Social media usage in business-to-business marketing campaigns is set for further growth this year as 62 per cent of marketers plan to maintain or increase their budget spend. 

However, lack of experience is proving a stumbling block for many, reveals the first annual Social Media Census published by UK-based Cyance, in association with the international Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM). 

Sixty-five per cent of respondents say companies that fail to embrace social media will be left behind, and 75 per cent agree social media will become a key communications activity for businesses. 

However, as only 28 per cent of the respondents have social media policy or guidelines in place, the survey reveals that many marketers are not deploying social media tools to their best potential. This could result in not only poor return on investment but their brands being damaged. 

Steve Kemish, director of Cyance and chairman of the IDM Digital Marketing Council, said: "Social media is becoming more and more important to the business-to-business (B2B) industry. Far from being a fad, it has proved to offer very real applications and great value. 

“Although three-quarters of marketers rated the importance of social media policy and guidelines, it is concerning that so few have them in place. Setting out objectives for what you are aiming to achieve with social media is vital. This should also be integrated into the whole marketing campaign as a clearly defined channel. A scattergun approach will not work, particularly for B2B. Instead you should be carefully selecting the sites and networks that best fit your audience first and your brand second.”

As an emerging sector that is still in its infancy, it is perhaps not surprising that lack of knowledge and training was cited as the main reason for preventing organisations to use social media tools. 

Joanna King, programme director at the IDM, said: "With 75 per cent of those surveyed believing in the importance of social media, yet only 28 per cent having a social media policy in place, it’s clear there is much ground to be covered. At a time when marketers are being asked to achieve better results with fewer resources it’s imperative to develop the right skill sets and direct them to the right areas. If social media marketing is here to stay, then marketers need to up-skill now."

Despite concerns about implementation of social media marketing campaigns, compared to other digital channels, social media holds its own when it comes to return on investment (ROI): 37 per cent of B2B marketers voted social media as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ for ROI. This compares with just nine per cent for display advertising. The big winners, however, still seem to be email and search. Respondents voting email ‘excellent’ for ROI numbered 24 per cent, for paid search it was 14 per cent and 31 per cent for natural search.

Other key findings from the international study include:  

• The main reasons companies are using social media tools are to increase brand awareness (82% response rate) and communicate with potential customers (78% response rate). 
• The most popular third-party websites are Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook with 33 per cent, 28 per cent and 18.5 per cent of respondents respectively stating that these would be the sites they would use exclusively.
• The main benefits of social media marketing are: low cost (61% response rate), to reach and influence (61%) and customer engagement (57%).    
• 39 per cent of the respondents have been using social media for professional purposes for less than six months.