What Do B2B Companies Have against Using Social Media?

[image error]You would think given the love affair by many with social media that a large number of B2B companies would be employing SM in their daily marketing efforts. Guess again.

According to a recent survey from Accenture Global Marketing, "Embracing Social Media in a B2B Context," only 8 percent of B2B companies are fully taking advantage of all social media has to offer.

What might be an even more startling statistic is that 17 percent of those surveyed indicated they do not believe social media and all it has to offer will be all that important to them in the foreseeable future.

The data is a little more surprising given that 65 percent of those individuals surveyed indicated that they felt social media is "very important," with 30 percent of individuals claiming it is "extremely" important and cannot be ignored."

Other data from the survey showed that:

Sixty percent of those surveyed note added engagement with present and prospective customers as the main reason for using SM;
Fifty-nine percent believe it is worthwhile to protect, influence and construct brand reputation;
Fifty-two percent use SM to form new revenue possibilities.

So, why is there such disconnect between many B2B companies and social media?

According to some of those surveyed, they fear making the wrong investment when it comes to social media, so they tend to shy away from taking a chance on the tool.

The feeling in general is that B2B companies believe social media has the opportunity to make a large degree of difference to business, yet few such businesses have a SM plan set up to take advantage of opportunities. At the end of the day, companies feel like they need to pinpoint a defining tie between social media and broader customer initiatives while clearly determining and measuring results.

The research goes on to note that managers need to also display more confidence in their SM plans and strategies in order to bring social media into their core, as opposed to simply using it as an add-on, to their entire game plan.

Lastly, are B2B companies taking the time to measure their return on investment (ROI) when it comes to social media?

According to the study, a mere 11 percent work for businesses that have systems a work to analyze and track their ROI with social media. More than 35 percent indicated they did see improvements in measurement as a factor in assisting them to be better handlers of social media.

According to Accenture, there are half-a-dozen strategic areas companies should zero in on when forming a social media strategy:

They are:

External factors: Regulations and competitive dynamics, along with the information that a business obtains via its social media listening activities.
Culture: Habits, behaviors, means of working and subcultures within a business.
Processes: How the company plans to use and oversee social media throughout the organization.
People: The impact on the people taking part in the processes and new roles that social media requires an organization to form.
Policies: A clearly described social media policy that pinpoints acceptable, unacceptable, desired and undesired behaviors for internal and external audiences, including employees, contractors, vendors, customers and prospects.
Metrics: Clearly defined indicators to analyze aspects of the business that social media is figured to improve on.

So, whether you are starting a small business or have been around for some time, is your company utilizing social media to its full potential to enhance the return on investment (ROI)?

If not, you may be seeming like you are a little too anti-social to the outside world.

Photo credit: ilgresults.com

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