2014 Social Media Content Marketing Industry Report - B2B Software Companies

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2014 Social Media Content MarketingIndustry Report - B2B Software Companies

Copyright 2014 Blurbi. All rights reserved. blurbi.ca


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People want to do business with youbecause you help them get what they

want. They dont do business with youto help you get what you want.- Dan Crowther


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Editors NoteInterest in Content marketing continues to rise. Just search Content

marketing Google trends and youll have a good idea of its popularity.

A 2014 study from the Content Marketing Institute found that 86% ofB2B businesses use at least one form of content marketing, with socialmedia being the most used method. This study was conducted via aquestionnaire sent out to quali ed marketers. But what about all of theB2B companies who werent invited to participate? We thought wedget a much more accurate look at how B2B companies publish socialmedia content if we took the time to analyze their usage publically,using tools like Ri e, SocialBakers, and our own eyes.

So we pulled up our boots to conduct a study of 400 vertical marketsoftware B2B SMBs across 5 countries and 50 industries. We foundsome interesting insights into how they post content to social media.

If youre an SMB in the B2B software space and youre curious as tohow others in your space use social media, this whitepaper is for you.We hope the competitor insights and key takeaways of this whitepaperwill help you drive pro table consumer actions with your social media.

- Tyler Handley Blurbis Chief Engagement O cer

How B2B Companies are Using Social Media in 2014

An SMB in this study isde ned as a businessthat does at least$2 Million in annualrecurring revenue


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Table of Contents

I. Key Insights

II. Content Sharing Rate

III. Sources of Content Shared

IV. Platforms used to Post to Twitter

V. Takeaways

VI. Methodologies



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Key Insights

SMB B2B software companies post to Twitter the most often. Postingto Facebook & LinkedIn is nearly equal. Posting to Google+ isstaggeringly low.

On average B2B software companies Tweet 2.29 times per day.

51% of the content posted to Facebook by B2B software companiesis primarily content that the company itself owns (images, blog posts,case studies, white papers, etc.), followed by 33% of content thats amix of owned and 3rd party.

48% of B2B software companies Tweet at-least twice a week, whileonly 25% post to Facebook and 18% to LinkedIn at the same rate.

Hootsuite is the most common way of posting to Twitter, followed by

Twitters own web client, then Hubspot, and Tweetdeck.

75.6% of B2B software companies primarily share a mix of ownedand 3rd party content to Twitter.


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Content Sharing Rate

Observations: The bulge in the middle of this chart indicates thatacross all three social networks B2B SMBs are prone to posting contentonly sometimes to their social pro les. LinkedIn is used least acrossthe board, while Twitter is used the most.

How Often B2B Software SMBs Post Content to DifferentSocial Networks

3%

48%

9%

38%

37%

%

37%

4 %

18%

Never

Some2mes

O5en

LinkedIn

Facebook

TwiBer

See section onMethodologies for infoon how we de nedsometimes, often, andnever

2014 Social Media Content Marketing Industry Report - B2B Software Companies - blurbi.ca


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15%

22%

29%

29%

38%

40%

46%

45%

4 %

34%

25%

26%

$2-5

$5-10

$10-25

$>25

How Often B2B Software SMBs Post Content to SocialNetworks

R e v e n u e i n M i l l i o n s ( U S D )

Observations: As B2B SMBs grow in revenue they post more contentto social networks. Once they hit ~$10million their posting rate evensout.




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company culturerelated content

owned content

3rd party content

mix of owned and3rd party content

Types of Content B2B SMBs Share on Facebook

51%

11%

33%

5%

Observations: B2B SMBs share plenty of their own content on Facebook(blog posts, whitepapers, case-studies) but still mix in a good amountof industry related 3rd party content. Rarely do they only post 3rdparty content. Some companies choose to use Facebook as a channelto internally promote their company culture, which you can see as the11%.

Sources of Content Shared


See section on

Methodologies for infoon how we de nedcompany culturerelated content, ownedcontent, 3rd partycontent, and mix ofowned and 3rd partycontent



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Types of Content B2B SMBs Share on Twitter

51%

11%

33%

5%

Observations: Because the average posting rate on Twitter is muchhigher than other social networks, SMBs clearly need more contentthan they own. Still very few post only 3rd party content, choosing topepper their own content with bits of 3rd party posts.

Company Culturerelated content

Owned content

3rd party content

Mix of owned and3rd party content

76%

7%

13%




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Types of Content B2B SMBs Share on LinkedIn

51%

11%

33%

5%

Observations: B2B SMBs treat LinkedIn nearly the same as they treatFacebook. We thought we would nd much more companies onlyposting owned content. Why? Some of our other insights revealed thatSMBs post to LinkedIn the least, so we assumed that they wouldntneed as much 3rd party content to make up for a lack of ownedcontent.

76%

7%

13%Company Culturerelated content

Owned content

3rd party content

Mix of owned and3rd party content

52%

39%

4%

5%




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Hootsuite

Twi+er Itself

Hubspot

Facebook

Sprout SocialTweetdeck

13 Others

34%

30%6%

6%

6%

5%13%

Observations: Hootsuite is the standout winner when it comes towhat tools SMBs use to post to Twitter, while many others choose topost directly through Twitter.com. This is likely due to the fact thatHootsuite is free if youre only managing a few social accounts. SproutSocial is only $59/month so its surprising to see it tied with Hubspot,which costs $200/month. Its likely that some SMBs utilize Hubspotas a more comprehensive marketing solution (it does more than just

social media).

Platforms used to Post to Twitter



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Takeaways

If youre a smaller SMB you can look like a much larger business by

posting more often across all social networks.

To make it easier on yourself, use Hootsuite to post to all three socialnetworks at once.

To have enough content to post make sure youre curating industryrelevant 3rd party content that your followers will nd interesting.But be wary of posting too much to Facebook, as Facebook punishespages that post content too often without consistent engagements(likes, shares, comments).

Our study showed that B2B SMBs were least active on LinkedIn,which is surprising considering that a recent study found that 40%of B2B buyers say that LinkedIn is most important when researchingtechnologies and services to purchase - only 19% said the same for

Twitter (Social Media Today). Your potential customers are vettingyour product/service on LinkedIn. Not only is it important to have anactive presence so you look like a legitimate thought leader, but itsalso important because so few of your competitors are likely activeon LinkedIn. As a result of your activity, youll immediately have aleg up on the competition.



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On this same note, no more than 29% of B2B SMBs post contentoften to social media. If you put resources into posting content oftenyoull be one of the few, leading to more exposure. Youll always betop-of-mind to your customers.

You should be posting more than twice a day to Twitter. If yourestruggling with posting enough, just re-tweet and share content fromin uencers in your industry. Most companies already rely upon 3rdparty content for Twitter.



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Content Sharing RateHow we defined sharing rates of Often, Sometimes, andNever

We measured them in accordance with optimal posting ratesfor each social network. The thresholds for Twitter were thus

stricter than Facebook and LinkedIn.

Often Sometimes NeverTwitter


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Sources of Content Shared

De nitions of types of content shared:

Owned content: Pieces of content that the company at handowns. Most common Owned Content consists of blog posts,company pictures, whitepapers, case studies, product/servicenews, company news.

Company culture related content: Pieces of content thatpromote the culture of the workplace, either to current

employees or clients and future employees. These mostlyconsist of o ce pictures, staff party pictures, conferencepictures.

3rd party content: Content like blog posts, whitepapers, casestudies, and industry news that isnt owned by the company athand.

How we determined the types of content:

We looked at each of 100 companies last 30 posts. The Mixof Owned and 3rd party was chosen if they posted at least 5of either over their last 30 posts. Some companies had 1 or2 external pieces mixed in with their owned content. We didnot count those. The same goes for Company Culture relatedcontent. Its best to look at these charts thinking that this was

the kind of content they primarily post.


Back to Sources of

Content Shared


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Platforms used to Post to Twitter

We used Ri e to look at this.

The remaining 13% of platforms are: Viral Heat, OracleEngage, Scoop.it, Meltwater Buzz, Oktopost, Spredfast, Paper.li, Wordpress, Thrivehive, Buffer, SocialOomph, Typepad, andEchofon.

Other

Industries Studied:

Agrifood, Apparel Management, Automotive, Aviation, Billing, BIM, BusinessIntelligence, CAD, Call Centres, Cargo, Communications, Construction, CRM,Dealerships (Car), Distribution, Document Management, Driver Monitoring,Education, ERP, Event Management, Fare Collection, Financial, Fleet Management,Freight, Health & Safety, Healthcare, Homeless Care, Hospitality, Human ResourceManagement, Industrial Automation, Insurance, Justice, Local Government,Logistics, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceutical, Public Sector, Public Transit,Publishing, Real Estate, Retail, Sales & CRM, Supply Chain, Tra c Management,Transportation, Travel Agencts, Utilities, Warehouse Management, WorkforceManagement

Countries Studied: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland



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Want more insights into Social MediaContent?

Be sure to check us out on Twitter

And if youd like to talk to someone about

Blurbis services, please reach out to us [email protected]

or visit blurbi.ca
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2014 Social Media Content Marketing Industry Report - B2B Software Companies