social buying meets social selling: how trusted networks improve the purchase experience

Social buying meets social selling: How trusted networks improve the purchase experience

Social buying: Leveraging professional networks for buying support to

increase confidence in decision-making

Source: IDC Social Buying Study, February 2014For all respondents, n = 760

of C-Level and VP-level buyers use social media for B2B purchase

decisions

Social buying is widely practiced among B2B decision makers, especially C-level and VP-level executives

of all buyers use social media for B2B purchase decisions

New research conducted by IDC and sponsored by LinkedIn explores the habits and preferences of these social buyers

• How do buyers use social media for purchase decisions?

• Why do buyers use social media for purchase decisions?

• What are the ideal situations for using social media forpurchase decisions?

Social media is an efficient way for buyers to access resources and inform complex, high-risk purchase decisions

“It made the process much faster and easier and ultimately helped with a better end product."

Average spend of non-social buyers

Average spend of social buyers

Compared with other B2B buyers, buyers who use social media for purchasing spend 84% more per purchase


Social buyers also make 61% more purchases on average than buyers who don’t use social

# of purchases made by non-social buyers

# of purchases made by social

buyers


And social buyers have a higher level of company influence than purchasers who do not use social media


of non-social buyers make purchases for their entire

company, business unit, or multiple departments

of social buyers make purchases for their entire company, business

unit, or multiple departments

More confident we had the right information

Easier to gain consensus within our team

More comfortable with the expertise and credibility of our vendor


Business buyers reported the greatest benefit of social media as gaining greater confidence and comfort in their decisions

They value social media as a way to access their trusted personal and professional networks


Prefer to work with vendors who have been recommended

Prefer to work with sales professionals who have been referred

Consider friends and colleagues as critical for reference checking


In fact, as buyers get closer to making a decision, online professional networks become their #1 purchase resource

Third-party expertrecommendations

Industry-specificmedia

Professional social networks (e.g.

LinkedIn)


LinkedIn helps buyers build confidence in the credibility of potential business partners

Researched vendors via their LinkedIn profiles

Searched for potential vendors on LinkedIn

Found vendors through common LinkedIn connections

The biggest deterrent to social buying is the authenticity of online profiles, but adoption should increase as social networks grow


Non-social buyers who would use social media if their peers

did

Non-social buyers who are concerned / strongly concerned about online profile authenticity

Following leaders

Senior executives are most likely to engage in

social buying. Where these leaders go, others

tend to follow.

Seeking outcomes

The value of social buying (greater efficiency in

reaping trust and confidence from social

networks) is highly desired by most B2B buyers.

Amplifying benefits

As vendors gain more experience at social

selling, their skills will improve. This will amplify the value buyers receive

from social.

Moving forward, IDC expects social buying to become increasingly popular and beneficial

Sales professionals can partner more effectively with social buyers by increasing social proximity, presence, and capital

Social proximity

Grow social networks and contribute to conversations

Social presence

Manage a professional identity that is credible,

authentic, accurate, information-rich, and

service oriented

Social capital

Do your social homework to ensure relevancy before

you reach out and facilitate peer-to-peer

recommendations

Are you prepared to reach social buyers? Find out how.

Download the research:

lnkd.in/b_xEzKS

Get more tips and insights:

sales.linkedin.com/blog

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