According to a recent Business.com study,

• B2B marketers most often turn to social media for Web site traffic (77%) lead generation (67%) and improved search results (57%)
• B2B marketers using specific metrics are seeing positive impact in the form of search optimization
• Significant differences exist seen a positive impact in their social-to-search usage between those who have seen a positive impact in their social media efforts on search (The Best) and those who are not measuring, (The Rest).
• The Best use social media techniques to enhance their paid search marketing efforts 67% more often than The Rest
• 74% of marketers in The Best have seen an increase in Web site traffic since the inception of their social media program

The Current Social Media Landscape

Business.com’s  study of more than 450 B2B marketers found the majority of respondents use at least one social media channel for business, with B2B marketers, on average, using 4.5 social media resources.  More than half of B2B marketers favor the use of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, webinars and company blogs as social media channels.

Although the majority of marketers currently devote 10% or less of their online marketing budget to social media, many are looking to increase overall social media efforts in the coming year. This echoes a recent Forrester Research study that shows social media spend to reach more than $3 Billion by 2014.

B2B marketers need to continue to experiment with social media if for no other reason that it may have a positive effect on their search engine optimization. While the debate continues on whether or not social media should be part of a B2B marketer’s interactive marketing plan, there is no debate on the desire for better search engine optimization results.

For some positive b2b social media results, See Facebook: The latest b-o-b frontier? At BtoB magazine.

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20101011/FREE/101009913/facebook-the-latest-b-to-b-frontier

Along with 100,000 plus visitors to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta I started out from our hotel at 5:30AM to be sure to watch hundreds of balloon enthusiasts ready their hot air balloons for launch. The hot air balloons came in all shapes and sizes and included the shape of a Pepsi can, a cow representing the Dairy Association, as well as a variety of cartoon characters and the head of Darth Vader from Star Wars. It was a spectacular visual site to see these colorful monster balloons blown up and ascend into the early morning sky.