Branding // Content marketing // Social Media
May 31, 2017

How DocuSign uses Smart B2B Social Media Tactics to Build Brand Awareness

As part of our reporting on the recent Social Media Marketing World Conference (SMMW17) in San Diego, we’ve been interviewing fellow attendees to discuss their social media programs and learn from each other. We spoke with Laurel Su, social media marketing manager for DocuSign about her social media work in this interview.

QUESTION: What were your expectations for the Social Media Marketing World Conference?

Laurel:  This was my first time at SMMW and I honestly thought the conference would be much smaller. It turns out it’s a massive conference, and influencers/attendees come from very different distinct markets. There were non-traditional marketing people from non-traditional industries.  I loved that. For example, I had somebody from a construction company ask about how she could leverage social media for union workers. Meeting people like that and hearing their unique use cases showcasing how social media is broadening out makes this conference so impactful. It exceeded my expectations because not only did I get to meet fantastic people–such as yourself–but I also got to learn a lot of tips and tricks from my peers.

QUESTION: What was your experience like as a speaker? You were on the panel called “How Brands are Getting Measureable Results with Snapchat” which was held on Friday afternoon.

I was on the panel with Shondra Maloney, @shanda the co-founder of ELVN Digital; Joel Price; and Nick Cicero, @nickcicero,  founder and CEO of Delmondo.  A quick recap of the panel is that while Snapchat doesn’t give you an ‘export file’ option with results in a csv file, you can always leverage basic arithmetic and logic to track results yourself through either geofilters, paid ads in Live Stories, and from KPIs like completion rate, engagement %, follower growth in Snap Stories. Each panelist shared examples for B2B and B2C companies of how we measured and proved an impact through Snapchat.

QUESTION: Is there something you learned at SMMW17  but you haven’t applied yet?  Walk us through something where you thought “Oh! I’m gonna try that.”

Laurel: So a fun secret is I’m not an active social media user. The majority of my accounts are private. But, I’m obsessed when it comes to Pinterest – there’s something very addictive about how you use Pinterest. In fact, one of great things I learned at the Social Media Marketing World conference was that you could explore the use of adwords and SEO for Pinterest posts.

I had heard rumours about that fun SEO tip previously but I had never heard of a B2B company using it in action. There were a couple of speakers at the conference who presented their B2B campaigns specifically in this context and that was incredibly interesting to learn about. It’s a tactic we’re curious to explore since DocuSign, as a SaaS company, isn’t always necessarily as visually enticing as say, AllRecipes or Stitch Fix.

Interestingly enough, when we did a quick search using keywords like ‘work hack’, ‘office tools’, or ‘productivity’, pins about DocuSign  curated by customers and small businesses showed up. Turns out people are making boards about our product and how to use our product. It’s a great opportunity for us to try Pinterest.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Pinterest becomes a variation of Google search.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Pinterest becomes a variation of

Google search,” said Laurel Su.

QUESTION: What is a social program that you’ve rolled out with great success?

Laurel:  Let’s go with Facebook Live since that is the hottest topic of the moment. We were fortunate enough to be whitelisted for the Facebook Live beta where you can boost a live video while it is streaming. The reason this is so impactful is Facebook tells us that people are 3x more likely to watch a video to 95% completion when it’s happening in the moment. That’s the nature of the live content – it’s exciting, it’s real time and it’s the next best thing to being there.

Recently, DocuSign held our customer conference, Momentum. A part of our tactic was to amplify across multiple platforms that a Live event was happening, boost it when it’s live, and then repurpose the video later in the day as FOMO content. As an additional component to our live tactic, we had a Snapchat influencer backstage, Shaun Ayla @ShaunAyala, curating exclusive 10-second interviews with the keynote speakers. Select 10-second interviews on Snapchat were then repurposed onto Instagram Stories. Therefore, we managed to hit every main moment platform with the same content that was repurposed them and repackaged for optimization.

When I pulled the numbers a few days ago, it was so extraordinary that I doubted the excel formula functions and I had to pull out a manual calculator to calculate it for myself. For the record, our budget for paid social wasn’t a crazy amount. We had a limited amount and were able to make a big impact through specific targets. What that says to me is that boosting any type of content, as long as it’s optimized for the platform and audience, is worthwhile with results to prove it.

QUESTION: Is there a social media tactic that you haven’t tried yet that you want to try and what would that be?

Laurel: Instagram Stories is not a solidified tactic for us yet but it has proved to be a great performer. The quirk with Instagram Stories is that you need to understand the overall audience of the platform and then break it down by the followers your brand has curated. It looked like the overall follower base of Instagram were made up of consumers and heavily B2C brands. As a mainly B2B company, we have to brainstorm ways to penetrate that consumer interest.

QUESTION:  Does DocuSign want to educate people to be comfortable using it or to bring it up from their work life?  What is the consumer action that you want to have?

Laurel: We want to ensure that people understand DocuSign’s mission to drive digital transformation. We want to change how business gets done. Everyone is overworked in this generation. People can be seen working from 8 am to 8 pm and think it’s okay. With DocuSign, your deals are expedited, paperwork is taken on the go, and signatures won’t need manual post office visits. What this means is that you can be with your family by 5 pm, sailing in the South of France, or camping in the redwoods.

QUESTION: What tips do you would recommend for people that are just starting out in social media?

Laurel: I think a misconception that a lot of people starting out in social media have is that they should use a million hashtags following a post. By doing so, the assumption is that they will hit all their followers. Then, they will put small amounts of dollars behind those hashtags to attempt and get people using those terms completely forgetting what the end goal was. The goal is not to get gain impressions. The goal is to get high-quality influencers to engage with your post because, even if they are more expensive as a cost per engagement, they are more likely to continuously follow you and engage with as a brand advocate.

QUESTION: You have an interesting background, having worked in the legal industry and working internationally. How did you get into social media?

Laurel: I joined a consulting firm based in the United Arab Emirates after a few years in the legal industry. This firm introduced me to strategizing marketing initiatives for enterprise-level clients. Eventually, I was introduced to Snapchat and started doing work with their localization international team. Our team helped build out international life stories specifically in the MENA and APAC regions.  Eventually, I was offered the opportunity with DocuSign to move back to the Bay Area, manage a community rather than number crunch, and explore art direction for various social platforms.

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