HP Innovation Journal Issue #6 Partner Corner | HP® Official Site

HP Social Media Center is a reservoir of curated content that partners can publish to their own channels. It spans four key areas of focus: mobility, security, education, and healthcare. Partners can draw from this content to share relevant news and information through their Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn channels, helping them connect and engage with their customers.

When you’re already looking at too few hours in the day to run your business, it can be daunting to try to maintain a corporate Twitter feed, Facebook page and LinkedIn presence. The commitment to refreshing content can slide right off the company radar without fanfare. The HP Social Media Center in HP Sales Central has emerged as a power tool for helping partners generate vibrant, updated content that drives online sales and customer engagement.

Active presence on social channels is no longer merely a “nice to have.” Nine out of 10 buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on purchasing decisions, according to a recent CMO Council report.

This is hardly surprising: The new connected customers are more informed and more available for online engagement than ever before. They can easily access all the information they need to move themselves at their own pace through the awareness and consideration cycles, and on to purchase. They compare prices. They read reviews. They can decide for themselves what the most credible information sources are.

In a single sitting, your customer or prospect can call upon industry analysts, experts, product and service information, the opinions of peers and colleagues, customer videos, and more. B2B buyers report that 67 percent of purchase decisions have already been made before ever talking to a sales rep, according to “The Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing,” a study by the Corporate Executive Board.

Meeting this customer where they live means meeting them online, much of the time, and trading the one-way noise of a sales pitch for a conversational exchange. Social marketing works when you are providing useful and relevant information tailored to their needs or interest. Customers are clearly influenced by companies who provide smart, useful information that is relevant to them on a regular, continuous basis.

We’ve been pleased to hear from numerous channel partners who have been using the tools in HP Social Media Center to establish, or reinvigorate, their presence in social channels. We hear stories about the return our partners have seen in increased engagement with customers as a result of leaning into Social Media Center. The new and more meaningful conversations with customers are inspiring interest in, and attention to, the essential role of social media channels in sales engagement. Below you’ll find examples of how two partners used Social Media Center to jumpstart their online engagement.