from min B2B
As more consumers engage with social media, two trends within the b2b arena
are becoming clear: b2b marketers are expanding their social media footprint,
and the resultant value of these efforts— including lead generation and customer
conversion—are crystallizing.
This year there are an estimated 127 million users of social networks. That
number is expected to increase to 140 million users in 2011, according to the
new “B2B Social Media Marketing Heats Up” report from eMarketer. And, by 2014, eMarketer predicts that figure will come close to 165 million users, or two-thirds of all Internet users.
B2b marketers are striving to maintain their efforts amid this massive expansion.
According to the eMarketer report, the number of b2b marketers using social
media was 57% in 2009, up from 15% just two years earlier. And data shows that interactive marketing budgets within b2b now comprise 40% of total spend.
As marketers delve in, they are becoming better acquainted with lead generation
and conversion tactics in this new realm.
When it comes to acquiring customers, social networking site LinkedIn takes top
honors (see chart, below right). Nearly half (45%) of b2b companies responding
to an inbound marketing survey reported that efforts on LinkedIn directly resulted
in a new customer.
The second most effective social media tool for converting customers is a company
blog, through which 43% of responding companies gained a customer. Third in the b2b realm is Twitter (38%), and Facebook is the fourth most effective channel, with one-third of companies claiming a conversion.
These conversion rates match the expectations of b2b marketers. According to a separate study from DemandGen that is contained within the eMarketer report, b2b marketers ranked social media channels in the following order as most effective at generating leads: LinkedIn (58%), company blog (35%), Twitter (31%) and
Facebook (17%).