Amplifying your message through online peer-to-peer referrals with referral marketing software not only produces immediate benefits in the form of more high-quality leads, but also positions your business to take advantage of the newest frontier of B2B marketing and become a leader of social influence across the web. It clearly is a platform too great to ignore and should be adopted by any B2B company seeking to optimize its customer acquisition strategy.

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REPORT: Social Media Referrals Work for B2B Companies
There is a strong distinction to be drawn between businesses targeting other businesses (B2B) and businesses targeting
consumers (B2C) in the ways that they approach online brand engagement. Certainly B2B and B2C companies are
gaining equal amounts of utility from peer-to-peer referrals. The differences lie in how and where they are best able to
leverage these referrals and convert leads to sales.
The 2012 Social Media Marketing Report put out by Social Media Examiner surveyed over 3500 marketing professionals
and uncovered a number of statistics highlighting the fundamental differences between B2B and B2C social media
activities. Some key findings include:
• Over 96% of B2C marketers reported using Facebook as a marketing tool, while only 87% of
B2B marketers reported the same.
• 76% of B2B marketers said they are more likely to increase their activity on LinkedIn
compared to only 55% of B2C marketers.
• B2B companies lag behind B2C in Facebook activity, with just 68% of B2B reporting
increased activity compared to 76% of B2C companies.
• 71% of B2B marketers planned to invest more time in blogging compared to just 65% of B2C
marketers.
First it’s important to understand the distinctions to between B2C and B2B business models, the needs of their customers
and how this relates to online referral marketing programming.
B2C companies are product driven, maximize the value of individual transactions and have a single step buying process.
This means that the cycle of lead to conversion is vastly shorter than that of a B2B where a potential customer must be
nurtured and developed throughout a long process of engagement.
B2B companies also need more content and online services to establish the business as an expert in the industry. B2B
buyers tend to be more sophisticated and informed about the product and won’t make an investment unless they are
absolutely sure of its utility for their business.
For a B2B company, building strong relationships with partners and acquiring trust matter just as much as a strong
product. More so than B2C companies, a B2B buyer relies on rational, value-based decisions. The impulse purchases of
B2C sales don’t happen when a professional career is on the line. It’s a fact that the B2B community is driven by
reputation and word of mouth meaning that active participation on social networks can establish a company as an
industry leader and position them to create profoundly successful customer referral programs.
That B2Bs are better able to establish a market niche given their industry-specific focus also plays a factor in their
approach to cultivating a strong community of online advocates. B2Cs stand in contrast to B2Bs by operating in an
emotional, saturated market of brands and products. A key reason why peer-to-peer referrals are so effective for B2C
companies is that they allow a business to establish trust from the onset and move away from the pack of similar
products. Because B2B companies have a more focused customer base, they can utilize targeted messaging on social
networks easily and efficiently.
It makes sense then that LinkedIn would be more beneficial for a B2B than B2C. LinkedIn provides the opportunity for a
business to connect and discuss topics of interest with targeted professionals. They are able to gain industry knowledge,
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unlimited networking opportunities and have the potential to establish themselves as thought-leaders in their niche. In
fact 65% of B2B companies reported having acquired a customer via LinkedIn. LinkedIn as a social networking tool is
more focused on professional materials than Facebook or Twitter given the origin of the website. Actively courting
referrals on the professional network can pay back dividends in the form of high-value leads and customer acquisitions.
LinkedIn may be the avenue of choice for a B2B company, but survey results also showed that in spite of the more
complicated buyer-seller relationship, marketers gained utility from social media referrals across the board.
Social Media Examiner’s report interviewed a number of B2B business owners and found that:
• Over 56% of B2B marketers reported acquiring new business partnerships by utilizing social
media.
• 60% saw improved SEO search rankings as a result of social media engagement.
• Almost 70% reported that they were better able to gather insights into their market by using
social media.
Promoting any business comes down to being able to build a strong and engaged community around the brand. In the
case of a B2B company, the larger goal is to gain a foothold as an expert in the industry; someone that another business
can trust and rely on.
“Best-in-class” B2Bs, or the top-20% of aggregate performers, are significantly more likely to incorporate social media
efforts into their lead generation process. A report by MarketingProfs found that:
• Almost 65% of the top B2B companies integrate social media into their traditional acquisition
channels in comparison to 51% of average performers.
• The top B2B companies gained 230% more leads via social media than their competitors.
Clearly something is working well for these companies when it comes to their online marketing practices and all the data
collected points towards increased activity on social networking sites. In fact, a recent case study showed that IBM
reported a 400% increase in sales in the first quarter after starting their pilot social-selling campaign.
B2B companies create a brand identity, but must then create a number of campaigns and triggers that nurture a potential
lead through the sales process. Having a strong referral program can make the difference between a strong vendor
relationship and letting the lead run cold.
So does online referral marketing work for a B2B company? The answer is an emphatic yes. Despite the harsh, stoic
veneer, keep in mind that businesses are social too. Customers trust their friend’s recommendations the same as any
other business. The real potential of social media for B2B businesses doesn’t lay in general engagement strategies
(although these certainly help). The potential lies in turning customers into brand ambassadors and use online platforms
to amplify a predefined message.
For example, say that someone chooses to download an eBook you recently published. While this content alone may
bring your one customer, offering them the opportunity to share the resource with their online network can bring in
hundreds of new readers that now know of your brand’s expertise.
The data all points towards social media having an increasingly large role during the B2B buying process. In fact,
significant portion of B2B marketers say they’ll more actively use social media this year than ever before. And as social
media’s influence grows, so to does the necessity to leverage the platforms as a means of bringing in new customers.
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Consider that between 2009 and 2011 (just two short years) social network usage by B2B marketers shot up by over
20%. Clearly businesses are beginning to recognize the utility of social selling, especially in regards to customer
referrals.
In addition, the subscription-based business models of many B2B SaaS companies requires a substantial amount of lead
nurturing and retention activites to ensure a sustained client-company relationship. Referred customers are not only the
highest value leads, but also are most likely to remain engaged and excited about using your product.
Amplifying your message through online peer-to-peer referrals not only produces immediate benefits in the form of more
high-quality leads, but also positions your business to take advantage of the newest frontier of B2B marketing and
become a leader of social influence across the web. It clearly is a platform too great to ignore and should be adopted by
any B2B company seeking to optimize its customer acquisition strategy.
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