مقایسه بازاریابی رسانه های اجتماعی بین B2B، B2C و مدل های تجاری ترکیبی
Highlights
Abstract
Keywords
1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Methodology
4. Findings
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion, limitations and future research
Funding statement
References
Abstract
This paper explores the implicit assumption in the growing body of literature that social media usage is fundamentally different in business-to-business (B2B) companies than in the extant business-to-consumer (B2C) literature. Sashi's (2012) customer engagement cycle is utilized to compare organizational practices in relation to social media marketing in B2B, B2C, Mixed B2B/B2C and B2B2C business models. Utilizing 449 responses to an exploratory panel based survey instrument, we clearly identify differences in social media usage and its perceived importance as a communications channel. In particular we identify distinct differences in the relationship between social media importance and the perceived effectiveness of social media marketing across business models. Our results indicate that B2B social media usage is distinct from B2C, Mixed and B2B2C business model approaches. Specifically B2B organizational members perceive social media to have a lower overall effectiveness as a channel and identify it as less important for relationship oriented usage than other business models.
1. Introduction
Towards the end of 2013, Volvo Trucks produced the ‘Live Test’ series of videos which drew heavily on conventional wisdom on Social Media Marketing (SMM) effectiveness by including surprise humour, and a degree of jeopardy (see Dobele, Lindgreen, Beverland, Vanhamme, & van Wijk, 2007). Despite being targeted at a niche audience of fleet buyers, the videos have been viewed over 120 m times on YouTube to date. While there can be little doubt that this campaign was a huge success in building brand awareness (Griner, 2014), it is unclear whether the Volvo campaign is an exception in its use of a business-to-consumer (B2C) SMM techniques in the business-to-business (B2B) domain, or one that can be generalised to reflect a broader level of B2B mimicry of B2C approaches. The use of social media platforms as marketing channels has expanded in recent years, driven by the ability to reach millions of customers with brand-related content and to engage them in conversations (Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden, 2011; Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016). The most influential papers on the subject are grounded in the B2C domain, and form the basis for the academic conception of how social media can be exploited to build brands and communicate with customers (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009).