Social media is still not a strategic issue in B2B organisations, according to B2B Marketing’s latest Benchmarking Report.
It shows that, despite an enormously high level of interest in social media among B2B companies, much of the activity is tactical and tentative, and has yet to be aligned with organisations’ strategic business or marketing plans. Only a quarter of B2B companies have a formal social media strategy in place, and 19 per cent have a formal budget for social media activity.
The report underlined the importance of the dominance of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook in current B2B social media activity, but suggested that use of niche or industry vertical networks, as well as Youtube will grow strongly in coming months. Results also showed that, to date, B2B brands are failing to integrate social media with their lead generation or nurturing activity, and therefore missing an opportunity to measure or demonstrate ROI for this channel.
Joel Harrison, Editor of B2B Marketing, comments, “Most B2B marketers recognise the potential of social media, but this research shows that very few business brands really understand how to use it best.”
He continues, “The is the first study of its kind and the data is truly ground breaking. The Report contains a wealth of data, on B2B brands from all sectors are using social media, which will prove invaluable to marketers seeking to benchmark their current activity.”
The report was produced in association with Circle Research and based on a survey of 220 client-side marketers, who completed an online survey in April.
B2B Marketing’s Social Media Benchmarking Report is available free to Premium Members, or otherwise can be purchased for £150 plus VAT online at www.b2bmarketing.net/resources/social-media-benchmarking-report An executive summary is available to download for free.
Premium Membership costs £395 plus VAT, and includes access to all B2B Marketing’s Benchmarking Reports, Best Practice Guides, Technology Evaluation Guides and a subscription to B2B Marketing magazine. For more information go to www.b2bmarketing.net/membership
