B2B Marketing Insider
I saw a recent example of the popular saying “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics” in a BtoB Magazine front page headline “Social Media Does Not Influence B2B Buyers“.
The article covers research conducted by IDC of 199 B2B Technology Buyers and states that although 84% of B2B Tech buyers use social media, only 18.6% claim that it influenced their technology buying decision.
Eric Wittlake (@wittlake) was quick to hit one of the main issues in his post earlier this week: social is not about selling.
I also found the title of the article to be a bit provocative. And misleading. And potentially dangerous. So briefly, here’s my view. Please share yours with us in the comments below…
Issue #1: The survey asked tech buyers to rate the relative value of information sources on their purchasing decision.
Do you know anyone who would claim that they made a ten or hundred thousand dollar decision based on social media? The wording of the question gets to what is important late in the buying process. Ultimately it is the pen that makes the mark on the contract. Work your way backwards to the beginning and you will likely move through a contract presented by a sales person, a visit to a website or call from a sales rep, a tradeshow, a website and/or a social media interaction.
Issue #2: what they should have asked is what sources influence the buying process. 84% using social media sounds like a pretty big number. We know from other studies that only email and search have higher influence on the buying process than social.
Issue #3: This information can be deadly in the wrong hands. I can see all the old-school marketers using this article as their “proof” that social is a waste of time. Social has the same ROI as a website, my mobile smartphone and the laptop I used to write this post. These are all just tools to communicate with our buyers. They are the tools our buyers are using. And we need to learn how to use them effectively.
My advice:
- Define the information needs of your buyers and the audience that influences them.
- Remember that you cannot separate the audience from the topics they are interested in.
- Find out what channels they use.
- Determine what types of information they are looking for during each buying stage, in which channels and in what quantities.
- Develop and deliver that content in a form that meets their needs throughout the buying process.
- Incite action with content by suggesting your audience take the next step in their buying journey with you
If you do this, you will end up with an integrated marketing plan that allows you to engage with your buyers sooner, to build deeper relationships that lead to more low-cost happy customers.
Michael Brenner is the Vice President of Global Marketing for SAP where he leads content strategy and serves as the managing editor of the company’s award-winning Business Innovation thought leadership blog site. He is also the author of B2B Marketing Insider, a contributor to Forbes and a frequent speaker at industry events covering topics such as marketing strategy, social business, content marketing, digital marketing, social media and personal branding. Follow Michael on Twitter (@BrennerMichael), LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ and Subscribe to B2B Marketing Insider by Email
Social media is an important touch point for a target audience member to interact with your brand. 87% is a high number. While social media may not have been the last touch point (and immediately led to a purchase) it’s likely that there was some interaction with a social media page at some point in the decision making process.
Thanks Nick, that’s my thought as well. I know BtoB Mag is just trying to sell some ad space!
Michael,
You are right. The title is very provocative. I’m surprised the high rate of B2B participation in social media doesn’t garner more respect for the medium as a tool for initiating buyer influence.
Thanks Joseph, I think we’ll get there. Some senior execs may not be the earliest adopters
Michael, great point on the inherent bias of asking someone what influences their purchase decision.
What was encouraging to me is marketers seem to (somewhat) get this. 65% of marketers are planning to increase budgets, the highest percentage for any of the categories in the research. So even if it (arguably) isn’t influencing them today, marketers seem to be seeing the potential for it to be a meaningful contributor.
And thanks for the shoutout to my post!
Thanks Eric. You really hit the main point in your post but the bias and misrepresentation of the data really got me going. I agree that marketers are getting it one way or another and maybe for the wrong reasons but sometimes you have to fake it to make it.
Michael,
What interesting is the study group – technology buyers. Perhaps as a group, these folks think they are doing RESEARCH as opposed to being influenced. I can’t imagine technology buyers not reading every blog/article/post about new technology, but saying it didn’t influence their buying decision?
There is only ONE thing I took from my MBA…that statistics can be manipulated ANY way you want to manipulate them! That is completely proven and then some in politics.
In Social Media it’s funny when I see someone on Twitter with tens of thousands of “followers” but they’ve only made a hundred or so tweets. It’s hard to fake it for long as the truth will win out…and usually does!
Great point Bruce. My first college course. Day one. 8:30am and it was Accounting 101 with Dr. Satula. Ed Satula wore a bow tie every day and would walk in and say “good morning boys and girls.” His first question on the first day was “what is 1 + 1 in business?” A couple of eager kids rose their hands. They were all wrong. “The answer” he said, “is whatever you want it to be!”
An interesting article; thanks for sharing.
I don’t think buyers would purchase an item or service based on information gleaned from Social Media alone, but I think it certainly helps set the mood music (in both positive and negative fashion).