Utilization of Relationship-Oriented Social Media in the Selling Process: A Comparison of Consumer (B2C) and Industrial (B2B) Salespeople

The rapid pace of technological advancement and adoption of social media among consumers/organizations has been unprecedented in recent years. This study provides insights into understanding social media utilization among professional salespeople. Specifically, social media applications are separated into 15 categories, with multiple applications falling within each category. From a sample of 395 salespeople in B2B and B2C markets, utilization of relationship-oriented social media applications are presented and examined. Overall, findings show that B2B practitioners tend to use media targeted at professionals whereas their B2C counterparts tend to utilize more sites targeted to the general public for engaging in one-on-one dialogue with their customers. Moreover, B2B professionals tend to use relationship-oriented social media technologies more than B2C professionals for the purpose of prospecting, handling objections, and after sale follow-up.

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