SocialMediaInformationCenter.com

New Site - Click to Visit

Mike Dubrall — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:35:27 GMT

Dramatic Changes in Reseller Enablement

Mike Dubrall — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:46:21 GMT

The channel has come a long way since classroom training was mandatory for most technical and sales certifications. These training sessions usually meant that resellers had to sit through mind-numbing presentations that did more to explain how products worked than how they could be integrated into a solution or why customers would want to purchase them. Resellers promptly started calling the experience “Death by PowerPoint” or the vendor version of “Traffic School.” And worst of all, classroom training meant that resellers had to fly their best employees around the country – an activity that was costly and, more importantly, non-billable.

Luckily, Web 2.0 products and capabilities have largely transformed the learning experience for resellers of progressive suppliers. Partners are now picking up their product information from YouTube, SlideShare, Brainshark, and a slew of innovative sites that offer low-cost, easily accessible recorded webcasts, slides with voice-over, and professional videos for training purposes. This glut of information is viewable 24/7 on handheld devices like an iPhone in a parking lot or an airline terminal or the conference room of your biggest customer. All it takes is a vendor’s willingness to post the information and a partner’s knowledge of how to access the sites.

Most large vendors and/or their channel sales managers (officially or unofficially) have moved quickly to make product information available on popular social media hubs. Then, when they realized that many resellers did not know how to use the sites, began enablement programs to get resellers more active online. The goal was to improve communications, speed knowledge transfer, and bring resellers closer to their customers.

EMC, Partnerpedia, and Qwest are currently sponsoring a program to make their partners more comfortable by introducing them to the most popular sites with encouragement to be active online. This program includes a series of webcasts on topics like setting up professional profiles, social media etiquette, online marketing and sales, and social media strategy development. The exchange of information is fostered through an active LinkedIn group where reseller students get their homework assignments and ask questions for the other students and teachers to answer. It’s using social media capabilities to teach social media skills. More than 300 enthusiastic channel partners are participating. And all are coming to understand (just like mama said) that “you only get out (of the program) what you put into it.”

We are probably going to be seeing this kind of interactive, social learning a lot, as vendors see that it can be used successfully to help resellers to get trained on products, programs, and services. It’s a whole different kind of training: exciting and full of promise. But let’s take a breath and evaluate.

As we pass the half-way point of the program, it’s time for participants to take stock of what is working and what needs to be changed. There is a lot of innovation in the delivery of the course and many views on the best use of the technology. Concepts like focused social media sites, homework, classmate introductions on LinkedIn, introduction of free tools like Tweetdeck and Xeesm, topic discussions in the community, and assignment reviews that are not typical for reseller enablement training. Participants, what do you think?
Link to original post

Is Twittering a Hobby?

Mike Dubrall — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:04:48 GMT

This week in the Channel Social Media Enablement session, we were talking about Twitter and how it can be used in B2B communications. During the broadcast, one of the resellers texted me this question: “Since Twitter is still in its infancy, wouldn’t current Twitter use be considered more hobby-like than professional?” The message just sat there on the side of my screen without an answer, as I continued to talk about Twitter search capabilities.

The question annoyed me at first. It was frustrating that we had not successfully demonstrated that Twitter is already an important business tool for individuals and companies. The concept of Twittering as a hobby did not set well with me at all. It seemed to trivialized the impact of Twitter and all social media activity for that matter. What was this reseller thinking?

Last year, Twitter super-stars like @Padmasree and @RichardBranson started out not knowing exactly how important Twitter would become for them and their companies. They took a chance, worked it a little, realized the potential, and worked it some more. They must have enjoyed Twittering because they kept doing it, even before they began to realize the business benefits. Still, both would have been more comfortable with the label “early adopter” than “hobbyist.” But Twittering in 2009 certainly wasn’t a traditional business activity for most executives.

Maybe the reseller has a point. The distinction between hobbies and business activities is one of degree. If you enjoy doing something during your downtime, and it starts providing you with substantial business benefits, then you start to figure out ways to provide even more benefits. Then it changers from being a hobby to being a business. And everyone wants to get the same benefits by doing the same thing. So for many people, Twittering is something like a hobby when they first start using it. (Some lucky people actually make a lot of money from their “hobbies.”)

After a while though, when you have a sufficient number of followers, Twitter becomes a business opportunity. Today, more than 18 million people visit Twitter at least once a month for personal and business reasons. In fact, there are very few large American companies that do not have a significant investment in the Twitter machine. For example, Comcast employs 15 people just to monitor Tweets about their products and services. Qwest has dedicated eight people to do the same thing. Why? It’s an economic decision. Twitter increases upward pressure on revenue and downward pressure on costs.

Sites like Twitter provide more unlimited access to customers than any other medium today. It is an inexpensive way to gather information about products, identify customer problems, communicate solutions and follow market trends. It can also be used to broadcast messages about products, pricing, events, and services. (Email 2.0!) Using Twitter improves customer satisfaction AND demonstrates to the market that the supplier can meet the evolving needs of their customers. That’s not a hobby. It’s what companies do for a living.
Link to original post

If You Were Presenting Social Media To Channel Executives, What Benefit Would You Stress?

Mike Dubrall — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:21:09 GMT

Despite the popularity of social media at the street level, many channel organizations have been holding back. Slowed by a potent mixture of financial, organizational, cultural, and intellectual impediments, some partnering professionals have not been willing or able to present a compelling case for social media investment. Instead, they have been hunkering down and hoping that they can be successful by working harder with familiar programs and tools.

There are exceptions. Social Media for reseller partners is now all the rage at some companies who have been smart enough to envision the potential of thousands of channel partners Twittering away about their products. They are not hunkering down. Quite the opposite. These corporations have incorporated channel partners into their social media plans and are moving ahead with social media training and program support.

There are reasons for these initiatives, of course. Good reasons. From our research, Gilwell has found there are three important social media benefits that channel managers are beginning to understand and quantify.

#1: End-users are already using social media to get information about products. Depending on which study you read, 60-90 % of customers begin their purchase process online by gathering information and looking for current customer comments. Increasingly aware of this pre-sales activity, channel managers want to make sure their products are well-represented.

#2: Communication between vendors, resellers and customers is noticeably improved using social media. Messages, attachments, and links are sent and received more quickly (usually getting through all those pesky corporate firewalls) from smart phones, netbooks, and other devices. And using social media drives down the cost of communications, sometimes by as much as 80%. It’s just cheaper to post a video on YouTube and send out a link than to maintain/expand a usable partner portal or distribute (and redistribute) a bunch of PDFs.

#3: Social Media is extremely effective at building and maintaining more intimate relationships. A reseller can maintain weekly contact with 50 customers in just a few hours by connecting with them at their online spaces. This replaces the 50 phone calls and scores of emails flying off into the ether. Most important, social media is personal in a way that good salespeople and their customers appreciate.

With social media, the issue of customer intimacy comes up a lot both in positive and negative terms. Some channel managers worry about exposing too much of themselves to their resellers and customers, thinking that there should be a line drawn between their personal and professional lives. They view social media as potentially intrusive and sometimes describe social media as a waste of time.

Others view the sharing of personal information as an important step in building productive long-term relationships. For them social media is a natural extension of the restaurants, bars, gold courses, and sporting events where they have long spent time with customers. These channel managers think that the time they spend on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other sites is an investment in future success.

In the end, customers will make the decision about how they want to interact with resellers and vendors. If they decide it is through social media (and there is a lot of evidence that this is happening) then the organizations and channel managers that are already engaged will have a big advantage.

Link to original post

Why Smart Resellers Are Not Using Social Media Yet

Mike Dubrall — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:10:40 GMT

Resellers have to be smart to stay in business. If channel partners make a mistake, it costs them time, resources, and sometimes customers. So, they filter what they hear from suppliers and mostly ignore the latest predictions from industry “experts.” Resellers have learned (the hard way) that not every Silicon Valley wave will crest and not every new technology will revolutionize the market.

Consequently, the channel is expressing some valid skepticism about social media. Even with the technology industry’s rich history of marketing hyperbole, social media stands out for the level of noise touting its impact on the market. So the natural reaction in the channel is to be suspicious – and cautious. This time, however, that natural wariness could be a big mistake.

Social Media, when used correctly and consistently, can and will provide valuable benefits to vendors, partners, and customers. Social Media builds product awareness, encourages collaboration, speeds communication, provides immediate feedback, and allows a level of customer intimacy that was beyond comprehension just a few years ago. All of these are powerful benefits that will eventually be bent to the task of improving customer satisfaction and channel sales productivity.

Before channel partners can experience any significant productivity gains, they are going to have to address their fears and inadequacies regarding next generation relationships. Here are the top ten reasons that resellers give for not jumping into the social media pool (based on interviews, emails, posts, and discussions with channel managers.)

1. Fear of Wasting Time – Resellers are busy. Can it really be productive to watch training videos on Yahoo, provide information to strangers on SlideShare, catch snippets of information about product problems on Twitter, or catch up with customers on LinkedIn?
2. No Leadership From Suppliers - Channels are ill equipped to figure it out themselves and are waiting for direction. Vendors initially went around their channels and connected directly with customers. (Now everyone is scrambling to get the channel plugged back into the conversation.)
3. Lack Of Reseller Marketing Capabilities - Social Media is much more than a marketing tool, but if a reseller doesn’t have a marketing strategy, it doesn’t help much to open a Twitter account and start sending random marketing messages to strangers.
4. Lack Of Reseller Management Sponsorship - If the company owner isn’t using LinkedIn and Twitter, then the employees are going to be reluctant to talk about that funny Cisco video on YouTube or something they saw on Facebook. Has your boss “Friended” you yet? Probably not.
5. Misperception That It’s Only For Kids - Very wrong. The average age on Twitter and Facebook is over 30 years old and both sites are rapidly becoming important hubs for B2B communications. Careers are now being made (and destroyed) online.
6. Focus On Short Term Goals - Building online relationships with customers takes some time and effort. Maybe it’s better to make a cold call and hope to get lucky and sell something this afternoon.
7. Perceived Lack of Value – This is all so new that there are no acceptable ROI models or case studies. So resellers keep doing what has provided good ROI in the past – like attending trade shows.
8. Fear of Exposing Customers – Social Media is open and intimate. Everything you can see, your competitors can also see. What if, gasp, your customers and competitors connect online? But what if you connect with their customers?
9. Fear of Looking Bad – By its nature, social media is personal. Many fear that blurring the line between their business and personal lives will diminish their effectiveness. Does it help your credibility if your biggest customer sees you dressed up in a dorky costume and doing the chicken dance with friends?
10. Fear of change – The only person who likes change is a wet baby. Change has to be forced sometimes, all too often in the face of disastrous events. Eventually “customer needs” are going to force resellers to work through social media – before or after business is lost.

Do you recognize yourself in any of the above? You are not alone. These kinds of discussions happening up and down the distribution chain. And they will continue for a while.

However, reseller skepticism will eventually pass as the rhetoric begins to die down and the channel starts building productive online relationships with their customers and suppliers. This will happen in 2010. It’s not going to be simple, easy, or without problems. Mistakes will be made; but in the end, resellers will do what they always do – learn, adapt, and move forward.
Link to original post

SaaS Trumps Social Media

Mike Dubrall — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:01:53 GMT

With all the hype surrounding social media, it’s easy to overlook the impact of the Software as a Service (SaaS) model that enabled the social media phenomenon. (Certainly, fewer people would be using Twitter if they had to purchase it and load it onto their computer.) And while 2010 is going to be the year of social media enablement for resellers, the next decade is going to be about adapting business models and channel programs to support the sale of services rather than products.

There is little debate that a significant percentage of channel revenue is going to shift to the SaaS delivery model (potentially through online communities). The only real discussion is about how fast this will happen and how high the SaaS revenue percentage will be in 2020. Recently, the ISV World Conference in Germany asked me to make a presentation on this subject. So we pulled out some cameras and shot three videos about the SaaS market to be shown during the Conference. Joining me is SaaS expert Ken Boasso.

SaaS Market Size Video on YouTube

SaaS Market Segments Video on YouTube

SaaS Sales Success Video on YouTube

If you don’t have time to watch all the videos (about 30 minutes), let me net it out for you. SaaS is already big and its going to get bigger. A different channel business model is required, one that can deal with thousands of new users/subscriptions a month. Social Media is a key enabler for SaaS because it enables low cost and effective marketing and sales capabilities. The resellers of today are not ready for any of this and will be looking to their vendors for leadership. Some traditional vendors are going to push their resellers into bankruptcy by pressuring them to sell products rather than Cloud services. The old channel is going to have to make some tough choices very soon. A new channel is going to emerge to specialize in selling Cloud services and not hardware or software products.

The biggest issue in marketing is trying to understand the new channel for selling SaaS (Cloud) services. IMHO, this issue is more important than social media, but we can’t get around to addressing it until channel executives are familiar enough with SaaS that they can make good planning assumptions. And that is why social media is critical. It gives everyone “hands-on” experience and a glimpse of how channels of the future are going to look.

Social Media changes (and levels) the playing field for marketing, communications, and customer intimacy. New strategies for reseller success are needed. SaaS, however, changes the entire game and a new league will have to be created. Is your channel program ready to play?
Link to original post

What Benefits Matter Most?

Mike Dubrall — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:37:31 GMT

Everyone is flocking to social media sites because there are a lot of benefits. Communication is faster, it’s easier to get messages through corporate firewalls, and sometimes you can get an almost immediate reaction to a critical issue from a vendor, reseller, reference, or prospect . Plus, customers are using social media a lot, which allows businesses to build customer relationships quickly and with a lot of important background information. Social Media has become so important that new hardware tools, like smart phones, are being sold to provide easier access to popular sites.

Even with all these benefits, some partner managers are still lagging behind in using social media to connect with their resellers. Some channel executives are not yet providing the leadership required to move channel partners towards using these new tools effectively. However, channel executives are smart people and they are beginning to see the benefits of using social media for marketing, support, and even sales. They will eventually embrace social media and using it as a business tool, just like everyone else.

If you were presenting to channel executives, what social media benefit would you stress to convince them? What do they need to understand before funding significant social media initiatives with channel partners. Maybe we can move them along a little faster. Take the poll at the left and/or leave a comment.
Link to original post

Invest in the Future –Notes from the Qwest Partner Conference

Mike Dubrall — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:14:25 GMT

Qwest is an interesting company. On the verge of obliteration a few years ago, the folks in Denver are undergoing a remarkable rejuvenation, much to the delight of their channel partners. At the Q.Marketplace Conference this week, management announced solid 2009 results and thanked partners for doing a better job of retaining customers than direct sales. Qwest then committed to “Perfect What’s Driving Growth” and “Invest in the Future” by placing a big bet on the rising popularity of Cloud Computing. 2010 looks like it’s going to be a good year for them and, clearly, the comments were well-received by the partners.

My Breakout Session on Social Media was standing room only. A lot of Qwest Partners think Social Media might be a way to help them better connect with customers, but don’t know much about how it all works. So they filled the room and crowded the doorways to hear how other companies are doing it.

When asked about their Social Media experience, almost everyone claimed to have a LinkedIn Profile and about a third had Twitter accounts. But only a very few (maybe one person) said that they had connected with Qwest resources via Social Media. I showed them some screen shots of Qwest Blogs and Tweets. Many were surprised that “Corporate Qwest” was already blogging and Twittering away without involving partners. They were even more surprised to hear how Cisco and others were successfully engaging customers through social media already.

During the Breakout Session, we only had an hour to discuss a complicated subject and predictably we did not get to go into much detail. But the advice I gave these resellers was the same as I give every company just coming into Social Media. Don’t try to be everyplace and do everything. Pick the places where your customers “hang out” (if you don’t know, ask them which sites they visit.) Listen to what they are saying online and then respond accordingly.

After the session, a few Qwest partners found me near the coffee table and wanted to talk about 2010. They were already exploring Social Media and early attempts at finding or helping customers had been promising. They were eager to build on their Social Media successes. But they were also worried about making mistakes and wasting time. Unfortunately, Qwest was not providing any assistance in helping them figure it out.

My advice, pick a company goal and see if Social Media can help you achieve that goal. For example, if you want to increase the size of your customer base in 2010, spend time learning how to use a business site to get new introductions. If you want to increase your market awareness, incorporate Facebook or Twitter into your plan. If hiring certified technical people is important, find them in the appropriate on-line communities. In other words, have specific objectives: Social Media is the means, not the end.

Then let Qwest know social media is important. Vendors can’t have robust channel programs without paying attention to partner needs, and Qwest (like most vendors) is working hard to make partners successful. Since Social Media is an important enabler of future success, it’s a no-brainer for vendors to help.
Link to original post

Organization models for social media

Mike Dubrall — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:46:54 GMT

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Organization models for social media

View more presentations from Social Media Academy, Palo Alto.

Link to original post

10 Ways to Get Serious About Social Media

Mike Dubrall — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:03:17 GMT

10 Ways to Get Serious About Social Media

If 2010 is going to be the year of social media in the channel, people had better get started. Here are ten good suggestions to think about.
Link to original post

Stop Trying To Figure Out Social Media

Tom Swift — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:08:02 GMT

A friend wrote today:

"Social media" is the buzzword of the year, folks, and every professional is wondering if it's here to help, or here to destroy, their business. We've seen what the internet has done to so many industries, and it's good to be wary.

In my industry, recruiters, HR people, and staffing firms on one side, and job-seekers on the other, are also trying to figure it out. Some practitioners say that all social media is good for is wasting time on the internet, while others swear by its potential.

I replied:

I suggest to all to stop trying to figure it out (that is, social media). Just start getting connected, getting creative, and getting noticed.

Sure there is a bunch of learning and growing related to using social media for business and it will take tons of time, but really no figuring out or understanding is possible from my perspective.

This idea of trying to get it, understand it, or figure it out is what can waste people’s time or can keep them stuck in their current situations.

--Tom...

mySocialPlaces

Social Media Adoption Process for Channel Partners (and Vendors)

Mike Dubrall — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:07:31 GMT

There is a lot of interest in the concept of channel social media enablement, but so far there has not been a lot of action. Perhaps it is because Social Media is so amorphous and ill defined, or maybe it’s because channel managers generally do not understand the impact or potential benefits of social media themselves, but social media enablement for channel partners is mostly being left to the resellers themselves to figure out. Too bad. It’s a huge missed opportunity for vendors.

Like any other change in the market, suppliers have a responsibility to help their channel partners move forward and adapt. It’s not rocket science. We learned long ago that a defined improvement process works better than vague discussions when it comes to channel productivity. And even though social media is relatively new, vendors need to understand the adoption process and mange their channels through it as quickly as possible.

There are many ways to define a social media adoption process for channel partners, but here is a starting point. Partners need to move through these six stages of Social Media readiness.

1. Awareness – Partner understands that social media is important and begins visiting a few high-profile sites. Finds personal profiles of vendors and customers.
2. Presence – Partner creates a profile, joins the main social media sites, and observes what is happening. Understands how the sites operate and gets an understanding of participant expectations. Begins worrying that time is being wasted on LinkedIn and Twitter.
3. Engagement – Partner follows some Discussions, begins posting, and makes a few business connections. Re-purposes content for social media and starts looking for opportunities.
4. Collaboration – Partner experiences the thrill of two-way communication and begins thinking about creating brand new content in order to build a social media presence. Action plans emerge.
5. Community – Partner is clearly building a powerful business network and fully understands social media as a business tool. Begins moving away from email and encourages vendors and colleagues to do the same.
6. Productivity – Partner understands that a social media strategy must replace ad-hoc activities. Profile pictures are updated and co-creation activities are initiated.

Vendors that get their channels through this adoption curve first will, of course, have a communications advantage that may well translate into increased reseller influence. It won't be easy. Leadership is required, and social media training. Is your channel program ready for the future?

My social media spaces-http://xeesm.com/MikeDubrall
Link to original post

10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010

Mike Dubrall — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:47:37 GMT

10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010
Written by Ravit Lichtenberg from Ustrategy.com / December 11, 2009

This time last year, I wrote about the 10 ways social media will change 2009, and while all predictions have materialized or are on their way, it has only become clear in recent months how significant of a change we've seen this year. 2009 will go down as the year in which the shroud of uncertainty was lifted off of social media and mainstream adoption began at the speed of light. Barack Obama's campaign proved that social media can mobilize millions into action, and Iran's election protests demonstrated its importance to the freedom of speech.

This guest post was written by Ravit Lichtenberg, founder and chief strategist at Ustrategy.com - a boutique consultancy focusing on helping companies succeed. Ravit authors a blog at www.ravitlichtenberg.com.

Today, it is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Facebook reached 350 million users last month -- 70% of whom are outside the US -- and it accounts for 25% of the Web's traffic, according to Pew nearly one in five people on the web use Twitter or some other service to check status messages, and 94% of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools. The social media conversation is no longer considered a Web 2.0 fad -- it is taking place in homes, small businesses and corporate boardrooms, and extending its reach into the nonprofit, education and health sectors. From feeling excitement, novelty, bewilderment, and overwhelmed, a growing number of people now speak of social media as simply another channel or tactic.

So what will social Web bring next? What will "being connected" mean? What will the next experience be for the 2 two billion people who are connected to the Internet? Here are 10 ways what we've called social media will evolve in 2010. 10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010
Link to original post

Empowering Your Channel With Social Media

Mike Dubrall — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:28:00 GMT

There are lots of opinions about social media and how important it is for B2B communications, but two things are very clear: 1) vendors are embracing social media to communicate directly with customers; and, 2) channel partners are far behind on the social media learning curve. The result is a missed opportunity for resellers.

There is only one way to close this learning gap. Someone has to show the channel how to use social media for business. Not just train the resellers, but provide them with the education, tools, and leadership to make them productive. But who is responsible for making this happen? The answer is another question. Who has the most to lose if resellers are not successful?

The Gilwell Group has been conducting a poll on this subject. Most readers think it is the vendor’s responsibility to educate their channel. There is also a significant minority who believe industry trade groups should step up and develop certification courses. However, almost nobody thinks resellers should or could learn to use social media on their own.

The most realistic scenario is that social media enablement will be a collaborative effort between vendors, trade associations, and even resellers. All leading partner programs are on target to integrate Web 2.0 into their core marketing and communication strategies by the end of next year. Therefore, 2010 also needs to be the year of channel social media empowerment.

Social Media is not going away. Resellers who do not know how to use it effectively will gradually be disadvantaged. And so will their vendor partners.

The Social Media Academy, in association with Gilwell Group, has developed a process to help close the social media usage gap. Join us for a short (30 minute) webcast on How to empower your Channel Partners with Social Media to see if this program will work for your company and channels.

Mike Dubrall MyXeeSM

Link to original post

How Web 2.0 is changing the way we work: An interview with MIT’s Andrew McAfee

Mike Dubrall — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:23:14 GMT

Link to original post