Social Media Influence on Business Performance within B2B Marketing Companies : A qualitative study on social media use and its influence in the context of lead generation

Abstract: The use of social media is constantly increasing and digitalization is becoming a bigger and bigger part of both individuals' and companies' daily life. In turn, customers' expectations of companies working within the social media environment are increasing in phase with digitalization. In order for companies to stay relevant in the market, mastering digitalization is becoming a requirement, especially within the marketing context. This includes marketing between business-to-business (B2B). Additionally, small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the majority of company size in Sweden and are therefore a major contributory addition to the economy. Therefore we found it of high interest to research how SME B2B marketing companies adapt to the development of digitalization and the increased use of social media in order to remain relevant in the market. Furthermore, since previous research has focused on barriers to the adoption of social media within these types of companies, we find it of value to further investigate how business performance is influenced by social media use. The business performance is moreover researched regarding how the most common tool for social media, lead generation, is appropriate within the SME B2B marketing context. The purpose of this study is to examine how social media usage influences business performance in Swedish small-to-medium-sized B2B marketing firms, in the context of lead generation. We want to contribute knowledge regarding how these kinds of companies should use social media in order to further be able to grow their business performance. This, since B2B companies have been seen as slow adaptors to social media as well as due to the fact that society is frequently becoming more digitized. To get a deeper understanding of how SME B2B marketing companies use social media as well as how they have experienced an influence on their business performance due to social media, eight independent participants within this business context have been interviewed through semi-structured interviews. A qualitative method was selected for this thesis, as well as an inductive research approach, which contributed to knowledge regarding how B2B marketing companies use social media in a business context as well as how they have experienced an influence on business performance. Based on the findings from this research, we came up with four sections that are of value for companies to consider when implementing social media in order to increase business performance. The first section demonstrates goals set for social media, which need to be set in order to further create matching strategies on how to achieve these goals. This leads us to the second step, use, which describes how companies use social media in order to achieve their goals. The third section is business performance, which demonstrates how business performance is influenced by social media use. Lastly, lead generation further demonstrates how it is possible to understand the influence on business performance coming from the use of social media. This last step of the model shows that using lead generation when understanding business performance from social media is more appropriate in some contexts than others. This study contributes with new theoretical knowledge on how the use of social media influences a small-to-medium-sized business-to-business marketing firm, as well as how lead generation is considered appropriate when understanding the company's business performance. In addition, based on our findings, practical recommendations have been suggested for small-to-medium-sized enterprises within B2B marketing.