Below is an executive summary of the B2B Social Media Marketing Report. Further analysis – with selected charts and info-graphics – can be found here: The B2B Research Blog
B2B companies on the way to integrating social media
Social media networks are broadly in use among B2B organisations and their usage is set to increase further within the next 12 months. However, at the present stage, B2B companies are still engaged in the process of defining clear direction and strategies for this channel.
This is one of the key findings of B2B Marketing’s first Social Media Benchmarking Report, produced in association with Circle Research, aimed at providing unprecedented insight into social media trends in the B2B arena.
The report shows that 78 per cent of responding B2B organisations are already conducting social media activity, while another 19 per cent are planning to introduce it in the next year. Despite this, only one quarter of respondents have managed to devise a strategic plan to integrate social media activity into wider marketing objectives.
It is also interesting to note that when techniques to develop social media approach and strategy are involved, ‘gut feel’ remains a key consideration, second most popular overall.
In terms of internal organisation, dedicated social media marketing managers remain rare with only six per cent of respondents having appointed one. Among the remainder, there is no clear consensus regarding how social media is managed, with 40 per cent allocating responsibility to one individual as part of their role and another 40 per cent assigning it to a team of people.
Budgets set to increase
Although social media is generally regarded as a key and highly potent marketing channel, this is not necessarily reflected in the way companies allocate their budgets and resources at present. According to the research, only 22 per cent of respondents currently assign a specific portion of their budget to social media.
Furthermore, when considering the proportion of investment in social media against overall marketing activity, it emerged that three out of four B2B companies spend less than 10 per cent of their overall marketing budget here.
It is interesting to highlight that respondents were slightly more inclined to invest time in social media – just under half of them address less than 10 per cent of their total time resources into this marketing channel. However, only 4 per cent of respondents say they dedicate more than half of their time on social media.
These results are likely to be correlated to the relative novelty of social media platforms, which may still be holding back their adoption, as well as to the rather low level of investment required for basic social media activity – such as blog posting, tweeting, etc. – when compared with almost every other kind of marketing activity.
Nevertheless, despite being modest at present, social media budgets are predicted to grow in the future. Looking ahead, three quarters of the B2B companies involved in the survey expect to increase their investments within the next 12 months, with 18 per cent anticipating this increase to be significant and 58 per cent forecasting a slight increase. Within the remainder, less than 5 per cent expect a decrease in social media budget allocation, or don’t know at this stage.
B2B’s social media favourites
In terms of social media techniques in use, the research shows that B2B companies are keen on utilising existing social networks, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, with 90 per cent of respondents using them and none not considering them at all. Other platforms, such as company blogs and online PR emerge as being used by 51 and 50 per cent of respondents respectively, while another 34 and 36 per cent are planning to adopt them in the near future.
Focusing on social media networks, Twitter and LinkedIn appear to be the most popular social networks among B2B brands, with 85 per cent of respondents having a corporate presence on Twitter and 77 per cent displaying a LinkedIn page. Facebook and YouTube are not far behind, as 67 and 66 per cent of respondents respectively have a corporate page on these networks. Other network usage (i.e. Slideshare, Quora, Xing, Foursquare) is much lower at present and consequently their penetration is still quite restricted.
Twitter (81 per cent) and LinkedIn (74 per cent) are also regarded as the most useful social media platforms at present, with Facebook and YouTube slightly further behind.
However, this picture is likely to change. Respondents predict that of the four leading networks, only Youtube will acquire more relevance within the next year, reflecting the growth in importance in video as a marketing channel. B2B companies also expect smaller social media platforms to gradually increase their relevance, with Slideshare in particular set to see its usefulness triple within the next 12 months.
Advertising on social media
Use of commercial social services seems to be still in its infancy in the B2B arena.
The survey suggests that 62 per cent of respondents have not used any advertising or commercial services from social networks at all to date. The key reasons cited for this – ‘other priorities’, ‘don’t understand’ and ‘not good value’ – seem to indicate that the social networks themselves haven’t been good enough at developing and selling their commercial propositions.
This is likely to change soon as social media continues to become more sophisticated. Of the commercial social services that have been used so far, LinkedIn is the most popular (21 per cent), followed by Facebook (15 per cent). Despite being first ranked for usage, Twitter was chosen for advertising only by three per cent of respondents. However, Twitter’s clear intention to monetise its services might create a change in B2B companies’ advertising behaviours.
