The appeal of social media in B2B is increasing quickly. More than four out of five marketing teams (83 percent) now use social media, which takes up one fifth of their time (20 percent). Additionally, three quarters (77 percent) plan to spend even more time on this in the coming year. Furthermore, as the ‘value’ of social media in B2B grows, so does the focus on measuring its effectiveness, with over one third (35 percent) of organizations now using a paid social media monitoring service.
However, this reward is not being shared fairly. Instead, the influence of social media is coming together around two giants: Twitter and LinkedIn. More than 90% of organizations use these networks, over 70% update them regularly, and they are expected to see the most growth in usage compared to any other social media channels in the next year.
At the other end of the spectrum, still struggling to scrape together a B2B living, is Google+. Used and updated by significantly fewer organisations, Google+ is considered to be less effective at achieving marketing goals. In fact, despite its obvious SEO benefits, fewer than one per cent of organisations think it is the most effective social media platform.
As Twitter and LinkedIn continue their charge for dominance, it’s easy to assume they will continue to overshadow competitor networks. But wait – who’s that poking their head over the parapet? There’s another contender on the block: the ambitious maverick, YouTube. Despite currently having lower usage than Twitter or LinkedIn, this channel is nevertheless striving for high growth (a net 76 per cent growth in usage anticipated over the next 12 months). In a world where the biggest challenge facing marketers on social media is cutting through the noise (38 per cent), YouTube is offering the promise of differentiation through rich media. While the majority of organisations are using social media as a side-act to funnel clients into bigger pieces of content on their websites (85 per cent), this isn’t always working too well – fewer than one in three (31 per cent) describe this as very effective. Instead, social media needs to become the star performer in its own right. The most compelling social media posts are infographics (67 per cent believe they are very effective) and videos (66 per cent). It is on this differentiated footing that YouTube is preparing its ascent up the B2B social media ladder.
So the next time you’re embarking on a content plan, take time to consider how you can repurpose material in new and interesting formats on social media, whether that be Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube. Pull out those killer stats in an infographic, or have a chat with your CEO on film. Let social media become the star.