In a study by Webmarketing123, specific social media marketing similarities and differences between B2C and B2B marketers are examined. With similar tools to use, B2B and B2C marketers do some things the same and other things quite differently.
According to the study, both B2B and B2C marketers have similar social media priorities: lead generation and sales. However, B2B and B2C marketers don’t give those priorities the same weight. For example, B2B marketers are more than twice as likely to focus on lead generation over sales in social media marketing than B2C marketers are.
This isn’t necessarily a surprising finding. As eMarketer points out, B2B and B2C sales cycles are inherently different with the vast majority of B2B sales decisions taking weeks or months while most B2C sales decisions occur in seconds or minutes. It’s hard to drive an instant sale when you’re working against a lengthy purchase decision process. Here’s the specific breakdown of B2B and B2C marketers for digital marketing:
- Generate Leads: 44.4% B2C, 39.9% B2B
- Generate Sales: 22.2% B2C, 23.0% B2B
- Build Brand Awareness: 15.3% B2C, 17.4% B2B
- Generate Site Traffic: 11.1% B2C, 16.9% B2B
- Build Online Community: 5.0% B2C, 2.8% B2B
Another area where B2B and B2C marketers diverge is where they invest the most time and energy. Facebook is by far the most popular place for B2C marketers with more than 75% of this study’s respondents stating that they are most active on Facebook vs. Twitter (8.4%) or LinkedIn (6.2%). B2B marketers pursue a more differentiated marketing approach with 34.6% using Facebook the most followed by LinkedIn (25.3%) and Twitter (25.6%).
Only 7.9% of B2C marketers involved in this study spend no time on social media marketing compared to 11.7% of B2B marketers.
Of course, Facebook is incredibly popular and has a broad audience, so it’s not surprising that both B2C and B2B marketers are spending time there. They should be! However, just because Facebook is the biggest doesn’t mean it’s the best place for your brand marketing.
Facebook marketing has certainly proven itself as useful with 73% of the B2C respondents to this survey claiming to have generated leads from their Facebook accounts and 35.1% of B2B respondents claiming the same. But with all marketing strategies, a diverse, targeted, and fully integrated marketing plan is always the best approach for long-term, sustainable growth. Just because Facebook is the it social networking site doesn’t mean it’s the only social media marketing tool. The lesson to learn is not a new one — don’t put all your eggs in one basket. After all, remember MySpace?
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Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
