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IMM10_806R Michaelidou Siamagka Christodoulides.pdf (215.77 kB)

Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: an exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands

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posted on 2014-08-29, 10:28 authored by Nina MichaelidouNina Michaelidou, Nikoletta Theofania Siamagka, George Christodoulides
Previous research has established the benefits of branding for business-to-business (B2B) organizations. Various tools can be used to support B2B brands, including the internet and other interactive technologies. Yet research on how organizations use Social Networking Sites (SNS) to achieve brand objectives remains limited. This study addresses the gap by focusing on B2B SMEs and their social networking practices, particularly, usage, perceived barriers, and the measurement of effectiveness of SNS as a marketing tool. Findings from a mail survey show that over a quarter of B2B SMEs in the UK are currently using SNS to achieve brand objectives, the most popular of which is to attract new customers. On the other hand, the most significant barrier is the lack of perceived relevance for particular sectors. Notably, the overwhelming majority of users do not adopt any metrics to assess SNS effectiveness. Almost half of the sample of SMEs that currently use SNS have indicated their intention to increase their marketing spending on this channel, highlighting the growing importance of SNS in a B2B context. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

History

School

  • Business and Economics

Department

  • Business

Published in

Industrial Marketing Management

Volume

40

Issue

7

Pages

1153 - 1159

Citation

MICHAELIDOU, N., SIAMAGKA, N.T. and CHRISTODOULIDES, G., 2011. Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: an exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(7), pp.1153-1159.

Publisher

© Elsevier

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2011

Notes

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Industrial Marketing Management. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2011.09.009

ISSN

0019-8501

Language

  • en

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