Casually Connecting with Customers : A study on how B2B microenterprises use customer data from social media in order to increase sales

Abstract: This study is using an inductive explorative approach to investigate how micro-enterprises within the marketing consulting industry collect and use data for the purpose of increasing sales. A micro-enterprise is considered to be a company that employs no more than 10 people and/or whose annual turnover is no more than 2 million EUR. The research applies the concept of social selling and development of emergent technologies to understand the methods used by examined salespeople within the marketing agencies examined, and to answer the research question: How is customer data from social selling used among micro-enterprises within the marketing consulting industry to build and retain customer relationships? The following paper suggests that social media is used by the seller with the aim of identifying common grounds between buyer and seller, in order to create a personal bond that sets a strong foundation for continuing the relationship long-term. However, it also indicates that social selling activities are used in various ways and in combination with traditional data collection. Even though usage of customer data has been a heated debate over the years, the results of this study point to the fact that the concerns of collecting and utilizing data in regard to customer privacy, are limited among micro-enterprises within B2B-sector. Additionally, the study addresses advantages and disadvantages with the size of being a micro-enterprise related to the methods of social selling.