The power to influence

First of all, enterprises need to know why SMBs place such a high value on their peers and their experience.

SMBs are time-pressured and resource-constrained, so peers become a convenient source for quick and reliable advice. We’re also seeing a cultural change: millennials that increasingly own and run SMBs bring the same mindset to business and personal purchases. And research shows that nearly all millennials (97%) read online reviews of products and services, and 89% of them trust those reviews.1 Looking to peers for advice is particularly important in the pre-purchase stage. All the research clearly shows before SMBs decide to buy a product or service, especially digital technology, they seek out their peers’ experiences and insights for validation.

SMBs trust their peers more than enterprises when seeking input about purchasing products & services:

We know that SMBs are actively looking for peer reviews and insights. Over half of them (56%) already belong to some form of a peer community, with networking and knowledge sharing being the two most important reasons SMBs value these communities.

Top 4 reasons SMBs value having access to a peer network

But what makes up a valuable peer group? SMBs perceive the most value from peers that can relate to their own challenges and provide useful content and insights based on shared experiences. Naturally enough, that means SMBs tend to gravitate to groups that comprise members from the same industry (48% say this is valuable), face the same challenges (41%), or sell similar products (37%). The most digitally savvy also prefer peers with similar digital capabilities to their own, or who face similar technology choices.

Characteristics of a valuable SMB peer set

But it’s not always easy for them to find this. The top three pain points identified by SMBs in their use of online communities today? 1) Unhelpful content, 2) irrelevant peer sets, and 3) unsuitable volumes of posts and messages.

Enterprises should see this as an opportunity to play an important role in bringing together groups of SMBs. How? By giving SMBs access to the type of peer network that they say they want and need: smaller, more curated groups.

However, enterprises need to remember that SMBs trust peer-to-peer networks because they see them as authentic. So, enterprises should help curate and support networks of SMBs, but not try to over-manage them day-to-day. They can do this by building new communities or getting more involved in existing ones, playing a matchmaking role between SMBs, and investing in word-of-mouth marketing and brand strategies. Enterprises can also proactively share and look for feedback on the latest solution, product, and policy updates directly with these groups to build a more direct relationship. Enterprises should not push obvious sales messages as these will likely lead to mistrust.

But approached with a clear understanding of why SMBs value the support, advice, and knowledge of their peers, enterprises could help make those networks even more effective and relevant. It's an opportunity to build trust that's too good to miss.