1. 52
CORPORATE SUCCESS STORY
SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS STORY
8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success | www.8mandates.com 53
AT&T
The Organization
With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest mobile
broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high-speed Internet,
voice, and cloud-based services. It also off ers advanced TV services, and its suite of IP-based
business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.
The Challenge
AT&T started to notice that business-to-business customers wanted to engage with the
brand on social media. And since AT&T wanted to have more one-on-one relationships
specifi cally with its B2B audience, connecting with current and potential customers to
share expertise, answer questions, and inform them about new products and services
made perfect sense.
The Solution
As a way to build relationships with its B2B constituents, AT&T launched an internal
ambassador program to get its employees out and interacting with customers on social
media. A group of employees and AT&T soft-launched the Networking Exchange Blog to
foster discussions with business leaders on technology innovations. Then the company
started promoting the blog and encouraging its participants to use their own Facebook,
Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts to connect with B2B customers. Soon thereafter, AT&T
launched the Networking Leaders Academy, an educational program designed to improve
the social media skills of its internal “experts.”
The Results
In just a few months, traffi c to the Networking Exchange Blog rose by 50%. Blog comments
and social shares increased signifi cantly as well. This has enabled AT&T to shorten the B2B
buying cycle. In the near future, AT&T plans to build out its Networking Leaders Academy
program, providing a broader employee education base for social media.
Submitted by Cheryl Burgess, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Offi cer at Blue Focus Marketing
MindLeaders
The Organization
MindLeaders changes lives through learning. The company’s talent management and
e-learning content solutions help both organizations and individuals meet the employee
development, performance management, and managerial challenges of today’s workforce.
The Challenge
Today’s consumers connect and build relationships with their families, friends, business
associates, and favorite brands on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and
Google+. That means brand pages on those social networks have become the new
website, and social media must play an integral part in every strategic marketing plan. With
goals of stimulating organic revenue growth, updating the company brand, and providing
more relevant and targeted communications, the MindLeaders Board of Directors set
customer relationship building through social media platforms as a top priority.
The Solution
An integrated and comprehensive social media marketing strategy and employee
training program (with heavy focus on the sales force) was developed and implemented.
In addition, corporate social media policies and procedures were documented and
distributed. The initial social platforms that were addressed included Twitter and LinkedIn,
while the tool sets utilized were TweetAdder and TweetDeck.
The Results
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the MindLeaders Twitter profi le grew 300%. Retweets on
Twitter increased 42%, and mentions grew 100%, showing improved engagement. The
MindLeaders group on LinkedIn grew more than 50% as relationships expanded across
platforms. As an added benefi t, the MindLeaders Klout score increased 15%. Finally,
inbound link growth to the MindLeaders website from major social platforms grew more
than 400%. And most importantly, 2011 EBITDA increased 49% over 2010.
Submitted by Alan See, Chief Marketing Offi cer at MindLeaders