B2B marketers are placing heavier emphasis on social media and looking to spend more resources on it.
Social media might not be the top digital marketing channel for them but it certainly got their attention.
While most B2C marketers measure ROI through sales revenue, B2B marketers place more emphasis on traffic, engagement and response.
Catch the actual data below.
1. Social Spending To Rise
Website, Email and SEO are still the “favorites”, but social media is catching up quickly. It was also reported by eMarketer that 45% of respondents are currently using social media in their marketing matrix. That figure was a 9% jump from November 2008, reflecting a steady improvement in B2B social media participation.
2. Why B2B Marketers Use Social Sites
Thought leadership is the top reason why. However, another set of data by Visible Technologies seems to present a different set of reasons. Generating awareness is the top reason, followed by customer engagement.
On the surface, the reasons seem different but they actually mean the same things. Tools like Facebook and Twitter are great for building awareness, relationships and ultimately, trust.
3. How B2B Marketers Measure Social ROI
Web traffic, qualified leads and customer retention are among the key performance metrics used by B2B marketers. Only 12% account revenue as ROI. Also, majority of them kept ROI measurement internal; one-fifth hired an agency to do the job.
An astonishing 21% didn’t bother tracking their campaign results!
The statistic tables are adapted from eMarketer and data via BtoB magazine’s “2010 Outlook”.
