Enhancing Microsoft Social Selling with Strategic Playbook
Client:
Microsoft
Location:
Middle East and North Africa
Industry:
Technology, Media & Telco
Microsoft pioneers global digital transformation and cloud computing, being a leading developer of IoT, AI, and cybersecurity solutions for both enterprises and SMEs.
Our social selling and employee advocacy strategy began as a proof of concept, transforming into a business strategy spanning two years of cooperation. The programme connected Microsoft with senior business leaders in MEA, fostering interaction and generating quality B2B leads through industry-specific content.
- Social selling
- Thought leadership
- Social media advocacy
- Ghostwriting
- Lead Generation
The Challenge
Microsoft wanted to directly engage with prospective B2B customers in the Middle East and Africa through improved visibility of its messaging on LinkedIn. The company sought ways to fill in its audience knowledge gaps with personalised expert insights on digital transformation and cloud computing.
Our Solution: Strategic Social Selling Programme and Lead Generation
We defined and delivered comprehensive value propositions for each offering, industry, and persona. Initially starting with 18 executives, the project expanded to 40 due to its success. Our employee advocacy program built stronger and more visible personal brands for Microsoft MEA senior executives, including the C-level leadership team and country managers.
To reach the audience, we crafted relevant and engaging employee posts, articles, and industry ebooks, allowing Microsoft experts to personally pitch enterprise leaders with quality solutions. Supporting the content with personalised graphics paved the way for consistent LinkedIn interactions and steady lead conversions.
We led all program stages, from social advocacy strategy to content production, prospecting, and paid lead generation campaigns. Our team provided training on social media visibility, optimised personal profiles, developed ad formats, and collected leads.
Guidance
To create strong and attractive personal brands, we defined the best strategies for profile visibility and used LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Personalisation was a significant aspect of this project. The challenge was to map markets, industries, and personas so that program participants did not overlap. The content was highly personalized for each social seller individually. We created a comprehensive social selling playbook and presented nine content clusters according to the guidelines.
Execution
Before building a sales funnel with content, we delivered a list of targeted names and links to their LinkedIn profiles. Social sellers directly engaged with those who downloaded ebooks. We decoded complex digital transformation and cloud computing concepts for the audience, using content to build a sales funnel for the client team.
Monitoring and Reporting
We delivered leaderboards to boost motivation and competition between social sellers and created a metrics dashboard. The reporting system was integrated into Microsoft Marketing Cloud, ensuring comprehensive monitoring and analysis.
The Result
Adding a ‘personal touch’ to an outreach campaign helped Microsoft build positive relationships with prospective clients and introduce them to Microsoft tailored digital transformation technologies. The programme, which we coordinated over eight quarterly flights spanning 24 months, has been extended several times due to its success.
Employee advocacy is a strategic approach to leveraging the growing power of LinkedIn. When running such a programme, the managers can expect the benefits both on the brand as well as business conversion levels
Jakub Lebuda
CEO
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