Canadian Marketing Blog

Social Media in B-to-B Survey

Our most recent b-to-b social media survey examined a wide range of issues, including strategy, budget, tactics and measurement. While social media appears to have moved past the “shiny new toy” phase, clear goals are still evolving. Companies must understand opportunities and limitations as they move beyond trials to integrate social media with more established marketing functions

During the past 24 months, SiriusDecisions has collected data and insight about the evolution of social media in b-to-b as related to awareness, adoption, measurement and much more. In this post, we review a few findings from our 2009 Social Media in Business survey.

A cross-section of b-to-b organizations that sell complex, enterprise b-to-b products and services participated in the quantitative portion of the survey, which was co-sponsored by social media vendor Visible Technologies. Appropriate data and insight from SiriusDecisions benchmarking activities, consulting engagements and client inquiries were added to the sample as appropriate. As observed in prior surveys, all phases of marketing – including reputation initiatives – are now being more closely evaluated to determine return on investment. While there is a general understanding that social media is not necessarily the most efficient direct demand creation engine (especially in the short term), leading-edge organizations are increasingly testing new ways of integrating social media initiatives with other key marketing activities. Once organizations have gained working knowledge of how various social media activities can impact their prospects and customers at which particular points in the buying cycle, they can better align social media content to demand creation and sales enablement.

Our survey tracked the behaviors of b-to-b organizations around a number of social media activities. Specific observations in two areas include:

One: Usage and Objectives. We asked organizations to rank order how they are using social media, with the most important objectives listed first. While there was no dominant consensus, generating awareness ranked highest (26% of respondents) followed by engaging with customers to promote loyalty and retention (18%), and interfacing with analysts and other influencers (16%). Marketing specific products finished fourth in the rankings (15%). Each of the top four responses points to active, information-to-the-market type activities; monitoring and responding to customer support issues finished immediately behind the group. Perhaps this information feedback use is assumed to be part of all social media initiatives; however, the value of social media to constantly take the pulse of the market and its perception of your organization’s reputation should not be underestimated. Without a formal process or dedicated resources to monitor market perception, a company can be easily overwhelmed by misunderstandings or misinformation, hindering its ability to make any headway in the social media space at all.

Two: Demand Generation Support and Alignment. Studies by SiriusDecisions of broader reputation activities during the past 24 months have revealed a growing trend toward integrating reputation and demand creation. In our last survey, 33% of organizations reported that more than half the time, they linked their reputation with demand creation activities. In our social media survey, only 15% of respondents reported that more than half the time, they use social media to support their demand creation efforts. More than two-thirds of respondents reported that 25% of the time or less, they align social media with their demand creation activities. Clearly, organizations are still in need of a strategy to best leverage social media within the demand creation process. Organizations must begin to consider the ways that social media tactics can be applied beyond the top of the demand waterfall, such as for pipeline acceleration efforts and more comprehensive, just-in-time sales readiness.

Slowly but surely, social media technologies and systems are emerging from their initial perception as just a shiny new toy to be played with, then discarded. As organizations identify and recognize the risks and rewards of social media, they have begun to clarify best usages and objectives for specific initiatives, as well as to learn both the nuances and positioning of various social media properties such as Twitter and Facebook. Knowing which watering holes are frequented by which audiences – and what types of content can best influence them – can help marketing and sales organizations better customize messages. All of this guidance and information helps organizations understand the optimal role of social media for supporting broader demand creation and sales initiatives.

I agree that the jury is out on whether social media delivers as a lead generation type of marketing model. But perhaps the context to consider social media in is that of marketing mix.

For instance, what would you combine Facebook and Twitter with to ensure that you could qualify members of your network better, such that you may be able to target messaging more effectively to these social network segments?

Thanks for your response, Arturo.

Originally launched in 2004 as a networking site for college students, Facebook quickly moved off-campus and into the public domain. Users enjoy being able to share their lives in a highly personal way through a variety of communication features; Facebook also supports a number of third-party applications that are meant to enhance the user experience. While Facebook is Web-based, part of its success can be attributed to a robust mobile platform that replicates many key features.

For businesses, the primary Facebook feature of interest is what are known as “fan pages.” While there are limits on the way a fan page can be used compared to a personal profile, companies can add and communicate with friends, post updates, add content and include links back to a Web site. There are three critical areas of focus in relation to these fan pages, including:

• Build your fan base. Expecting targets to somehow find a fan page once it’s built will only yield disappointment. Instead, get customers and prospects to become fans through a combination of search, links from other social media efforts (e.g. Twitter) and a direct outbound effort using email. A link to the fan page should find its way into most, if not all other outbound communications, and it can be trumpeted at events.

• Engage your fans. The best way to engage fans upon their visit is to post exclusive content and encourage fan-to-fan interaction. You can try to push customers and prospects to your Web site for more information, but recognize that some will only use Facebook; thus, make sure any essential content is posted there.

• Keeping fans. Proactively reaching out to fans can be a good way to remind them of the page over time and to heighten awareness around new content posted or discussions that have begun. Make sure to respond to any questions or issues – positive or negative – that are raised, and provide incremental links where related information can be obtained (e.g. other trusted industry or general news sources, or blogs/communities that a fan might want to add to their rotation).

In some corporate circles, Facebook’s perception has broadened from personal hobby to something with potentially genuine business value. But as with any social media site or tool, the optimum rules of engagement are still being written. While any opportunity to engage with your customers and prospects is worth examining, there are still many companies that view Facebook as a waste of time. If this includes your competition, consider it an opening to align closer with their customers and even establish a leadership position to drive fans.