‎80% Of B2B Businesses Are Using Social Media For Marketing.

July 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Social media is an increasingly important tool being used by companies to interact with current and prospective customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Indeed, 80 percent of businesses with more than 100 employees are using at least one social media tool for marketing purposes.

When it comes to social media, however, business-to-business (B2B) companies have some unique challenges not shared by their business-to-consumer (B2C) compatriots.

For example, the more complex B2B purchase process (where influencers, approvers, operators/users, buyers, and maintainers each play a role in the purchase decision) makes it challenging to develop a social media engagement strategy for such a diverse audience.

Further, despite a marketing team’s best efforts, ball bearings will probably never have the cool factor of a new pair of Nike running shoes or an iPad.
For reasons such as these, B2B companies have adopted social media more cautiously than B2C ones, although this appears to be changing.
To help members understand how their B2B peers are using social media to communicate externally, we have shared some very recent survey data below.

The Manufacturers Alliance has surveyed its members several times about the impact social media is having on how they communicate externally, especially to current and prospective customers. When we compare the results from our 2009 and 2011 surveys of the Marketing Council (with 35 and 38 respondents, respectively), several trends emerge.

Members are realizing more value in using social media to gather voice of the customer (44 percent saw value in 2011 compared to 28 percent in 2009) and to position their company as a thought leader (63 percent in 2011 compared to 33 percent in 2009). One constant remains between the 2009 and 2011 surveys, however: the greatest value that members derive from social media is building brand awareness.

Not surprisingly, another trend has been the increased adoption rates of major social media vehicles, such YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for B2B marketing purposes. YouTube, for example, is now used by nearly 90 percent of respondents to our 2011 survey, compared to fewer than half only 18 months ago. Twitter, which many members regarded with great skepticism in late 2009, when fewer than 20 percent of respondents were using the tool, is now being used by over 60 percent.
Members Currently Using or Planning to Use Each Social Media Tool in Six Months—2011 versus 2009:

Source(s): Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI
So how are members using these tools and more importantly, what value are they realizing?

Key Social Media Vehicles
There is no one-size-fits-all social media tool. Ninety-two percent of respondents told us that YouTube is effective for branding and awareness. Generally speaking, members find the most value in using YouTube to share training or product demo videos.

According to one member, “We use YouTube to share our expertise with customers and end-users, and to build enthusiasm.” Timken, for example, has a popular series of how-to videos targeted at installers such as this one. Timken has a little fun on the company’s YouTube channel, too. It includes a video of a vintage Big Tim the Train educational cartoon, which has logged over 38,000 views.
Social Media Effectiveness:

Source(s): Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI
Members told us that they find Twitter the most effective vehicle for two purposes: connecting with current and potential customers, and addressing service issues.

Common uses include keeping customers informed of relevant company and product information, events and promotional offers. Caterpillar’s Twitter feed is an excellent example of these tactics in action. In addition, many companies use Twitter to communicate with their investors, and several told us that they find it extremely valuable as a crisis communications tool. Although no social media vehicles scored particularly well for addressing service issues,

Twitter was the best of the bunch. This perhaps is an area where our B2B respondents might leverage the experience of several B2C companies (such as Zappos, Comcast, or Xbox) that have successfully used Twitter as a customer service tool.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents’ companies currently use Facebook (or plan to use it in the next six months). Furthermore, 78 percent find Facebook effective for branding and awareness, and 61 percent find it effective for connecting with current and potential customers.

Overall, members use Facebook for reputation management, building enthusiasm, and engaging diverse audiences. Having contests in which fans submit photos of the company’s products in action is a popular tactic to build engagement. We recommend visiting Ingersoll Rand’s Facebook page where the company uses its wall to address service issues, handle product orders, or share news about community initiatives.

Contact SOS eMarketing for more information about B2B social media marketing,  small business marketing, mobile marketing, internet marketing, blogging, branding, video marketing, luxury marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, Facebook Ads, Facebook Marketing, YouTube Video Marketing, Linkedin Marketing, branding, and integrated eMarketing

Contact:
David Schwartz
SOS eMarketing
www.sosemarketing.com
760.345.5069
davidschwartz@sosemarketing.com
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