Categories: Articles

Social Media Is The Main Driver For IT Purchasing Decisions

During my full-day seminar today for IAB Canada – Interactive Advertising Bureau – called Social Media Marketing And Web 2.0 in Toronto, one of the attendees asked me for more specific information on how Social Media and Web 2.0 initiatives work in B2B (Business-To-Business) situations.
I was sifting through my RSS feed and noted this post from Marketing Charts called, IT Execs: Social Media Most Trusted Source For Purchasing Decisions.
Here’s how the posting started:
“IT professionals cite social media as the most trustworthy online source of information when making purchasing decisions, according to the inaugural IT Social Media Index, which measures social media consumption trends among IT decision-makers and influencers.
Launched by online professional community ITtoolbox and PJA Advertising + Marketing, the study also seeks to determine how social media tools and user-generated content are used to evaluate IT purchasing decisions.
Among the key findings of the study:
– Executive-level decision-makers spend nearly 3.5 hours per week consuming or participating in social media – the highest usage profile of any IT audience.
– Nearly two-thirds of IT professionals surveyed say social media content and user-generated tools have made for a more informed purchasing decision; nearly three-quarters say such content and tools have made their lives more efficient.
– Overall, vendor websites, followed by user-generated content and editorial websites and trade magazines, are the most referenced information sources for IT purchasing information.
– IT audiences now spend as much or more time consuming or participating in social media as they do consuming editorial media or vendor content.”
This study is good news on many levels. As Social Media (and Social Shopping) takes hold, we’re going to see a significant shift in what formulates the decision for purchases at every level (and every price range). Social Media is also powerful because, by its nature, the content acts as the media which supersedes your typical “sales pitch.” If we’re seeing the power of Social Media in terms of general branding and awareness, using tools like Podcasts and Blogs to inform the decision makers of major purchases seems logical and powerful. These decisions not only take more time, but need much more attention focused on features, benefits, testimonials and stories. Not to mention the ability for the prospect to interact, communicate, share and question.
It does make perfect sense.
Check out the full post here: Marketing Charts – IT Execs: Social Media Most Trusted Source For Purchasing Decisions.
(hat tip to John Wall from The M Show for introducing me to Marketing Charts).

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.