Social media has become a mainstay in business-to-consumer communications, but this technique caught on slightly slower in the business-to-business marketing community. However, B2B professionals are increasingly utilizing the medium.

Research by consulting firm Accenture has shown that many B2B marketers view social media as important, but these individuals and their organizations may not know exactly how to leverage this platform, eMarketer reports.

The study found that nearly two-thirds of B2B marketers view social media as either "extremely important" or "very important" in a firm's communications and interaction efforts, but only 7 percent of survey respondents stated that they believed their organizations were "very heavily" leveraging social media.

According to 48 percent of B2B marketers in the study, the need for new tools and technology investments was standing in the way of proper implementation of social media efforts. Forty-one percent of respondents stated that changes needed to be made regarding improved measurement in order for social media campaigns to be more effective. Other potential improvements cited included marketing, sales and service collaboration, IT collaboration, CEO conviction, increased skills and increased budgets.

According to Thomson Local, B2B companies that do not measure the successes or failures of their social media campaigns are "wasting their time."

Bookmark and Share