Influencia De Las Redes Sociales

fluenciaThe impact of social media on IT purchase decisions –
A European Perspective

The impact of social media on IT purchase decisions – A European perspective

Table of contents
Review .......................................................................................................................2 Foreword...................................................................................................................3 Who uses social media? ...........................................................................................4 The importance of using social media ....................................................................7 Is social media a bigger influencer than the channel?........................................10 Consumer or trend creator?.................................................................................14 Trends in the usage of social media too ...............................................................15 Social networks .......................................................................................................19 Traditional marketing vs. Social marketing; Measuring the importance of social media............................................................23 How to achieve competitive advantage using social media for IT products and solutions purchase? Moving towards a collaborative market model ...........................................................................................................27 Country outcomes..................................................................................................30 Conclusion...............................................................................................................31 Annex: General facts and figures. Methodology .................................................33

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The impact ofsocial media on IT purchase decisions – A European perspective

Review
This research tackles the use of social media through the eyes of IT professionals and tries to measure their contribution to purchase decision regarding IT products and solutions. The analysis aims to shed light on whether social media converts brand awareness of IT decision makers (ITDMs) into procurement action. Ofcourse, this is also corroborated with their business strategic needs.

Selling complex IT products and solutions requires that more comprehensive information is put at the customers’ disposal and marks the transition of the IT pro as a simple consumer towards an era where they have to procure more custom-built IT products and solutions. As social communication and collaboration platforms penetratefurther into the entire business ecosystem, the IT pro’s experience becomes based more on connected market behaviours than oligopolistic ones.

The research is based on interviews with IT pros about whether social media tools create further opportunities for both marketers and themselves – as these two categories are the main “actors” of social media use for business purposes. Understanding boththe consumer and the vendor through social media use allows for a better understanding of the synchronisation of their market behaviour in terms of IT market demand and supply. We delineate different user categories and social media models in order to refine a profile of IT professionals’ purchasing behaviours. A questionnaire survey1was conducted in parallel to “quantify” our research.Differing country characteristics are also taken into account throughout the whole study. A comparison of major six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands) was completed by other cross-analytical angles: by business sector and by size.

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Interviews were conducted in the period Feb-Apr 2011.

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The impact of social media on IT purchase decisions – A...