Report: B2B Marketers Eager to Learn More About Social Media and Its ROI

The “2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” published by Social Media Examiner has found that B2B marketers plan to increase social media usage this year, while also striving to gain a better understanding of its impact on business.

The data shows 80 percent of B2B marketers intend to increase their use of LinkedIn, about 53 percent said they would do so with Facebook, while 40 percent cited Instagram.

Approximately 71 percent of B2B marketers also said they are interested in learning more about using LinkedIn for social media marketing. Fifty-seven percent said the same about Facebook, while 39 percent wanted to learn more about Instagram.

This yearning for knowledge is on top of marketers’ desire to measure their ROI for social networking. The report showed that 88 percent of marketers still want to know how to measure their return on investment for social media activities. Previous research indicates that has been a consistent problem over the past five years.

Social Networking and ROI

The “State of Digital Marketing” report published by Web Marketing 123 shows that only 17 percent of B2B marketers can successfully show ROI for their social media efforts. However, 66 percent said they could exhibit ROI with email, while 37 percent said it was possible with paid search. Forty-six percent of marketers said they weren’t sure which social networking platform benefits their overall bottom line.

Despite these statistics, data shows that marketers intend to invest more money in social media over the coming years. The CMO Survey shows that by 2020, B2B CMOs will be spending at least 20 percent of their budget on social media marketing. At the moment, they put 9.3 percent of their budget toward these efforts.