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Three-out-of-five businesses say social is best way to attract new customers

It's not only Business to Consumer (B2C) markets that love social media; now B2B companies are seeing its value.
Written by Eileen Brown, Contributor

As B2B content transitions into a core business function, brands need to understand how they can best use content to acquire new customers, nurture existing relationships, and create real business impact for their organisation.

Social media has become a force to be reckoned with across the B2C industry. Social has enabled organizations to connect with their customers in new ways that are valuable for the brand.

Although some B2B companies have struggled with how to effectively use social with the same successes as in B2C, they are starting to be more strategic with the channel and use it for their own means.

Social media, video, blogs, and website content capture the attention of prospects, and customers before and after purchase.

According to digital marketing agency Walker Sands' recent Future of B2B Content 2019 report, B2B marketers are recognizing how they can better use social media and the value it provides in a B2B setting.

In January 2019, it asked 300 B2B businesses for their insights and future plans.

Almost all B2B businesses (98%) believe content performs well enough to justify its cost. But they also expect this content to generate new business for them.

Top goals when producing content include: boosting sales or converting customers (29%), building relationships with new customers (19%), and increasing brand awareness (18%).
The report shows that almost three out of four B2B brands believe their organizations plan to produce more social media content in the next 12 months compared to the past 12 months.

Almost two out of three (63%) of B2B companies now identify social as the primary content category for attracting new customers, even though the marketing team has historically relied on the social channel to increase brand awareness.

Almost half (48%) of B2B brands say that short-form content such as blogs, by-lines, and social media content comprises the majority of their content.

Three out of five businesses say social is best way to attract new customers zdnet
Walker sands

The majority of B2B organizations plan to produce more social media (72%), website content (65%), video (63 percent), and blog posts (49%) in the next 12 months.

Only about one in six (15%) say the same about long-form content such as white papers, case studies and data reports.

Sixty-nine percent of B2B  brands believe their target audiences will prefer video/ multimedia content over written content in the next 12 months.

Social media is obviously the main channel to both drive new business, and grow existing business. Social could be the great enabler to enable businesses to reach audiences that are inaccessible elsewhere.

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