While editorial and vendor content continue to dominate information technology buying decisions, a new survey confirms the gradual ascendency of social media as a preferred platform for researching IT products and services.
According to a poll of 400 B2B buyers responsible for IT purchasing decisions conducted by IDG Connect, a majority of business-to-business IT buyers now report using social media in purchasing decisions, with 41% saying they use product reviews and comparisons among competitors to guide them.
“Social media is not only important for companies, but it is now a necessary investment and crucial element of any go-to-market strategies,” the authors note.
But not all social media messages are created equally. Of the 86% of respondents who say they rely on social media networks and content in their purchase decision process, an overwhelming majority (89%) say they are most drawn to educational content over blatantly promotional material.
The analysts assessed social media networks use across five buying stages: General Education, Business Case Development, Evaluation/Implementation, Shortlist Creation, and Final Decision Making. They found Facebook leading all the stages with the most – 48% – saying they used the site for education. Less than two-thirds of B2B buyers found transactional content an acceptable use of social media space, and savvy consumers report being turned off by content that is labeled as education but containing an overtly promotional message.
Most respondents say they are drawn to social media to find product reviews and overviews, comparisons and research reports. And when asked what vendor activities they most like to see linked to via social media, the largest percentage of respondents (62%) said virtual seminars, followed by 61%, who said links to a technical blog.
The message in these findings should play a large part in influencing the social media strategies of B2B marketers. Social media is not an end in itself, but a way to engage customers with products and services, especially in their initial research phase of a purchasing decision. While in the consumer sector, a mere presence on social platforms is essential for developing and promoting a brand identity, B2B buyers are looking to use the information learned from the time they spend on social media sites.
The problem is that not everyone is comfortable with social media’s role in content marketing. According to a survey conducted in October 2012 by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, many B2B marketers remain uncertain about the effectiveness of their social media strategy. While 83% of companies use LinkedIn to distribute content, the IDG Connect survey found that only 25% of buyers use it for educational purposes, trailing Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Google searches.
The primary problem is one of resources with marketers more confident that they are developing the right kind of content than they were in 2011, but struggling more and more to produce enough across various channels.
As social media becomes more entrenched as a B2B buying tool, we can expect content creation to be a growing challenge for marketers, but one that can be met head on with the right tools and creative talent.