Why B2B Companies Must Invest in Social Media in 2013

Next time you are asked or you need to defend why your company needs social media, keep this handy infographic nearby. We know social media is “freaking hard” so when the doubters ask why we are continuing to invest in this strategy, show them this:

The following social media sites by total number of unique visitors – can you afford NOT to at least have a presence on them if your target market is already there:

Facebook – 950 million

YouTube – 880 million

Wikipedia – 410 million

Blogspot – 340 million

Twitter – 170 million

Or throw this quick fact at them: “Twitter tops B2B lead generation, outperforming Facebook & LinkedIN 9 to 1. 82% of social media leads come from Twitter. Google+ establishes itself firmly in the mainstream of social networking with 9400% increase in followers since last year.” That said, I still question the definition of a “lead” used in that statistic about Twitter and am continuing to search for definitive statistics and case studies to support the case that Twitter gives B2B the best leads – if you have any, please share below.

In terms of budget, marketers plan to increase their budgets in 2013, including their spend on social media. In fact, according to the infographic below, 56% of B2B businesses are increasing their marketing spend on social media this year. If your competitors are increasing their social media budget, shouldn’t you at least consider why and if it makes sense for your company?

The top marketing goal remains Demand Generation or Customer Acquisition. So this brings us to the big question: why do we need social media?

• B2B businesses rate social media as the 2nd most important factor (64%) in search, behind strong content (82%)
• one third of global B2B buyers use social media to engage with vendors
• 75% of B2B buyers expect to use social media in future purchase processes
• 77% of buyers say they are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO uses social media
• Social media can help with:
  • branding and SEO
  • personal connection with target customers
  • employee collaboration
  • building trust
  • creating relevance
  • generating authority

See for your self in the Infographic below designed by Real Business Rescue: