In nearly every speech or Webinar I
conduct, someone in the audience asks "But all
this social media stuff doesn't apply to B2B
right?"
Yes, social media applies to B2B. In
fact, social media can be MORE transformative
for a B2B company than a B2C company. This is
because B2B has a smaller potential customer
base, a higher average price point, and a
customer decision funnel that is more influenced
by word of mouth and reputation. Turning your
customers into advocates and marketers on behalf
of your brand pays off a lot more when you're
selling $10,000 pieces of manufacturing
equipment, than it does when you're selling $3
cans of Pringles.
Are there differences between B2B and B2C
in social media? Of course. But those
differences are at the tactics layer, not the
strategy layer. Creating and calibrating a
social media strategy for any company should
follow the same process. You need to determine
why your company should be social, for whom your
efforts are intended and where your audience is
in the buying cycle, and how you'll measure
success. None of that is impacted in the
slightest by whether you're selling to consumers
or other businesses.
I've asserted that B2B social media
tactics vary from B2C, in that they are
typically rooted in consumer education and
thought leadership, and thus require deeper
layers of interaction. Private brand communities
vs. Facebook. Linkedin Groups vs. Twitter.
Podcasts vs. YouTube.
Two Sides of the
Same Coin
A remarkable recent
study by MarketingProfs, however, pokes a hole
in even that notion of B2B and B2C social media
divergence. (disclosure: MarketingProfs is a
client)
Their State of Social Media Marketing
report - a comprehensive survey of more than
5,000 marketers - is filled with more than 225
charts and graphs about all things social media.
I believe it to be the most complete picture yet
painted of how marketers are thinking about and
deploying social media. (Report is $359 if
you're a MarketingProfs member, and if you're a
data hound you can roll around in it for
days).
According to this report, even with
regard to social media execution, B2B and B2C
are much more aligned than conventional wisdom
suggests. This chart shows usage of five major
social outposts by organization type. The
statistical similarity shocks me. The range of
Facebook usage is just 37% - 51%. Twitter is
even narrower at 36% - 46%. The pattern holds
for YouTube and Linkedin, too.
What this means is that in reality, B2C
and B2B marketers are largely using the same
social tactics. The differences may then lie in
use cases and expectations. The variation may
come in how social media is used, not which
social media are used.
