10 must know stats that are shaping B2B social media

September 24, 2013

After our recent accolade claiming a top 10 spot in the Cision’s best UK social media blogs, I thought it would only be right to give you a little top 10 of my own. At our B2B breakfast event last week, and in conversations with our B2B clients, we find ourselves referring to a number of telling stats from various pieces of research. When you look at these findings and combine with feedback from your networks, insights, market trends and just plain common sense it is clear to see the shift and re- shaping of B2B social media. This should not be just for the reference of marketers but for sales teams, customer service, senior management, subject matter experts, CEOs etc.

Here are 10 must know facts (click-to-tweet), and how they are shaping the social landscape:

(1) 60% of the B2B purchase journey is undertaken without engaging a sales rep and (2) The average consumer consults 10.4 sources when making a purchase decision

Whilst there is a consumer stat in here, we know that this translates into the B2B world. Buyers are doing their own research, consuming content before engaging with a representative of the company. So your content matters, and so does how you get in-front of prospects and customers. Sales people have to work hard to engage buyers earlier in the purchase journey, they need to use the quality content that is that their disposal to help nurture prospects. See where social may fit?

(3) 87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content and (4) The average B2B content marketer is using 12 tactics

This tells us is that there is a deluge of content forming in social! Some good, some not so. And it is going to get even more crowded (5) 82% of B2B marketers are increasing their content production in the next 12 months.

The quality of your content is vital to get cut through and just putting out in social media as a tick box exercise is not enough. It is vital to find the sweet spot for your content between what your customer needs, what they are already talking about and how your organisation communicates its own messages while still adding value. How do you target and maximise the effectiveness of this content through social? Where is your target audience communicating and how do you get it in front of them, and most importantly engage them with it?

(6) 66% of B2B decision makers say they use LinkedIn when identifying suppliers and (7) And 55% for those who cite Twitter

Not only are buyers consuming more content but they are turning to their networks for recommendations. Sure, they will still do this physically in-person, by phone, on email but when you consider that (8) there are over 14 million UK members on LinkedIn and (9) the average LI user has 393 connections you get a sense of the scale of the opportunity.

And finally, (10) 82% of employees say they trust a company more when the CEO and leadership team communicate via social media. This is not just about marketers, this is about as an organisation embracing the change that social and mobile technology has thrust upon us. There are huge internal benefits to a workforce full of trust (attrition rate, productivity, creativity, the list goes on). Ultimately though, getting back to the bottom line…

People buy from people. A network of connected employees embracing social media will give your organisation a personality, a face to the name, trust and above all else an increased chance of converting the buyers of today.

Sources:

Image: © Content Marketing Institute, “B2B Content Marketing” Slideshare.

Image source: Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing 2013: Benchmarks – https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/

Research & Slideshare sponsored by Spiceworks – https://www.slideshare.net/hschulze/b2b-content-marketing-trends-2013

LinkedIn self service ad tool – https://www.linkedin.com/advertising

LinkedIn portrait of a user infographic – https://www.powerformula.net/blog.html?p=2347

B2B Marketing – https://www.b2bmarketing.net/

Google ZMOT – https://www.zeromomentoftruth.com/

Content Marketing Institute – https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/2013-b2b-content-marketing-research/

eMarketer – https://www.emarketer.com/Article/CEOs-Who-Tweet-Held-High-Regard/1008929

Marketing Leadership Council in Partnership with Google – https://ssl.gstatic.com/think/docs/the-digital-evolution-in-b2b-marketing_research-studies.pdf

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