In 2011, BtoB surveyed more than 550 executives for Emerging Trends in B-to-B Social Media Marketing: Insights From the Field. Three charts about methods and obstacles are yours for the viewing. If you want more information, you can purchase the complete report.
Methods Used for B2B Social Media Marketing
When asked “Which of the following social media methods does your company currently use for your B2B marketing (i.e. not personal use)? (Check all that apply).“, LinkedIn and Facebook almost tied for first place with twitter coming in third. Less than half the businesses use YouTube or blogging as a marketing method. How do you think Google+ will affect these results?
The One Most Important Method of B2B Social Media Marketing
The next chart shows the answers to this question: “Which of the following social media platforms is the ONE most important method that you use for B2B marketing?” LinkedIn leads again with Facebook and blogging coming in close together at second and third place.
Obstacles to Social Media Marketing
The third set of statistics reveals obstacles to social media marketing and answers the question, “What are the top three major obstacles to adopting social media marketing in your company? (Check as many as three).”
If you’re a social media consultant or company advocate, it’s good to know about these objections. How do you overcome them?
70% Lack of resources
57% Poorly defined success metrics and key performance indicators
44% Lack of knowledge about social media
22% Management resistance
17% Confidentiality
15% Legal and regulatory issues
8% Company policies prohibit social media
It would be interesting to compare these findings with other studies or even the results from this report in the prior year. It’s clear that that B2B companies need more social media education as well as a better grip on how to define success metrics and key performance indicators. One way to do this is to work with a social media marketing consultant to align your social media marketing with your business marketing goals. Another important overlay is purpose. Do you think the answers might vary based on marketing, business development, and branding?
