While most business owners have come to understand the importance of social media marketing, there has been some push back from B2B marketers on the blogosphere who claim that it doesn’t work. The truth is, that recent data has shown that not only do B2B marketers use social media marketing, they are benefiting greatly from it. Any B2B marketer who hasn’t embraced social media marketing should make it their New Year’s Resolution. Here are 10 statistics about social media and B2B marketing that shows the potential that some business owners are mistaken to ignore.
For distributing content, 91 percent of B2B marketers use LinkedIn, 85 percent use Twitter, and 81 percent use Facebook (only 55 percent use Google+ so far). B2B marketers who are doing no social media marketing are putting themselves at a disadvantage.
For B2B companies, they can find fans on Twitter. In 2013, 59 percent of Twitter users visited B2B tech sites compared to 40 percent of average online consumers. Similarly, 30 percent of Twitter users actively search for B2B brands compared to 12 percent of average online user in the same search, according to research from Brafton.
In a recent survey of B2B PR professionals reported on B2B PR Sense, 94 percent said they use social media to promote announcements vs. 71 percent who use press releases. 45 percent said they would use social media if they could use just one promotional vehicle vs. 24 percent who said they would issue a press release.
For B2B organizations that use eNewsletters, Newsletters that include social sharing capabilities show a 158percent increase in CTR.
According to one study, 38 percent of B2B marketers have a defined social media strategy and 11 percent of B2B marketers said that social media was their most effective form of lead generation.
MyCustomer released a report stating that 87 percent of B2B companies view social media (other than blogs) as a highly successful element of their marketing mix. 83 percent say the same for articles on websites, 78 percent eNewsletters, and 77 percent blogs.
An eMarketer survey said the top marketing tactics used by B2B marketers in 2013 were social media marketing (84 percent), email marketing (72 percent), and SEO (56 percent).
Social media isn’t just Facebook and Twitter, 65percent of B2B Marketers Have Acquired a Customer Through LinkedIn.
According to eMarketer, 54 percent of B2B marketers feel organic social media (i.e. not paid content or ads) produced either a high to medium quality of leads.
Nearly half of B2B marketers said their social media activities were either “fully integrated” or “very involved” with company-wide operations in a study reported on by eMarketer.
Despite the wariness that some business owners have for social media marketing, the data should assuage their fears. B2B marketers can benefit just as much as regular companies from the social media revolution. This isn’t just a matter of possibilities. Right now, B2B marketers who will to accept the challenge are reaping great rewards as the statistics of this article have shown. B2B marketers who are dragging their feet on social media marketing need to pick up the pace.