Digital Communication by Edouard

The following study presents various metrics which help to appreciate the current and future importance of Social Media in the B2B industry. The survey was conducted by the Benchmark Group for Munier-BBN, polled 112 companies from seven countries (Brazil, France, Germany, South Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States), and took place between August and September 2009 (70% of the companies were interviewed by phone, 30% of them submitted an online questionnaire). The results presented next are based on a French article translated and adapted for you.

B2C Advertisers allocate more of their budget on digital communication, B2B advertisers follow! According to Benchmark Group and Munier-BBN forecasts, the share of digital communications should grow by 50% between 2008 and 2010.

Note: These figures omit French inputs – Human Resources’ targeted digital communications represent 9% of B2B communications in France.

As you can see on the previous chart, reaching clients accounts for the majority of B2B digital communications.

Overall it sounds like the effects of the economic crisis drive advertisers to communicate through digital media. Indeed,  29% of them concedes to say that the financial context encouraged the use of ROI oriented media, 23% that it accelerated the evolution of relationships between brands and their consumers, and 13% believe that budget cuts pushed the Web 2.0 adoption.

It is here obvious that B2B advertisers are still in the adoption phase of collaborative marketing use. When almost 60% of the companies have already, or are planning to broadcast online videos for communication purpose, 1 company on 5 is already using Twitter, and only 2% invested part of their resources in virtual worlds like Second Life.

Also, regarding to B2B professionals’ feedback, 89% of them believe that their social networks participation have had an impact on their activity. Only 14% of them believe that their video broadcast on sharing platforms did not influence their business, and 23% that communities’ involvement did not affect their activities.

Note: These figures omit French inputs (which present significant differences with the other countries)

Two major purposes can be identified:

• Work on the Brand Image: “63%, Enhance Image”;  “50%, Modernize Image”;
• “54%, Create a 2 ways communication channel with prospects or clients” (vs. 40% in Fr.).

Interesting differences of objectives have been observed between French B2B advertisers and their  foreign partners. The other countries indeed, demonstrated a more mature approach towards the use of Web 2.0 tools (70% of Fr B2B companies admit using Web 2.0 tools in order to create traffic).

Once again, a difference between French B2B advertisers and their partners is observed. Indeed, it is here obvious that the financial aspect is perceived as a barrier to the adoption of B2B Collaborative Marketing (content creation, dialogue with clients/prospects, etc..) for 71% of the French respondents.

Foreign companies are mostly concerned about the poor quality of the content which may be generated by the community (51%), as well as their lack of expertise in Marketing 2.0 (49%).

All the B2B respondents agreed to speak in a single voice: Collaborative Marketing has a bright future! This belief has been expressed by 90% of the companies. Moreover, 41% believe that it is only at its very start!

based on a French article written by Benoit Meli.

Related Websites:

• Benchmark Group;
• Munier-BBN.