Nurturing the IT Committee Lead
GLOBAL
Is marketing helping or hurting?
TRUST + CREDIBILITY
MUST BE
EARNED
Todays modern tech marketer knows the importance of
nurturing leads and building trusted relationships with the
IT Committee -- the broad group of decision makers who
influence tech purchasing decisions. But in the process
of gathering leads, many marketers are actually hurting
relationships by asking for contact information too often
or too soon.
Anxious, annoyed, hate these are some of the common
responses we heard when we asked the IT Committee how
2
they felt about lead generation forms in exchange for
content. In fact, nearly 3 in 5 IT Committee members said
they provide fake information at least some of the time
when faced with gated content.
Building trust and credibility is the best defense against this.
But how do you build that trust? We surveyed over 2,300 IT
Committee members on LinkedIn globally to answer that
question. This is our guide to help IT marketers understand
how.
Table of Contents
The Growing IT Committee
Who are they and how do you engage them?
The Power of Education without Bias
If youre talking about yourself, youre doing it wrong
The Expertise You Dont Know You Have
The definition of an expert is broader than you think
Nurture, Dont Disrupt
Gating content too early and too often is counter-productive
The Growing
IT Committee
The IT Committee:
rapidly growing and influential.
The concept of the IT Committee, which was first introduced
in our Social Bridge to the IT Committee research with
comScore in 2013, stresses the importance of influencing
decision makers beyond the IT department. Purchasing
decisions are now made by a cross-functional group that
imcludes marketing, sales, and finance departments.
To reach this group, LinkedIn created a custom segment
of IT Committee, which contains over 10 million members
globally, across a variety of departments and seniorities. 74%
of the IT Committee works outside of IT. 33% of those people
are individual contributors or managers, and 58% control
part or all of the IT budget.
By 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT
than CIOs.
- Laura McLellan,
Research VP, Gartner
5
10+ million globally
Growing 1.25x
faster than general
LinkedIn member
growth
70%
52%
IT Committee members
on LinkedIn are ready to
buy.
29%
90%
In Market
9 in 10 are in market for an IT
solution in the next 12 months.
The top 3 products and services
they are in market for are
hardware, enterprise software,
and consulting/outsourcing.
32%
41%
Top IT products and services the IT Committee
are in market for
46%
How does the IT Committee make
purchase decisions?
85%
They turn to trusted sources of information, such as
their social networks, to inform and validate their
decisions. Its no surprise that with its professional
context, LinkedIn is the most trusted platform for ITspecific news and information.
use social media
for IT News and
Information each
month
Sites they visit for IT news and information
78%
LinkedIn
47%
42%
36%
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
% content from each source considered very or
extremely trustworthy
50%
47%
LinkedIn is 3 to 5 times more
trusted than other social
platforms.
36%
In the past, industry and news
sites were the main sources for
IT information. Today, social
networks have grown the
pie, allowing IT Committee
members immediate access
to their networks to validate
decisions. Among all online
sources, LinkedIn has emerged
as a primary resource for trusted
industry information.
32%
Visitation
8
25%
High
Medium
Low
Facebook
Twitter
11%
Blogs
Discussion Forums
Google+
18%
Online News Sites
LinkedIn
29%
Online Trade / Industry Sites
The IT Committee trust
content on LinkedIn
more than any other
source.
The Power of Education
without Bias
Always-on education throughout the purchase funnel
improves lead generation by building credibility early on.
Whether changing vendors or buying a new solution, IT Committee members need to educate
themselves before making such an important business decision. And they are more likely to consider
vendors who provide the information they seek along the entire path to purchase.
80
of the IT Committee require education
to sustain or make a change to their
ecosystem
10
63
are more likely to consider an IT vendor
that educates them through each stage
of the decision process
Focus on helping, not selling.
At any given moment, only a certain percentage of the IT Committee will be in market. For
those that are not, you still need to deliver content that engages and builds the relationship
with your brand. Our research shows that the best way to do this is with content that focuses
on their needs and interests rather than promoting your company and products.
55
More likely to consider an
IT vendor who publishes
content about my industry
and topics of interest
11
51
More favorable toward an
IT vendor who publishes
content about my industry
and topics of interest
50
Most interested in
non-branded / non-sales
focused content
Earn more interest with a variety of content.
Top types of information sought in each stage of IT decision-making process:
Awareness
Scope
Plan
Select
Implement
IT industry news / strategy info
Best practices, how-tos, checklists
Product / solution demo / software trial
3 Diagnostic / assessment tools
THREE
types of
content
12
General industry topics, prioritized for your audience
Expert content on the direction and use of your industrys products
Product-specific content, such as user reviews and case studies, to drive
consideration for your company
* Based on 2013 comScore IT Committee Research. Global data.
The Expertise You Dont Know You Have
13
Content from experts is the most influential.
For the first time, content from experts is the most influential overall, especially during the selection
and implementation phases of the purchase cycle. A key reason for this rise in expert influence is
that peers have been broken into groups, peer and expert peer. Social media has enabled access to
content from these expert peers, combining trust and expertise to create a very relevant and reliable
source of information.
Influence on tech purchases (by content source)
Average: 56%
55%
50%
47%
45% 43%
Expert content
14
User / Peer review
31% 29%
Scope
Awareness
Implement
Select
Plan
Scope
Awareness
Implement
Select
Plan
Scope
Awareness
35%
34%
37%
Implement
51
Select
53%
60% 58%
Average: 33%
Plan
56
Average: 48%
Branded content
Who is an Expert?
Marketers often think that subject matter experts must be senior executives in
their organization. However, we found that the IT Committee defined expertise
not based on rank, but reputation and social proof.
% Who Believe Each Statement Defines an Expert
71%
References from coworkers and other professionals in their field
Published author or presenter in their field
51%
Has a (on average) 8 years of experience
50%
35%
Manages a team
22%
Has a Masters Degree or higher
Is a vice president or more senior
12%
Third Party scores (Klout, Kred, PeerIndex, etc.)
11%
Has 500 or more connections on LinkedIn
11%
Other (Please specify)
15
7%
The IT Committee is positively impacted by the actions of your employees.
Enable your companys internal experts to publish on trusted social channels like LinkedIn to develop
your brands relationship with the IT Committee. Although it may be difficult to get internal employees
to share and publish content, marketers who can make it happen find that it is incredibly worthwhile
for the credibility and trust that it fosters -- which ultimately helps lead generation efforts.
27
16
25
27
Are more favorable toward
a vendor whose employees
participate in LinkedIn
Groups
Are more favorable toward
a vendor whose employees
share content on LinkedIn
Are more likely to consider
if vendors have experts
publishing on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Groups
Employees
Experts
Nurture, dont Disrupt
17
In-market leads are worthless if lead data is inaccurate.
Marketers often pay a premium for in-market leads. But the IT Committee is anxious about
gated content and many fill out lead forms using false information. Those in market for IT
solutions are even more likely to provide fake information. Thats why its critical to build
crediblity and gain their trust early on.
58%
In market
57
of the IT Committee provides fake
information when they complete a
lead capture form
18
48%
Not in market
At least sometimes
provide info
So dont lose them by gating content too early or too often.
Asking for contact and purchase-interest detail too early or too often can actually hurt leadgeneration efforts. Instead, post both gated and un-gated content covering a variety of topics -- from
broad industry trends to customer case studies. Focus on educating prospective customers and you
will earn their trust -- and generate more high-quality leads.
% less likely to consider a vendor (among in-market members)
37
When gating FIRST piece of content
19
75
When gating ALL content
Nurturing leads through content is vital.
Most are not ready to talk to sales until a relationship
is made through relevant content.
The average IT Committee member needs to consume 5 pieces
of content before they are ready to talk to someone in sales.
20
Publish and promote your content in places on LinkedIn where the
IT Committee is engaging the most.
The Feed starts the
conversation
Groups for expert
articles
Ensure content is
mobile friendly
2x as active on desktop in the
2x as active in groups than
25% more active on mobile
feed than members1
21
LinkedIn Internal Data 4/1/2014 through 4/30/2014
members1
than members1
Use LinkedIn to connect your brand with the IT Committee.
Accurate Targeting
Personalization
Lead Capture &
Nurturing
Geography
Sponsored InMail
Sponsored Updates
Function
Spotlight Ad
SlideShare
Industry
Seniority
22
LinkedIn Internal Data 4/1/2014 through 4/30/2014
Custom API
Marketer Implications
Marketers play a big role in helping their organizations win IT business deals these days. To
contribute, they need to engage and convince everyone on the IT Committee that their company
is the preferred vendor. But its not about a hard sell -- its about providing educational content of
interest to prospective customers at every stage of the buying cycle, in the channels where they
spend time. Here are four ways to do just that:
Earn trust with broad-based content that goes
beyond your brands self-interests
Incorporate an always on content strategy with
a variety of content gated and un-gated
Leverage your employees and company
specialists as experts
Focus on educating prospective customers in the
short term to generate higher-quality leads in the
long run.
23
Methodology:
We surveyed over 2,300 IT Committee members globally
3
4
5
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1. N. AMERICA
2. EMEA
3. MIDDLE EAST
4. APAC
5. BRAZIL*
Canada, N=152
US, N=404
UK, N=204
The Netherlands, N=204
Germany, N=203
France*, N=202
UAE, N=154
Saudi Arabia, N=155
India, N=202
Hong Kong, N=155
Singapore, N=104
Australia, N=104
N=155
LinkedIn Survey and Internal Data: Q2 2014
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IT Committee?
Visit http://lnkd.in/contact
