The growth and influence of social media is unprecedented. However, while the need for consumer-facing brands to aggressively pursue a social media presence has been quite evident, many B-to-B companies have been slower to embrace the medium.

Well, now that seems to be changing. A recent Forrester Research study found B-to-B marketers are expected to increase their spending on social media activities by 490 percent between now and 2014. Why are B-to-B marketers spending so much? For starters, many have realized the enormous benefit of leveraging the power of the crowd to drive innovation. For more examples and other ways B-to-B companies are driving a competitive advantage using Social Media click here.