KnowledgeStorm Inc. and Universal McCann announced the results of a joint research study on the emerging role of new media, particularly online video, social networks and Wikis, on B2B technology purchase decisions.

The survey was completed by more than 5,300 business and IT professionals globally, representing a variety of job titles, vertical industries and company sizes. “With this specific study, our goal was to examine technology buyers’ interactions with online video, social networks and Wikis to determine marketing opportunities using one or all three of these applications,” said Matt Lohman, director of market research, KnowledgeStorm. “Online video provides marketers with a powerful tool to enhance technology content, while social networks and Wikis offer untapped opportunity to target specific niches and increase reach within the B2B marketplace.”

According to the survey, 63% of respondents accessed online videos at least once a week. And, a majority of respondents are viewing online videos on a variety of business and technology topics. Webcasts top the list of most popular online video content with 70% of respondents using this format.

“Video offers a totally different basis of understanding not available in the linear context of text-only communications,” says Stacy Malone, vice president, interactive media director, Universal McCann. “The fact that a large majority of respondents who access online video felt technology product information and research is more compelling and valuable when delivered with video points to their ongoing need for a full range and depth of information.”

“Long associated with the ever-popular Webcast format, online video is starting to pervade other emerging media channels such as podcasts and blogs,” said Malone. “With 76% of respondents making it a common monthly practice to share online video with peers, we can only expect this medium’s sphere of influence in the B2B marketplace to grow even more.”    

In contrast, the role of social networks – one of the fastest growing segments of the Internet – has yet to be fully realized in the B2B marketplace. Seventy-seven percent of respondents have little to no interaction with social networks. However, of the ones who are already tapped into social networks, 70% visit these sites at least once a month. Not surprisingly, these respondents are attracted to more business-oriented social networks such as LinkedIn, which tops the list of favorites for 27% of this group.

“The results tell us that B2B buyers are still a bit ‘unsociable’,” says Lohman. “However, social networks clearly offer a powerful marketing channel when leveraged properly. We’re already seeing a majority of respondents use these sites for business development and networking. Now, B2B marketers need to become a bigger part of the social dialogue that supports collaboration, knowledge sharing, and even troubleshooting.”

Technology buyers have found a middle ground with Wikis. Nearly half of the survey respondents considered themselves very knowledgeable about this medium with more than 50% visiting Wikis at least once a week. Sixty-three percent of respondents are locating business and technology information through Wikis, and an overwhelming 96% give value to the material they find. They consider this information so valuable, a majority of respondents actively share content from Wikis and another 52% use it in their technology decision-making process.

“These findings suggest that Wikis have emerged as a useful online tool for augmenting information searches and finding high-quality content,” said Malone. “A technology buyer’s experience with a Wiki is more about ‘getting’ relevant information than about collaboration, at the moment, as only 6% of respondents admitted to actively contributing content.”

This is the third in a series of joint research studies focused on the effects of new media within the B2B marketplace. The first study focused on podcasts, and the second study concentrated on blogs and RSS. To learn more about the online video, social networks and Wikis study findings, please click on the following link: http://www.knowledgestorm.com/search/viewabstract/85553.