B2B Marketers: 490% Increase in Social Media Spend by 2014?

When we publish pretty charts and report on studies, I’m often asked: “What about the B2B guys?”

Hold on to your inventory, here they come!

Forrester is predicting a significant uptick in internet marketing by those in the B2B space. In fact, it’s predicting spend will almost double over the next five years–going from $2.3 billion in 2009 to $4.8 billion in 2014!

So, where do the B2B marketers plan to invest?

You can’t blame them for focusing on paid search, after all, it’s a channel with controlled spending and measurable ROI. Still, that doesn’t mean there won’t be corks popping in the offices of social media gurus.

B2B marketers spent $11 million on social marketing in 2009, and that number will increase to $54 million in 2014. Despite small budgetary spending, social media’s impact far outweighs its current budget figure, as many of social marketing’s costs (time, staffing, and training) are difficult to quantify. Still, traditionally conservative B2B marketers are beginning to see the benefits of investing in social marketing, especially through the use of exclusive communities and online events to share information both with clients and internal stakeholders.

A 490% growth rate is not to be sniffed at, but a total spend of $54 million means social media folks might want to celebrate with a bottle of apple cider and let the PPC management folks celebrate with the good stuff!