We’ve been championing the (re)emergence of community-building as a sustainable B2B model technique.
The truth is 33% of people picked it as their primary focus for change in a latest Velocity survey. The most important single alternative by far.
So we regarded to see if our survey information can throw up ideas for entrepreneurs heading that route. Can it assist us determine the place to construct a group right this moment?
B2B community-building in 2025
It’s price saying we’ve been actively constructing the Velocity group for many years. Till lately our recommendation could be unequivocal: construct your personal database of engaged followers round your web site.
However now we’re not so certain.
We now have about 4,200 lovingly maintained B2B entrepreneurs (together with the always-loyal Kessler household) opted into our e-newsletter. And, collectively, we set the principles of our relationship. Bliss.
However it’s about 50% down from peak due to an insidious “anti-growth coalition” that includes information compliance, zero-click searches and link-loathing social media platforms.
On the similar time our Linkedin followers have been steadily rising at 15% YoY.
The developments counsel we ought to be wanting more durable at LinkedIn. However it’s not only a numbers sport. Do relationships, extra simply kindled on social platforms, burn with the identical depth? We determined to have a look.
Platform wars: Group Database vs. Group LinkedIn
We anticipated our database — individuals who signed up on our web site — to be extra in tune with our model values than individuals who observe us on LinkedIn. Why? As a result of the sign-up course of is a extra deliberate “hand-up” second.
- It’s on our branded pages (relatively than any person else’s)
- It entails extra friction (kind fields relatively than simply urgent a button)
- It accommodates a dedication for direct comms (relatively than as a part of a day by day scroll)
However once we segmented the solutions to our latest survey by database vs. LinkedIn respondents, we had been stunned. Right here’s why.
Survey query 1: Are you acquainted with Velocity Companions?
We thought Group Database could be far extra acquainted than Group LinkedIn right here — if solely as a result of LinkedIn sign-ups really feel fast and impulsive.
However issues are just about even: in each channels, we scored simply over 90% familiarity. So no simple, fast win for Group Database right here.
Survey query 4: Has Velocity Companions influenced your place on what wants to vary in your Go-To-Market technique?
Once more, we might have assumed that Group Database would win this one.
We ran a major marketing campaign in regards to the declining effectiveness of conventional B2B advertising methods final 12 months. And whereas LinkedIn featured prominently as a promotional channel, most of our efforts had been to drive folks to experiences on our web site.
However Group LinkedIn wins right here: 54% of LinkedIn people agreed we now have influenced their place, versus 47% of database sign-ups.
Survey query 3: What do you assume is the only largest change you can make to enhance your Go-To-Market technique?
The choices to this query had been:
- Alignment of Gross sales and Advertising groups
- Connecting model and efficiency
- Deal with viewers and group constructing
- Integrating cross-channel advertising
- Prioritizing lengthy over short-term advertising technique
Essentially the most outstanding themes we explored all through our marketing campaign had been “Connecting model and efficiency” and “Deal with viewers and group constructing.”
And of people that mentioned we’d influenced their considering, we anticipated extra people from Group Database to pick these two themes than Group LinkedIn.
Once more, we had been flawed: our LinkedIn viewers appears extra in tune with our marketing campaign messages:
Connecting model and efficiency
Group LinkedIn: 30%
Group Database: 23%
Deal with viewers and group constructing
Group LinkedIn: 39%
Group Database: 32%
Survey query 2: How a lot do you agree or disagree with the next assertion: Conventional B2B advertising methods have gotten much less efficient.
We had a sense Group LinkedIn would possibly win this one. The platform attracts customers with an infinite scroll of perpetual novelty. The algorithm rewards freshness — new considering, concepts and approaches. By definition, LinkedIn customers are typically open to the thought of change.
So, considerably unsurprisingly 69% of LinkedIn customers agreed that present B2B advertising methods have gotten much less efficient, versus 62% of Group Database.
So: is it time to place extra chips into LinkedIn?
So, does all this imply you’re higher off focusing your community-building efforts round LinkedIn, relatively than your owned properties?
It’s not that black and white.
The outcomes are shut, however Group LinkedIn typically outperforms Group Database — sufficient to problem our assumption that the extra proactive opt-in of a database sign-up interprets to larger resonance with our output.
However it’s approach more durable to compete for mindshare on LinkedIn. It’s a loud, fixed cacophony that overwhelms customers with an abundance of alternative and places manufacturers on a content material treadmill that conflates engagement with resonance.
Once we cut up the info by what’s arguably the key subject of our marketing campaign — whether or not B2B advertising methods have gotten much less efficient — extra folks from Group Database say Velocity has influenced them than Group Linkedin (62% vs. 44%).
Put one other approach, individuals who got here to us through Linkedin and agree that advertising wants to vary are much less prone to affiliate us with that matter. And that’s as a result of it’s extremely contested on the platform — we now have much less possession over the important thing subject we wish to market round.
If our final aim is to construct a group of oldsters who A) imagine advertising wants to vary, and B) consider Velocity once they’re seeking to resolve that downside, plainly our personal database nonetheless edges out LinkedIn.
It’s (nonetheless) about resonance
It received’t come as any shock to you that completely different platforms serve completely different functions.
However these outcomes did change how we take into consideration LinkedIn.
First, our on-platform model recall is greater than we thought — displaying up on somebody’s feed won’t be as fleeting and transactional as we assumed.
Second, our LinkedIn viewers are simply as like-minded as our database (if no more so normally). They’re receptive to new considering, open for debate and in a position to recall the supply of concepts.
It’s given us extra confidence within the efficacy of community-building on LinkedIn — and revealed that we have to adapt our personal (sometimes slower-burn, blog-based) content material technique to compete in that house.
However it’s not time to desert our web site and database technique for 3 important causes:
1. Marketing campaign spike
We ran the survey on the again of a marketing campaign over a six-month interval. The funding in messaging, creativity and content material actually paid off. However it’s exhausting to maintain.
Our database, however, is a extra constant instrument with out spikes. We have to steadiness each: periodic campaigns for a burst of on-platform development, underpinned by a gentle viewers opting-in for the long-term.
2. Algorithm volatility
Since we ran the marketing campaign there have been modifications (maybe a number of) to the algorithm. We will’t afford to place our eggs in a single shaky basket.
The temptation to dedicate all our sources to big-swing LinkedIn campaigns is appreciable. However it’s not sufficient to give up our personal group to a platform we don’t management.
3. Lead conversion
There’s no query that LinkedIn uncovered extra folks to the Velocity model. However finally, it doesn’t matter how folks hear of us or how a lot they agree with us — our web site is the place we win shoppers. Nearly each inbound lead occurs after a rummage via some key internet pages (like our content, solutions, services and even people pages).
On the subject of group constructing, LinkedIn versus an owned database is a false dichotomy. In fact the reply is each. However this train confirmed simply how completely different these audiences (and our relationship with them) may be.
We began utilizing LinkedIn as a promotional channel to ship folks to the Velocity mothership web site. However it’s getting progressively tougher to push folks to a second location.
Not solely does LinkedIn deprioritise exterior hyperlinks, passive scrolling is essentially completely different to lively looking, and we have to cease treating these actions — and by extension, these audiences — as interchangeable.
Like loads of manufacturers, our group is split between more and more ring-fenced platforms like LinkedIn and our owned database. The job isn’t to select one over the opposite, or to try to combine them — it’s to grasp how resonance differs between them, and tailor our strategy accordingly.
We hope you’ve loved wanting into our minds, strategies and maths over the previous few months. Do take a look at the opposite within the collection.
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