Survey says social media advertising brings new clients to B2B and B2C brands

Marketers doubting the efficacy of social media campaigns in generating ROI may contemplate the most recent State of Inbound Marketing and advertising survey from Hubspot, which indicates that cross-industry brands are acquiring new customers by means of their social campaigns. Sixty-two % of companies say social media advertising and marketing has become more critical in producing inbound leads within the past six months.

The study asked marketers about their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn usage and good results. All 3 platforms have proven to bring in more new clients year-over-year. For instance, 44 % of marketers say they acquired new clients via Facebook in 2010 in comparison with 48 % in 2011. Twitter also showed y-o-y gains, with 42 % of marketers saying the microblogging site brings in new clients.

LinkedIn showed essentially the most dramatic annual gains. In 2010, 41 % of businesses said LinkedIn advertising resulted in sales, and this year 57 percent of marketers say the professional-oriented social website brings new buyers. This obtaining supports Brafton's earlier reports that organization logins on the website are increasing and that LinkedIn is continuously gaining users.

Notably, both B2B and B2C brands are seeing achievement with social advertising. LinkedIn was specially beneficial for B2B organizations in terms of driving leads, with 61 percent of business-to-business firms gaining new clients via the channel. Much more than one-third of B2C firms also have good results in discovering new customers with the site, but Facebook seems very best for gaining B2C clients (cited as a valuable supply of clients by 67 % of marketers).

Social media advertising may prove to bring in new customers by means of other channels as well. As Brafton has reported, Google's Matt Cutts says social advertising is key to Search engine marketing, which suggests it could aid brands gain traction among search audiences.