Lane Ellis

Meta Launches New B2B Advertising Audiences to Help Marketers Reach Key Decision Makers
Facebook-parent company Meta has implemented an array of new advertising campaign enhancements, including targeting segments for technology and other business decision-makers, aimed specifically at B2B users on its platform, Meta recently announced, as the firm seeks to ramp up its B2B advertiser base. Social Media Today

B2B Purchasers Are Speeding Up Their Journeys: Study
Some 55 percent of B2B executives have said that the length of their purchase timeline had increased either somewhat or significantly on average in 2022 compared to 2021, while six percent said their B2B purchasing timeline had decreased, with 38 percent reporting no change from last year — several of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released buyer behavior survey data. MediaPost

LinkedIn Continues to See ‘Record Levels’ of Engagement and Sessions Growth
Microsoft’s latest performance report revealed that its LinkedIn professional social network had topped 850 million members, with the number of user sessions expanding by 26 percent, accompanied by revenue that grew by 26 percent during the most recent quarter year-over-year, increasing by $768 million, Microsoft recently announced. Social Media Today

Google, Microsoft Report Slowest Revenue Growth In Two Years
Google-parent Alphabet saw revenue that grew by 13 percent during the second quarter of 2022, reaching $69.7 billion, the search giant’s slowest growth since the same quarter in 2020, while revenue from the search portion of the firm’s business climbed by 14 percent year-over-year, while Microsoft reported revenue up 12 percent, also its slowest growth in two years, the firms recently reported. MediaPost

The Metaverse Is No Game for B2B Marketers
72 percent of global business executives have said that they expect the metaverse to eventually effect their organization in a positive way, with some 41 percent expecting it to have a breakthrough or transformational impact in the future, according to newly-release survey data of interest to B2B marketers. Association of National Advertisers (ANA)

The B2B Trade Show Market Looks Like It’ll Need At Least Another 5 Years to Reach Pre-Pandemic Levels
Even with a robust 54.7 percent B2B trade show market growth and accompanying value expected to hit $10.2 billion in 2022, a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels isn’t set to occur until after 2026, while the business information market segment is poised to expand beyond pre-pandemic levels in 2022, reaching over $66.1 billion, according to recently-released U.S. B2B forecast data. MarketingCharts

Brands Are Investing More Social Budget On Creator Partnerships
74 percent of marketers expect to invest a quarter or more of their social media budgets on partnerships with content creators over the next three to six months, with 53 percent looking to strengthen their social community and some 41 percent using creator partnerships to promote brand values — three of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released Sprout Social study data. MediaPost

LinkedIn Business Manager is now in public beta
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has begun public testing of its previously-announced LinkedIn Business Manager, aimed at making it easier for marketers to manage advertising for multiple accounts on the professional platform, with an array of new integrated dashboard and campaign-related features, LinkedIn (client) recently announced. Search Engine Land

Why B2B marketplaces are now a mainstream digital commerce sales channel [Report]
B2B marketplace sales climbed by 131 percent in 2021, reaching $56.5 billion, making them the swiftest-growing eCommerce channel, with sales expected to reach some $130 billion in 2022, as 57 percent of B2B buyers noted that they were buying more from digital marketplaces during the pandemic, according to recently-released report data. Digital Commerce 360

The Top Challenges B2B Sales Reps Face Early in the Sales Cycle
30 percent of B2B sales professionals have said that getting prospect data to begin conversations was their top challenge, while 38 percent noted that personalizing sales presentation messages to prospects was their leading pain point — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs