‘Cutting through the noise’ has been revealed as the biggest social media challenge facing B2B brands, according to B2B Marketing’s 2015 Social Media Benchmarking Report.
Thirty-eight per cent of respondents cited ‘cutting through the noise’ as the main stumbling block when it came to social media.
Companies are also struggling to determine their social worth, with 35 per cent encountering ‘difficulty proving ROI’.
However, the study also showed only two in five (40 per cent) senior managers expect their social media channels to accurately demonstrate ROI, while 34 per cent rarely or never expect any proof in regards to ROI.
Yet, respondents were largely confident in their ability to improve ROI over the next year, with 55 per cent expecting a slight improvement and a further 23 per cent anticipating significant gains.
Other significant challenges for social media marketers included ‘lack of time’ (30 per cent) and ‘lack of strategic planning’ (25 per cent).
The report also revealed just 35 per cent of companies use paid-for social media monitoring platforms, perhaps explaining why marketers are struggling to present comprehensive analysis.
An over-reliance on standard website analytics could explain some reservations, with 75 per cent of companies using platforms such as Google Analytics, which only focuses on web traffic from social rather than audience breakdowns, engagement and interactions.
