Facebook surpassed LinkedIn as the most important platform with B2B marketers for the first time in the history of Social Media Examiner’s annual study of social media use by B2B and B2C companies. Fully 43 percent of B2B marketers say Facebook is the most important social media platform. LinkedIn maintained strong numbers among B2Bers, with 37 percent citing the Microsoft-owned website as their company’s most important social media marketing channel.
Any way you look at it, Facebook is the most-used paid social channel (93 percent of B2B and B2C respondents run ads on the network), Instagram is second (24 percent), and LinkedIn is third (16 percent).
B2C marketers run Facebook ads more than B2B marketers, but by a slimmer margin than some might suspect (95 percent vs. 87 percent).
Not surprisingly, B2B marketers run LinkedIn ads more than B2C marketers (29 percent vs 10 percent).
Larger proportions of B2B marketers use LinkedIn and Twitter as marketing channels compared with B2C marketers.
The report is based on data from a survey conducted in January 2017 of 5,710 marketers from around the world; 67 percent of respondents work for B2C-focused firms, and 33 percent work for B2B-focused firms.
Facebook is the most-used social platform for B2B marketers, but a significant share (37%) still cite LinkedIn as the most important social media marketing channel they use.
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