who enrol
themselves in Cisco trainings and
certifications.
mostly related to technology and
business-related news only, new
products, events etc. Executive
viewpoints and promoting thought

government officials beat back millions of
cyber attacks last year: cs.co/6231ZY9L”
“ Sourcefire acquisition, Impact of Cloud on IT
Consumption Models study, and more in this
week's Cisco Partner Weekly.
Rewind! http://cs.co/rewind72613”
“Explore the IoE Value Index. The Internet of
Everything holds enormous potential for
businesses to better understand their
customers, develop new business models to
meet their needs and drive economic growth.
Explore the Cisco IoE Value Index Survey
results to learn more. - cs.co/6238ZcUwless"
“How You're Connected
------------------------------------First-degree connections: 97
Second-degree connections: 6,536
Employees on LinkedIn: 94,957 “

leadership form a large part of the
communication on LinkedIn. Each
posting links back to other media
channels for further detail just like the
brand does on Facebook and Google+.
The Products page lists down broad
product areas and lists
recommendations from other
LinkedIn users who have experienced
the product. It also links to the
company page detailing each product
or technology area. The Careers page
lists current job openings at Cisco.
The Insights page dissects the
LinkedIn user’s connections and
closely networked members into
present, past Cisco employees and
those who follow the company.
Tonality –The tonality is simple and
FYI oriented.
Feedback – Just like Facebook, this
media also allows readers to post
comments, like, share the post and
give feedback for the content on the
company page. We could not find
instances where the company engages
in active interaction with readers on
the platform.

Oracle Corporation
Channel
Facebook
Google+

Examples
Main FB Page
“Focused on driving innovation and fueling
sustainable growth, Mark Hurd Emphasizes
Oracle's Commitment to China at Oracle
OpenWorld Shanghai
http://pub.vitrue.com/yGDD”
“Dear CIO: Are You Tackling the Top 10
Strategic Issues for 2013?
http://pub.vitrue.com/b7ZK”
“Join Mark Hurd, Andy Mendelsohn, and Tom
Kyte as they launch the only database
designed for the cloud—Oracle Database 12c
http://pub.vitrue.com/NK9l”
“Oracle Weekly Roundup: Tom & Lucas's
Great Database

Analysis
The main page and
technology/domain-specific pages on
Facebook of Oracle differ mainly on
the level at which end users are being
targeted. However, some overlap is
found in both the pages, mainly where
a new product or technology is
concerned.
Engagement Audience – Oracle’s
main page targets fans, general public
and customers – basically anyone on
the social network. The technologyspecific and domain-specific FB pages
tend to be targeted towards system
admins, product users, current and
prospective customers, technology
followers etc, in terms of the specific

Adventure http://pub.vitrue.com/khMQ”
“Businesses now have a new and better way to
turbo-charge their data discovery and
decision-making processes. John Foley
highlights the performance improvements in
Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine X3-4 in
Forbes. http://pub.vitrue.com/qwYe”
“Five strategies smart leaders can take to
embrace big data in their organizations.
http://bit.ly/195imGi”
“Andrew McAfee - Big Data at Work Event
Series - Big data and analytics have climbed
to the top of the corporate agenda.
SHARE this if you're ready to put #‎ igData to
B
work!”
“#‎ hrowbackThursday Intel processors and
T
Oracle Database technology have a long
history together. Happy 45th Birthday to our
partner in
innovation! http://www.intelalliance.com/or
acle/.”
“As Fiat maneuvers beyond Italy, new
analytics help steer managers in the right
direction.
http://bit.ly/12DQ0dA”
“Oracle expands support for mobile and
#cloud technologies with the latest #Java
Development Tools and Framework:
pub.vitrue.com/zFgl”

and elaborate developments in that
technology. There is an overlap found
in some cases like launch of a new
product/ technology where the same
cotent is used on both the pages
Intended Purpose - Brand building
of Oracle on the broader level,
information dissemination, new
product features, executive
business, photos and videos of events
at Oracle is done mainly via the main
page.
Since the portfolio of Oracle products
is very large, domain specific pages
help in performing the above
mentioned functions for each of the
products. These pages also focus on
helping in adoption, usage,
deployment, troubleshooting and
upgrade of Oracle products in a
revenue-focused manner. The
technology-specific and domainspecific FB pages focus more on
technical information, competitor
comparisons, technical resources for
customers and system administrators
along with promoting the business
unit of the product such as Oracle
Retail, Enterprise Manager etc.

“Some facts about SPARC T5 CPU architecture
and “Software on Silicon”. What do you think
about this new technology?
http://pub.vitrue.com/NcPM”

Tonality – The tonality used is
mainly
(a) For Your Information (FYI)- type
(b) tonality to instigate action on the
part of user
(c) problem and a given solution type
of tonality
(d)tonality of wonder or ‘awe’ usually
supplemented with URLs to full
articles/blogs/other media reports
etc., questions or industry facts
related to business to generate
interest and engage fans in case of
both the main page and domain/
technology specific pages

“Two Oracle Enterprise Manager R3 webcasts
this morning - 1st at 8AM PST on
install/upgrade , 2nd 10 AM PST with Thomas
Kurian and other executives

comments and responses on the
Facebook page and Oracle admins
reply and appreciate the interaction

“Omni-channel planning and optimization will
be a hot topic at Oracle CrossTalk, with
retailers Saks, Gucci, Express, Coldwater
Creek, Stein Mart, Galeria Kaufhof, Reitmans,
Farmatodo all addressing the topic in each of
their presentations
http://www.oraclecrosstalk.com/.”

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/oem/gr by directing them to relevant posts,
id-control/webcasts-index-090211.html”
articles, Oracle websites etc. for more
information.

YouTube

Main YouTube Channel
Vipin Samar, Vice President of Database
Security for Oracle, speaks on
comprehensive security at the Oracle
Database 12c Launch 2013.Comprehensive
Security with Oracle Database 12c

Oracle has a main channel and also
separate technology/domain-specific
channels on YouTube. These channels
differ mainly on the generic v/s
specific and complex nature of
content.

Customers discuss Oracle Database 12c new
security feature: Data Redaction. Customer
talk about data Redaction

Engagement Audience – The target
audience are technology enthusiasts,
networking professionals, system
administrators, potential customers
who are aware or want to learn about
Oracle products.

Oracle Enterprise Architecture provides best
practices and reference architecture
expertise for your IT business strategy. Our
experts guide the IT foundation with
architecture services, roadmaps,
implementation guidance, and practical
plans. Maximise IT value with Oracle
Enterprise Architecture
Join Team Oracle's Sean D. Tucker at the
America's Cup Opening Weekend
Celebration. Sean S Tucker wants to see you
at the America's Cup
You build a better brand for Generation Y by
making it more authentic. Watch this short
video to learn what Gen Y wants from your
brand and how you can create better
customer experiences for this age group. CX
Generation: What matters to generation Y
Southwestern Energy deployed Oracle
Hyperion Planning and Hyperion Financial
Management integrated with Oracle's EBusiness Suite in order to gain visibility and
accountability into the company's
organization. Strategic and Financial
Planning for Oracle Executives
Hear Oracle President Mark Hurd's keynote
at Oracle's groundbreaking Customer
Experience Launch event in New York City
on June 25, 2012. Oracle President Mark Hurd
on the CX Revolution

Intended Purpose - Information
dissemination, new product features,
executive viewpoints in industry
events and talks, teaching how to use
products through tutorials or videos
of screen shots, promoting thought
leadership, pushing new technology
and industry standards, CSR efforts
beyond business, customer success
stories, videos of key organization
events, inside news from Oracle
employees etc.
Tonality – Panel-discussion and talks
with employees and industry leaders,
tones used communicate subjects are
excited about new technology,
collaborative tone to stress to
importance of entire ecosystem for
product/solution success, tone used
for reporting news/latest
developments, tonality that end user
would relate to, explanatory tone for
tutorials
Feedback – Audience can like videos
and post comments. The nature of
discussion varies from generic to
technology specific depending on the
content of the video.

This video will show how to download and
set up Minecraft Forge in Eclipse.Minecraft
Tutorial Chapter 7: Setting up Minecraft
Forge in Eclipse for modding
PingAn Insurance's technology group is
using a cloud infrastructure built on Oracle
technology for database, machine and
storage consolidation to realize significant
cost benefits. PingAn Insurance Consolidates
with Oracle Cloud Technology
Twitter

Main Oracle Twitter Handle
#VIDEO: Oracle customer @PNNLab discusses
the impact & advantages of Fusion HCM
#40DaysFusion http://pub.vitrue.com/5M6y
From prospects to customers to champions:
See how Modern Marketers succeed
@Eloqua's Virtual Road to Revenue Tour 8/1
http://pub.vitrue.com/Q88R

Oracle has a huge following on
Twitter for the main twitter page as
well as on the many
technology/domain-specific pages.

main Twitter page (@Oracle) targets
fans, technology enthusiasts and
customers, students who enrol
themselves in Oracle trainings. It
mentions and interacts with various
Why #Cloud builders should unite? "5 mins
Oracle partners as well and highlights
@IOUG party = answers nowhere to be found
the developments across various
on Google"
http://bit.ly/167nQx9 pic.twitter.com/lweihSW fronts, upcoming events etc. Domainspecific pages like such as Oracle SOA,
Bdz
Oracle IDM, and Agile PLM. Event
In 1993, Slackware 1.0 launched the ready-to- pages like Oracle Open World, Oracle
Blogs, and country specific pages like
use #Linux era. RT to celebrate 20+ yrs of
penguin power http://onforb.es/13IdzGU #TT Oracle Japan help in effectively using
the power of twitter to the relevant
Mark Hurd Emphasizes Oracle's Commitment audience by organising content based
on domain/business/geography.
to Growth in China at @oracleopenworld
#Shanghai
http://onforb.es/15bR9NO #Innovation
new product features, executive
Happy 45th Birthday to @Intel, our Oracle
OpenWorld 2013 Innovation sponsor
ttp://bit.ly/T6ONsV
Technology/Domain-Specific Handles
organization events via Twitter
How to run a meaningful #Tumblr campaign.
Photos and Videos sharing. Almost
#smm From @Mashable.
every Twitter post links back to other
http://pub.vitrue.com/WPVe pic.twitter.com/g
media like blog posts, articles,
QdBgaCEkz
whitepapers etc. The twitter pages
serve to keep the audience updated
Delivering Cloud Through Database as a
on the latest developments related to
Service July 29 10am PT Register today to
Oracle and also keep them updated
take your database to the cloud.
with the latest events through tweets
http://pub.vitrue.com/MT5h
such as those of Webcasts, free passes
h

Ask the #Solaris questions that matter to you.
Live Solaris Online Forum Wed 7th Aug. 9am
PT Register Today http://bit.ly/16fs4k2

to events etc. OracleJobs page tweets
about job openings and other
requirements. Retweets are used to
engage the audience. Many a posts
also carry questions to start a virtual
contest from readers – a typical
method of engaging audience with the
Cisco brand.
Tonality – Tweets are mostly in the
form of questions or short
exclamatory remarks. This generally
encourages readers to expand the
tweet and know more through
attached links. The tonality is to
instigate some action on the part of
the audience.
Feedback – The followers generally
interact with Oracle using hashtags
and @Oracle mentions.

LinkedIn

“ #ThrowbackThursday: This month in 1993,
Slackware 1.0 launched the ready-to-use
Linux era. SHARE to celebrate 20+ years of
penguin power! http://pub.vitrue.com/8go1”
“Your sets of data have more than 255 distinct
values in a column? Book a seat for the launch
event of Oracle Database 12c that empowers
customers with enhanced statistics, Riyadh,
August 25:http://bit.ly/171AdYu “

Oracle uses LinkedIn for similar
messages as on the Facebook page. .
LinkedIn company page targets
technology enthusiasts, partners, tech
admins and customers and job
seekers and other professionals.

“ Join #Oracle and our event sponsor #Intel at mostly related to technology and
business-related news only, new
the upcoming Oracle Technology Day to see
how our latest innovations make it even easier products, events etc. Executive
viewpoints and promoting thought
to deploy and manage databases. Plug into
leadership form a large part of the
the cloud with Oracle Database 12c at the
communication on LinkedIn. Each
Chennai http://bit.ly/14naq0Wi, New
posting links back to other media
Delhi http://bit.ly/12PQYs5 or
channels for further detail just like the
Kolkatahttp://bit.ly/1bwfGCj launch events.”
brand does on Facebook and Google+.
The Products page lists down broad
“ One of the Ponelopele Oracle Secondary
School Teachers, Ms Shape Msiza recently won product areas and lists
recommendations from other
a national award for the best English
LinkedIn users who have experienced
teacher. http://lnkd.in/t5R4E6 “
the product. It also links to the
company page detailing each product
“Wünschen Sie sich, Ausführungspläne des
or technology area. The Careers page
Optimizers während der Laufzeit justieren zu
lists current job openings at Oracle.
können? Melden Sie sich für das Oracle
The Insights page dissects the
Database 12c Launch Event am 13. August in
LinkedIn user’s connections and
Hamburg an, bei dem auch über den
closely networked members into
lernfähigen Optimizer gesprochen
present, past Oracle employees and

wird: http://bit.ly/15YP4pI”
“Oracle Hong Kong is hiring a System Senior
Account Director! Send your CV at
careergc_hk@oracle.com."
“How You're Connected
------------------------------------First-degree connections: 6
Second-degree connections:221
Employees on LinkedIn: 130,840 “

those who follow the company.
Another interesting fact is that the
LinkedIn page has posts in languages
other than English as well
Tonality – The posts are mostly start
with questions or exclamatory
sentences that draw the attention of
target audience. It also calls for action
on part of the audience.
Feedback – The medium allows
readers to post comments, like, share
the post and give feedback for the
content on the company page.

Another important aspect of organizations’ social media program was the usage of social media for
internal purposes i.e. within employees. Hence, we explored the enterprise-targeted internal social
media tools and how organizations use them.

Analysis of Internal Social Media Usage (Within Enterprises)
Introduction
Enterprise Social Software (ESS), as they are commonly referred to, are enterprise social
networking layer on top of tradition collaborative tools, which enables content sharing, instant
messaging, content management, audio/video capabilities, along with additional features such as
document sharing, wikis, micro blogging, shared spaces and communities, amongst other business
applications. Social media for use within the company to collaborate better among employees is a
recent trend. These solutions provide enterprises with several advantages such as:
(a) increased transparency
(b) better communication of business ideas
(c) easy sharing of information,
(d) flexibility and performance along with simplified operations
To sum it up, ESS is about creating an open, vibrant network of information sharing. It is about
providing access to the people, knowledge and resources when needed, enabling and increasing the
rate of discovery of people, knowledge and resources that support the goals of the individual and
the organization and providing work spaces where teams can share, collaborate and create.
Descriptive Study & Evolution of ESS
Email vs ESS: The genesis of enterprise social media is that conversations and discussion over
emails –which have been the dominant form of communication tools - have inherent problems. The
emergence of external social media platforms have led to organizations re-examining the role of
emails. In a growing ideology, it has been found that ESS trump emails as the below comparison
clearly points out:

Enterprise Social Software

Email

ESS conversations are versatile and
many-to-many by nature & design.

Email more effective for one-to-one or
one-to-few interactions. Quickly gets
mixed up when conversations become
many-to-many or faster or more intense.

ESS operates on the basis of “Pull”
paradigm as what may be a valuable
email to one person may be noise to
another. “Following” i.e. the ability to
subscribe to the activity streams of
people or things is a big plus of ESS.

Emails (especially with Reply to All)
abuse is a “push” paradigm service. This
results in spam/useless emails without
giving the user a choice of the content
he/she wishes to consume.

Information
Trap & Life of
Information

ESS allows open sharing of
information among employees. The
information stays available even if
the original parties are no longer in
the organization.

The bigger problem with email when
used within the enterprise is that it traps
knowledge in the email inboxes of the
sender and receiver. Knowledge, which
is the key asset of a company, gets lost
due to employee transfers etc.

Confidentiality

Advanced ESS with individual user
and user group permissions allow
guarded access to relevant content.

Emails work beautifully by design in this
case since the content can be shared
only with the intended users.

Context

ESS tools allow effortless pooling of a
bunch of context into conversations.
For eg: a user’s photo, current
location, work history, conversation
history etc. all can be pulled into the
conversation making collaboration
easier and more relevant.

Emails allow very limited context – only
upto what is mentioned in the message
or at the maximum the context from the
conversation thread. For anything extra,
the onus of finding it is on the users
themselves.

Focus on
WHAT
(Outcome),
not HOW
(Discussion)

ESS, with its mix of tools and peoplecentric design allows real-time
collaboration. Here the discussions
are a part of the process and the tool
is built to go beyond that to achieve
outcomes.

Emails allow discussions on the process
of doing something. The medium allows
conversations focused on how to
collaborate rather than allowing
collaboration itself. Outcomes are still
achieved using a different medium of
tool independent of email.

Type of
Conversations

Content
Relevance

In fact, as per an industry research 3, by 2014, enterprise social networking services are expected to
replace email as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20% of business users.
While emails are not anticipated of going away, they will rather be used as notification tools to alert
users. In the long-term, there appears to be generational shifts away from email usage as more
organizations adopt real-time collaboration on virtual spaces where all data is available along with
people and relationship built into a single ESS tool.
Web 2.0 vs ESS: One could argue that the new breed of Web 2.0 tools such as Wikis, discussion
boards, forums, communities, document sharing etc. that became popular in the last decade, taking
over some burden from emails, were perfectly fine for organizations. However, the larger picture is
that users don’t care about tools; they want to centralize their activities. As a matter of fact, what
prevents people from effectively socializing their practices and conversations (in short,
3

Source: http://blog.mangoapps.com/enterprise-social-networking-overtake-email/

collaborating) is primarily the need to change tools as they shift from one kind to a different kind of
interaction. What was required was a tool with improved capabilities of old ones and which can
successfully handle many interaction models. ESS provided that platform for organizations.
The following rightly captures the evolution of collaboration from communication in organizations:

Emails

Forums,
Communities,
Boards

Shared
Folders &
SharePoints

Enterprise
Social
Software

Illustration 3 in the Appendix B lists down some of the features that modern ESS tools provide.
Leading ESS Tools4
Cisco’s WebEx Social: Formerly known as Cisco Quad, WebEx Social and WebEx Social Server
provides a secure, business-focused Facebook-like experience that couples tightly with Cisco
System Inc.'s other communications platforms, such as WebEx conferencing, Jabber and Cisco
Unified Communications Manager.
The tool also makes it easy to collaborate on writing documents and scheduling meetings. It also
allows fine-grained access permissions and seamless transitions between asynchronous status
updates to live chats to video calls, all within one platform.
Beyond that, however, the focus of WebEx Social is on connections: helping map and define who
knows who and who knows what. Employees can follow one another, and finding an expert in an
area becomes as simple as a Google search. WebEx Social is not an application software, its
designed as a platform which brings together wikis, blogs, user profiles, integrated applications,
communities, content management and user management within the same web-based tool with a
single-window guaranteed consistent user experience. Also, the platform provides features such as
tagging in contents and posts, setting permissions on content accessibility, voting, commenting,
liking, discussing, replying, content management, versioning, broadcasting and setting up of static
pages as well.
The idea is to fold the company’s intranet and gamut of individual collaborative tools such as wikis,
communities, employee productivity tools (bug reports), HR tools (payroll, vacation tool, leave tool,
feedback tool, performance evaluation/appraisal tool etc.) into a single platform. The employees
simply login to one tool at the start of the day to get started and everything is available on that one
central platform.
Illustration 4 in the Appendix B captures the WebEx Social Tool.
Oracle Social Network: Aimed at enterprises that use various Oracle applications, Oracle’s Social
Network is essentially a social layer in the enterprise stack. It is an example of a solution to the silo
problem i.e. applications existing in silos – though they may share data, they don’t inherently share
conversations without which collaboration becomes difficult. While Oracle fields a typical
enterprise social network application with micro-blogging, file sharing, shared documents or wikis,
and activity streams, the front-end application is only a small part of what Oracle Social Network
does. Instead, Oracle Social Network as a platform provides social features as a service to other
enterprise applications. In effect, Oracle Social Network socially enables all of Oracle’s enterprise
applications—all enterprise applications really—with not only the same features, but also the same
conversations which facilitate inter-application communication and collaboration.

4

Source: searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/feature/Socialize-Comparing-enterprise-social-software-vendors

The main method for collaborating across applications is the Conversation. Conversations are
basically activity streams and micro-blog posts attached to entities within applications. An example
of a use case can be as follows5: A customer service record in a CRM application can be the starting
point for a Conversation that is then shared with others who don’t typically have access to the CRM
system. The service agent may need more information to address the customer’s need and can
create a Conversation that includes not just a supervisor or second-line support, but also engineers
and product managers. The product manager, working primarily with a product lifecycle
management system, can then see that it’s a problem with a part, pull out parts information such as
manufacturing lots, and make that information available to the group. That information, in turn,
spurs additional conversations with engineers participating in the Conversation. In the end, by
quickly sharing information across applications and people, a resolution is found much more
quickly, resulting in a happy and loyal customer.
Oracle Social Network allows such activities to be performed across an entire enterprise, yielding a
more agile and responsive organization. Oracle Social Network supports an extensive API based on
the OpenSocial standard, which makes integration into most modern third-party applications easy.
Illustrations 5 and 6 in the Appendix B capture the Oracle Social Network tool.
Microsoft Yammer & SharePoint: As Microsoft's social software offering, SharePoint has become a
de facto starting point for many businesses looking at a way to better connect employees in a
collaborative environment. Microsoft's recent acquisition of Yammer has helped bolster the
company's social software pitch, although integration of the two suites is currently light. SharePoint
is a repository of business documents and institutional knowledge. Files can be uploaded, shared,
archived and edited, while wikis and discussion threads can help capture conversations for
posterity.
Yammer covers real-time interactions with a series of mobile and Web apps that combine the
simplicity of Twitter with more extensive features, such as organizational chart mapping, polls and
groups. Early integration of Yammer and SharePoint allows users to keep an eye on Yammer
updates through the SharePoint interface or to share SharePoint documents through Yammer.
Illustration 7 in the Appendix B captures the Yammer tool.

Effectiveness of Social Media Channels for Stakeholders
We have tried to gauge the effect of social media channels for both B2B companies and the impact
social media creates for various stakeholders. The assessment comes from secondary sources only
and through limited primary interaction with employees (manager-level, communication team
members and primarily engineers) from Cisco and Oracle. The customer and partner perspective is
purely from secondary research.
The following sections describe the same in detail.
Customers’ & Partners’ Perspective:
1. Customers get to regularly engage with the company via external social media channels.
2. They can find out about new product/service launches, feature additions to existing
products/services and about upcoming promotional offers.
3. Customers also get a chance to seek quicker resolution of their problems by obtaining
troubleshooting assistance on social platforms.
4. Since social media give customers potential up hand to bring a company’s wrongdoing to
limelight in public, they get a very powerful tool to keep a check on the company’s service
and value delivery promises.
5

Source: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/analystreports/infrastructure/esg-osn-1731043.pdf

5. Customers also get access to latest industry insights, media talks and product roadmaps
directly from the companies.
6. Customers gain access to a reference group or the community of other users of a brand’s
product through its social media channel, helping them make buying decisions, do product
research before buying and get peer support post-buying.
Employee Perspective:
1. For employees in organizations, Enterprise Social Software (ESS) tool combines multiple
different tools into one UI that is built around people – the centre point of collaboration.
2. It promotes flatter hierarchies and openness in organizations. When senior management
broadcasts a message in the entire organization, unlike email, ESS tools generate a feel of a
borderless organization.
3. Employees can be recognized and rewarded in public using ESS tools unlike emails.
4. Collaboration is built into ESS tools by design itself, hence making day-to-day work
convenient for employees by breaking the silos across departments and geographies in
which is like most B2B companies presently operate.
Management / Business Perspective:
1. Businesses get to form direct relationships with partners and customers which are essential
in the B2B marketing context. It helps brand building and since the companies get to know
their customers better, they can create more suitable/relevant content for social media.
2. If not for anything else, companies can simply use social media to listen to what customers
are saying about their products, services and brands and correct their strategy accordingly.
3. Executives in B2B companies use social media to successfully pursue thought leadership
activities and create credibility for themselves and the company in the process.
4. The management, through the use of internal social media, achieves consolidation of tools
and processes within the company, thus saving time and improving employee productivity.
5. By ensuring a social media presence, the business gains an impression of a contemporary
and savvy marketing company.
6. Companies are using social media to generate leads for more business through networks
and contacts.
7. Social media is the most cost-effective media to reach an unprecedented audience in one go.
8. B2B companies can engage with customers to help them learn the use of a product, thereby
resulting in increased sales and customer satisfaction.

Measuring the RoI of Social Media Programs in B2B Organizations
For the purpose of gauging how organizations measure the return of investment (RoI) on social
media programs, we conducted primary research via interviews. Cisco’s communication manager
and the head of social media program were the two professionals interviewed to gain some
understanding about the measurement of success for social media programs.
Cisco has defined a useful “Social Media Measurement Framework” that captures some of the most
common objectives set internally for a social-media campaign back in 2010 and then defines the
data points within those objectives that the company wishes to measure to track performance.
Illustration 8 in Appendix B captures the framework in detail which other firms can leverage.
Apart from the framework, the following metric categories are typically tracked to measure the RoI
of social media programs in the B2B space:

Objective

Metric Details

Distribution & Reach

Measure no. of followers, fans on the channel and mentions, re-tweets,
shares etc. for the content pushed out on specific social media channels,
amount of marketing/advertising costs saved by reaching more audience
through social channels as compared to traditional media

Interaction

Measure instances of re-tweets, shares, replies, comments, forwards,
comments and positivity/negativity of sentiments shown by audience.
For videos or time-taking media, no. of clicks while browsing and amount
of time spent by the customer on the channel can be a useful metric

Influence

Closely track customer attitudes, perception changes due to the content
pushed out on the channel, measure of Net Promoter Score and impact on
brand’s credibility through qualitative examination of mentions

Action

Measure of leads generated through a particular channel and number or
rate of conversion into actual sales, number of service requests resolved
by assisting customers on social media, increase in customer satisfaction

The above metrics of measuring the RoI used by B2B companies can be grouped as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Conversion Rate: number of comments per post
Amplification Rate: number of shares and re-tweets
Applause Rate: No. of favourite clicks, likes, Google +1’s per post
Economic Value: A measure of $-value generated per visitor
(average value taking into account the lead to sales conversion)

An interesting RoI-based guideline6 for B2B companies using Social Media given as follows:
Social Media Equation™: Balances sales conversion with other motives of using social media.
20% information + 20% entertainment + 40% interaction + 20% converting to business
1. 20% of the time, a company should post practical information (such as location, opening
hours, etc.), as well as references or tips that will get people thinking about the company in
terms of keywords. Cisco for example posts a number of messages about the future of
Internet and the keywords of its key campaigns such as “Internet of Everything #IoE”.
2. 20% of the time, a company needs to entertain its customers to keep them interested. There
are three ways to do that: (a) humor, (b) controversy and (c) make them cry!
3. 40% of the time, a company needs to interact with its customers, listening to them and
responding to their questions and comments.
4. Finally, 20% of the time, a company needs to sell its product. Many people disagree with on
this point, saying that social media is a place to build relationships, not sell. However, the
equation’s author maintains that creating relationships will not help the company achieve
its business goals on its own. The brand actually needs to market its products to see results
from its social media campaigns.

6

Source: www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-social-media-metrics-conversation-amplification-applause-economic-value/

Operational Execution of Social Media Program & Social Media Policies
A critical aspect of the usage of social media by B2B companies is the governance and management
of the numerous channels a company selects for its use. We found it made sense to understand who
manages these channels, the team structure, the guidelines issued to them, how do they decide to
push specific content via a particular channel and how does the engagement work. Also, we wanted
to understand the social media policies of the company 7. Cisco’s communication manager and the
head of social media program were the two professionals interviewed to gain some understanding
about the operational aspect of social media programs. Alongwith primary data, details about social
media policy of Cisco available in public domain8 was also used to compile the following points.
Operational Area

Policy Guidelines & Remarks

Organizational
Teams

Cisco’s approach is defined as “dandelion” in the industry, with multiple
hubs and multiple teams. Cisco’s Global Social Media Marketing Team works
with Services and Social Media teams within Corporate Communications
team across geographies and business units to define policies, governance
principles, rules and training programs for employees. The teams consist of
full-time as well as vendor employees at the company.

Ownership

Group-wise mailing lists are maintained to define owners of every handle on
different social media channels. For a particular geography or business unit,
the same team handles communication and engagement across channels
rather than separate people handling separate channels. This is done to
ensure consistency of messages.

Resources and
Materials

Cisco’s Global Social Media team hosts online community with shared
resource materials, social media statistics, info-graphics, success stories and
case studies which can be readily among interested employee volunteers.

Training Sessions

Cisco transforms its regular employees into social media enthusiasts to
increase its share of voice in the virtual space by educating them on best
practices to be followed while engaging on social channels with their inhouse optional social media training programs. Cisco organizes specific
social media education trainings for volunteer employees in 5 modules: (a)
Certification Program, (b) Practitioner Roundtables, (c) Virtual Vendor Fair,
(d) Functional Deep Dives and € Events and Conferences, each for different
type of interactions that employees have to come across on social media.

Budgeting of Time
and Money

Cisco teams allocate their time consciously between different mediums as
follows based on the ownership and importance of the media:
(a) Home Base (Priority 1) – Cisco Website, Forums, Social Networks
and Blogs: ~50%
(b) Outposts (Priority 2) – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter YouTube: ~40%
(c) Passports (Priority 3) – digg, del.icio.us, flickr, blogs etc.: ~10%
We could not get an estimate of the rough %ge spend the company
allocates out of the marketing budget earmarked for social media
programs as that was a company confidential data. However, the
general understanding is that at an overall corporate level, the
spending may be much greater than what individual businesses and
geographies spend on social media. From market data, to enable

Source: https://smartblogs.com/social-media/2010/09/16/how-cisco-defines-business-to-business-social-mediasuccess-and-achieves-it/
8 Source: http://www.powershow.com/view/2ac0d5YTUyY/How_Cisco_Operationalizes_Social_Media_for_Repeated_Success_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
7

integration, marketers have begun increasing their social media
Budgets and social marketing spending as a percentage of marketing
budgets is projected to increase from 7.6% to 18.8% over the next
five years.9
Setting Governance Cisco publishes its Social Media Guidelines10 for all employees annually
Rules and Social
which captures do’s and don’ts for employees who wish to use social media
Media Usage Policy personally or on behalf of Cisco.

9

Source: http://cmosurvey.org/blog/six-reasons-marketing-budgets-are-on-the-rise/
Source: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/cisco_social_media_guidelines_policies_and_faq/

10

Phase 3: Concluding Remarks & Consolidation of Learnings
Social media usage by B2B organizations support firmly the emerging trend of companies becoming
increasingly Business-to-People (B2P) oriented and not B2B or B2C only. B2B marketing is based
on the pillars of customer relationships, cross-border engagements and superior value delivery.
Social media programs in B2B organizations contribute to each of these pillars and hence, are no
longer a good-to-have service or a clever marketing gimmick. Well-planned and well-executed
social media programs in B2B enterprises have become a must-have in today’s world.
That is why B2B companies need to understand that they require a social media strategy and need
to develop new ways to listen and determine where to focus. Companies ought to make sure they
understand what their goals and objectives are for using social media. After all, it is not just about
putting information out there, but rather listening to and engaging in conversations with their
stakeholders on different channels simultaneously.
A consolidated “actionable” whitepaper is produced in the following pages of this report to enable
B2B organizations to understand social media and design their social media policy based on
learnings obtained by studying the pioneer organizations in this field i.e. Cisco Systems and Oracle
Corporation.

Appendix A

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/files/2012/03/social-b2b. jpg
Source: http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/top-5-b2b-social-media-trends-and-statistics--online-marketingtrends_50290fd72a1b2.jpg

Source: http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/social-media-facts-and-figures-for-b2b-sal es_50290a8c06452.png

Appendix B
Illustration 1: Social Presence of Cisco Systems on Different Platforms

Cisco’s Facebook Page

Cisco Blogs

Cisco’s Google+ Page

Illustration 2: Social Presence of Oracle Corporation on Different Platforms

Oracle’s Facebook Page

Oracle’s YouTube Channel

Oracle Technology Network (Community)

Illustration 3: Features of Enterprise Social Software Tools
(Source: http://blog.mangoapps.com/enterprise-social-networking-overtake-email/_
Feature

Description/Benefits

Intuitive Microblog Publishing This is the essential tool for sharing. It should support text and
Widget.
attachments. It could also support creating other content like tasks and
events. It should also allow the user to specify an open share (to all
followers) or a share targeted to followers of Activity Streams for a project,
en event, an organization etc.
Activity Streams
Views of activity streams of people, projects, events, etc.
Search
All content shared within the enterprise (unless subject to privacy or other
restrictions) must be searchable. The ability to search for status updates,
ideas, tasks, event, documents, IM sessions etc.
Integration with an enterprise Enables all employees to be included in the “social network”, searchable
employee directory through
and identifiable by their name, email ID or other enterprise identifier.
LDAP
Intuitive interface to find and Employees should be able to find each other by name, ID, organization,
follow colleagues
picture, email address, etc. The tool should allow selection of Activity
Streams for subscription.
Rich Employee profiles –
Employee profiles that describe professional and personal skills,
import from LinkedIn
background (work, education) and interests allow employees to learn
about each other as people as well as resources.
Privacy and security
Access to the product should secure to protect proprietary data
Access on the PC desktop and Access should be possible from any PC Internet browser while in the office
mobile
or elsewhere. Access on popular mobile devices like the iPhone and
Android devices extends access. Desktop clients provide more
convenience.
Support for project or group
A work space for information sharing, document sharing, and discussion
sites
threads, related to a project or topic of common interest, supports how
employees work and create. Members of the project follow the project and
see information shared within the project appear in their Activity Steams
just like individual open shared information. Project Activity Steams allow
segregation of information.
Support for shared tasks and
These common work structures can be supported as a content type to
events
share and be followed in Activity Streams
Document sharing
Docs should be sharable through all Activity Steams. In the context of a
project, Document work flows may be implemented. The follow model may
be applied to documents so followers will see updates and workflow
events.
Presence enabled Instant
Presence of the author associated with content in an Activity Feed with the
Messaging (1-on-1 or group)
ability to start an IM session enables real-time interaction.
Contact colleagues by SMS,
If the author of content in an Activity Feed is not online, alternate
voice or conference
communication methods enable real-time interaction.
conferencing
Social Applications
Social applications to recognize each other, reward each other, challenge
each other, learn about each other, conduct quick polls, foster relationships
and encourage sharing and openness.
Administrative Interface to
Tools to manage features, users, content, security and performance are
manage employees, content
essential.
and features
Ability to involve people
The ability to extend access to Activity Steams to involve customers,
outside the company in limited suppliers and other parties. The product should allow selectivity in
groups or activity streams
exposing Activity Steams, project and work spaces externally.
Integration with SharePoint
Many enterprises use SharePoint or other Document Management tools.
and other Document
Integration with existing document management tools enhances the
management tools
microblogging product work spaces and adds social features to the
document management tool.

Support for Blogs and Wikis
(optional)

Blogs and wikis function as collaboration tools, and as such, they have uses
mainly in sharing “unstructured” information associated with ad hoc or
ongoing projects and processes

Illustration 4: Cisco’s WebEx Social Tool

Illustration 5: Oracle’s Social Network (Concept)

Illustration 6: Oracle’s Social Network (User Interface)

Illustration 7: Yammer Social Tool

Illustration 8: Cisco’s Social Media Measurement Framework
(Source: http://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/uploads/Cisco-Social-Media-M easurement-Framework3.jpg)

Social Media: Transforming B2B Organizations
An Academic Whitepaper by Viveka Sra & Vishrut Shukla – PGP 2012-14 at IIM Bangalore, India

B2B Social Media
Trends via Stats
 86% of B2B firms use
social media compared
to 82% of B2C firms.
 B2B firms less active in
social media activity as
only 32% engage on a
daily basis compared to
52% of B2C firms.
 B2B spending on social
interactive marketing
will double since 2009
to $4.8 billion by 2014.
 Only 50% of B2B firms
formally analyze metrics
to gauge their social
media program’s RoIs.
 61% of US marketers are
now using social media
to up lead generation.
 Average social media
activities of Fortune 100
companies:
o 27 tweets/week
o 3.6 FB posts/week
o 7 blog posts/month
o 10 videos/month

How-To-Use Guide for

Popular Channels
Use: Brand building and
information dissemination
Target: Fans, public,
influencers, enthusiasts
Tonality: FYI type, arise
action from reader
Engagement: Readers can
post comment, responses
& admins engagement

Why Social Media in the B2B Space?
Social Media may be defined as medium of connection over the internet or means
of interaction among individuals in virtual communities or they may be defined as
group of internet based applications that allow creation and exchange of user
generated content. The definitions of social media are fast evolving and so is the
reach and potential. The power of the medium can be gauged from the fact that
Social Networking sites now reach 82% of the world’s online population.
Many organizations have started building on the potential of social media for
activities like online promotions, marketing, getting closer to customers, sharing
ideas, information etc. The social media is enabling in developing and maintaining
small-scale, one-on-one customer relationships in an efficient manner. The
greatest power of the media lies in the fact that it has succeeded in making this
relationship, a two way transaction, by enabling customers to respond and hence
be more involved. This makes it absolutely essential for all organizations and
especially those in the Business to Business space, where the customers’ evaluation
of the company is value based, to have a comprehensive Social Media Policy.

What is Your Social Media Strategy?
Apart from the traditional social media channels, more and more organizations are
now looking towards building such capabilities for their internal communication to
take off some of the burden from traditional communication media like emails etc.
As an organization, you need to decide first what your objective of employing
Social Media is:









Brand building - through marketing & promotional activities
Customer connect - sharing information, exchanging ideas, address concerns
Type of customer targeted – influencers vs direct decision makers
Driving collaboration and alignment across business units and geographies
Fostering stronger relationships with business partners
Listening - Capturing and collecting information
Locating talent and expertise - learning and sharing best practices more easily
Building connect with other like-minded organizations – platform to bring likeminded individuals together through communities

Which Social Media Channels to Choose?
There are various channels available in the media space and many more are being
added up. These channels differ in their usage, the audience that they cater to, the
tonality used and the content pushed out and also the impact that each of them
makes. Therefore, it is imperative that B2B organizations use as many of these as
possible to their advantage, but rather carefully. Some of the major channels
currently used by organisations are:

Use: Creating a buzz, brand
building and information
dissemination
Target: Fans, influencers,
enthusiasts and customers
Tonality: Exclamatory,
encourage to know more
Engagement: Interact using
tiny URLs, hashtags,
@mentions.

Use: Event coverage,
product demonstrations,
information dissemination
Target: Decision-makers,
enthusiasts, customers, fans
Content: Videos of executive
talks, thought leadership
interviews, reporting events,
product functions, tutorials,
success stories, latest
industry developments
Engagement: Likes, shares
and comments on videos

Use: Brand building,
promoting thought
leadership, info sharing
Target: Partners, customers,
jobseekers, thought leaders,
technology administrators
Tonality: FYI type, directing
to detailed blog posts and
news items, videos etc.
Engagement: Networking,
comments and likes

 Facebook / Google+ - These channels have a broad geographical and
organisational reach and are one of the most efficient streams for brand
building and connecting with customers and fans. They are also very efficient in
terms of speed of message conveyance and thus have a strong impact. Their
usage needs to be moderated due to the immense popularity and following
that they enjoy.
 Twitter - This micro blogging channel is an effective tool for building ‘buzz’
around events and makes the end users aware of the latest developments,
events, etc. The users are motivated to actively find out more about the
happenings due to the brevity of the media.
 LinkedIn - LinkedIn is like the Face book of the professional with the added
advantage of connecting a more targeted audience with the company. It builds
a brand for the company among employees, experts and future prospects by
highlighting available career opportunities.
 YouTube - Videos are emerging as a popular means of communicating about
products, customer stories, events, trainings etc. They provide a richer
experience than written content and hence this channel is gaining popularity
simply because its messages are far easier to understand than of any other
media.
 Networks / Communities - These channels engage like-minded individuals who
use company products. They bond with each other by resolving each other’s
problems, discussing industry trends and anything relevant to the company.
Thus, they build an ecosystem around the company which contributes again in
strengthening the brand of the organisation among stakeholders.
 Blogs - Blogs are increasingly evolving into tools for sharing innovation and
opinions by employees, executives, non-employees alike. They become a
medium of discussing customer requirements, industry trends and also a very
powerful feedback loop. They capture general news and opinion relevant to
the company.
 Flickr - This is a repository of event photos, employee activities etc. This has
grown to also include screenshots of products. It is increasingly being
developed by organisations as an online press kit, which can be accessed by
traditional media, bloggers etc to obtain event photos, product launches etc.

Managing and Executing Your Social Media Program.
B2B organizations must follow the below sequence to develop and manage their social media strategy. The
commitment and involvement of senior executives is a must in the social program’s planning and execution.

Understand your
organizations and
know your
stakeholders

Define objective of
your Social Media
policy in alignment
with org’s goals

Setup a team,
develop internal
capabilities, define
owners & commit

Map out the plan,
start the strategy
implementation,
follow best practices

Measuring the RoI on Your Social Media Engagements.
As a larger percentage of marketing spends are getting allocated to social media engagements, it is extremely
critical for organizations to monitor and measure the effectiveness of their efforts in the virtual space as follows:
Obj e cti ve

Me tri c De tai l s

Distribution
& Reach

Measure no. of followers, fans on the channel and mentions, re -tweets, shares etc. for the content
pushed out on specific social media channels, amount of marketing/advertising costs saved by reaching
more audience through social channels as compared to traditional media

Interaction

Measure instances of re-tweets, shares, replies, comments, forwards, comments and positivity/negativity
of sentiments, For videos, measure no. of clicks and amount of time spent by the customer on channel

Influence

Closely track customer attitudes, perception changes due to the content pushed out on the channel ,
measure Net Promoter Score, impact on brand’s credibility by qualitative assessment

Action

Measure of leads generated through a particular channel, number/rate of conversion to actual sales,
number of service requests resolved on social media, increase in customer satisfaction

Best Practices for a Rewarding Social Media Program.
1

Organizations need to incorporate social media into their marketing mix and no longer treat it as an adhoc activity, but a mainstream one.

2

Companies should take ownership of their social media program and not completely outsource it to
third-party service providers. Well-defined owners & clear mandates for different channels are must.

3

Employee strength can be leveraged to build the organization’s share of voice in the virtual space
through proper training and governance.

4

Organizations should setup a social media function at corporate level that ensures consistency of
message, tone and content across channels at all fronts and develops supporting resources.

5

Organizations can choose between centralized, decentralized, holistic and hub-and-spoke approaches to
build their social media teams. Hub-and-spoke is one of the most used methods since it increases
efficiency, consolidates efforts in the long-run, improves accountability, drives policy adoption and
promotes sharing of best practices among teams trying different approaches across businesses and
geographies.

6

Building a multi-network presence is recommended owing to varying suitability of content and degree of
engagement on different media.

7

Organizations must develop the best suited set of metrics and tools to monitor & measure the RoI.

8

Given that the social media can backfire and rapidly turn against the organization’s best interests in times
of crisis, organization must have a response plan to address various possible scenarios in virtual space.

Summing it Up.
Social media usage by B2B organizations point towards companies becoming increasingly Business-to-People
(B2P) oriented and not B2B or B2C only. B2B marketing is based on the pillars of customer relationships, crossborder engagements & superior value delivery and social media contributes to all of these. A well-planned and
executed social media playbook has become a differentiator today and will soon become a point-of-parity. Firms
need to learn where to focus, listen to and engage in conversations with stakeholders to build relationships.

Social Media - Transforming B2B Organizations: Contemporary Concerns Study

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