Survey: B2B Marketing Execs Slow to Unlock Social Media Potential

A new survey conducted by SiriusDecisions shows that 95 percent of marketers in the B2B industry have created corporate social media accounts, however, approximately 50 percent of these individuals are not active on social networks on a regular basis.

Additionally, researchers found that only 10 percent of respondents were able to say that they could show the business value of social media. This data comes from the responses of more than 100 B2B marketing executives who took the survey, which focused on using social media for competitive research.

Only 13 percent of respondents said they were using their social tools for competitive analysis, and almost 98 percent said that they used their social media accounts to monitor their brands.

So, how else are these social media resources shaping the B2B industry? Recent research shows that it’s beginning to impact event marketing.

Internet Resources and Promotion

A study released by Regalix back in December 2014 showed that 87 percent of B2B marketers used social media to commonly promote their events. Additionally, 68 percent said that social media was “most effective” in marketing events.

“Today’s marketer uses 12 channels for online promotion and seven channels for offline promotion,” wrote the authors of the report. “The most frequently chosen online channels are email, Web and social, while the corresponding offline channels used are direct mail, and telemarketing and print media.”

Nearly 84 percent of marketers say they use email most frequently for marketing events. While events are taking place, 70 percent of respondents said that they update their Twitter live to connect with their audience. Researchers considered this to be one of the more popular low-cost marketing options.

In total, 91 percent of marketers said that they use some form of social media during marketing events.