by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 12, 2026 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2016 and has been updated for 2026 with new research on how B2B buyers use social media, peer reviews, and AI to research vendors.
When we first wrote this post, the big news was that B2B buyers had started using social media to research vendors. That’s no longer news. Today’s buyers move between LinkedIn, YouTube, peer reviews, industry communities, and AI tools like ChatGPT before they ever talk to a salesperson. And by the time they do reach out, most have already decided who they like.
Here, we walk you through what the latest research says about how B2B buyers research vendors, which channels matter most, and what supply chain, logistics, and manufacturing companies should do about it.
Quick answer: do B2B buyers use social media to research vendors?
Yes. Social media is one of several channels B2B buyers use to research vendors, alongside peer reviews, word of mouth, and increasingly AI tools. LinkedIn’s research found that nearly two-thirds of B2B buyers say social video helps shape their buying decisions. Buyers also do most of their research on their own, so your social presence is often how they first judge whether you’re credible.
Buyers do most of their research before they talk to you
The biggest shift in B2B buying is how much happens without you. In the 6sense 2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report, which surveyed nearly 4,000 buyers:
- Buyers made first contact with sellers about 61% of the way through their buying journey.
- Buyers, not sellers, initiated 79% of engagements.
- 94% of buyers had already ranked their shortlist by preference before engaging sellers.
- The vendor that won the selection phase went on to win the deal 77% of the time.
In other words, buyers are forming opinions about your company long before your sales team gets a chance to make its case. Social media, your website, reviews, and AI answers are doing that selling for you, whether you’re managing them or not.
How B2B buyers use social media today
LinkedIn is still the center of B2B social
For supply chain companies, LinkedIn is where buyers, partners, and future employees are most likely to see you. Buyers use it to check out your company page, see what your leaders are posting, find out who they know at your company, and get a feel for your expertise. A quiet or outdated LinkedIn presence sends a signal, and it’s not a good one.
Video is shaping buying decisions
Video has become one of the most influential formats in B2B. According to the LinkedIn B2B Institute, nearly two-thirds of B2B buyers say social video helps shape their buying decisions. The same research found that vendors known across the whole buying group from the start are 20 times more likely to be bought than those known only through an expert recommendation.
For supply chain companies, video is a natural fit: facility tours, equipment demos, customer stories, and short explainers from your own experts all help buyers see what working with you would actually be like.
Peers and reviews still carry weight
B2B buyers trust other buyers. TrustRadius’s 2026 B2B Buying Disconnect report found that most buyers consult customer reviews during their purchase journey and more than half speak with a peer along the way. Industry groups, LinkedIn conversations, and word of mouth from people buyers already trust remain some of the strongest influences on a shortlist.
AI is now part of the research process, too
The newest research channel is AI. Forrester reports that 94% of business buyers now use AI in their buying process. And in G2’s 2026 research, 51% of B2B software buyers said they start their research with an AI chatbot more often than with Google, up from 29% a year earlier.
That matters for social media, too. AI tools pull from what’s published about you across the web, including your LinkedIn presence, reviews, and mentions in industry publications. A consistent, active presence makes it easier for AI tools to understand and recommend your company. Here’s more on how logistics companies get recommended by ChatGPT and AI search.
What buyers expect when they find you
Whether a buyer finds you on LinkedIn, through a peer, or in an AI answer, they’re looking for the same things:
- Proof you understand their world. Content that speaks to their specific industry, challenges, and terminology.
- Real expertise. Insight from people at your company, not just promotional posts.
- Evidence. Case studies, customer stories, and specifics that back up your claims.
- Consistency. The same story on your website, LinkedIn, review sites, and sales conversations.
- A fast response. When they finally reach out, they expect to hear back quickly. Here’s why lead response time matters so much.
How supply chain companies can show up where buyers research
- Keep your LinkedIn company page current. Update your description, services, locations, and featured content so it matches your website.
- Get your experts posting. Posts from real people at your company often reach more buyers than company page posts. Your team members can be some of your best brand ambassadors.
- Invest in short video. Facility walkthroughs, project highlights, and quick tips from your team give buyers a reason to stop scrolling.
- Ask happy customers for reviews and referrals. Make it easy for satisfied customers to vouch for you on Google, LinkedIn, and industry directories.
- Show up in industry conversations. Comment on trade publication posts, participate in association groups, and share takeaways from trade shows.
- Connect social to your pipeline. Track how social and AI referrals turn into website visits, leads, and opportunities in your CRM.
Questions we’ve gotten about B2B buyers and social media
Q: Which social media platform is best for B2B supply chain companies?
A: For most supply chain, logistics, and manufacturing companies, LinkedIn is the top priority because that’s where buyers, partners, and candidates spend time professionally. YouTube is a strong second for video content like facility tours and demos.
Q: Do B2B buyers really make decisions based on social media?
A: Social media rarely closes a deal on its own, but it shapes which vendors make the shortlist. Since buyers do most of their research before contacting sellers, your social presence often forms their first impression of your company.
Q: Should our employees post on LinkedIn or just the company page?
A: Both. The company page is your official presence, but posts from real people, especially leaders and subject matter experts, tend to earn more engagement and trust.
Q: How does social media affect AI search?
A: AI tools draw on information published across the web, including professional profiles, reviews, and industry mentions. A consistent, active presence helps AI tools understand what your company does and makes it more likely you’ll be recommended.
Want to reach more buyers where they research?
Fronetics works exclusively with supply chain, logistics, and manufacturing companies, and we help clients build a presence on LinkedIn, in search, and in AI answers that turns researchers into buyers. Get in touch to talk about where your buyers are finding you.
Related posts:
by Elizabeth Hines | May 9, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
A webinar is an excellent content medium to generate leads to or nurture those already in your sales funnel.
Maybe you’ve taken a webinar to enhance your professional skills. Did you know that webinars can be beneficial not only to the students, but also to the business providing them?
In content marketing, we consider a webinar content that your target audience will find valuable. You can leverage this value to move them through the buyer’s journey — whether it’s becoming a lead by providing their contact information in exchange for attendance, or by using the webinar strategically in the lead-nurturing process.
What content should I use in my webinar?
In a recent interview, Amy Porterfield, online marketing expert and the host of Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, shares her ideas about what content should be part of a webinar and what webinars should sell.
Porterfield suggests that live online workshops and pre-recorded courses sell well in a webinar, whereas physical products are less effectively sold in this format. “So before you choose a webinar to sell your product or service, think about how the thing you’re selling is or isn’t like a webinar experience.”
How is a webinar different from my other content?
What separates your free content (like blogs, social media, podcasts, etc.) from paid content like a webinar?
Porterfield emphasizes that, while free content explains the “What” of your products and services, “your paid content explains the How.” She suggests that a successful webinar will “paint a picture using images and really powerful words and stories.”
Your attendees should leave the webinar feeling that they’ve learned something valuable, and that they are ready to take the next step — which should be considering your product or services. “When you begin selling in your webinar, focus on how your paid program, online product, consulting, or coaching helps attendees achieve the opportunity, transformation, or result you’ve just explained,” says Porterfield.
She also suggests bringing your target audience’s obstacles to the forefront of the conversation. “Clearly articulating the obstacles lets your audience understand them on your terms and creates a well-defined pathway for your product or service to help them overcome the obstacles. Essentially, you want to provide enough information so that your product is the next logical step.”
Have you tried creating a webinar?
Related posts:
by Elizabeth Hines | Mar 20, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain
Email workflows will automatically deliver content to leads at designated intervals, inviting them to take action and helping them to move down the sales funnel.
We’ve written before about marketing automation, and what it can do for the supply chain in term of cost- and time-savings. It’s time to get specific about how you can put marketing automation technology to work for you.
There are quite a few highly effective automation tools (including chatbots). Today we’re going to talk about email workflows.
What are email workflows?
These resource-saving tools consist of a series of emails that automatically send to a user at designated intervals. Based on actions a user has taken on your website, they receive emails relating to their interests — or where they are in the sales process — automatically.
Take this example: If someone downloads a resource from your website, an automated email workflow can be triggered to send a thank-you email within 24 hours. After the initial email comes a series of lead-nurturing emails over the next few weeks, continuing to educate the lead about a subject they are interested in, based on the resource they downloaded.
Why use email workflows
HubSpot reports that businesses using this kind of marketing automation to nurture leads receive a 451% increase in qualified leads. Email workflows work, period.
At Fronetics, we recommend clients create email workflows all the time. It allows them to deliver relevant, timely content to leads through automation. That means a sales person doesn’t have to keep track of when a download occurred and remember to send follow-up emails with lead-nurturing content.
Email workflows let you trigger emails based on any information you have about your leads, so you can send the ideal message at the ideal time. Here are some ideas of email workflows you can try:
- Topic workflows, triggered by page views or content offer downloads
- Lead-nurturing workflow, triggered by top-of-the-funnel conversions
- Re-engagment workflow, triggered when a contact has been inactive for a while
- Upsell workflow, triggered by past purchases
- Blog subscriber welcome workflow, triggered when someone subscribes to your blog
By taking the time to create thoughtful email workflows on the front end, you will save your team a lot of time and effort during the sales process. It’s this kind of marketing automation that will streamline your sales and marketing efforts, freeing you up to complete other important tasks.
Related posts:
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 15, 2018 | Blog, Marketing
Updated January 2025
Marketing automation can help supply chain marketers become more efficient and more successful in earning and converting leads.
Automation is changing today’s supply chain, and not just because robots and autonomous vehicles are scooting around warehouse floors. Supply chain marketers can use automation to drive efficiency and improve our success rates.
HubSpot recently reported that businesses using marketing automation to nurture leads received a whopping 451% increase in qualified leads. So how can you reap these benefits? Let’s take a quick look at automated marketing applications in supply chain marketing.
How can I use marketing automation for supply chain lead generation?
B2B buyers are increasingly demanding vendors provide personalized experiences throughout the buyer’s journey. That makes marketers’ jobs 1 million times more difficult in having to provide custom lead-nurturing content to all prospects in the database. Enter, marketing automation — a way to automate the process of personalizing leads’ interactions with your business. HubSpot describes marketing automation as “software and tactics that allow companies to buy and sell like Amazon — that is, to nurture prospects with highly personalized, useful content that helps convert prospects to customers and turn customers into delighted customers.”
Examples of ways supply chain marketers might use marketing automation include:
- Chatbots
- Social media scheduling tools
- Thank-you, welcome, and other triggered-by-an-event emails
- Event reminders
- Email workflows
The Evolution of Marketing Automation in Supply Chain
Marketing automation is transforming how supply chain marketers generate and nurture leads. According to Salesforce’s 2023 State of Marketing Report, 71% of marketers report significant productivity improvements through automation implementation.
Current State of Automation Adoption
Recent market research paints a clear picture of automation’s growing impact in B2B marketing. According to Gartner’s latest findings, more than three-quarters of B2B marketers have either implemented or are in the process of implementing marketing automation solutions. This widespread adoption is driven by tangible results: teams are seeing their manual task load reduced by nearly a third through automation. The benefits extend beyond efficiency – Salesforce’s 2023 research shows that 69% of marketing teams have enhanced their personalization capabilities through automation. These improvements in efficiency and customization translate to bottom-line impact, with McKinsey reporting that companies typically achieve a 15-20% reduction in their overall marketing costs after implementing automation solutions.
Understanding Modern Supply Chain Marketing Automation
Core Technology Components
B2B buyers expect personalized experiences throughout their journey. Successful marketing automation for supply chain lead generation combines strategies like these:
- Chatbots
- Social media scheduling tools
- Thank-you, welcome, and other triggered-by-an-event emails
- Event reminders
- Email workflows
- AI-powered lead scoring
- Behavioral analytics
- Multi-channel campaign management
- Predictive engagement tools
Key Automation Capabilities
Modern supply chain marketing automation platforms offer:
1. Intelligent Lead Management
- Automated lead scoring
- Behavior tracking
- Engagement analysis
- Qualification workflows
2. Multi-Channel Campaign Orchestration
- Integrated social media management
- Content distribution
- Cross-platform analytics
- Performance tracking
3. Email Marketing Automation
- Dynamic segmentation
- Behavioral triggers
- Performance optimization
- A/B testing capabilities
Implementation Strategy
Creating Effective Automation Workflows
We see companies achieve the best results when they focus on:
- Strategic Segmentation
- Industry-specific targeting
- Behavioral segmentation
- Company size consideration
- Content Personalization
- Dynamic content delivery
- Automated follow-up sequences
- Engagement-based adjustments
- Lead Qualification
- Predictive scoring
- Behavior analysis
- Sales readiness assessment
Example of Marketing Automation for Supply Chain Lead Generation: Automated Email Workflows
Automation is particularly useful in email. I’ve written before about how marketers spend way too much time creating marketing emails. How much of your day could you gain back if you didn’t have to create, send, and follow up with prospects via email?
One easy and effective way to utilize marketing automation in your emails is to set up an automated email workflow. That is a series of emails that a user will receive from you based on actions they take.
First, create an email list from your database based on certain criteria — like leads who have been inactive for 6 months or longer. Send them an email inviting them to download a new industry report you have published (using personalization tokens to show them its relevancy to their business). Then set a second email to send to only those who downloaded the report a day or two later thanking them for downloading. A third email could follow several days later offering a case study related to the topic. When someone downloads that case study, the workflow could trigger the designated sales rep to receive a notification to follow up with the prospect.
Instead of having to watch your database to see when a prospect takes each of these actions, then completing the necessary follow-up, automation software (we like HubSpot) can do this for you right when it happens. What’s more, those leads that have gone through the workflow will be more qualified (meaning more likely to buy), so your sales reps’ time will be better spent as well.
Measuring Success of Marketing Automation for Supply Chain Lead Generation
Key Performance Indicators
According to McKinsey’s Supply Chain Analytics Report, successful implementations show:
- 55% improvement in lead quality
- 15-20% reduction in marketing costs
- Increased sales team productivity
- Faster sales cycles
Marketing automation won’t make you irrelevant
Fear not, supply chain marketer. Marketing automation will not make you redundant. Instead, automation makes marketers more efficient, more successful, and more valuable. It’s really a win-win.
Related posts:
by Elizabeth Hines | Oct 30, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Relationships take time and trust to fully develop, and lead nurturing is no different.
Before I got married in 2009, I spent most of my twenties in the dating pool. I would meet someone. We would exchange phone numbers. And through a series of texts and calls, we would eventually meet for dinner. One dinner would lead to another and possibly another.
Lead nurturing isn’t all that different. When you first meet your lead, chances are they won’t be ready to purchase right away. In fact, 63% of consumers requesting info on your company today will not purchase for at least 3 months. But if you spend time establishing a relationship and building trust, the moment your lead is ready to purchase, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition.
As more and more buyers are engaging with brands before they are ready to purchase, an essential function of any marketing department is lead nurturing. That is, moving leads through the sales funnel by leveraging what you know about their needs and online behavior. Marketing software company Marketo describes lead nurturing as being “personalized, adaptive, and able to listen and react to buyer behavior in real time.”
Lead nurturing, like dating, takes time to establish a relationship and move toward the ultimate goal of converting from lead to customer. Here are five tips to help nurture these relationships.
5 lead nurturing tips
1. Make a good first impression
You would never go on a date without looking and feeling your best. The same should be true for your website, your company’s online home. As part of your preparation for a lead nurturing campaign, review your website and make any necessary modifications so that it presents the best digital representation of your business. Beyond increasing conversions, having an attractive, modern website that’s free of broken links and out-of-date contact information establishes your company as a trusted resource for information.
2. Make a plan ahead of time
Where are you going to dinner? Are you making a reservation? What are you doing after dinner? Preparing for a date requires some thought and planning, especially when considering your date’s preferences. Content selection requires the same forethought. The decision about what content you’ll offer your leads will be guided by the preferences and needs of your prospects. Create content that is relevant to your leads, and make sure to identify appropriate channels of distribution in order to extract maximum value from your content.
3. It takes time
Dating tends to happen in stages that occur over weeks and months. Similarly, the lead nurturing process is intended to push content to leads in a linear fashion, with the ultimate goal being that they’ll emerge as customers. Once you’ve moved past the first date, so to speak, you’ll want to decide how to continue romancing your leads. To do that, align content with where your leads happen to be in the buyer’s journey. Leads will enter and exit your lead nurturing campaign at different points, and that’s okay. Just be certain that your content is relevant to leads in their specific stage. Regardless, each nurturing touch should be focused and specific and include a call-to-action to promote advancement in the buyer’s journey.
4. Communication is key
As with any relationship, the foundation of lead nurturing is communication. Being able to hold meaningful conversations builds a genuine interest and helps improve any relationship. In other words, don’t view the lead nurturing process as a way to blast your prospects with promotional information or marketing materials; treat it as a dialogue. The best lead nurturing campaigns are designed to help you learn as much about your leads as you would have them learn about your company.
5. Show your interest and appreciation
We all want to feel appreciated, and the same is true for your customers and leads. Whether it’s by showing gratitude to current customers for their continued support or showing appreciation to leads for their download, saying thank you goes a long way in building connections and professional relationships.
In our personal and professional lives, we want relationships built on trust over time. A successful lead nurturing campaign is constructed on these same principals. When you plan ahead, don’t rush the process and create opportunities for meaningful communication, the possibilities are endless.
Want to learn more about lead nurturing? Check out these 30 tricks and tips that will change the way you nurture leads.
Related posts:
