Social Media for B-to-B Marketers

B-to-B marketers came late to the social media party, but once they arrived, their enthusiasm soared. Today, 89% of B-to-B marketers in the U.S. are using social media, says iTracks, in a June 2011 study conducted with the Business Marketing Association (BMA).  In fact, B-to-B marketers’ use of social media may have even eclipsed that of consumer marketers, according to another study from White Horse Productions.

There are a number of reasons for this rapid turnaround. First, the nature of B-to-B buying has changed dramatically over the last decade, as buyers now research solutions to their problems online, instead of calling in a sales person for help. Marketers are well aware that they must be active online, and strive to influence researchers by providing useful content—white papers, research reports, solutions guides, video demos, spec sheets—and making this material easy to find online. Social media is a perfect channel for raising awareness and delivering this valuable content to prospective buyers.

The other reason for social media’s rise in B-to-B is the increased understanding among marketers that, while they are selling to companies, it is still individual people who receive their message and make purchase decisions. Some observers have called this development the “death of B-to-B marketing,” as marketers strive to build relationships with individuals at companies, instead of faceless firms themselves. Social media has speeded this “death,” clearly demonstrating as it does the power of individuals in the buying process. It is obvious that, upon enticing a CIO or a design engineer to follow your company on Twitter, you have a valuable new line of communication into that account.

B-to-B applications

B-to-B marketers are using social media quite differently from their consumer marketing counterparts. The top B-to-B social media applications are:

• Market research. Compared to consumer marketing, where social media “listening” is often about surfacing and solving customer service problems, in B-to-B the big opportunity is around identifying trends, gaining customer insight and understanding the market in general, whether for product development or sales/marketing purposes.
• Thought leadership. In order to influence business buyers as they research solutions online, marketers try to establish themselves as knowledgeable and trustworthy advisors. Blogging, publishing useful reports and papers, participating in forums, and leading online discussions—many social media tactics fit the bill.
• Lead generation. By adding a call to action and an invitation to download content or attend a webinar, marketers can convert thought leadership content into an actionable sales lead. The question of whether to “gate” the content by requiring a name and contact information is a thorny one. Some companies prefer to allow completely free access to content. But without a contact, little active follow-up is possible.
• Lead nurturing. Once a connection is made, social media enhances the variety of “touches” that can be used to stay in contact until a prospect is ready to buy.
• Current customer relationship management. Similarly, social media are ideal communications vehicles for account penetration purposes, to broaden the reach of the sales force and provide ongoing value to customers.

Caption: Business marketer’s assessment of social media ROI, by channel

Source: iTracks BMA Project Case Study Results, June 2011

Case example: Box adds lead generation to its social media program

Box, headquartered in Palo Alto CA, offers cloud-based file sharing and collaboration services to companies of all sizes.   The company has long produced a popular blog, along with Twitter and other micro-blogging messaging. The objectives of the social media program were three-fold: PR, education and support, and Box had successfully built up a pool of 20,000 Followers and 14,000 Likes.

In the last year, the company decided to add lead generation to the mix of objectives.

Within each blog post and tweet, Box inserted a link to an appealingly titled white paper, article or video, leading to a dedicated landing page.

In this example, 11.7% of blog readers downloaded the content and left behind their contact information. Box puts these respondents into an email-based nurturing program, and has already converted a number of them to paid users of the product, with an average order size of over $3,000.

Room to grow

While the vast majority of B-to-B marketers are using social media, these channels can still be deemed experimental. In an Accenture study from May 2011, only 9% of business marketers in North America said they were “very heavily leveraging” social media. When asked why, these respondents said that they wanted improved tools, technology and measurement before investing further. So, in B-to-B, the trend for social media marketing continues to move in a positive direction.

Caption: Changes needed for effective B-to-B social media marketing

Source: Accenture, “Embracing Social Media in a B2B Context,” November 2011

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