Perceived irrelevance still a barrier

Business-to-business (B2B) companies are participating in the social space, but they are not yet as engaged as their business-to-consumer (B2C) brethren and face greater internal obstacles, according to a report from digital marketing agency White Horse.

Comparable numbers of B2B and B2C marketers were not doing any social marketing at all, but business-oriented firms were much more likely to say they had social media accounts but little marketing activity.

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You can lead some people to water – you just can’t make them drink…

Is B2B on Board with Social?

 

MAY 13, 2010

 

Missed opportunities for some marketers

Despite social media marketing’s popularity, business-to-business (B2B) companies are still fairly new to it. According to a survey from Business.com, 73% of B2B respondents have less than two years of social media marketing experience.

March 2010 research from marketing automation firm Genius.com and BtoB magazine found that about one-half of business-oriented marketers are staying away from social tools such as blogging and Twitter. Facebook was more popular, with nearly three-fifths participating, and business-focused social network LinkedIn was used by three-quarters of B2B marketers.

Both business-oriented social networks and general social networks offer B2B companies a variety of opportunities. They can improve communication between customers, prospects and suppliers; aid collaboration between business partners; help with product development; and identify leads.

B2B companies also have an advantage when using social media because they tend to focus on goals and results, such as leads, that visibly affect their bottom line.

Business.com found in 2009 that those B2B marketers who do use social media tend to do so more extensively than their business-to-consumer counterparts.

Those with at least one profile were more likely to manage a presence on several sites than the general B2B respondents to the Genius.com survey, and were more likely than B2C companies to measure their social success.

“While recent studies have shown that up to 90 percent of consumers are using social media to make their purchasing decisions, B2B marketers seem to be out of step and are using these tools much less frequently,” said the Genius.com report.

 

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©2010 eMarketer Inc. All rights reserved. www.emarketer.com

Check out RENetworks, our private enterprise social network.  In the Resources section under David Nour Articles, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of more than 85 social media / social networking book titles, covering topics from Social Network and Organizations, Marketing, Talent acquisition, and Analytics to name a few.

Sign up free and join us for the conversation.  And here is a small sample…

Social Networks & Organizations

• Relationship Economics: Transform Your Most Valuable Business Contacts Into Personal and Professional Success
• Driving Results Through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth
• Online Research Essentials: Designing and Implementing Research Studies
• Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology
• Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business
• Social Media at Work: How Networking Tools Propel Organizational Performance
• Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to Develop Your Business Online
• Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click
• Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand
• Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer: Earning Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World
• The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media
• The Little Black Book of Online Business: 1001 Insider Resources Every Business Owner Needs
• The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from the Advertising Research Foundation
• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth

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Asterisq just released Mentionmap, an exciting web app for exploring your Twitter network. Discover which people interact the most and what they’re talking about. It’s also a great way to find relevant people to follow.

The visualization runs right in your browser and displays data from the Twitter API.

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