• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • 🎙️ Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • AI Explored Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🌟 AI Society
  • 🗓️ Marketing Conference
  • đź‘‹ About Us
    • Marketing Events
  • Search
  • Embrace AI & MarketingGet Ongoing Training & SupportBEGIN YOUR JOURNEY NOW

    How B2B Marketers Use Social Media: New Research

    by Phil Mershon / April 24, 2012

    social media researchDo you primarily market to other businesses?

    Are you wondering, “How does social media work differently for B2B businesses?”

    In the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Mike Stelzner asked marketers how they're using social media.

    More than 1900 business-to-business (B2B) marketers shared their insights on what's working with social media marketing and where they'd like to improve.

    In this article I'm going to focus on those areas where B2B marketers have significantly different experiences than their consumer-focused counterparts.

    Let's dig in.

    B2B Marketers Show Confidence in Social Media

    Of the B2B marketers who took this year's survey, over 93% use social media to market their businesses. While that's slightly below their consumer-focused brethren (95.2%), there's been a significant increase since the 2010 survey when only 88% of B2B marketers responded affirmatively.

    use social media for marketing
    Just over 93% of B2B marketers are using social media for marketing purposes (slightly behind B2C marketers).

    B2B Marketers Have More Experience

    Based on the results of this survey, marketers from B2B brands are more likely to have 3 or more years' experience than their B2C counterparts (18% of B2B vs. 14% of B2C).

    experience comopared
    B2B marketers bring more long-term experience to social media marketing than B2C, but lag behind slightly in the 1- to 3-year category.

    Social Media Is Getting Results

    When asked about the benefits of social media marketing, B2B marketers noted the following:

    • Over 56% of B2B marketers acquired new business partnerships through social media (compared to 45% of B2C marketers)
    • Nearly 60% of B2B marketers saw improved search rankings from their social efforts (compared to 50% of B2C marketers)
    • B2B marketers are more able to gather marketplace insights from their social efforts (nearly 69% vs. 60% of B2C marketers)
    • The one area where B2B marketers significantly lag behind their B2C counterparts is in developing a loyal fan base. 63% of B2C marketers found social media helped them develop loyal fans, compared to only 53% of B2B marketers.

    Observation:

    It's worth considering why more businesses aren't seeing a direct correlation between their social media efforts and increased sales or reduced marketing expenses. It likely ties back to the #1 question marketers want answered: “How do I measure the effect of social media marketing on my business?”

    This question was asked by over 20% of those surveyed. Businesses won't know if they are seeing results if they don't know how to measure their efforts.

    For some ideas on this, see Nichole Kelly's article called 5 Tips for Moving Social Media Leads into the Sales Funnel.

    What Tools Do B2B Marketers Use?

    While almost all B2C marketers (over 96%) use Facebook as a marketing tool, a significantly fewer 87% of B2B brands do the same according to this study. This barely surpasses the adoption of LinkedIn (86.6%) and Twitter (84%).

    AI Business Society

    Ready to Unlock AI Marketing Breakthroughs?

    If you’re like most of us, you are trying to figure out how to use AI in your marketing. Here's the solution: The AI Business Society—a new AI marketing community from your friends at Social Media Examiner.

    The AI Business Society is the place to discover how to apply AI in your work. When you join, you'll boost your productivity, unlock your creativity, and make connections with other marketers on a similar journey.

    I'M READY TO BECOME AN AI-POWERED MARKETER

    Discover Proven Marketing Strategies and Tips

    Want to go even deeper with your marketing? Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast! Publishing weekly since 2012, the Social Media Marketing Podcast helps you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle, with expert interviews from marketing pros.

    But don’t let the name fool you. This show is about a lot more than just social media marketing. With over 600 episodes and millions of downloads each year, this show has been a trusted source for marketers for well over a decade.

    CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PODCAST NOW

    B2B marketers are also more likely to use blogs (65% vs. 57%) and Google+ (44% vs. 36%).

    tools used
    B2B marketers use Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and Google+ more than B2C marketers.

    Observation:

    I recently wrote an article showing how pervasively Facebook has penetrated the social media market. Given this, it may seem surprising to see B2B marketers valuing other platforms so highly, but these experienced marketers clearly understand where their target audience spends their time.

    Do you know where your audience hangs out online?

    Where Will B2B Marketers Invest More Time?

    There is little difference in how B2B and B2C marketers will increase their time investment except when it comes to Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging.

    In 2012, B2B marketers are far more likely to increase their use of LinkedIn. In fact, over 76% of B2B marketers will increase their use, compared to only 55% of B2C marketers. These are both increases from 2011 (71% of B2B and 51% of B2C).

    71% of B2B marketers plan to invest more time in blogging (compared to 65% of B2C marketers).

    A significant majority of marketers will increase their use of Facebook this year, but B2B marketers (68%) lag behind B2C companies (76%).

    What Do B2B Marketers Want to Learn?

    If you offer educational products or consulting for B2B marketers, you'll be interested to know that B2B marketers want to learn about Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter, in that order. Only in the case of LinkedIn does their interest surpass that of B2C marketers (56% of B2B vs. 50% of B2C).

    The top topics B2B marketers want to learn about (compared to B2C) are:

    • Measuring effectiveness of social media (77% vs. 78%)
    • Converting activities to sales (72% vs. 69%)
    • Discovering best social media tactics (69% vs. 74%)

    Only in the case of converting activities to sales do B2B marketers exceed B2C marketers in their desire to learn.

    Other Forms of B2B Marketing

    It has been properly noted that many other marketing tools (like event marketing) are very social. Social media didn't suddenly make marketers social. Nor does it replace such valuable tools as email and search engine optimization.

    Heidi Cohen quips that we couldn't have social media without email; how else would you log in to all of these platforms?

    That understood, B2B marketers have a somewhat different experience marketing outside of social media. Only in the areas of email and press releases do they invest similarly.

    B2B marketers are significantly more likely to use search engine optimization (67% vs. 62% of B2C), event marketing (68% vs. 60%) and webinars (28% vs. 12%).

    B2B marketers are much less likely to use direct mail (37% vs. 45%), online ads (33% vs. 43%), sponsorships (25% vs. 31%), television ads (4% vs. 17%), radio ads (8% vs. 25%), and print display ads (25% vs. 47%).

    other forms
    B2B marketers have very different marketing strategies outside of social media.

    In terms of future plans for these platforms, B2B marketers plan to increase their use of search engine optimization (69%), event marketing (62%) and email (61%). These are similar to B2C marketers' responses, except that event marketing is far less important for B2C (51%).

    Businesses Are Social Too

    In studying history, one can see countless mistakes made by governments and businesses when they forget to view citizens and employees as human beings. In social media marketing it's important to remember that other businesses are comprised of real people who behave socially (online and offline).

    As demonstrated by this year's industry report, many B2B marketers have found ways to connect with their audiences. How is it going for you?

    What do you think? Please share your experiences and questions in the box below.

    AI EXPLORED

    Curious About How to Use AI?

    Our newest show, AI Explored, might be just what you're looking for. It's for marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs who want to understand how to use AI in their business.

    It's hosted by Michael Stelzner and explores this exciting new frontier in easy-to-understand terms.

    Pull up your favorite podcast app and search for AI Explored. Or click the button below for more information.

    I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AI

    Tags: Social Media Research

    About the authorPhil Mershon

    Phil Mershon is the director of events for Social Media Examiner. He has worked nearly 25 years in corporate training and management. Phil is also a professional jazz and church musician.
    Other posts by Phil Mershon »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (43 pages, 50+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    AI

    Next Frontier Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Discover how marketers plan to change their social activities in the 17th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It reveals what marketers have planned for their social activities, content marketing, and more! Get this free report now and never miss another great article from us. Join more than 385,000 marketers!

    Simply click the button below to get the free report:

    Footer

    Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle
    Copyright © 2025 Social Media Examiner®
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our social media marketing industry report
    • Our generative AI marketing industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS