Characteristics of social media usage in a B2B company : case: UPM Raflatac

Social media has become a part of our daily lives. Consumers and companies both use social media as a means of communication, way to stay connected and a channel to report on important topics. There is plenty of research investigating how B2C companies use social media to their advantage, but very little information is available on how B2B companies utilize it. Keeping in mind digital future developments, B2B studies are becoming more and more important. This research acknowledges previous research on social media marketing, analytics and social CRM. Based on theoretical findings a proposed model for a B2B social CRM strategy is presented. Relevant social media channels are explained, highlighting how they differ from each other. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are the three social media channels that are further examined and used in the case study analysis. The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyze the characteristics of social media usage in a B2B company. This is achieved by exploring the most successful and unsuccessful social media posts a B2B company has posted on their social media channels. The empirical study is conducted by analyzing social media posts in three different social media channels, during the course of one year. The empirical research identifies different content and post types a B2B company posts on their social media channels. The study explains the characteristics of a successful and an unsuccessful post on different channels and results are finalized into a B2B social CRM strategy. A cross tabulation and chi-square analysis are also conducted. Concrete recommendations are made to the commissioned company, UPM Raflatac. The discoveries of this study show nine different content types, based on the focus point of each social media post. Results conclude it is recommended for the company to continue posting on Twitter and Facebook. Posts on LinkedIn should not be about sustainability and the updates should not be posted on Mondays, as they have low engagements. Technical jargon should be avoided, as well as long and difficult products names. Special attention should be put on the tone of voice of each post, as it should not be too formal but relaxed and conversational. The results of this thesis give guidance to social media managers and encourage them to analyze available data and act according to the results.