This document discusses how B2B marketers use social media. It finds that most B2B marketers use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, with Facebook being both the most used and most important platform. However, LinkedIn and Instagram are growing in importance while Facebook and Twitter decline slightly. B2B marketers are placing more ads on Facebook and Instagram than other platforms like LinkedIn. The document also examines how B2B tech buyers engage via social media and leverage peer recommendations over marketing materials. Finally, it provides some new ideas for B2B marketers to try on social like click-to-expand tweets, photo albums on Facebook, and using animations and videos with text.
3. B2B Sales
Are 2X
B2C Sales
B2B B2C
U.S. E-commerce Sales
$1.1T
$517B
*Digital Commerce 360 B2B Report, 2019
4. - Edwin Vlems, Inbound Specialist and Teacher
“Most of marketing education is
focused on consumer products like
beer or soap.”
5. - Random dude at SIC, probably
“All the stuff I see online mostly
applies to B2C, not B2B.”
6. Head up social at Yesler, a B2B
marketing agency
We work out of the Smith Tower
I LOVE to ski
Am on ALL the social channels
@SethAYates
About Me
7. What We’ll
Cover Today
The difference between B2C /
B2B
Data on how B2B marketers
use social media
New ideas to try on social as a
B2B marketer
Questions
9. A form of transaction between
businesses
A form of transaction between a
business and an end-user consumer
B2C
(business-to-
consumer)
B2B
(business-to-business)
11. *Most times, but not always
If you can buy it in a store,
it’s probably a B2C transaction.
12.
13. In data we trust
Data: How
B2B
Marketers Use
Social Media
14. LinkedIn lost the title last year, couldn’t
regain this year
Instagram grew the largest this year
(10%)
Most B2B
Marketers use
Facebook
FACEBOOK
LINKEDIN
TW ITTER
INSTAGRAM
YOUTUBE
PINTEREST
MESSENGER BOTS
SNAPCHAT
91%
80%
67%
66%
54%
25%
15%
4%
PLATFORM USE:
B2B MARKETERS
*Social Marketing Industry Report, 2019
15. But Facebook did drop in importance
from the year prior
So did Twitter
LinkedIn and Instagram grew in
importance this year
Facebook
Also Most
Important
Channel 48%
30%
9%
5% 4%2%
1% 1%
Most Important Platform:
B2B Marketers
Facebook LinkedIn Instagram
Twitter YouTube Messenger bots
Pinterest Snapchat
*Social Marketing Industry Report, 2019
16. B2B marketers are placing more ads on
Facebook than any other platform
They are also now placing more ads on
Instagram than LinkedIn *LinkedIn ads are
expensive
What About
Paid?
*Social Marketing Industry Report, 2019
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRA
M
LINKEDIN
65%
30%
24%
PLATFORM USE FOR ADS:
B2B MARKETERS
17. Twitter
Becoming less important
Snap Chat & Messenger apps
Instagram
3rd most used & important
Engagement
Top question from marketers!
What’s Hot? What’s Not?
19. 40% have strongly advocated in public
77% have strongly recommended in
private
56% Become
Aware of
Technologies
via Peers
*Yesler 5A framework, 2019
91%
76%
73%
73%
IT Pros more likely to
advocate when:
A vendor is highly
responsive
A vendor engages
frequently post sale
They’re aware of others
advocating
They can report data-
driven ROI
20. Yesler 5A framework, 2019
“Tech buyers trust peer and third-party
recommendations most, above marketing-
created materials.”
21. Leveraging
Social to
Focus on the
CX
Quick replies and answers
Frequent engagement
Highlight advocates
Allows buyers to seek information on
own terms
Well, because B2B Sales are twice that of B2C sales. And this is only looking at E-commerce in the US. The gap is even larger when looking at the bigger landscape.
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/product/b2b-ecommerce-market-report/
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/us-ecommerce-sales/
So, even though the B2B market is bigger… (next slide)
B2C often gets more attention in the marketing world!
Edwin says “_____”
But it doesn’t just stop at education and marketing curriculum. Have you ever searched for industry trends, best practices, or just examples of cool things brands are doing? For me, what I find leans HEAVILY towards B2C. Are you seeing the same things?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-b2b-bigger-than-b2c-dumbest-marketing-blind-spot-edwin-vlems/
Well, I know you are. Because I heard you say it!
So, we’re focusing on B2B today because most of what we see typically only applies to the B2C world.
Now, before I go any further it may be helpful for you to know who I am!
So, if we think about cell phones, when a customer buys that brand new iPhone 11 that just came out from the Apple store or their mobile carrier, that’s a Business to Consumer transaction.
And, when Apple worked with their suppliers to line up all the components that go into making the iPhone, that’s a Business to Business transaction.
A really simple way I like to think about it, is that if you can buy it in a store, It’s probably a B2C transaction. Of course there are exceptions, but this seems to be the case most of the time.
Instagram
3rd place most used
3rd most important platform
2nd most important when it comes to paid
surpassed LinkedIn overall (B2B and B2C) in importance
Engagement
For the first time in this 11 year study, “how to achieve better engagement” is the top question marketers want answered.
So, Why are we primarily focusing on B2B?
https://resources.yesler.com/5As-Brief.html
So, Why are we primarily focusing on B2B?
So we can be better B2B marketers. And create better content that resonates with our customers.
In order to be better, it can be helpful to see how other b2b marketers use social media.
This is an agile content execution loop I typically utilize when creating social content. It starts with planning, which informs what you’ll product and publish to your audience. You’ll want to analyze how that content is performing, and adapt it to ensure it performs even better the next time around. And then you start the cycle again.
So where does looking at how other b2b marketers are using social media fit into this loop? You can “inject” these learnings in the analyze stage.
By analyzing what others are doing and how they’re using social media, you can determine if you need to make an adaptation to your own approach and content.
Okay, I know you’re probably like “come on Seth, we KNOW what emojis are. What kind of marketers do you think we are?” But, I want to show you a few clever ways brands are using emojis on social. And they are B2B brands too!
*only 2% of Tweets have a GIF, but tweets with a GIF gained 55% more engagement than Tweets without.
*Twitter Agency Playbook
*only 2% of Tweets have a GIF, but tweets with a GIF gained 55% more engagement than Tweets without.
*Twitter Agency Playbook
85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound