Social Media Marketing

B2B vs B2C

Do you know which social networks

are the best for your business?

One of the most important parts of developing your social media marketing strategy is to determine which social media platforms your ideal client is using. The chart below shows the results of a 2014 study of B2C and B2B marketers and how they are using some of the popular social platforms.

B2B B2C Facebook 89% Facebook 97%

LinkedIn 88% Twitter 81% Twitter 86% YouTube 60% Google+ 59% LinkedIn 59% YouTube 52% Pinterest 51%

Pinterest 41% Google+ 51% Instagram 19% Instagram 34%

The main difference between B2B and B2C marketing is:

B2B marketing targets individuals who are acting on behalf of organizations.

B2C marketing targets individuals who are paying for their own products and services.

While the chart above shows Facebook leading for both B2B and B2C, the B2B statistics are quickly changing. Newer research suggests that B2B marketers are now using LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter even more. Here’s why:

LinkedIn - Currently has 347 million users in 200 countries and 20 languages. In a case study of more than 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%—277% higher than Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%). The greatest benefit of LinkedIn is its ability to make contacts and build relationships and LinkedIn has reported findings that 50% of their members are more likely to purchase from a company they engage with on LinkedIn. However, one of the most appealing features of LinkedIn, according to B2B marketers, is the ability to find out just about everything on a professional level about their target prospect. Google+ - While the number of active users seems to be up for debate, as a business, you really can’t afford not to have a Google+ presence. When your content is published on Google+ it can rank higher and your images and video can gain even higher exposure. Another perk of Google+ is that you can have a business page, too. This will allow people to follow your business and creates numerous opportunities for relationship building.

Twitter Twitter has more than 500 million users, out of which more than 284 million are active users. Users send and read “tweets,” limited to 140 characters. All tweets can be seen by everyone, nothing is filtered out like on Facebook and you can even follow your competition. Twitter has become an important source for breaking news amongst its users. While marketing to a business and marketing to an individual are similar in terms of the fundamental principles of marketing, social media marketing strategies for B2B have been shifting. Regardless, both B2C and B2B marketers need to stay on top of the trends and remember – it’s best to have a solid social media presence on just a few networks than a weak presence on many. Click here to learn how to create a better social media presence for your business.