Download state of b2b social media marketing 2015

STATE OF B2B
SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING
2015
Research Report - June 2015
WHO WE SPOKE TO
In a study that we did earlier this year on B2B marketing trends1, we asked our
respondents which distribution channels in their opinion will see increased adoption
and usage in the year 2015. A majority 62% of respondents chose social media.
In this study, we speak to senior B2B marketers to understand current trends in social
media marketing and the challenges faced by them in implementing a social media
strategy. We also find out which social media channels are popular, and which type of
content in the social platform is effective in meeting pre-sale and post-sale objectives.
The research was done globally with a fair mix of product and service companies.
Source : State of B2B Marketing 2015
1
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 01
KEY FINDINGS:
94%
respondents choose increasing brand awareness as
93%
marketers choose Twitter as the most used
91%
marketers choose LinkedIn as the most used
82%
respondents say their organizations invest in
82%
respondents say they monitor social trends
» tweet this «
52%
respondents say they expect their social media
» tweet this «
key objective of their social media marketing efforts
social media platform
social media platform
social media marketing
budget to go up in the next 12 months
© REGALIX RESEARCH
» tweet this «
» tweet this «
» tweet this «
» tweet this «
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 02
MAJORITY OF ORGANIZATIONS SAY THEY
INVEST IN SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
82 percent of respondents we spoke to, said their organizations invest in
social media marketing.
Interestingly, of those not investing currently, 57% said they would invest in
social media in the next 12 months.
Does your organization invest in Social Media Marketing?
82%
Yes
18%
No
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 03
NEARLY EVERY MARKETER THINKS
SOCIAL MEDIA IS IMPORTANT
99 percent of marketers rated social media as either very important or somewhat important
for their organization.
In your opinion, how important is social media for your organization?
59%
Very important
1%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
40%
Somewhat
important
Not at all important
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 04
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS PRIMARILY
TARGET CUSTOMERS & NEW PROSPECTS
Social media campaigns are primarily targeted at new prospects (93%) and
existing customers (89%); and not so much at trade partners like distributors (21%)
and resellers (17%).
Who is the target audience of your Social Media Marketing campaign?
New prospects
93%
Existing customers
89%
Partners
54%
Distributors
21%
Resellers
17%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 05
INCREASING BRAND AWARENESS
TOPS THE LIST OF KEY OBJECTIVES
OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
94 percent of marketers we spoke to chose increasing brand awareness as the key objective
of their social media marketing efforts. This was followed by lead generation at 69% and
constant engagement at 67%.
Given the power of social media to engage with customers, it is a little surprising to find
brand awareness overwhelmingly top the list of key objectives here; probably a reflection,
we think, of the fact that most organizations still largely use social media as a broadcast or
advertising medium, and not as much for meaningfully engaging with customers.
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 06
In your opinion, which of the following are key objectives
of Social Media Marketing?
Increase brand awareness
94%
Lead generation
69%
Constant engagement
67%
Delivering updates about
company/product
59%
Promote products and offers
56%
Increase customer acquisition
49%
Increase customer loyalty
47%
Advocate our initiatives
39%
Increase customer support
23%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 07
TWITTER & LINKEDIN ARE THE MOST
POPULAR SOCIAL PLATFORMS USED
BY B2B MARKETERS
Twitter (93%) and LinkedIn (91%) were the most used social platforms. The lower rating
given to Facebook (68%) is understandable in a B2B environment.
Given the rising importance of video as content1, we expect YouTube (57%) to gain in
significance in the coming years.
Which of the following social platforms are majorly used for marketing
in your organization?
Twitter
93%
LinkedIn
91%
Facebook
68%
YouTube
57%
Google+
23%
Vimeo
9%
Pinterest
7%
Source : State of B2B Content Marketing 2015
1
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 08
BLOGGING IS THE MOST WIDELY USED
SOCIAL MEDIA TACTIC
79 percent of the respondents we spoke to, chose blogging / microblogging as a
tactic they used to meet their social media marketing objective.
Which of the following Social Media Marketing tactics does your
organization currently use to achieve objectives?
Blogging / Microblogging
79%
Website design / Management
/ Optimization
74%
Content sharing
74%
Webinar
68%
Social media advertising
66%
Social sharing button
57%
SEO for social sites
43%
Social media contents
41%
Social media news release
40%
Social media contests
18%
Interactive posts
16%
Social media apps
13%
Social bookmarking
© REGALIX RESEARCH
4%
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 09
LINKEDIN & TWITTER TOP THE LIST OF
CHANNELS FOUND MOST EFFECTIVE IN
CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
LinkedIn (64%) and Twitter (47%) were the most favoured channels for customer
engagement during the pre-sale stage of the buying cycle; they led the pack for the post-sale
stage of the buying cycle too, but at lower figures with LinkedIn at 51% and Twitter at 42%.
Facebook found greater preference among marketers for post-sale customer engagement
(30%) than it did for pre-sale (17%).
Which social media channel proves most effective for customer
engagement at the pre-sales stage of the buying cycle?
LinkedIn
64%
Twitter
47%
Blog
36%
SlideShare
29%
YouTube
28%
Facebook
17%
Google+
2%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 10
Which social media channel proves most effective for customer
engagement at the post-sales stage of the buying cycle?
LinkedIn
51%
Twitter
42%
Blog
42%
YouTube
33%
Facebook
30%
SlideShare
23%
Google+
5%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 11
PREFERRED CONTENT TYPES DIFFER FOR
PRE-SALE & POST-SALE STAGE
69 percent of our respondents chose case study as the preferred content type for their social
media marketing in the pre-sale stage of the buying cycle. This was followed by blogpost at
62% and whitepaper at 59%.
During the post-sale stage, blogpost (59%) was the most chosen content type, followed by
article at 55%. Case study dropped to third place at 48%.
This is understandable as case studies provide the reassurance that customers seek at the
pre-sale stage, while blogs and articles provide the customer with regular updates which is
more a requirement during the post-sale stage.
What is, however, interesting to note here is the overall drop in the level of engagement in
social media from the pre-sale to the post-sale stage, which is unfortunate, as social is a great
platform for companies to engage with their customers and build loyalty in the long run.
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 12
Which of the following content types reach your customers best via
social media, at the pre-sales stage of the buying cycle?
Case study
69%
Blog post
62%
White paper
59%
Infographics
54%
Articles
43%
Video / Audio content
41%
Survey results
40%
Research report
36%
Social media ad
21%
Online game
4%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 13
Which of the following content types reach your customers best via social
media, at the post-sales stage of the buying cycle?
Blog post
59%
Articles
55%
Case study
48%
Survey results
39%
White paper
38%
Video / Audio content
36%
Research report
34%
Infographics
30%
Social media ad
7%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 14
MAJORITY OF ORGANIZATIONS HAVE
INTEGRATED THEIR SOCIAL MARKETING
WITH THE OVERALL MARKETING PROGRAM
88 percent of the respondents we spoke to, said they have integrated their social media
marketing with their overall marketing program. 13 percent are yet to do so.
Have you integrated your Social Media marketing with the overall
marketing program?
88%
Yes
12%
No
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 15
52 PERCENT OF ORGANIZATIONS
WE SPOKE TO PUBLISH SOCIAL MEDIA
CONTENT MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY
Of the rest, 27% said they publish social media content once a day.
How often does your organization publish social media content?
Multiple times a day
52%
Once a day
27%
Weekly once
16%
Monthly once
2%
Not sure
4%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 16
MOST ORGANIZATONS MONITOR SOCIAL
MEDIA BUT KEEP THE PARAMETERS SIMPLE
82 percent of organizations said they monitor social trends.
When asked what they monitor, 80% chose re-tweets / likes / shares / comments / mentions;
65% chose brand mentions; and only 37% chose sentiment analysis.
When asked whether they track the demographic information of their consumers, only 34%
of the respondents said they do; and when asked if they collected their consumers’ social
graph data, only 27% said they do.
It isn’t surprising to find marketers stick to basics when tracking the metrics of their marketing
programs as was reflected in our study on metrics & analytics done earlier this year1.
Does your organization monitor social trends?
82%
Yes
18%
No
Source : State of B2B Metrics and Analytics 2015
1
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 17
Do you conduct social media monitoring for your organization?
If yes, what do you monitor?
Re-tweets / likes / shares
/ comments / mentions
80%
Brand mentions
65%
Competitive brand mentions
50%
Sentiment Analysis
37%
Do you track demographic information (location, age, gender) about your
consumers as a part of social media content?
66%
34%
Yes
© REGALIX RESEARCH
No
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 18
Does your organization collect social graph data (friends, contacts etc)?
73%
27%
Yes
© REGALIX RESEARCH
No
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 19
RE-TWEETS & LIKES ARE THE COMMONLY
USED MEASURE OF SUCCESS
Re-tweets / share (78%) was cited as the most commonly used measure of success in social
media marketing, followed by fans / followers / likes (66%).
Which of the following metrics are commonly used to measure the success
of Social Media Marketing?
Re-tweets / share
78%
Fans / followers / likes
66%
Comments
56%
Share of conversion
against other channels
36%
Referrals
30%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 20
49 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS SAY LESS
THAN 10% OF THEIR WEBSITE TRAFFIC
COMES FROM SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS
41 percent of respondents pegged the figure at 10% - 25%.
We must hasten to add here that these figures may not necessarily be an actual
measure of the effectiveness of the medium as responses would also be defined to a
large extent by the content.
What percentage of your website traffic comes from
social media campaigns?
Below 10%
49%
10% - 25%
41%
25% - 50%
10%
Above 50%
0%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 21
INCREASE IN LEAD GENERATION &
INCREASE IN TRAFFIC TOP THE LIST OF
BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
74 percent of respondents chose increase in lead generation and 66% chose
increase in traffic as the benefit of social media marketing.
Only 16% chose better business partnership, signalling the fact that social media was used
more to engage with customers than with the trade.
In your opinion, what are the benefits of Social Media Marketing?
Increase in lead generation
74%
Increase in traffic
66%
Increase in global presence
50%
Better prospect / lead insight
48%
Increase in customer loyalty
44%
Improvement in search ranking
42%
Marketplace insight
40%
Better competitive intelligence
36%
Reduction in marketing costs
26%
Improvement in sales
26%
Helps in qualifying the leads
24%
Better business partnership
16%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 22
ASSESSING EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL
MEDIA MARKETING & MEASURING ROI
STILL A CHALLENGE
71 percent of organizations we spoke to, said they were either not able to measure the
ROI of their social media campaigns or were not sure how to; only 29% said they were
able to measure it.
When asked what the key social marketing challenges faced by them were, 57% said it
was assessing the effectiveness of their social marketing activities; and 53% said it was
generating actionable insights from social data.
Interestingly, in an earlier study we did on B2B marketing trends, measuring ROI (along
with converting leads to customers) was rated as the No.1 challenge that marketers
would face in 20151.
While only 27% of the respondents picked creating customer focused content as a
social marketing challenge, we believe this would become an increasingly challenging
area once customer engagement takes center stage in social marketing as opposed to
building brand awareness, as it stands now.
Is your organization able to measure the ROI of your
Social Media campaigns?
33%
29%
No
Yes
38%
Not Sure
Source : State of B2B Marketing 2015
1
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 23
In your opinion, what are the key social marketing challenges faced by
your organization?
Assessing the effectiveness of
social marketing activities
57%
Generating actionable insights
from social data
53%
Aligning social media strategies throughout
different departments within the company
45%
Designing social media strategy
43%
Creating a “Buy-in” among company executives
about importance of social marketing
39%
Lack of qualified prospects / leads
31%
No or little standard benchmarks due to
rapid increase in number of social
27%
Creating customer focused content
27%
Lack of tool and techniques
to gather relevant social data
23%
Lack of expertise
20%
Channels and changes
in technologies
18%
Privacy rules, regulations and
security compliance policies
14%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 24
80 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS SAY
REVENUE GENERATED FROM SOCIAL
MEDIA MARKETING IS LESS THAN 10%
In comparison, the budget for social media marketing appears to be allocated more
generously, with 28% of respondents claiming their social media spend to be between
10% and 25%.
What percentage of your revenue is generated from
Social Media Marketing?
Below 10%
80%
10% - 25%
18%
25% - 50%
12%
Above 50%
0%
What percentage of your marketing budget is currently allocated
towards social marketing?
Below 10%
65%
10% - 25%
28%
25% - 50%
7%
Above 50%
0%
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 25
OVER HALF THE RESPONDENTS WE SPOKE
TO, EXPECT THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA SPEND
TO INCREASE IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS
52 percent of respondents said they expect their social media budget to go up in the
coming year; while the remaining 48% felt it would remain the same.
How do you see your social marketing budget change over the
next 12 months?
52%
Increase
© REGALIX RESEARCH
48%
Remain the same
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 26
FINAL THOUGHTS
The significance of social media in the B2B space is no more a debate.
According to a study done in 2014 by IDG Connect1, 86% of IT buyers are using social media
networks in their purchase decision process.
It is, therefore, good to see a majority of organizations readily investing in it.
Social media marketing today is largely used to build awareness and exposure. Given the
stickiness of the medium and its power to engage, we would like to see organizations
using the social platform more to engage with their customers and prospective buyers, and
building a relationship with them.
We also see a need for analytics to measure and monitor social media activities more
rigorously, so companies can focus on channels that are working for them, and not have to
invest in a social plan that covers as many channels as there are,
which more often they do now.
And finally, we would like to see companies leverage the power of user-generated content in
the social space, something that we did not hear them speak much about in our study.
Source : Connecting conversations to content
1
© REGALIX RESEARCH
STATE OF B2B SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 2015 / 27
ABOUT THE ANALYSTS
Nimish Vohra
SVP, Principal Analyst
Nimish, Senior Vice President, works with CMOs and senior
marketing professionals. His research focuses on customer
experience management, predictive analytics, mobile
enablement and other emerging trends that help customers
leverage technology as an enabler of marketing and
business outcomes.
Srinivasan Seethapathy
Senior Marketing Manager
Srinivasan’s research is focused on optimizing customer experiences
across all channels. His research is aimed at marketers who want to
understand how they can spend their budgets more efficiently by
improving customer experiences across marketing channels.
ABOUT REGALIX RESEARCH
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we help the CMO organization leverage emerging
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