S O C I A L S T R A T E G Y F O R B 2 B M A R K E T I N G

A g l o b a l r e s e a r c h r e p o r t e x p l o r i n g S o c i a l M e d i a a d o p t i o n o f B 2 B d e c i s i o n m a k e r s a n d t h e p o w e r o f s o c i a l m a r k e t i n g c h a n n e l s

Welcome to Social Strategy for B2B Marketing This report utilises the five completed waves of GlobalWebIndex research covering 27 markets and 100,000 surveys to provide the most detailed overview to date of how the business to business (B2B) decision maker engages in social media and which social communications really influence sales. Through interviews with over 17,000 B2B Decision Makers there is a clear picture of the importance of social media to effective B2B business, marketing and sales strategy:

B2B DECISION MAKERS ARE THE MOST ENGAGED SOCIAL

MEDIA USERS ON THE PLANET

ACROSS ALL MARKETS

• ONLINE CONVERSATIONS ARE SEEN AS MORE INFLUENTIAL THAN FACE TO FACE MEETINGS

• CO-ORDINATED SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY IS ESSENTIAL

• FOR TWITTER AND BLOGS TO DRIVE SALES, THEY NEED TO CREATE CONVERSATION AND PROMOTE PEOPLE

• FACEBOOK WILL WORK FOR B2B

B2B COMMUNICATIONS SOCIAL MEDIA BEAHVIOUR

“B2B buyers are the most socially engaged online users

across the world”

The are far more motivated by social activities

• Research for work is the second highest motivation to get online for business decision makers; research and find products to buy is third.

• Networking for work is far more important as an online activity for business decision makers than it is for non-decision makers.

• The internet serves a critical role in keeping business decision makers up to date on current events and news.

• Senior business decision makers are particularly keen to use the internet to promote their products, ideas, opinions, etc.

• What is more crucial is the dominance of social motivations, such as sharing content, promoting something etc

How important are each of the following reasons for you to use the internet? (% of each segment stating that activity as very important for them when getting online; Wave 5 June 2011)

Motivations to get online > Global > Wave 5 (June 2011)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Change other people’s opinions Change other peoples' opinions

Take on a different personalityPlay games

Meet new peoplePromote something

Organise my lifeShare content

Share my opinionFill up spare time

Update my friends with my lifeExpress myself

Find films/TV showsFind music

EntertainmentTo get inspired/get ideas

EducationNetworking for work

Stay in touch with friendsResearch how to do things

Research/find products to buyResearch for work

Stay up to date on news/events

Other

Senior decision maker

Decision maker

BDMs are significantly more active in social media

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%Watched a video clip

Used Webmail

Used internetbanking

Purchased a productonline

Reviewed a productor brand online

Managed socialnetwork profile

Uploaded photosonline

Used InstantMessenger

Posted on aforum/BBS

Used online officeapplications

Commented on astory

Bought an offer on agroup

Asked or answereda question on a Q/A

service

Written your ownblog

Uploaded a videoonline

Edited/managedown website

Used amicroblogging

service

Used VOIP/onlinephone

Used a socialbookmark service

Written a newsstory/article

Subscribed to anRSS feed

Used an aggregator

Decision Maker

Senior Decision Maker

Average Internet User • Firstly, they are much more active online and are more likely to undertake all of the various internet activities.

• Both senior and non-senior decision makers are far more likely to be uploading photos online, comment on stories, use Q&A services, managed their own websites, upload a video, use microblogs, etc.

• In short, business decision makers at the global level are much more likely to be content creators and therefore, influencers online.

• These activities, however, can vary largely by market, and these differences in behaviour need to be taken into account.

Which of the following have you done online in the past month? (% segment penetration of each activity; Wave 5 June 2011)

Online Activities > Global > Wave 5 (June 2011)

And continue to grow more quickly than the average user

Social Media Activity Done in Last Month Decision Makers

Senior Decision Makers

Average Internet User

Watched a video clip 0.0 1.3 2.1

Uploaded photos online -0.9 -1.7 1.5

Managed social network profile 18.7 8.5 14.6

Written your own blog 1.0 5.4 0.3

Edited/managed own website 5.2 4.2 2.9

Uploaded a video online 3.0 2.3 5.2

Used a micro blogging service 17.5 3.9 9.6

Which of the following have you done online in the past month? (percentage point change in % penetration of each activity by segment; Wave 1 July 2009 to Wave 5 June 2011)

Change in penetration of social network activity from Wave 1 (July 2009) to Wave 5 (June 2011)

-10.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0

Used Instant Messenger

Written your own blog

Subscribed to an RSS feed

Written a news story/article

Used an aggregator

Uploaded photos online

Used internet banking

Used Webmail

Watched a video clip

Edited/managed own website

Commented on a story

Used VOIP/online phone

Used online office applications

Uploaded a video online

Used a microblogging service

Managed social network profile

Market Average

Senior Decision Makers

Decision Maker

And yes Facebook, works for B2B

Decision maker Senior decision maker Non-decision makers

81% 80% 75%

54% 57% 46%

45% 53% 39%

43% 41% 32%

34% 46% 31%

18% 23% 11%

16% 20% 8%

14% 17% 8%

10% 14% 6%

9% 16% 5%

9% 12% 4%

2% 3% 1%

On average, how often do you visit the following websites/services? – On a daily or weekly basis (percentage point change in % penetration of each activity by segment; Wave 1 July 2009 to Wave 5 June 2011)

B2B decision makers are the most active social media consumers on the planet. This is the case in all

markets, where they lead average internet users. Social media should be an integral part of all B2B

marketing and sales activities

Decision makers are growing their usage more quickly than senior decision makers. The need to integrate will

only increase

Monitoring current trends is critical to develop an understanding of where your buyers will be tomorrow

The diversity of online activity by market is a limitation to implementing a global strategy and opportunities will

need to be tailored locally

Opportunities

“Conversations online, are more influential to drive sales than

face to face meetings”

Conversations in Social Networks drive more influencer than traditional communications

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%

The microblogging profile of a company/organisation (e.g Twitter)

A blog created by the company/organisation

Branded community/group inside a social network service you use

Corporate events/entertainment

Branded communities created by the company/organisation

Conferences

Webinars

Adverts in relevant trade press

Direct Mailings with product/company infomation

Advertisements in traditional media (e.g. TV, Newspaper)

Sales presentations

Conversations with people from the company/organisation on asocial network

Decision Maker

Senior DecisionMaker

When purchasing products/services for your business or department, which of the following sources most influences your decision?

Wave 5 – All Decision Makers: 2,945

• The leading influence for decision making is “conversations with people from the company / organisation on a social network. This underlines how important Social Media in B2B marketing

• The low score for blogs, corporate entertainment and micro-blogging profile, underline how important it is for B2B marketing to create and engage in conversations, regardless of channel

• Conversations online outrank all “traditional” marketing channels including sales presentations, advertisements, direct mailings and adverts in traditional press

• Senior Decision Makers, place more emphasis on face to face meetings, while the broader decision maker segment favours conferences and communities

Most markets prefer online conservation to face to face

Turkey

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Sweden

Mexico

Indonesia

India

Poland

Netherlands

Malaysia

Russia

South Africa

Canada

South Korea

Germany

France

USA

China

Italy

Hong Kong

Philippines

Brazil

Japan

UK

Argentina

Spain

Australia

-40% -30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20%

When purchasing products/services for your business or department, which of the following sources most influences your decision?

Wave 5 – All Decision Makers: 2,945

• In order to summarise the impact of conversations online, we created the “virtual selling index”. This is calculated simply using the following:

• % of Decision Makers who score “Conversations online” as influential MINUS % of Decision Makers who score “Sales Presentations” as influential

• This provides a simple metric to understand the impact of virtual conversations on the B2B buying process

• The interesting insight here, is that markets that have very levels of social media engagement such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Singapore have a far stronger preference for face to face meetings. This demonstrates that local culture and business practice will always need to be considered in context with social media engagement

• The second key insight, is that markets such as Australia, Japan, Italy, USA and France, that have lower levels of overall engagement in social media in the market, have a stronger preference for online conversation.

Most emphasis on face to face meetings

Most emphasis on virtual conversations

“In the majority of markets, online conversations are more valued than face to face sales meetings. This is a massive indication on the power of social media and its importance in B2B marketing and sales”

“The fact that branded blogs, and micro-blogging (Twitter) profiles are not valued as a silo, demonstrates that its not about platforms, but people. Twitter, Facebook etc should showcase people and just brand to be effective in B2B sales. It also shows the need for fully realised social strategy”

“Traditional activities are still valued, social media should not replace or supplant them, but integrate them, to drive more conversation online”

“It is vital to consider local market context. If your market is still very focused on face to face selling, then it will make sense to integrate social media as a supporting strand, but not the main element of your activity”

Key Insights

Get the full report Over 70 slides of detailed insight from surveys of 17,425 B2B Decision Makers benchmarked against the full data set of almost 100,000 surveys. Data covers detailed usage of internet platforms, social media, mobile and the power of B2B communications

Access to all the data in an excel package delivered to the specified buyer on request, including detailed cuts by all 27 markets that we cover, category of work, seniority and company size

One data / insight request from the GlobalWebIndex consulting team as part of this report package

Full support for queries on the data and trends

The opportunity to leverage the world’s most detailed research ever conducted into online behaviour and social media against industry leading strategy expertise to deliver critical insights into planning and executing a B2B social media business, sales and marketing strategy

The quantifiable evidence on consumer internet adoption and proof that social media investment is critical to B2B business, marketing and sales

A proven framework for planning, developing, and executing a B2B social media strategy based on hard evidence and not opinion Buy Now: http://globalwebindex.net/report-page/b2bsocialmediareport2011/ To pay by bank transfer / credit card over the phone, please call: 0044 2077 363 169 Or mail: globalwebindex@trendstream.net (quoting reference: SMBIZ)

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