And, like good old bus stop advertising, where people congregate ... Social media accounts for less than 10% of ..... media campaign and have now made it a.
B2B Marketers on Social Media A report by WPR Agency
Introduction It is not hyperbole to say that social media is transforming our daily lives, the way we communicate, keep in touch with people and buy goods and services. If you haven’t got a Facebook account the weight of peer pressure to get one is enough to make even the most social media-phobic sign up. The professional without a LinkedIn account is the exception rather than the rule. And, like good old bus stop advertising, where people congregate advertisers want to be. Global social media advertising spend jumped 43.1% in 2012 to $16.9 billion with similar growth rates forecast in the coming years. But, unlike their B2C counterparts, B2B marketers have, in general, taken a more cautious approach to the adoption of social media. Which begs the question, is the B2B marketer inherently more conservative than a B2C marketer or do they harbour deep seated doubts about its suitability? Or is it just that many B2B marketers refuse to join the headlong dash for a social media presence and prefer to bide their time? We decided to find out by contacting 50 B2B marketers, those who have ‘gone social’ and those who haven’t. We wanted to know what they are doing or their reasons for not doing social media and, crucially, what has driven them to make their decisions. When we had the idea for this survey, we were concerned that many B2B marketers would be just too pushed for time in order to take part. In actual fact, it has become clear, there is a very healthy debate going on about the role that social media can play in B2B marketing. The results of this research, along with the comments from editors either via email or follow-up phone calls have been insightful and profound. We owe every B2B marketer who took part a huge debt of thanks.
Tom Leatherbarrow Head of Business to Business WPR Agency
Methodology A combination of online and qualitative research in the form of extended telephone interviews was undertaken with 50 B2B marketers. A total of 20 questions were asked in the online survey over a two-week period.
Summary of results •
Social media accounts for less than 10% of marketing activity with 61% of B2B marketers.
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91% of respondents say their use of social media will increase in the next five years.
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32% of B2B marketers have no social media measurement criteria.
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Only 25% of marketing teams have a dedicated in-house social media resource.
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25% of B2B marketers say social media is vital for SEO.
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81% of B2B marketers are using Twitter.
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46% of companies categorise their social media stance as ‘cautious still considering’.
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39% of B2B marketers manually monitor social media channels.
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32% of companies have no social media policy in place for employees.
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36% of B2B marketers would never try any paid for form of marketing activity on social media.
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30% of B2B marketers will be allocating more budget to social media in 2013/14.
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Social media for B2B marketers, is it personal or professional? Most interestingly, only 9% of respondents have a blog, which suggests that the vast majority of B2B marketers are consuming rather than generating content and that time is a critical issue for them. Overall the answers suggest that B2B marketers have embraced social media, at least on a personal level with 56% of respondents having a Twitter feed, 71% a Facebook page and 77% a LinkedIn profile.
All respondents highlighted Pinterest as a key channel which may be due to the highly visual nature of the content that can be posted. It is worth noting that all respondents who selected ‘other’ cited Pinterest as a feed they used personally, presumably due to it being a highly visual and creative platform.
Which social media feed do you use personally? 90.0% 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn
Blog
Other (Please specify)
Corporate attitudes towards social media Whilst many B2B marketers have been quick to embrace social media on a personal level, many have been slower to make the move in their professional lives. We asked the question: How would you describe the attitude of your company towards social media? Whilst a healthy 20% regarded their company as being an ‘early adopter’ of social media, 45.5% answered that their stance was ‘cautious, still considering’. Twitter (82%) was by far the most popular social media channel, followed by YouTube (68%) and Facebook (59%). Almost half of respondents suggesting they were still cautious but, interestingly, have started using the key social media platforms, building their presence slowly. When using this tactic we recommend assigning relevant KPIs against social activity to ensure all areas of management can better understand the value. LinkedIn, whilst being the most popular channel for B2B marketers to network on a personal level, only registers 48% at a corporate level, confirming our suspicion that LinkedIn is primarily still being used as a personal career rather than a corporate networking tool. Blogs were only used by 34% of respondents which would suggest that blogging is perceived as having a higher barrier to entry in terms of content generation than Twitter. Although the SEO value of blogging vastly outweighs that of Twitter it would appear this message is not getting through from social
media agencies. We need to better educate clients about the benefits and re-use of content online. Finally we asked about employee support for social media activity. 23% of respondents said that directors and top-level management were supportive, but it is clear that social media largely remains within the confines of the marketing department with 61% of respondents declaring that employee support is mainly confined to the marketing team.
“We would like to proceed with social media, but currently have issues with our online presence, in that the website is not in a place that we would want to drive online traffic towards.” Anonymous B2B marketer
How would you describe the attitude of your company towards social media? 50.0% 45.0% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0%
Early adopter
Generally accepted
Cautious, still considering
Adamantly against
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“Brand awareness was a key driver, we wanted to reach a younger target audience and update the perceptions of our brand.” Anonymous B2B marketer
Which social media channel is right for me? We asked respondents what methods were used to choose different social media channels. 50% responded that a member of staff had researched different platforms, whilst 40% said that a decision was taken to just set up on the main platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), which neatly links back to those who described their company as being cautious. 34% had employed a dedicated agency to research what channels their audiences used. Interestingly, peer pressure does not appear to be strong amongst B2B marketers with only 5% responding that they took a lead from competitors.
We then asked for the main driver behind using social media. 88% responded that it was another method of communication with customers which demonstrates that B2B marketers are fully aware of the benefits of creating a positive dialogue with customers. 59% responded that social media was a way of enhancing current marketing activity with 32% indicating that generating sales leads was a primary motivation.
How did you research social media? 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Employed an A member of agency to staff researched research where platforms our audience was most prevalent
Took a lead from what competitors were doing
We set up on the main platforms to ensure we had presence
We don’t use social media
Social media as a proportion of marketing activity One of the crucial issues for B2B marketers is what proportion of the total marketing activity should now be migrated online. We asked the question: What proportion of your marketing is now social media related? The vast majority of B2B marketers, 61%, responded that social media is currently less than 10% of their total marketing activity with only 2% of respondents declaring that social media activity accounts for more than 50%. However, it is clear that B2B marketers are watching the development of social media closely and are preparing to increase its footprint in their marketing plans. We asked the question: How do you anticipate that your use of social media will change over the next five years? 91% of respondents replied that they expected their use of social media to increase over the next five years with no respondent expecting their use of social media to decrease.
What proportion of your marketing activity is now social media related?
None Less than 10% 10-25% 25-50% More than 50% All activity is now online
“We set up on Facebook, but then quickly removed ourselves as we found it was just a quick way to complain and jump to the front of the queue to get action.” Anonymous B2B marketer
All of this suggests that B2B marketers are more reluctant to make the leap into social media until they perceive a clear benefit and, more importantly, one that can be measured.
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The value of social media
“I think social media is valuable, but I can’t prove its value.” Anonymous B2B marketer
Measurement is a hot button issue for marketers with all activity expected to show a quantifiable return on investment. We asked our B2B marketers how they gauged social media success? The clear majority answer was engagement levels with 64% of respondents declaring that conversations, shares and click through rates were their primary form of measurement to determine ROI. 48% of respondents told us that social media success was measured by visits to the website with only 18% of respondents measuring the direct impact of social media on sales leads. All of this suggests that marketers are struggling to measure the contribution that social media can make to the sales funnel. B2B marketers know that social media is having an effect in raising awareness, but is this converting to enquiries, leads and sales? A number of the written responses from B2B marketers confirmed this, such as: “I don’t know how we measure it” and “we currently use social media for engagement, but we need to outline more measureable KPIs soon.”
How do you monitor social media success? 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Sales leads
Visits to website
Engagement levels We have no (conversation, social media shares click measurement throughs) criteria
Social media and SEO Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a key benefit of using social media. We asked our B2B respondents how important social media is in driving traffic to their company’s website? 25% responded that social media was very important for driving traffic with 41% responding that it was relatively important, which suggests that a large number of B2B marketers are now configuring their marketing objectives towards more inbound tactics. Interestingly, 34% of respondents replied that social media was not important for driving traffic to their website or did not know its importance because it had never been measured.
We then asked how important social media is perceived to be for SEO purposes. Once again 25% responded that it was very important whilst 55% responded that it was relatively important. 21% did not know which suggests that the positive message concerning the benefits of social media for SEO is all too often not getting through.
How important do you think social media is for SEO purposes?
Very important Relatively important Not important at all Don’t know
How important is social media in driving traffic to your website?
Very important Relatively important Not important at all Don’t know
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In-house social media resource Resource is a key issue in maintaining a strong social media presence. As we have already seen, one of the more time consuming channels to populate with high quality content is a blog and it is no surprise that Twitter and LinkedIn are more popular channels. This resourcing issue was clearly demonstrated when we asked the question: Do you have a dedicated social media marketing professional? Only 25% of respondents answered that there is dedicated in-house resource with the vast majority (75%) answering in the negative. The large number of ‘no’ answers would suggest that the use of dedicated social media agencies is on the increase, but we also suspect that many B2B marketing departments are falling into a grey area between dedicated in-house resource and an outside agency, which results in no social media resource at all. Interestingly, we then asked the question: Do you believe you will have a dedicated social media marketing professional in the next five years? 21% of those who do not currently have a dedicated in-house resource responded positively.
Do you have a dedicated social media marketing professional?
Yes No
If not, do you believe you will have a dedicated social media marketing professional in the next five years?
Yes No We already have one Don’t know
External social media resource We then asked our B2B marketers whether they used an external agency for social media support. Interestingly the respondents were split almost 50/50 down the middle with half using an external agency and half either in-house or with no social media resource at all. Of course, external social media agencies can be utilised in a number of ways. We therefore asked the question: How involved is your agency in social media activity? The vast majority (54%) answered that their agency gave them full support including daily monitoring. 37% responded that their agency ran tactical campaigns whilst 25% answered that their agency is used for idea generation with the legwork done inhouse.
How involved is your agency in your social media activity? 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% We use them for idea generation then do the leg work in-house
They run tactical campaigns for us
They give us full support including daily monitoring
Don’t know
We then asked our respondents whether they use a stand-alone social media agency or use the social media expertise within their current marketing or PR agency? 66% responded that they use their current agency for marketing, PR, advertising and digital with only 10% using an agency for purely digital work.
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Monitoring and Control “Social media is really something we would like to work with but have concerns regarding control, resource and what message we want to portray. All of this is compounded by the lack of a suitable website.” Anonymous B2B marketer
The monitoring of social media and its policing is a major issue for B2B marketers and a potential barrier to entry for many. 39% of our B2B marketers responded that social media was monitored manually whilst 16% paid for online software and 23% tracked click through rates to the corporate website. Interestingly, 36% of B2B marketers responded that there is no regular monitoring of social media channels which illustrates that many B2B marketers are not setup to monitor conversations and are not fully engaged with what is being said online about their brand.
strict guidelines for employees in regard to what can and cannot be said online. 50% of our B2B marketers responded that a social media policy is in place within their organisation whilst 18% responded that a social media policy is being put in place at the moment. However, not all corporates are taking the threat to corporate reputation from social media as seriously as perhaps they should. Our survey uncovered that 32% of B2B respondents have no corporate social media policy in place.
Control of social media is also a significant issue for B2B marketers with many companies now issuing
How do you monitor your social media channels? 45.0% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Manually
Paid for online software
We just track link click throughs
We don’t
Paid for marketing activity and social media budgets Social media also affords the opportunity to run paid for marketing activity such as promoted tweets and Facebook competitions along with advertisements. When we asked our B2B marketers if paid for marketing activity on social media was part of their repertoire of tactics 36% responded that they either regularly used paid for activity or are planning to in 2013.
“This is an area we are keen to explore so we are openminded at present, but realistic budgets are critical to us making the leap.”
However, 36% of responders appear adamantly against such activity declaring “it’s not something we’d try”. A further 9% responded that it was a tactic they have used in the past but “did not see much ROI” with 21% responding that they “don’t know”. We then asked whether our B2B marketers intended to allocate more budget to social media in 2013. The answers clearly indicate that social media budgets will only grow in the coming years with 30% replying that “we will be allocating more budget”. 70% replied that they intended to keep budgets the same in 2013 with no respondents indicating that they would reduce budgets.
Anonymous B2B marketer
Do you run any paid marketing activity on social media (i.e. Facebook competition apps, Facebook ads, promoted tweets etc) ? 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Yes, regularly
We are planning to in 2013
We tried bt don’t see much ROI
It’s not something we’d try
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Conclusion - the challenge for social media When we commissioned this research we expected to find some conservatism, even reluctance, amongst our target audience of B2B marketers. However, it is easy to mistake a considered approach for caution. It is clear from these results that there is very little herd mentality amongst B2B marketers; they will make the jump when it is right for them and their companies, not just because everybody else is doing it. This approach has to be applauded, but it is clear that other barriers do exist to B2B participation in the social media revolution. The lack of dedicated resource, either in-house or agency is clearly hampering the uptake of social media. But it is also clear that many B2B marketers have How would you rate the value your company concerns that their gets out of social media? websites are not places they would 45.0% want to drive traffic 40.0% to. The response 35.0% “our website is not 30.0% in a place that we 25.0% would want to drive 20.0% online traffic 15.0% towards” is, in our 10.0% experience, all all5.0% too-common 0.0% frustration. It’s proved Extremely Fairly No Not valuable
valuable
useful
difference
valuable
The other key issue is measurement. The phrase, “I think it is valuable but I can’t prove its value” illustrates the dilemma facing many B2B marketers. Our argument would be that social media is significantly more measurable than traditional media channels, particularly in terms of its contribution to the sales funnel and its ability to help build a database of potential customers. In the era of permission-based marketing this information is invaluable. The danger for B2B marketers is that these barriers will continue to prevent them taking the opportunity to transfer content from more traditional media channels to new social media channels. In simple terms, a press release can easily become a tweet and a comment for the trade media is easily made into a blog all of which can help drive people towards the corporate website. Agencies have a key role to play in breaking down these barriers, but we must be careful not to turn social media into a black art. One of the key challenges for consultants is to avoid the temptation of erecting barriers to entry with too much talk of etiquette and protocols which will be self-defeating. UItimately however these are minor concerns. As the graph on this page shows, many B2B marketers are already finding real value from social media. In the future we can only see this increasing further.
Case study - Norbar Torque Norbar Torque based in Banbury is a classic B2B company. One world’s leading manufacturers of torque wrenches, the company sells is torque wrenches, multipliers and calibration equipment across the world, with wholly-owned companies, joint ventures and distribution agreements spanning every continent, from the United States to India, France, Japan and Australia. Norbar’s approach to marketing was based on a variety of methods, including advertising print advertising, low-level PR and digital marketing with a website and YouTube channel. “We have always been forward-thinking company in terms of our marketing,” says Philip Brodey, sales and marketing director. “There is always pressure to stay ahead of your competitors, so we took a similar view with social media to that of the web, and became earlyadopters with a six-month social media trial.” Norbar employed WPR to devise a PR and social media strategy which would open up new channels of communication with its dealers and customers. The strategy was to put high quality content into both traditional and social media and drive traffic and sales leads back to the Norbar Torque website. The chosen channels, alongside YouTube were the Norbar Torque blog; use of Twitter to create a niche community; Facebook and selected use of e-shots.
approach, advising customers and potential customers about specific torque related issues, such as how to use a torque wrench; the need for regular torque wrench calibration; the problem of over-torquing and the danger of ‘white finger’ when using impact guns. To date the campaign has achieved a total social media reach of 292,563 with the blog achieving nearly 13,000 page-views in its first 18 months of operation.
Norbar Torque on social media YouTube
7,800 views per month
Website
15,000 visits per month
Facebook
10,192 likes
Blog
400+ plus visits per month
E-shots
Above average read-rate of 23%
Twitter
600 followers
Crucially, the campaign has taken an issues-based
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“We’ve been delighted with our social media campaign and have now made it a permanent fixture of our marketing effort. With WPR’s help we’ve facilitated positive in-bound marketing which has positioned us as experts on torque-related issues and helped drive leads into the sales funnel.”
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