Developed Cisco's Small Business Social Strategy, Driving 420% More Engagement

Cisco saw small business as a major growth opportunity, but many small business owners didn’t necessarily see an enterprise technology giant as a brand built for them. Cisco Designed was created to close that gap: a new portfolio and digital experience tailored to small businesses that made Cisco’s technology feel simpler, more relevant, and easier to navigate.

I helped develop the social and community strategy supporting the launch, with the goal of changing the perception that Cisco was too big or complex for small businesses, building stronger relationships with the audience, and supporting the broader customer journey.

The work was recognized by the 13th Annual Shorty Awards for the Cisco Designed Instagram account: @ciscosmallbusiness.

Coverage: The 13th Annual Shorty Awards

We set out to rebuild the Cisco Small Business social presence from the ground up, with goals to increase engagement by 30%, increase dialogue by 20%, build a pipeline of user-generated content, and drive demand for the new portfolio.

Audience research, social listening, customer insights, digital behavior, and journey mapping all pointed to the same thing: small business owners valued useful resources, shared experiences, education, peer recommendations, and easy access to solutions more than traditional product marketing.

That shaped how social and Community would work together. Social would make Cisco more human and relevant by putting small business owners at the center of the story; Community would provide the education, support, and peer connection they were looking for beyond the feed.

The strategy focused on three priorities:

• ▸Change perception: Challenge the idea that Cisco was too big or complex for small businesses.
• ▸Create connection: Build more two-way conversation and a pipeline of customer stories.
• ▸Build utility: Connect social with Cisco Community and the broader digital experience, extending the relationship into education, support, and product consideration.

1. 1

   Reset the social channel. We removed bot followers, removed legacy product-heavy content, and relaunched the account with a new visual and editorial direction centered on small business owners.

2. 2

   Designed around how people discovered the brand. Because many new visitors were landing on the profile rather than discovering posts in-feed, we built the Instagram experience around The People, The Technology, and The Dream: who was behind the business, what they were building, and how technology helped make it possible.

3. 3

   Built a pipeline of real small business stories. We sourced stories from across Cisco and turned them into human-centered social content. During COVID, the storytelling evolved to spotlight resilience, optimism, and how small businesses were adapting.

4. 4

   Connected social to a broader customer journey. We partnered across digital experience and product teams to connect Cisco Designed, social, Community, and the broader web experience. We also identified high-traffic Cisco.com pages among small business owners and used contextual placements to direct them to relevant Community resources.