A WHITEPAPER BY

STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MARKETING

THE 2015

Sample

IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2015, SOCIALIGHT MEDIA MARKETING CONDUCTED RESEARCH TO ASSESS THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL MARKETING AMONG B2B FIRMS ACROSS NEARLY A DOZEN INDUSTRIES…

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

In the first half of 2015, Socialight Media Marketing conducted research to assess the current state of social marketing among B2B firms across nearly a dozen industries. Analysis of the survey data provided rich trends and insights that today’s marketers can leverage as they build out digital strategies for 2016.

The following industries were among those included in this 2015 State of B2B Social Marketing research study:

Electronics

Logistics

Pharmaceuticals

Engineering

Manufacturing

Real Estate

Environmental

Oil & Gas

Software

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PARTICIPATING B2B FIRMS

Below is a sample of the participating firms in the 2015 State of B2B Social Marketing Whitepaper study, from mid-market to Fortune 500.

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KEY FINDINGS

SOCIAL CONTENT AND COMMUNITIES ARE STEADILY GAINING ADOPTION IN B2B INDUSTRIES.

While 69% of B2B firms have incorporated social communities into their digital marketing mix, only 10% believe that they are maximizing the value of their communities. The next stage of social marketing maturity for most B2B firms requires re-evaluating people, process, and technology before social content and communities can drive tangible ROI.

TYING SOCIAL CONTENT AND BRAND COMMUNITIES TO BUSINESS OBJECTIVES IS MISSION CRITICAL.

For most B2B firms, social marketing is still seen as most valuable at the beginning of the Customer Decision Journey, with nearly 90% of firms indicating that brand awareness was a main goal for their digital content and communities. Some firms are, in fact, generating top-line revenue through social marketing, and their content strategy reflects all stages of the Customer Decision Journey.

SOCIAL PLATFORMS VARY IN PRIORITY BASED ON INDUSTRY.

While LinkedIn is critical across all B2B industries, some platforms are a higher or lower priority based on the customer and product or service set. YouTube, across industries, was a distant second, while Twitter was more than twice as critical in the Electronics & Semiconductor industry as compared to the rest of the industries surveyed. Different industries have different Customer Decision Journeys, which require a variable mix of content formats and platforms.

100%

Awareness

Foster Dialog

Sell Products

Acquire Talent

Pull Insights

Customer Service

Other

20% 40% 60% 80%

88% 53% 50% 50% 44% 18% 2%

What are the goals for your branded content?“

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KEY FINDINGS

MOST B2B MARKETERS LACK A UNIFIED DASHBOARD FOR SOCIAL CONTENT & COMMUNITIES.

When it comes to measurement, only 31% of B2B marketers have a unified social dashboard, and only half of those respondents find their dashboard to be effective.

Today, most firms are measuring vanity metrics, such as Likes and Followers, and while most understand that they need to be measuring real business outcomes, like leads, to derive true ROI from social channels, they are not yet sure how to do it.

JUST ONE IN FOUR B2B MARKETERS AMPLIFIES CONTENT REGULARLY WITH SOCIAL ADVERTISING.

B2B marketers are not yet consistently leveraging the targeting and amplification tools available to promote their social content and communities to prospective buyers. Only 25% use social advertising at key times throughout the year, and most have not yet tested social ads on the key social networks in their marketing strategy. Based on the research and recent changes to the major social algorithms, firms are maturing in the way that they measure their media dollars, and therefore the trend is toward increased investment in social ads and amplification.

No Dashboard; Not Measuring

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

No Dashboard; Yes Measuring

Yes Dashboard; Not Effective

Yes Dashboard; Yes Effective

Do you have a unified social marketing dashboard?“

9%

21%

52%

18%

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ACROSS B2B INDUSTRIES, SOCIAL MARKETING BY WAY OF BRANDED CONTENT AND COMMUNITIES HAS BEEN WIDELY ADOPTED…

INCORPORATING CONTENT & COMMUNITIES

CONTENT & COMMUNITIES

Across B2B industries, social marketing by way of branded content and communities has been widely adopted.

Nearly 70% of respondents indicated that social channels are an important part of their organization’s digital marketing mix, while only 13% of respondents suggested that social communities had not yet become a priority.

Of participating firms, the Electronics & Semiconductor Industry had the deepest adoption of social marketing, with 53% indicating that social channels are a high priority because they represent a critical step in the buyer journey.

While 71% of firms said that social communities had at least been incorporated into their digital mix, 53% of all participating firms also indicated that they don’t expect their social marketing efforts to make an impact on their top line sales figures.

This indicates that the majority of firms have not yet been able to strategically connect their content and communities to the Sales side of their organization.

These organizations have bought into the fact that the social web is a part of the beginning of their buyer’s journey (i.e. Awareness stage), but have not yet found a way to leverage their communities for later stages of the journey (i.e. Comparison, Decision, Purchase).

Critical Step

Incorporated

Not Yet A Priority

No Longer A Priority

Other

10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

18% 53% 12% 3% 15%

How does social media factor into your customer experience?“

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Many B2B marketers simply do not have the process, people, or technology in place to derive a hard ROI on social content and communities, making it very difficult to acquire the additional funds and resources needed to fully capture the value of social marketing throughout the Customer Decision Journey.

This chicken-and-egg situation was a key insight in our follow up interviews.

To further drive the insight home, only about 10% of responding firms indicated that social marketing represented a “full opportunity” - that they had a strategy in place, enough resources, and the tactical know-how to maximize their branded content and communities across the social web.

Only about 10% of respondents indicated that social media represented a full opportunity for Marketing…

We’re nearly there

We’re a long way off

Full opportunity

Full obstacle

Other

38%

38%

12%

6%

6%

Does your firm view social media as an obstacle or opportunity?“

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Of the remaining firms, over 75% felt that social marketing represented both a challenge and an opportunity; however, that group was split directly down the middle in terms of their company being either “nearly there” or “a long way off.”

Just 6% of respondents felt that social marketing was a full obstacle for their firm, placing an unwelcome resource strain on the marketing team.

Of those who felt social marketing represented both a challenge and an opportunity, the Environmental Services sector appeared to be the furthest along. Over 60% from that industry indicated they felt their marketing teams were “nearly there” in realizing the potential of branded content and communities.

Just 6% of respondents felt that social marketing was a full obstacle for their firm…

“The opportunity with social marketing is to augment and amplify the digital presence that we already have to build trust with buyers and drive leads.”

Kate Stern, Director of Marketing

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