B2B brands on Twitter: Engaging users with a varying combination of social media content objectives,strategies, and tactics

The objective of this research is to increase understanding about B2B company-led user engagement on social media content. Building on hierarchy-of-effects (HoE) theory, we explore how the world’s leading B2B companies use content objectives (why), strategies (how), and tactics (what) on Twitter. We first integrate B2B advertising and social media research on companies’ content objectives, strategies, and tactics. Then, using qualitative analyses, we examine the existence of objectives, strategies, and tactics in the most engaging tweets (N = 365) of the worlds’ ten leading B2B brands, covering five industries, in 2017. Finally, we quantitatively examine how the use of diverse objectives and strategies differs between the most engaging tweets (N = 318) and least engaging tweets (N = 229) of the companies in 2018. The companies use objectives, strategies and tactics that relate to creating awareness, knowledge and trust, interest, and liking in the majority of their most and least engaging tweets, and express preference, conviction and purchase aspects much less. Differences exist in general, industry-wise, and company-wise. The study is a rare attempt to integrate the extant B2B advertising and social media research, and compare the most and least engaging B2B social media content.     

Do Social Media Tools Impact the Development Phase? An Exploratory Study

Over the past two decades, firms have increasingly adopted information technology (IT) tools and services to improve the new product development (NPD) process. Recently, social media tools and/or tools that include social networking features are being utilized to allow users both inside and outside the organization to easily communicate and collaboratively design, manage, and launch new products and services. Unfortunately, there is little empirical evidence to suggest what influence these new IT tools have on NPD performance. Through a project‐level, exploratory, empirical study, the impact of these new IT tools on the development phase of the NPD process is investigated. We find that the use of these new tools is significantly lower than the adoption of traditional IT tools such as e‐mail and computer‐aided‐design. Traditional tools have a significant, positive impact on NPD outcomes, including team collaboration, the concepts/prototypes generated, and management evaluation. Interestingly, new media tools such as project wikis and shared collaboration spaces also have a significant, positive impact on concepts/prototypes generated, and management evaluation. Surprisingly, social networking tools like weblogs and Twitter negatively impact management evaluation while having no impact on NPD team collaboration and concepts/prototypes generated. These results suggest that social networking tools in their current guise are not helpful to the NPD team and may in fact be distracting to innovation management during the development phase.     

基于服务质量模型的方案营销策略研究

解决方案营销是获取营销模式差异化优势的重要利器,其本质在于实现由“竞争导向”向“顾客导向”、由“交易营销”向“关系营销”的两个关键性转变。在分析传统营销模式和解决方案营销模式本质区别的基础上,借助Parasuraman的服务质量差距模型,提出解决方案营销的策略：全面了解顾客期望;选择正确的服务标准和规范;按标准提供和执行服务;履行承诺,制造惊喜。     

Customer analysis for strategy development in industrial markets

This paper reports on concepts and techniques which have been developed for analysing customers and used as an aid to assessing the strategic position of companies in industrial markets. The emphasis on supplier/customer relationships presented here derives from the interaction approach to marketing and purchasing strategy. Many industrial markets are highly concentrated, and many companies develop in conjunction with key customers in a symbiotic relationship, where strategy evolves as proposals made by either side are either accepted or rejected. To take account of this we propose a 3-stage framework for analysing customers which builds on and transforms techniques traditionally used for an analysis of products. The purpose of the analysis is to improve the allocation of scarce marketing and technical resources, to reappraise the company's competitive position with different customer groups and to ensure that key relationships are managed effectively.     

Forecasting business needs in the telephone market

The last decade has seen substantial changes in the environment in which U.S. telephone companies operate. As regulated monopolies, telephone companies are experiencing effective competition in several areas of their operations. Additionally the consumerist movement has made regulatory agencies more aware of the requirements of the numerous markets served by the utilities. With “good” telephone service available at reasonable cost throughout the United States, users and telephone companies are more aware of secondary product attributes such as style (decorator sets) and auxiliary features (the ability to place one caller on hold and answer another call). These changes reflect the evolution of the marketing function within the telephone companies and the increasing use of marketing research for product line expansion and sales forecasting. What has caused this shifting perspective on the function of marketing? How have the utilities responded? The following discussion deals with these questions as well as the ways in which marketing research has aided the telephone company in forecasting sales to business customers.     

Should tweets differ for B2B and B2C? An analysis of Fortune 500 companies' Twitter communications

Business-to-business (B2B) marketers hesitate to embrace social media as a marketing tool, unlike their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts, and they struggle to implement successful social media strategies due to their limited understanding of the phenomenon. Drawing on communication and word-of-mouth theories, the authors investigate how marketers use Twitter differently across contexts and predict key factors likely to influence the message strategies used in each. A longitudinal content analysis and logistic regression support the assessment of a sample of more than 7000 tweets by Fortune 500 companies. Marketers in B2B and B2C settings exhibit significant differences in their branding and selling strategies; their use of message appeals; and the use of cues, links, and hashtags to support information searches. Whereas B2B marketers tend to use more emotional than functional appeals in their tweets, neither B2C nor B2B marketers have adopted “hard sell” message strategies.     

Telling tales: online comic and gripe story‐sharing by service workers about difficult customers

The article extends previous research on the storying practices of service workers, workplace humour as resistance, and workers’ autonomous use of social media. Discussion strings from two hairstylist forum storylines, exemplifying comic and tragic story‐sharing about difficult customers, were analysed using Gabriel's notion of story‐work. Processes of coping, entertainment, identity‐construction and learning are clearly evident in the discussion strings and social media is confirmed as a ‘new’ terrain for the enactment of employee agency. Findings emphasize that service workers are engaged in contradictory and ambiguous relations of resistance and accommodation as they learn how to deal with difficult customers. The article's contribution is to show how service workers share their fears and anxieties about difficult customers through storying and humour in generative dialogical poietic processes in social media. Further research is suggested.     

奥美的“算法”

广告业要变天了吗?要被互联网颠覆了吗?广告公司如何改变才能应对未来?在更多的选择面前,传统广告业似乎正走向终结,其传播理论正在经历关乎生死存亡的挑战。宣导型的、通过大众传媒建立并传播品牌的方式正在失效。社交媒体对人们生活的全面覆盖,将促使人们通过更碎片化的方式接触品牌。此一时,彼一时。全球4A公司曾是传统广告业的翘楚和代表,现在他们似乎被置于尴尬的境地。传统广告曾是人力密集型行业,现在广告主有了更多选择。Victors&Spoils这家公司一开始就没有员工,之后的人员也十分精简,主要基于"众包"的方式与40多家公司合作。这家公司2009年建立,已经获     

Social media in B2B sales: Why and when does salesperson social media usage affect salesperson performance?

The importance of social media usage by B2B salespeople has been well documented in the sales literature. In particular, a B2B salesperson's use of social media to prospect for customers and adapt their sales approach have primarily been shown to explain sales performance. However, an increasing body of literature in the sales domain has called for B2B salespeople to be ambidextrous by engaging in service activities aimed at helping their customers. We argue that by giving B2B salespeople an opportunity to communicate directly with their customers, social media is used by salespeople to proactively service their customers and hence can play a critical role in driving sales performance. Drawing from the Task-Technology Fit theory, we develop and test a conceptual model in which B2B salesperson social media usage affects salesperson performance indirectly through value-oriented prospecting and proactive servicing. Additionally peer social media usage was a key moderator in the relationship between B2B salesperson social media usage on the one hand and value-oriented prospecting and proactive servicing on the other hand. We test the model with data from 171 B2B salespeople and find that salesperson social media usage relates positively with proactive servicing and value-oriented prospecting. While we did not find support for the relationship between social media usage and adaptive selling, we did find support for the impact of all three sales activities salesperson performance. In addition, results show that peer social media usage has positive moderating effects on the B2B salesperson social media usage and value-oriented prospecting/proactive servicing relationships.     

Outsourcing decision-making aspects considered by IT departments in Brazilian companies

The study of Information Technology (IT) outsourcing is relevant because companies are outsourcing their activities more than ever. An important IT outsourcing research area is the decision-making process. In other words, the comprehension of how companies decide about outsourcing their IT operations is relevant from research point of view. Therefore, the objective of this study is to understand the decision-making process used by Brazilian companies when outsourcing their IT operations. An analysis of the literature that refers to this subject showed that six aspects are usually considered by companies on the evaluation of IT outsourcing service alternatives. This research verified how these six aspects are considered by Brazilian companies on IT outsourcing decisions. The survey showed that Brazilian companies consider all the six aspects, but each of them has a different level of importance. The research also grouped the aspects according to their level of importance and interdependency, using factorial analysis to understand the logic behind IT outsourcing decision process.     

生产服务型企业差异化服务能力对竞争优势的影响：以钢铁行业为例

随着市场复杂性和竞争强度的日益加剧,传统的工业贸易企业逐渐向生产服务型企业转型,从而使得原来以产品传递为特点的运作,变成了以与客户互动为基础的集成服务运作。然而,以往的研究对与不同客户需求之间的互动如何影响生产服务型企业战略分析较少。文章以中国钢铁行业的调研数据和资料为基础,运用实证方法。分析了生产型服务企业的服务能力,即资源供应、需求管理以及客户战略匹配等三种形态。研究发现对不同的下游客户,差异化的服务能力对竞争优势的形成产生了不同的影响,对于大型企业,资源的供应能力和战略匹配是决定生产服务型企业竞争力的主要来源,而对于中小型企业,资源供应能力和需求管理是形成竞争力的源泉。     

Facebook上的中国虚像

令人遗憾的是,在全球最大的社交网络平台上,中国企业成了非常尴尬的边缘角色。5月7日,Facebook CEO马克·扎克伯格身穿牛仔裤和运动衫,开着一辆黑色SUV来到位于纽约曼哈顿中心的喜来登酒店,启动了IPO路演程序。一个小时以前,狂热的投资者已经在酒店外面排成了长队。Facebook计划通过上市募资106亿美元     

The impact of sellers' social influence on the co-creation of innovation with customers and brand awareness in online communities

This study integrates theoretical concepts adopted from social influence theory, co-creation practice, and brand equity into a single model by examining the role of social comparison and social identity in co-creation activities in an online community context, which is known to affect firms' brand awareness in the Business-to-Business (B2B) marketplace. The model was tested using a dataset gathered via an online survey of four online communities discussing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) related issues in LinkedIn. Empirical findings from our survey of 190 business professionals indicate that sellers' social identity and social comparison are key facilitators for developing a series of co-innovation activities, and confirmed that co-innovation practices make potential customers more aware of company brands. The results of this study provide new insights into effective B2B social media marketing techniques by elaborating how best to orchestrate co-innovation with online communities to boost brand awareness.     

Relationship keyness: The underlying concept for different forms of key relationship management

For companies, relationships with external actors may constitute intangible assets. Many firms have put in place key account management programs in order to pay sufficient attention to strategically important customers and the marketing literature has studied such programs. However, a company's relationship portfolio also comprises relationships with other types of actors. The objective of this paper is to show that - across the different types of external relationships a company may develop - some relationships have more importance than others and, hence, are key. The authors argue that, as a consequence, the keyness of certain relationships has led to the emergence of approaches which can be referred to as key relationship management. For this purpose, the authors first present empirical material on the management of relationships between companies and their partners in strategic alliances from the French IT sector. They then discuss the concept of keyness as well as the common characteristics of different forms of key relationship management such as key account management, key supplier management and strategic alliance management.     

全网营销我先行

全网营销开始变得有些复杂。以前,敢于吃螃蟹的品牌企业一般都是采用"淘宝开店+淘宝外分销"的路线,两者泾渭分明,梳理起来也容易。但如今,包括京东、当当、苏宁易购、亚马逊、库巴以及重组后的腾讯电商等独立B2C开始做大,人人都在谈开放平台,卯足了劲大举招商,大有群英战淘宝的势头。     

Einflussfaktoren auf die Bereitschaft von Privatkunden, Ökostrom nachzufragen

The present study investigates impacts of attitudinal and perceptual characteristics of residential electricity consumers on their intention to use a green power tariff/supplier in the future. The work rests on a standardized telephone survey of 267 household electricity consumers of a German power supplier. Multivariate Partial Least Squares analysis indicates that, regardless of a person’s level of actual power consumption in the recent past, the intention to use green electricity is significantly higher among customers who have a positive general attitude towards environmental protection measures and who report an endorsing valuation of green power by their close social contacts. In a subsample of participants with a low actual electricity consumption in the year preceding the survey the intention to use green energy is significantly positively affected by the weight an individual attaches to electricity prices in one’s own supplier selection decisions and the person’s belief that one’s present power company takes over social responsibility. In contrast, in the subgroup of respondents with a high actual electricity consumption customers’ intention to use green energy is significantly enhanced by the degree of perceived dissimilarity among power company offerings. The findings are used to derive suggestions for green energy marketing measures of power companies and future energy consumer research.     

Growth hacking: Insights on data-driven decision-making from three firms

Theoretical backgroundThe work explores how Big Data analysis can reshape marketing decision-making in B2B sector. Deriving from Data-Driven Decision-Making (DDDM) approach, the Growth Hacking model is employed to investigate the role of cognitive computing and big data analytics in redefining business processes.PurposeThe main objectives of the study are: 1) to assess how a data-driven orientation to the use of big data analytics and cognitive computing can reframe marketing decisions in B2B segment; 2) to explore whether the adoption Growth Hacking can be helpful in exploiting the opportunities offered by big data analytics and cognitive computing in B2B marketing.MethodologyThe paper is based on Action Research (AR) methodology that permits researchers to participate actively in the observation of businesses and to examine how decisions are undertaken and managed over time.ResultsThe main findings allow identifying the most common strategies and tactics employed in three companies operating in different B2B sectors to exploit the opportunities offered by cognitive computing and big data analytics according to a data-driven marketing approach. Based on the application of the Growth Hacking model, the tools of analytics and the main objectives, outcomes and implications on marketing decision-making are revealed.OriginalityThe identification of the main objectives and outcomes produced across the three dimensions of the Growth Hacking model (data analysis, marketing and programming) can help academics and practitioners to understand the main levers to attain marketing goals, such as the enhancement of relationship with customers (CRM), continuous learning and development of new products and potential innovation.     

Service innovation and adoption in industrial markets: An SME perspective

Service innovation is essential, particularly for companies operating in highly competitive environments, as it can lead to innovation adoption behaviors, which in turn influence overall business performance. Drawing upon the innovation adoption and relationship marketing literature, and grounded within the structure-conduct-performance paradigm and social exchange theory, this study examines the reputational and relational mechanisms through which service innovation influences the innovation adoption decisions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A survey of 336 Australian SME representatives reveals the critical role of suppliers’ sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and affective commitment in mediating the relationship between service innovation and innovation adoption behavior. However, industry-relevant moderators in the form of technological turbulence and long-term orientation constrain the mediating effects. Specifically, perceived SCA has stronger mediating effects among short-term-oriented customers, whereas affective commitment has stronger mediating effects when technological turbulence is low. The findings provide useful insights for organizations in terms of capitalizing on their reputation and relationship with customers to encourage the adoption of innovation by SMEs.     

Speak to head and heart: The effects of linguistic features on B2B brand engagement on social media

Brand engagement on social media increasingly draws B2B brands' attention as it may produce positive WOM and bring branding and financial benefits. However, B2B marketers face challenges in creating compelling brand posts on social media. Beyond ‘knowing what to post’, what is even more challenging for B2B marketers is a lack of knowledge of ‘knowing how to communicate’, i.e., knowing how to design the non-informational cues in brand posts to stimulate brand engagement and generate social media WOM. This research makes initial attempts to address this gap by investigating the impacts of post language on B2B brand engagement on social media. Building on the model of B2B effective communication and theories in linguistics, we identify six linguistic features (i.e., post length, language complexity, visual complexity, emotional cues, interpersonal cues, and multimodal cues in rich media) that influence brand engagement, captured using Twitter likes and retweets. Through analyzing 229,272 tweets collected from 156 B2B brands in 10 industries, we found that, in general, linguistic features that facilitate the central or peripheral route processing will have positive effects, while those that hinder the processing will have negative impacts on brand engagement. This research contributes to our knowledge of B2B social media communication by revealing the power of brand language in driving brand engagement and introducing linguistics as a valuable conceptual lens for maximizing the benefits of B2B marketing content on social media. This research also highlights the interpretative nature of social media communication – B2B brands must go beyond the content purpose and strategy decisions to consider the specific language use and communication style of the message.     

浅谈如何在关系营销中建立和完善客户关系管理体系

随着燃气这个清洁能源的普遍应用,燃气企业的知名度也在飞速提升。然而,当前我们面临的首要任务之一,就是在以信息化建设为依托、以燃气为中介,从关系营销中,如何建立出满足当今市场竞争的用户关系,如何改善用户服务体系,从而增强用户的满意度,占有更多的市场份额。关系营销,是一种符合现代企业发展的经营理念,我们要在获得新用户、新消费者的同时,还要加大管理力度对已有的用户信息进行维护和更新。迅速有效地实现"5化"精细管理:营销管理集中化、组织扁平化、服务便捷化、资源最优化、信息共享化。从公司营销的市场应变能力、用户服务能力、管理控制能力和营销运作能力入手,整体促进公司的全面可持续发展。