According to B2B Social Media Benchmarking, a report from BtoBonline.com, the five most popular resources people turn to at work to get the information they need for their day-to-day jobs are:

• Webinars and podcasts
• Online ratings and reviews of business products or services
• Company pages on social networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn
• Company blogs
• Searches of business-related information on social media sites

Company size, job role, and industry all play roles in how much each of these resources is used. Larger companies are more likely to see success from social media marketing when reaching out to other businesses, but smaller companies can benefit as well, especially from online ratings sites. While Twitter is used less than podcasts and webinars it is still used for B2B by 41% of those businesses that use social media. Companies in industries such as marketing and advertising, computers and software, and the internet all are more likely to use and see results from social media than other industries such as legal or accounting.

A good rule to get the best results out of a B2B social media marketing campaign is to continually test different channels and keep an eye on what other competing companies are doing with social media and with what effect. Also, don’t spread yourself too thin. Focus on the most important channels for your company and maximize your results in that channel. This will be the year that more companies use social media for B2B but it will take some time and research before a solid formula can be developed for any company.