B2B marketers are tapping into the benefits which social media can provide to their brands, said eMarketer.

According to data from BtoB magazine and Business.com, B2B marketers understand that social media can assist other online areas of business such as ‘search’, with 44% of US B2B marketers agreeing that social media had a positive impact on the search ranking for their brand.

In order to improve search rankings 48% of the respondents pointed to driving inbound links through social media channels by creating enough compelling content for their ‘followers’ to comment on. 45% admitted to expanding their profiles and social media accounts in order to increase search rankings. Others (40%) monitored social media sites to influence organic SEO, and 26% monitored social media conversations to influence keyboard purchases.

The data also showed that B2B marketers primary reason for using social media was to build brand awareness, followed by a goal of increasing traffic to their website. A third goal was to generate leads.