SXSW Preview: Social Media in the Enterprise with IBM, Cisco, Xerox and NVIDIA

• Tweet
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  Pin It
  

• Tweet
• 
  

In December, AdAge identified the top ten social media campaigns of 2011. How many were consumer-centric entities? Nine. B2B? One. Forbes’ “Best Ever Social Media Campaigns?” All B2C brands. And the 2012 PRWeek finalists in the category of “Best Use of Social Media/Digital” – again all consumer companies. You get the drift.

Without a doubt these award-winning consumer brands are innovating when it comes to social media and digital, and they have the results to back it up. Yet while many of these B2C companies are household names, how about the B2B brands that may not be top of mind for consumers? B2B brands don’t always have the flash and sizzle of consumer brands, but social media still has to power to drive innovation, sales and success regardless of industry – consumer and enterprise alike.

Intel is one B2B brand that’s regularly recognized alongside B2C brands, but what about other companies that are successfully driving community-based social media strategies to interact with customers? This very topic is one we’ll dive into at South by Southwest on Monday, March 11 when I moderate a panel alongside four Text 100 clients – IBM, Cisco Systems, Xerox and NVIDIA.

You can’t compare social media success on a quantative level for B2B versus B2C brands without looking at the larger scheme of things. If Pepsi, for example, can prove its social media campaign has influenced 10 Coca-Cola drinkers to switch to Pepsi, how does that compare to a stat that Cisco has shared publically – “According to a conservative estimate, our community-based support on Facebook and Twitter is saving more than $400K+ annually.” It doesn’t – this would be comparing apples to oranges.

I may be a bit biased as all the panelists are Text 100 clients, but these B2B brands deserve attention. We’re talking to leaders in their respective industries that are innovating when it comes to social, and have a customer-centric view of the world. IBM, Cisco, Xerox and NVIDIA all are different businesses, producing different products, but the one commonality is their ability to drive a social approach that focuses on what’s relevant and important to their customers, and how/where to engage them in an online dialogue based on that. And let’s up the ante even more – two of these companies are in the Fortune 100 (IBM and Cisco), and both IBM and Xerox have reached their centennial anniversaries.

But don’t take my word for it; check out our panel at SXSW, featuring the following panelists:

• @duaneschulz of Xerox
• @Jeanette of Cisco
• @ethanmcc of IBM
• @sbenzur of NVIDIA

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you on questions you’d like to ask of these panelists. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments or via @chanslor.