Our Learnings from 11 Years of Social Media Market Research
Wow, 11 years – that is actually the longest B2B social media study in the entire DACH region. Conducted and released annually by Althaller Communications, their insights combined with the results of our four market studies yield super interesting learnings that I definitely want to share with you – so let's get started! 😊
The world of PR is becoming increasingly diverse. Social media is playing an increasingly important role in the industry. Last year, the social web even narrowly overtook print as the most important channel for PR work and is closely following the online sector.
This is probably mainly because more than 72 million people can be reached daily on social media in Germany alone. Additionally, users spend an average of 2.5 hours on the content published there. So, a lot of potential that should definitely be utilized.
Moreover, you have numerous opportunities to position a brand as well as possible here. Through mentions, takeovers, influencers, hashtag campaigns, challenges, contests, and much more, you can get closer to your goals. Acquiring new customers is still at the top of the list of goals. But social media is also perfect for strengthening branding, changing an image, increasing awareness, or launching a new product.
Currently, Instagram is mainly used. The channel has now dethroned Facebook and is gaining more and more importance – especially in the B2C sector. On the B2B side, LinkedIn is of course unbeaten. TikTok has seen the biggest growth. The newest channel is becoming increasingly important for both B2C and B2B. Here, a new, young target group can be reached very well. Users spend a lot of time with the content, and the average conversion rates are also impressive.
In this context, the importance of influencers is also growing. Currently, 84% of the PR professionals we surveyed are already working with them or plan to do so – especially in the B2C sector. But corporate influencers are also becoming increasingly important in the B2B sector to further increase reach.
How does a social media presence become successful?
We have summarized some tips from the longest B2B social media study for you!
1. Provide your target audience with interesting content.
Always try to view your profile from your target audience’s perspective and ask yourself what content can provide the most value to them. Posts should ideally be hardly promotional, but rather highly valuable. This will make your channel and especially your brand interesting to the target audience, and they will regularly consume your content.
2. Stay credible and authentic.
On social media, only absolutely genuine content has a chance. Users quickly realize if you try to fake it and it will only reflect negatively on the brand. So, be as real and approachable as possible.
3. Post continuously and regularly.
A good social media presence is not a sprint, but a marathon. Only if you continuously publish new, interesting content and keep your followers up to date will you be successful. No one will decide to follow a profile that hasn’t posted new content in weeks. Try to find a frequency that you can maintain long-term.
4. Offer transparent insights into the business.
Social media users are curious and follow you because they are interested in the brand, products, or topic. They expect transparent insights that they can’t simply read on your website.
How to measure the success of social media PR?
This, of course, depends heavily on the goals, as we have already described in our previous blog posts. Nevertheless, we want to show you an overview of the KPIs that PR experts in the DACH region use to measure their success:
The most meaningful metrics are the engagement rate and tonality. You can hardly draw any conclusions from follower counts alone. It's much better to relate interactions to the number of followers.
The study is now in its 12th year. If you would like to participate and receive the results exclusively, then take 15 minutes and click the link below 😊
Sarah Amler
Digital Process & Marketing Manager
Sarah was responsible for performance marketing, social media activities and digital onboarding in our software at aclipp.