Does Twitter suck for B2B?

It seems everyone is now on board with social media. B2B or B2C, we're all talking the language of communities, conversations and tweets. We are engaging, not marketing (and definitely not selling). And depending which research you look at, marketers are putting more time, effort and even money into their social media activities.

Of course, these activities are generally pretty cheap in pure monetary terms (time is another thing altogether). So when we look at the percentage of overall budget invested in social media, we see social networks taking up around 2%, blogs another 2% and Twitter just 1%*. But the rhetoric is certainly there.

The seduction of big numbers

It's not surprising. When you read every day that Facebook and Twitter have hundreds of millions of users between them, it's no wonder marketers want to be there too. Especially when everywhere else we're seeing our customers fragmenting in a multitude of different directions.

However, there's a hard truth in all this – just because people are there, it doesn't mean they want to see you there too, much less want to buy from you. It's all about context.

Eyes wide shut

In truth, most marketers can't tell what's working and what's not. Currently, 79% don't measure the impact of their social media activities (in fact 43% don't measure the return on their entire marketing investment)**. Fortunately others measure the most important thing of all – customers. Specifically, where they're going and what they're doing there.

Where the B2B buyers are

Focusing on business technology decision makers, Forrester looked at what emerging media people are using to actually inform their buying decisions***. Note to the blogosphere – Twitter did not come top.

The rankings are:

1. Support forums and discussion groups – 53%
2. Virtual trade shows and conferences – 32%
3. Ratings and review sites – 26%
4. Interactive / 3D demos – 25%
5. Private online community sites – 21%
6. Open, public social networks – 20%
7. Wikis – 18%
8. Podcasts (audio and video) – 17%
9. Blogs – 15%
10. Online advertising – 13%
11. Video recordings – 13%
12. Mobile ads, media – 5%
13. Mashups – 5%
14. Microblogs (Twitter etc) – 5%
15. Virtual worlds (Second Life etc) – 5%

The problem is, while the evidence is pointing one way, B2B marketers are happily heading off in another. Some 60% of B2B high tech marketers plan to increase their use of Twitter (in joint last place). Only 32% plan to increase their use of support forums and discussion groups (in spot number one).

Now, like many, I'd love to be a superstar marketer. To do so, I know that I need to make a big noise about shifting from influence to engagement. I need to tell my clients about being part of the conversation, about sitting back and facilitating from afar. And I need to talk down many of the tactics they have used successfully for years.

The problem is, if I do, chances are I'd be harming their businesses rather than helping them.

_______________

* Source: Forrester Q1 2010 B2B Marketing Budgets And Tactics Online Survey With MarketingProfs

** Source: B2B Barometer

*** Source: North American And European B2B Social Technographics® Online Survey, Q1 2010