Many B2B businesses are ignoring the consumer insights that social media can provide, according to a report by Satmetrix.
Only 49% of surveyed B2B brands track what consumers are saying about them via social channels, compared with 78% of B2C brands and 68% of brands that serve both B2B and B2C markets.
Moreover, only 31% of B2B brands have processes in place to follow up on customer feedback posted on social websites, compared with 58% of B2C brands and 54% of those serving both markets.
Below, additional findings issued by Satmetrix, based on a global survey of Netpromoter.com community members.
B2B brands are less likely than B2C to track and follow up on social conversations:
- Among those 49% of B2B companies that do track conversations via social channels, 27% both track and follow up with social posts, and 22% track posts only.
- Among those 78% of B2C companies that track social media conversations, 53% both track and follow up with posts, and 25% track posts only.
Similarly, among those 31% of B2B that do follow-up on consumer feedback via social channels, 27% both track and follow up, and 5% only follow up.
Among those 58% of B2C companies that follow-up with social posts, 53% track and follow up, and 4% only follow up.
Among all surveyed brands, 40% both track and follow up on social conversations, 34% do nothing, 21% track but don't follow up, and 5% only follow up on feedback.
Social Tracking and Follow-Up, by Region
Across geographical regions, there are remarkable similarities in social media tracking and follow-up activity, though brands in North America lead—49% and 18% do so, respectively:
Measuring Social Media
More than two-thirds (67%) of all surveyed companies do not measure or quantify social media; however, among B2B companies surveyed, that proportion is 75%, according to the report.
Among all brands that do quantify social media, 56% count comments and fans/followers. Only 4% use any type sentiment tracking platform.
About the data: Findings are based on a survey of 1,180 community members of Netpromoter.com that was fielded in January 2012. Some 43% of the respondents were from B2B companies, 21% from B2C, and 34% from brands serving both B2B and B2C markets. One-half (50%) of the responses came from North America, one-third (33%) from EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), 6% from Australia and New Zealand, 5% from Asia, and 4% from Latin America.
