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Effectiveness of B2B social media marketing: The effect of message source and message content on social media engagement

M.S. Balaji, Abhishek Behl, Kokil Jain, Abdullah M. Baabdullah, Mihalis Giannakis, Amit Shankar, Yogesh Dwivedi Orcid Logo

Industrial Marketing Management, Volume: 113, Pages: 243 - 257

Swansea University Author: Yogesh Dwivedi Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.06.011

Abstract

Social media message strategy is critical in determining how customers will engage with B2B firms on social media platforms. The present study examined the role of message source (i.e., firm-generated vs. employee-generated) and message content (i.e., emojis and objective information) in determining...

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Published in: Industrial Marketing Management
ISSN: 0019-8501 1873-2062
Published: Elsevier BV 2023
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63718
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Abstract: Social media message strategy is critical in determining how customers will engage with B2B firms on social media platforms. The present study examined the role of message source (i.e., firm-generated vs. employee-generated) and message content (i.e., emojis and objective information) in determining social media engagement. Four experiments were conducted to test the proposed relationships. The study findings revealed that employee-generated content leads to higher social media engagement (i.e., intentions and behaviors) than firm-generated content. Content-based trust and engagement-based trust were found to be the underlying mechanisms by which message source impacts social media engagement. Furthermore, we observed that, for an employee-generated message, including emojis has a greater impact on customer engagement than when they are included in a firm-generated message. Finally, no evidence was found concerning the effectiveness of incorporating objective information in social media messages on customer engagement. These findings have marked implications for B2B marketers in developing effective social media message strategies.
Keywords: Customer engagement, B2B social media marketing, Message strategy, Message source, Emojis, Trust, Objective information
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Funders: Swansea University
Start Page: 243
End Page: 257

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