Analysis of content creation in social media by B2B companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 761-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Huotari ◽  
Pauliina Ulkuniemi ◽  
Saila Saraniemi ◽  
Minna Mäläskä
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
B2b Marketing ◽  
Content Creation ◽  
Marketing Activities ◽  
Social Media Tools ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose – The present study aims to examine how business-to-business (B2B) marketers can influence content creation in social media. Social media tools are becoming an interesting component of B2B marketing because of the roles of personal relationships and interactions in these markets. However, research has not approached social media content creation from a B2B marketing perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Social media tools are becoming an interesting component of B2B marketing because of the roles of personal relationships and interactions in these markets. However, research has not approached social media content creation from a B2B marketing perspective. The present study examines how B2B marketers can influence content creation in social media. Findings – The paper proposes that B2B firms engaging in social media as part of their marketing efforts should carefully consider the roles and activities of various users, which are directed to and by different internal and external users. B2B companies can influence content creation in social media directly by adding new content, participating in discussions and removing content through corporate user accounts and controlling employee social media behavior or indirectly by training employees to create desired content and performing marketing activities that influence other users to create content that is favorable for the company. Originality/value – The study contributes to the theoretical discussion over B2B marketing communication and the role of social media in it.

The use of social media among business-to-business sales professionals in China

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith E. Niedermeier ◽  
Emily Wang ◽  
Xiaohan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sales Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sales Professionals ◽  
Sales Process ◽  
Successful Business ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the role of social media usage among business-to-business sales professionals in China. Specifically, the authors seek to define and explore the unique ways in which Chinese salespeople use social media, with a special emphasis on the role of guanxi. Guanxi is a complex cultural construct that revolves around the exchange of favors to build trust and connection for business purposes. Design/methodology/approach – Three in-depth interviews of sales managers from two industries along with survey data from 42 pharmaceutical sales representatives were collected to gain an understanding of the general usage and attitudes toward social media in the sales process in China. Findings – Results indicated that virtually all the salespeople in the sample were highly familiar with social media and integrated it into the sales process. Furthermore, all participants indicated that their companies were highly supportive of the use of social media with their customers. More importantly, salespeople in China view social media as a critical tool in building guanxi with their customers. Findings from this exploratory study are used to create a conceptual framework for understanding the important role of social media in building guanxi in China. Research limitations/implications – While the sample is limited to three managerial interviews and 42 survey responses, the data indicated a near universal acceptance and use of social media among Chinese salespeople. Most importantly, social media appears to be the modern gateway to the ancient and culturally unique construct of guanxi that is absolutely indispensable to successful business-to-business sales performance in China. Practical implications – The structural challenges within China make trust and emotional connection essential to any potential business relationship. Trust is at the core of guanxi. Any firm hoping to succeed in China must understand guanxi and the use of Chinese social media to help build it. This study adds to the knowledge and understanding of guanxi and begins to elucidate the uses of social media as a tool to build and maintain it. Social implications – Social media appears to be the modern gateway to the ancient and culturally unique construct of guanxi that is absolutely indispensable to successful business-to-business sales performance in China. This study deepens our understanding of not only guanxi but also how the modern phenomenon of social media is affecting it. Originality/value – This is one of very few studies to investigate the use of social media among salesforces in China. More importantly, the authors know of no other study linking social media with guanxi.

The impact of social media on the B2B CMO

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 955-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chief Marketing Officers ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Key Questions

Purpose The commentary paper aims to delve into how social media are being used by chief marketing officers (CMOs) and shows that while many in business-to-customer have understood how to use social media already, their CMO counterparts in business-to-business (B2B) have not made up their minds. So some key questions are raised about B2B CMOs’ readiness to use social media, what this accomplishes and resulting effects upon the role of the CMO within an organisation. Design/methodology/approach The research paper involves use of case studies drawn from IBM experience with social media. Findings B2B CMOs are not ready to make use of social media. Even those who are actively engaging are expressing concern that they are pioneering and have not yet put in place a strategy that they are satisfied with. In addition, social media can be used for after-sales service, getting sales leads, engaging with key influencers, building the company’s reputation and enhancing the industry status of key individuals. B2B firms need to exploit the capabilities of processing massive amounts of data to get the most from social media. Originality/value The paper brings insights to the challenges facing CMOs of B2B firms when using social media. It provides a better understanding of what should be the role of CMOs in the use of social media. The CMO must be the voice of the customer as well as the custodian of the values that enable effective use of social media. Effective collaboration within the boardroom is essential and if the CMO is not a board member, then the company should consider making that change.

scholarly journals Social media information and student performance: the mediating role of hedonic value (entertainment)

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kwame Dzogbenuku ◽  
Joshua Kofi Doe ◽  
George Kofi Amoako
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Performance

PurposeThis study evaluates the mediating role of social media entertainment on social information (content) and social media performance, during the COVID-19 era.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data were randomly gathered from 373 students from two top universities (public and private) in Ghana, a sub-Saharan African economy. Data analysis was achieved utilizing the partial least square–structural equation model (PLS-SEM).FindingsSocial media (SM) entertainment partly mediates the link between social media content and social media performance of students, suggesting that social media entertainment is almost indispensable in creating social media content to achieve optimum performance among tertiary students.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of cross-sectional data alone for this study does not give us the opportunity to observe the social media activities of respondents over a longer period. Future studies could, therefore, include longitudinal data.Practical implicationsThe findings in this study suggest that faculties can modify their pedagogical activities to include social media and reflect some entertainment content, since it has an influence on student performance within the social media space.Social implicationsSM has a great influence on students' performance socially and academically; therefore, educational stakeholders like university authorities, faculties, parents and guardians, and the government should consider social media as a tool for attaining educational goals.Originality/valueThe study extends the use of UTAUT2, in understanding students' learning and behavior processes, by linking antecedents of adoption to the post-adoption effect.

US firms face growing levels of employee activism

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technology Sector ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
Social Media Tools ◽  
Business To Business

Subject Worker activism in the United States. Significance Millennials’ workplace ascendancy is stimulating employee activism over internal and societal issues. This trend will grow further and may spread beyond its foothold in the technology sector as the factors behind it (more millennials in the workplace and the continuing availability of enabling social media tools) will not reverse soon, if ever in social media’s case. Impacts Millennial values will increasingly occupy the C-suite and board room, as this cohort is promoted. Employee activism may become cyclical, but firms cannot prevent it, only get ahead of it. Firms that serve consumer markets will be more vulnerable to employee activism over their business-to-business operations. Progressive Democrats will encourage tech worker activism, and campaigns against Big Tech and corporations.

Crisis communication in public emergencies: multistakeholders' perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nele Cannaerts
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Media Tools

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence for effective crisis communication in public emergencies including the relevance of planning and training and rehearsal; to explore the role of different stakeholders and how social media influence effective crisis communication.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research design was employed. Two events were analysed, via the synthesis model for handling crisis communication in the public sector, as cases. First, via post-crisis semi-structured interviews, a gas explosion in the city of Antwerp was analysed. Second, via participant observation of a training and rehearsal exercise, more insight was gained on the role of training and social media for crisis communication.FindingsThe findings of this paper provide empirical evidence that (1) effective crisis communication is communication that is diversified across different crisis stages and diverse stakeholders; (2) that different internal social media tools and external social media tools are necessary to be monitored for effective crisis communication; (3) that training and rehearsal are of great importance for effective crisis communication.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to three current crisis communication research calls. First, the call for more research focusing on public sector crisis management, using public sector crisis communication models. Second, the call for the implementation of a more multiple-actor approach instead of an organisation-centred approach; and, third, the call for gaining insight into how specific communication channels are used before, during and after a crisis.

B2B social media content: engagement on LinkedIn

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malin Sundström ◽  
Klas Håkan Alm ◽  
Niklas Larsson ◽  
Oskar Dahlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Perceived Value ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose This paper aims to identify content strategies on social media that influence engagement and to analyze those operations to describe important features for co-creation and trust. Design/methodology/approach This paper addresses the question of how social media content can influence engagement by using a medium-sized Swedish company for an empirical case study. This empirical study is based on a participatory action research methodology. By using the company account on LinkedIn, the authors experimented with relational content to understand the effects on customer-perceived value and trust. Findings Results reveal that action-oriented messages had a more significant impact on engagement than product-oriented messages and value-based messages. Originality/value This paper builds on the existing literature in two ways: drawing upon business-to-business relationships and perceived value and using recent advances in the use of social networking sites to understand the value of co-creation through a participatory culture.

Why and how are social media used in a B2B context, and which stakeholders are involved?

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1098-1108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svante Andersson ◽  
Niclas Wikström
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Product Information ◽  
Customer Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Social Media Tools ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
New Applications ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose This study aims to explore why and how business-to-business (B2B) companies use social media and which users and stakeholders they communicate with. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a case study approach because of its exploratory nature. Data from three companies consisted of interviews and observation of websites. The analysis includes within-case and cross-case displays to find patterns and themes in the data. Findings The study shows that companies in a B2B contexts use social media as communication to enhance customer relationships, support sales and build their brands, in line with prior research. However, they also use social media as a recruiting tool, a seeking tool and a product information and service tool. Research limitations/implications The findings confirm extant literature showing that B2B companies can directly influence content through corporate user accounts. Furthermore, firms in early stages of social media do not target any special stakeholders with broader messages, while more experienced social media users develop special messages for different stakeholders. Practical implications This study contributes by shedding light on how B2B companies use social media. It also shows how different channels are effective with different stakeholders. Originality/value Few studies have investigated the use of social media in a B2B context. This study goes beyond prior work by detailing how different social media tools are used, identifying different users and stakeholders, and explaining why different tools are used for different purposes targeted towards different stakeholders. New applications of the use of social media are also identified.

Marketing role in B2B settings: evidence from advanced, emerging and developing markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Mora Cortez ◽  
Wesley J. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Developing Economies ◽  
Marketing Capabilities ◽  
Advanced Economy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
B2b Marketing ◽  
Industrial Companies ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Different Levels

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine predicted business-to-business (B2B) marketing capabilities for the next three to five years by companies in advanced, emerging and developing economies. Findings The authors identify the prevalent marketing capabilities in industrial companies operating in an advanced economy (USA), two emerging economies (Chile and Peru) and one developing economy (Bolivia), consolidating the themes in firms’ orientations. The study offers a taxonomy of the marketing role in different stages as per country development. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative approach based on grounded theory. Originality/value This manuscript contributes to the understanding of B2B marketing across different levels of market development. The authors offer theoretical and practical implications regarding the paradigms reigning the role of marketing. The coding scheme emerging from the data illustrates how companies and markets evolve in a two-way interaction.

Social media capability in B2B marketing: toward a definition and a research model

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1125-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Wang ◽  
Michel Rod ◽  
Shaobo Ji ◽  
Qi Deng
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Technological Capability ◽  
Maturity Model ◽  
Organizational Capability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
B2b Marketing ◽  
Capability Maturity ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Business To Business

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore organizational social media capability in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, by focusing on what social media capability is in a B2B marketing context and how it is developed in firms engaged in B2B marketing. Design/methodology/approach This is a thematic literature review, drawing on both B2B marketing and Information Systems literature. In total, 112 academic articles from nine journals were identified and analyzed. The findings were synthesized and compiled to provide answers to the predefined research questions. Findings The results suggest that organizational social media capability is dependent on a deep understanding of a firm’s technological capability, i.e. recognizing the key features and categories of social media and dynamically upgrading the recognition in response to the environmental change. A four-level Social Media Capability Maturity Model (technological, operational, managed and strategic level) that collectively transfers social media’s technological capability to dynamic organizational capability is proposed. Originality/value This study contributes to an understanding of the use of social media in the context of B2B marketing from an organizational dynamic capability perspective. The model is particularly relevant to organizations that have adopted or plan to adopt a B2B social media strategy and is relevant for B2B researchers who are interested in social media research.

From citizens to partners: the role of social media content in fostering citizen engagement

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittoria Marino ◽  
Letizia Lo Presti
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communication Modalities ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper examines the communication modalities on Twitter to broadcast content to citizens and measures the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the citizens’ political participation proposing an retweetability rate. Design/methodology/approach Through content analysis of the European Commissioners’ posts, this paper identifies the most used communication modalities to broadcast content to the citizens. A retweetability rate is proposed to measure the effectiveness of the posted content in activating the political citizens’ engagement. The methodology is applied to the tweets posted by European Commissioners, who are currently facing democracy legitimation issues and Euroscepticism. Findings Empirical results show that Twitter is not fully used yet as a citizen engagement tool. However, the paper highlights the potentiality of Twitter to broadcast contents of value and build a relationship of citizens and institutions. Practical implications Measuring citizen engagement based on the posted messages can help the institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of the posted social media content. Moreover, the paper gives suggestions regarding how governments might implement social media content capable of fostering a dialogic communication with citizens. Originality/value A measurement of citizen engagement permits the identification of which kinds of public communication stimulate the engagement and favor a closer bond between citizens and public institutions.

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