Wake up
Social Media is going through a crisis and it’s just a wake up call for B2B marketers. The entire concept of social networks has come to an unavoidable halt due to its incapability of replacing the wonderness of human touch, talk and intensity of personal connections.
Lost in ‘touch’:
You walk into your office, open your Twitter account and send a short tweet (may be a industry-relevant update from a newspaper), past tea-break you log in to Facebook. Tweet, pin stuff and then spend a few minutes on Google+. Okay, time for lunch, and then a LinkedIn update. Networks are formed, and relationships are established. NO!!
There are no second thoughts that Social media has proved to be a beneficial tool for business communication and building professional relationships but they never can replace and compete with the potent and long-lasting bond of human relationship.
Social media stats for B2B marketers:
A bold study conducted by Optify’s 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report analyzed data points from over 62 million visits, 215 million page views and 350,000 leads from more than 600 small and medium-sized B2B websites. What the figures pointed is a little surprising,
For traffic: For Leads:
Facebook leads with 54% Facebook bought 9%
Twitter with 32% Twitter around 82%
Linked in with 14% Linked in with 9%
During 2012 there was an increase of social media traffic for B2B websites but was still only a fraction of total traffic at 1.9%. However, the lead conversion rate for social media channels did contribute proportionally more leads than its traffic share. The conversion rate for social media was the lowest of all the sources they analyzed, at 1.22% – the average of all sources was 1.6%. Despite the hue and cry about social media, it’s still a small percentage of leads and traffic for B2B websites, but still holds some good potential and optimism.
Offline marketing takes over:
For most of the times B2B marketers keep experimenting with the channels of marketing and crossed over their new found love in the combination of offline marketing and social media. It definitely increased the effectiveness any ad campaign as the path to success lies in showing the customers opportunities to show its richness and the medium to showcase them.
Social media is going through a little crisis but the future is not bleak for this amazing revolution. It just needs well, another miracle!!
