Is B2B on board with social media?
Earnest, a new London-based B2B agency, has put together a rather lovely video illustrating a bunch of research on how business-to-business companies are using social media. The point it makes is that B2B is, in many respects, ahead of B2C in this regard and that business-focused marketers need to get their act together to take advantage.
Of course, despite the impressive statistics on take up of social media by B2B companies, the picture on effectiveness is not so clear. Consider the following (all taken from various Forrester reports):
- Forums are 12 times as effective as Twitter in influencing a tech buying decision
- Search is twice as effective as blogs
- Executive events are almost 100% more effective than social networks in generating leads
- And for 90% of tech buyers, the size of an online community is an irrelevance
With limited budgets, B2B marketers must clearly prioritise where they put their focus. As much as social media is seductive (and effective in part) it is not the only answer or even always the best answer.
Anyway, it's a good video. Take a look.
Jason Ball
Reader Comments (1)
Firstly, fantastic video and some startling statistics. With Social media being trumpted with gusto ( and maybe with great justification ), many people dont consider the basics that your video highlighted. An obvious and telling statistic - 54% of CIO ban social media access in the workplace. B2B branding is crying out to be creative and more so these days, do these stats just add the conclusion that mix and integration is a safe bet?