Our friends over at Hubspot tell us that 65% of marketers use Social Media Marketing. Isn’t that just FAN-tastic? (See what I did there?)
But if the statistics from recent surveys and reports are anything to go by, we’re not all optimally using these platforms to fill up our funnel. Sure, we are benefitting from more business exposure (85%), increased traffic (69%) and providing marketplace insight (65%) but how does that ultimately impact the business and translate into tangible metrics that warrants the 20+ hours a week that some 15% of us spend on social media?
Join me for a statistical story outlining where we're going wrong.
Ignoring Lead Generation Opportunities
This chart from Forrester Research indicates how B2B decision-makers use social media. It is clear that a blend of business and personal reasons push these guys to the platforms.
This is backed up by a MediaBistro survey where 55% of the B2B respondents claim they search for information on social media. While ‘information’ is a rather broad term and could refer to many different aspects, I'm willing to bet my last pound that products or services that can be implemented in their businesses would be included in that list.
And yet:
53% of B2B marketers do not focus on social media as a lead generation tactic, instead they cite creating brand awareness, encouraging social sharing for broader reach and gaining trust and followers as the top 3 aims of social media. (Eloqua)
Leaving Out LinkedIn
Remember that chart up there? Remember how it showed that 74% of B2B decision makers visited LinkedIn at least once a month for primarily business or both business and personal purposes?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that LinkedIn is the most effective platform with 65% respondents of a Marketing Charts survey stating that they acquired a customer through the professional network.
And yet:
Compared to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn trails in adoption and utilisation with only 51% of B2B companies including it in their social media presence. (Eloqua)
Failing to Measure Metrics that Matter
A significant 83% of marketers told Social Media Examiner that social media was important to their businesses.
And yet:
Almost half, 49% to be precise, of B2B marketers do not measure the return on investment of social media activities. Instead we shy away to the ‘safe-haven’ of web traffic (60%), sales lead quality (51%), social sharing (45%) and sales lead quantity (43%). (MyCustomer.com)
Can you think of any other ways that B2B marketers do not fully utilise social media platforms or any social media marketing tips? Share your thoughts in the comments.
