Social media and B2B

A number of studies have been done regarding B2B marketers’ attitudes regarding, and use of, social media (SM). A handful of these have been summarized in a recent eMarketer article. In a nutshell here are the headline findings. See if you can spot the paradox.

probably because they have yet to find tactics that work repeatedly and consistently
… yet, even though they are pulling in their SM horns in 2013 (as measured by involvement) almost half of them
(47%) will make SM focus dominant in 2014. That’s a year-over-year 80% increase in the proportion of “fully integrated” and “very involved” firms when it comes to social media investment

In other words:

We want to believe this stuff works, but can’t make it work
Yet, as everyone else is doing it we don’t want to be left behind, so we’ll throw more money at it in the hopes of finding the SM Rosetta Stone

Such is marketing … can’t live with it, can’t live without it,

Yet – and this is purely anecdotal – I understand the pressures. A couple of years back, at a working dinner for start-up CMOs, the fifteen of us discussed what was #1 on everyone’s mind. The clear leader: social media. These marketing leaders were being pushed – hard, I might add – by their CEOs and their boards to ramp up SM marketing big time. For two reasons:

It’s the thin edge of a trend here to stay (I more or less buy that)
Because …. it doesn’t cost anything! (I don’t buy that)

I do buy that there is no “paid media cost”, i.e. you don’t have to pay anyone to post your tweets, update your Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or do most anything else in social media. No placement check to write; no agency media placement commission to pay. As a result, there are effectively no barriers to SM marketing. It’s anyone’s game. And because there are no barriers, everyone (or so it seems) enters the game. And therein lies the rub. How many players can there be on the field at any time? How many of them know how to play the game? And what about the injuries on the field?

Effective SM marketing is not free. It does cost money. There is no free lunch – just a horde of wannabes who show up for lunch. The money goes to those who know how to harness the tools to reach their markets, choose SM vehicle wisely, and execute smartly.

And just how many B2B marketers know how to reach, choose and execute? According to eMarketer, I’d say very few.

Written by Michael

Michael Douglas has held senior positions in sales, marketing and general management since 1980, and spent 20 years at Sun Microsystems, most recently as VP, Global Marketing. His experience includes start-ups, mid-market and enterprises. He's currently VP Enterprise Go-to-Market for NVIDIA.