B2B Marketers Lean Toward LinkedIn Above All Other Social Media Platforms

B2B marketers use a wide array of social media channels, LinkedIn in particular, new research suggests that they are still hesitant to lean toward some outlets, such as Instagram.

Recently, The Marketing Journal and Javed Matin and Associates surveyed about 500 North American marketing executives to gauge their use of social media. So far in 2017, the majority of B2B marketers (96 percent) say they use LinkedIn. This is followed by Twitter (95 percent) and Facebook (85 percent).

At the bottom of the list is Instagram, with just 31 percent of B2B marketers saying they use the platform.

Instagram was also last on the list of social media outlets showing an impact for B2B marketers in 2017, with just 15 percent claiming it’s had an effect. The most impactful channel for B2B marketers thus far has been LinkedIn, with 73 percent citing this channel. The platform was followed by YouTube (63 percent) and Twitter (47 percent).

B2B Marketers’ Shift Toward Facebook

Although B2B marketers are having success with LinkedIn, recent research also suggests that Facebook is now being viewed as a more important social network for marketing.

The “2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” discovered that the majority of B2B marketers (89 percent) utilize Facebook as compared to 81 percent favoring LinkedIn.

“For the first time in the history of our study, Facebook has passed LinkedIn as the most important platform for B2B marketers,” note the authors of the report.

Instagram ranked fifth out of the seven social media channels noted in this report, with only 43 percent of B2B marketers leveraging this channel to achieve marketing objectives.