Twitter Climbs The Ranks Of B2B Social Media

While it’s uncertain how much impact social media has on B2B operations, one thing is sure: LinkedIn reigns as the leading social media platform for B2B companies to reach new business customers and promote their products and services.

A new report from BrandWatch, however, has revealed just how influential Twitter is in the B2B world, too.

Researchers found that 73 percent of all mentions of a B2B company on social media sites and blogs are found on Twitter. Facebook ranked second with 13 percent, while news sites, blogs and forums all yielded less than 10 percent of mentions apiece.

Another key finding from the study is the trend found within these mentions. According to BrandWatch, more than half (54 percent) of all B2B mentions on social media sites were related to enterprise-targeted software. In second place was the aerospace industry, followed by the energy sector. Researchers found that some of the world’s largest B2B companies like IBM and Oracle fueled this rise in SaaS discussion found across social media platforms.

When examined from a different angle, however, it was found that the aerospace industry held the top spot for social media mentions per posts, with 250, more than even the B2B software market. Further, the medical industry relied the most out of any other industry on hashtags.

More than three-quarters of all B2B companies surveyed owned at least one account on either Twitter or Facebook. On average, the study found, B2B firms with a Twitter account held more than 47,000 followers. Those with a Facebook account held more than 211,800 likes.

Altogether, 200 B2B companies with social media accounts were found to have generated nearly 5.3 million mentions in the span of just two months.

BrandWatch’s probe of B2B social media use curiously did not include LinkedIn; however, the platform was found to be B2B sellers’ top modem in a recent poll by Regalix. In fact, the study found that 81 percent of B2B sellers cited LinkedIn as their No. 1 social media site, with Twitter coming in second place. LinkedIn is aware of its position in the B2B world, and recently launched new B2B marketing tools to capitalize on the popularity.