Social media has become a staple of marketing and communications with customers; whether the company is a Fortune 500 conglomerate or a tiny mom and pop store, everyone is expected to have at least a Facebook page to share information and insight about products.

Some might not imagine business-to-business, or B2B companies, doing the same. But that couldn’t be any further from the truth.

The 2013 SIIA Marketing Industry Report proves that social media marketing is just as pervasive in B2B as among consumer goods. With 98% of companies reporting that they dip at least a toe into social media marketing, from those with revenue under one million to those well over a hundred million, the only conclusion one can make is that social media has grown from niche to marketing standard.

Let’s look at some statistics from the report.

• LinkedIn is a powerhouse, and will only continue to grow.

Given the large number of marketers in our survey that are targeting businesses, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn was again the channel where most survey respondents planned to increase the use of in 2013. Over 80% (up from 75% in 2011) of the companies planned on increasing the use of LinkedIn followed closely by Twitter at 70%.

While Facebook and Twitter remain the most powerful social networks, the more targeted, formalized LinkedIn appeals far more to the B2B sector. Already there are more than 2.6 million LinkedIn company pages. Not only will this number grows, but the report indicates that activity will increase. LinkedIn will be a new leverage for B2B companies to reach out without the 140 character limit of Twitter or the informality of Facebook (though both will also see increased use over the year).

• Companies are finding ways to measure social media strategies

Nearly 74% of the businesses use web traffic as an indicator of social media ROI, up 14% from 2011. Meanwhile, over 60% of the respondents using social media marketing are using number of connections/conversations as a key ROI metric, also up almost 14% from 2011. This suggests that some firms have found a way to correlate social media efforts to business leads. The number of qualified leads/conversions also ranks high with half (51%) of the companies.

Social media marketing was considered a fad early in its life, with few expecting a conversation in tweets or a Facebook profile to drive actual sales. Now companies are not only convinced of its power, but actively working to maximize its potential. The fact that both web traffic and actual conversations are treated as applicable, useful metrics also shows that brand presence and interaction need to be carefully mediated by the company.

• B2B conversations don’t need to just be text-based; video and image-based social networks are on the rise.

YouTube has also gained a following with over half of the marketers expecting to increase its use. Many firms are now creating YouTube channels for the business as well as product categories. In 2011 we predicted that we would see new targeted social networks and marketplaces emerge and we see that with Google+ and Pinterest gaining some attention in 2012.

While LinkedIn lends itself to longer conversations between companies and customers, the B2B industry is starting to recognize the power of the visual. YouTube channels devoted to launching products isn’t that far of a leap; the use of Pinterest in 2013, on the other hand, is intriguing. The image-based social network is visually striking, and when combined with more textual networks like LinkedIn, companies can create a more complete 360 degree picture of their products. It will be interesting to see if these trends continue by the 2014 report.