B2B Social Media: Why Do Business Professionals Use Social Media?

B2BSocial Media Marketing
Why Do
Business
Professionals
Use
Social Media?
Christina “CK” Kerley
www.CKBlog.com
©2010 Christina Kerley/ckEpiphany, Inc.

Don’t be fooled:
“Social”
Media
Is
Business
Media

How Do
Consumers
And Professionals Differ In Their
Use of Social Media?

Consumers engage in the
Social Web to
enhance their personal lives.

But Professionals engage in
the Social Web to
advance their livelihoods.

Highly Engaged Audience:
57% of U.S. workers
use social media for business purposes
at least once per week.
Source: IDC State of Social Business: 2009 Survey Results (Pub. Jan. 2010)

Used By Executives
With Purcha$ing Authority.
While marketers are the earliest and largest adopters of social media, these tools are now gaining DEEPER penetration into the enterprise with use by EXECUTIVE MANAGERS and IT.

Social Media =
Knowledge Advancement.
The NUMBER ONE reason cited by U.S. workers for using social tools for business purposes was to “acquire knowledge and ask questions from a community”.

HowDo
B2B Buyers
Use
Social Media In Their Purchasing Process?

Today’s B2B Buyers
59%
Engaged with peers online who addressed their challenges.
Followed industry conversations
on topics.
48%
Followed discussions to learn
more about topics.
41%
Source: Inside The Mind of The New B2B Buyer/Feb. 2010

Today’s B2B Buyers
37%
Posted questions on social networking sites looking for suggestions and feedback.
Connected directly with potential solution providers via social networking channels.
20%
Shared learnings from their research and buying process with others—individual discussions, blog postings, discussion forums and tweets.
59%
Source: Inside The Mind of The New B2B Buyer/Feb. 2010

WHY
Do
Business Professionals
Use
Social Media?

The answers are found through
understanding their:
NEEDS,
MOTIVATIONS,
AND
CHALLENGES.

Professionals Must Lower Risk.
Business professionals buy big-ticket items that not only affect them, but other departments and their overall organizations. And their jobs depend upon these purchasing decisions, and how well they
spend their budgets.
Ri
sk
How does Social Media Help?
Professionals use social media to research third-party referrals, recommendations and information (WOM) from fellow professionals—not just company representatives—BEFORE
making purchases in order to decrease risk to their companies, and themselves.

Knowl
edge
Professionals Must Increase Their Knowledge.
In order to keep their jobs, and to find better jobs,
business professionals must increase their knowledge to stay up-to-date, competitive and relevant.
Through social media tools that enable the free, easy and timely share of information and advice, professionals significantly increase their knowledge and expertise.

S
o
l
ut
i
o
n
s
Professionals Must Identify Solutions.
In their jobs, business professionals face many challenges and “pain points”… and must constantly learn new methods and identify solutions to more effectively run their businesses.
Social media tools give professionals a convenient, effective outlet for researching solutions, as well as
posting their questions and communicating directly
with others.

Network
ing
Professionals Must Grow Their Networks.
In order to advance their careers, professionals
must grow their contacts and business networks.
Social media tools provide a tremendous vehicle to
meet, build and develop professional relationships, and dramatically grow
their business networks.

What
Is The
BIG
Action Point
For
B2Bs?
!

By developing social-media programs that enable professionals to:
Solve their business problems
Increase their knowledge and expertise
Lower their
purchasing risk
Grow their
professional networks

Provides a powerful incentive for professionals to engage with
YOUR B2B brand . . .
and
advances
YOUR
B2B’s
ROI.

Want to
learn more
About B2B Social Media
AND
B2B Mobile
Marketing?

Many B2Bs relegate social media as a consumer tool—but that mindset is costing them potential revenues, new customer relationships, unparalleled reach and, quite possibly, their relevance.
This slideshow details the top 10 social media benefits that build a strong business case for B2Bs.
Click here to view slideshow

With 4.6 billion current mobile subscriptions projected to surge to
6.5 billion mobile connections by 2014, there's no denying it:
Mobile has arrived—and it's changing how (and where) professionals communicate with each other, and how (and why) audiences interact with B2B brands.
Learn the many benefits, business-centric value and rationale of B2B mobile marketing.
Slideshow can be accessed here.

A slideshow featuring links to 20 helpful B2B social media posts, presentations and series to help B2B marketers integrate social media into their marketing mix.
The information helps B2Bs transition their marketing (and their mindsets!) to the Web 2.0 environment, and improve their rates of social-media success.

This 10-Step Starter Guide walks B2B marketers through the 10 key steps entailing:
WHAT they need to know to get started in mobile marketing.
HOW to approach mobile audiences and environments.
WHICH tools they can implement to add impact to their existing programs—as well as key questions for assessing mobile ROI.

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B2B Social Media: Why Do Business Professionals Use Social Media?

by Christina "CK" Kerley on Feb 18, 2010

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B2B Social Media: Why Do Business Professionals Use Social Media? — Presentation Transcript