Webinar How To Choose The Right Technology To Make Your Website More Social Kim Celestre, Senior Analyst September 19, Call in at 12:55 p.m. Eastern time

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited2

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5 Agenda › What is social depth? › When do you use social depth technologies? › How our nine vendors stacked up › Things to consider when choosing a social depth platform

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited6 What is social depth?

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited7 Customers and prospects go through four stages of the customer life cycle Source: July 16, 2013, “Align Your B2B Community Marketing With Your Customers' Life Cycle” Forrester report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited8 How do brands support the “explore” and “buy” phases? Source: July 16, 2013, “Align Your B2B Community Marketing With Your Customers' Life Cycle” Forrester report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited9 The “explore” phase is utterly dominated today by online research Base: 4, 501 US adults (18+); Source: North American Technographics ® Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Buy Phase) Survey, Q (US)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited10 The “buy” phase uses the same key channels Base: 4,501 US adults (18+); Source: North American Technographics ® Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Buy Phase) Survey, Q (US)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited11 Depth channels serve the “explore” and “buy” stages › Customers turn to three of our channels when looking for depth. Our websites — including mobile sites and on-site social experiences Our retail environments, both online and offline Our salespeople, especially in B2B markets › These depth channels support our customers’ need to explore but also have the power to move customers to buy.

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited12 What is social depth? A brand’s content, its users’ content, and social interactions create social depth. Source: July 16, 2013, “Align Your B2B Community Marketing With Your Customers' Life Cycle” Forrester report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited13 Social depth tactics Comments Ratings and reviews Blogs Real-time curation Discussion forums Source: July 16, 2013, “Align Your B2B Community Marketing With Your Customers' Life Cycle” Forrester report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited14 Social depth strategies facilitate exploration User needBusiness goalTacticsExamples Learn more about a brand’s perspective on a current topic. Establish thought leadership Corporate blogIBM’s Big Data Hub Learn more about a brand’s product and use cases Drive online conversions Ratings and reviews, comments Sephora’s Beauty Talk Decide which product best fits a need Generate leads through customer- prospect interactions Online community NetApp Q&A Discussion forum Get access to brand and user-generated content Import customer data Social sign-onSamsung Learn how customers feel about the brand Show conversations, brand sentiment Real-time social content curation Verizon Insider

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited15 User needBusiness goalTacticsExamples Learn more about a brand’s perspective on a current topic. Establish thought leadership Corporate blogIBM’s Big Data Hub Learn more about a brand’s product and use cases Drive online conversions Ratings and reviews, comments Sephora’s Beauty Talk Decide which product best fits a need Generate leads through customer- prospect interactions Online community NetApp Q&A Discussion forum Get access to brand and user-generated content Import customer data Social sign-onSamsung Learn how customers feel about the brand Show conversations, brand sentiment Real-time social content curation Verizon Insider Social depth strategies facilitate exploration (cont.)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited16 IBM launched a social hub to drive thought leadership

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited17 User needBusiness goalTacticsExamples Learn more about a brand’s perspective on a current topic. Establish thought leadership Corporate blogIBM’s Big Data Hub Learn more about a brand’s product and use cases Drive online conversions Ratings and reviews, comments Sephora’s Beauty Talk Decide which product best fits a need Generate leads through customer- prospect interactions Online community NetApp Q&A Discussion forum Get access to brand and user-generated content Import customer data Social sign-onSamsung Learn how customers feel about the brand Show conversations, brand sentiment Real-time social content curation Verizon Insider Social depth strategies facilitate exploration (cont.)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited18 Sephora uses ratings and reviews to drive conversions

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited19 User needBusiness goalTacticsExamples Learn more about a brand’s perspective on a current topic. Establish thought leadership Corporate blogIBM’s Big Data Hub Learn more about a brand’s product and use cases Drive online conversions Ratings and reviews, comments Sephora’s Beauty Talk Decide which product best fits a need Generate leads through customer- prospect interactions Online community NetApp Q&A Discussion forum Get access to brand and user-generated content Import customer data Social sign-onSamsung Learn how customers feel about the brand Show conversations, brand sentiment Real-time social content curation Verizon Insider Social depth strategies facilitate exploration (cont.)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited20 NetApp’s community connects prospects with customers

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited21 User needBusiness goalTacticsExamples Learn more about a brand’s perspective on a current topic. Establish thought leadership Corporate blogIBM’s Big Data Hub Learn more about a brand’s product and use cases Drive online conversions Ratings and reviews, comments Sephora’s Beauty Talk Decide which product best fits a need Generate leads through customer- prospect interactions Online community NetApp Q&A Discussion forum Get access to brand and user-generated content Import customer data Social sign-onSamsung Learn how customers feel about the brand Show conversations, brand sentiment Real-time social content curation Verizon Insider Social depth strategies facilitate exploration (cont.)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited22 Samsung uses social sign-on to gather customer data

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited23 User needBusiness goalTacticsExamples Learn more about a brand’s perspective on a current topic. Establish thought leadership Corporate blogIBM’s Big Data Hub Learn more about a brand’s product and use cases Drive online conversions Ratings and reviews, comments Sephora’s Beauty Talk Decide which product best fits a need Generate leads through customer- prospect interactions Online community SAP Network Q&A Discussion forum Get access to brand and user-generated content Import customer data Social sign-onNetapp Learn how customers feel about the brand Show conversations, brand sentiment Real-time social content curation Verizon Insider Social depth strategies facilitate exploration (cont.)

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited24 Verizon curates social content from Twitter

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited25 When do you use social depth technologies?

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited26 Social technology vendors stand ready to help marketers with (almost) every part of social marketing

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited27 How do you provide social depth? “Social depth platforms are technologies that add social content and experiences to marketing sites.”

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited28 How our nine vendors stacked up

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited29 Data-driven evaluations of software, hardware, and services markets What is the Forrester Wave™?

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited30 The Forrester Wave™ process › Setting the criteria › Gathering evaluation data Vendor details: offering, strategy, market presence Vendor briefing and platform demo Customer references › Fact-checking › Scoring › Publishing the report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited31 Source: July 9, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 2013” Forrester report Evaluated vendors: product information and selection criteria

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited32 Our Forrester Wave™ includes 57 criteria Platform Performance Application development Internationalization Data security Influencers Data management Authenticity Administration Search engine optimization Analytics Reporting Features Discussion forums Ratings and reviews Website Rich media Search Navigation Sharing Member identity Support Collaboration Mobile Gamification Leadership Vision Experience Product road map Customer satisfaction Partners Parent company Industry focus Other staff Employee base Account management Office locations Financial strength Revenue Revenue growth Financial stability Customers Number of active customers Customer acquisition Customer retention Enterprise focus Marketing focus Large community focus International presence Integration CMS integration CRM integration Analytics Marketing automation Ad serving eCommerce Usability Ease of use Ease of deployment Services Strategy Professional services Management International support Source: July 9, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 2013” Forrester report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited33 Source: July 9, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 2013” Forrester report Forrester Wave™: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 ’13

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited34 The Forrester Wave™ scores Source: July 9, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 2013” Forrester report

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited35 Things to consider when choosing a social depth platform

© 2013 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited36 Things to consider › For social depth, navigation, user-generated content, and mobile features are key. › Customizations, integrations, and analytics are differentiators. › Open source solutions provide the most flexibility but are not the best fit for everyone. › Ease of use will impact how quickly the community has adopted — by your own employees and by community members.

Thank you Kim Celestre