Here is a new, must-see video for B2B marketers interested in social media. It has been prepared by our friends at Earnest Agency in the UK.

Of the stats presented, here some which are especially noteworthy:

1. CIO’s could well be the biggest blocker to social media adoption. Fifty-four percent of CIO’s prohibit use of social networking sites while at work.
2. The use of social media by B2B companies is validated by business purchasers. 93% of business buyers believe all companies should have a presence in social media.
3. If you think C-level executives aren’t active online, you’re sorely mistaken. The Internet is the C-Suites top information resource (74% of C-Level executives say it’s very valuable)
4. 89% of journalists make use of blogs while conducting their online research and 96% turn to corporate websites.

To read more on the data presented here, check out Earnest Agency’s accompanying blog post which contains further detail and sources:http://earnestagency.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/vital-statistics-for-every-b2b-marketer/.

A fun commercial which captures our Zeitgeist.

“Meaningless statistics went up 2% last week.”

Thanks to John Favalo, Managing Partner at the B2B Group of Eric Mower and Associates, for referencing this smirk-evoking quote at a recent conference. I unfortunately missed where it came from and haven’t been able to find the original source.

Isn’t it interesting how numbers can add perceived importance to something even though they may be irrelevant? In my recent post on strategy vs. tactics, I talked about the importance of having a big picture view, whether you’re a traveler or marketer. This is just as important in web analytics.

Now don’t get me wrong. Online marketing has truly benefited from measurement tools. These range from Google Analytics, a free yet robust web analytics service, to competitive intelligence tools such as Hitwise, and marketing automation software from the likes Marketo and Eloqua. The question is, what to do with all the data?

The key is measuring what you need to measure, getting the data you need to make the important decisions. Granted, it isn’t always easy to know what important means. But if your strategy is clear, it becomes a whole lot easier.