IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v155y2023ipas0148296322008530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing the content of LinkedIn posts: Influence on B2B customer engagement and sales?

Author

Listed:
  • Mora Cortez, Roberto
  • Johnston, Wesley J.
  • Ghosh Dastidar, Ayan

Abstract

This study investigates whether LinkedIn content in a business-to-business (B2B) service setting affects how firms generate engagement and sales revenue. Drawing on social media marketing theoretical underpinnings, we explain how a new post typology (sales, technical, and social) and customer engagement (likes, clicks, shares, and comments) are relevant to increase firm performance. We specify a VAR model with exogenous variables (VARX) using 106 weeks of data from a new, steadily growing B2B firm. We focus on the cumulative effects (i.e., short- and long-term effects) of the types of posts, website visits, new followers, and a composite of engagement behaviors over time and compute elasticities with impulse response functions (IRFs). Our findings indicate that followers and website visits positively affect the amount of sales revenue, and sales posts and website visits drive the number of followers. In addition, we find that social posts, new followers, and sales revenue positively influence engagement. These findings demonstrate the utility of LinkedIn at the firm level, preventing top management from perceiving social media as an ornamental accessory, and provide guidance for B2B marketers about what content to post on LinkedIn.

Suggested Citation

  • Mora Cortez, Roberto & Johnston, Wesley J. & Ghosh Dastidar, Ayan, 2023. "Managing the content of LinkedIn posts: Influence on B2B customer engagement and sales?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:155:y:2023:i:pa:s0148296322008530
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113388
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322008530
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113388?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shampy Kamboj & Zillur Rahman, 2016. "Erratum to: The influence of user participation in social media-based brand communities on brand loyalty: age and gender as moderators," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(6), pages 733-733, November.
    2. J.J. Brakus & B.H. Schmitt & L. Zarantonello, 2009. "Brand Experience: What Is It? How Do We Measure It? And Does It Affect Loyalty?," Post-Print hal-00799102, HAL.
    3. Koen Pauwels, 2004. "How Dynamic Consumer Response, Competitor Response, Company Support, and Company Inertia Shape Long-Term Marketing Effectiveness," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 596-610, June.
    4. Homburg, Christian & Klarmann, Martin & Schmitt, Jens, 2010. "Brand awareness in business markets: When is it related to firm performance?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 201-212.
    5. Mora Cortez, Roberto & Højbjerg Clarke, Ann & Freytag, Per Vagn, 2021. "B2B market segmentation: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 415-428.
    6. Trainor, Kevin J. & Andzulis, James (Mick) & Rapp, Adam & Agnihotri, Raj, 2014. "Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 1201-1208.
    7. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    8. Shampy Kamboj & Zillur Rahman, 2016. "The influence of user participation in social media-based brand communities on brand loyalty: age and gender as moderators," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(6), pages 679-700, November.
    9. Valter Afonso Vieira & Marcos Inácio Severo Almeida & Raj Agnihotri & Nôga Simões De Arruda Corrêa Silva & S. Arunachalam, 2019. "In pursuit of an effective B2B digital marketing strategy in an emerging market," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1085-1108, November.
    10. Seshadri Tirunillai & Gerard J. Tellis, 2012. "Does Chatter Really Matter? Dynamics of User-Generated Content and Stock Performance," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 198-215, March.
    11. Chakraborty, Goutam & Lala, Vishal & Warren, David, 2003. "What Do Customers Consider Important in B2B Websites?," Journal of Advertising Research, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(1), pages 50-61, March.
    12. Evans, Lewis & Wells, Graeme, 1983. "An alternative approach to simulating var models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 23-29.
    13. Lilien, Gary L., 2016. "The B2B Knowledge Gap," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 543-556.
    14. Fabian Bill & Sven Feurer & Martin Klarmann, 2020. "Salesperson social media use in business-to-business relationships: An empirical test of an integrative framework linking antecedents and consequences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 734-752, July.
    15. Mora Cortez, Roberto & Ghosh Dastidar, Ayan, 2022. "A longitudinal study of B2B customer engagement in LinkedIn: The role of brand personality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 92-105.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chaoyong Qin & Xinyu Zeng & Shichang Liang & Ke Zhang, 2023. "Do Live Streaming and Online Consumer Reviews Jointly Affect Purchase Intention?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, April.
    2. Agnesia Indah Sukma & Yasaldo Gigih Nugroho & Jerry S. Justianto, 2023. "Social Themed Post LinkedIn Can Affect Engagement Rate as Social Media Professional Platform For Business to Business (B2B)," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 12, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mora Cortez, Roberto & Ghosh Dastidar, Ayan, 2022. "A longitudinal study of B2B customer engagement in LinkedIn: The role of brand personality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 92-105.
    2. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    3. Pauwels, Koen & Aksehirli, Zeynep & Lackman, Andrew, 2016. "Like the ad or the brand? Marketing stimulates different electronic word-of-mouth content to drive online and offline performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 639-655.
    4. Valter Afonso Vieira & Marcos Inácio Severo Almeida & Raj Agnihotri & Nôga Simões De Arruda Corrêa Silva & S. Arunachalam, 2019. "In pursuit of an effective B2B digital marketing strategy in an emerging market," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1085-1108, November.
    5. Agnesia Indah Sukma & Yasaldo Gigih Nugroho & Jerry S. Justianto, 2023. "Social Themed Post LinkedIn Can Affect Engagement Rate as Social Media Professional Platform For Business to Business (B2B)," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 12, November.
    6. Ryan Mullins & Raj Agnihotri, 2022. "Digital selling: organizational and managerial influences for frontline readiness and effectiveness," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 800-821, July.
    7. Myoung-Jin Chae, 2021. "Driving Consumer Engagement through Diverse Calls to Action in Corporate Social Responsibility Messages on Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-22, March.
    8. Drummond, Conor & McGrath, Helen & O'Toole, Thomas, 2023. "Beyond the platform: Social media as a multi-faceted resource in value creation for entrepreneurial firms in a collaborative network," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    9. Colicev, Anatoli & Kumar, Ashish & O'Connor, Peter, 2019. "Modeling the relationship between firm and user generated content and the stages of the marketing funnel," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 100-116.
    10. McClure, Clair & Seock, Yoo-Kyoung, 2020. "The role of involvement: Investigating the effect of brand's social media pages on consumer purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    11. Guitart, Ivan A. & Hervet, Guillaume, 2017. "The impact of contextual television ads on online conversions: An application in the insurance industry," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 480-498.
    12. Schaefers, Tobias & Falk, Tomas & Kumar, Ashish & Schamari, Julia, 2021. "More of the same? Effects of volume and variety of social media brand engagement behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 282-294.
    13. M.G. Dekimpe & D.M. Hanssens, 2005. "Persistence Models and Marketing Strategy," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(5), pages 855-884.
    14. Onishi, Hiroshi & Manchanda, Puneet, 2012. "Marketing activity, blogging and sales," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 221-234.
    15. Sıddık Bozkurt & David Gligor & Serhat Ozer & Serap Sarp & Rajesh Srivastava, 2024. "The impact of perceived social media interactivity on brand trust. The mediating role of perceived social media agility and the moderating role of brand value," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(3), pages 523-536, September.
    16. Peng Xie & Jiming Wu & Hongwei Du, 2019. "The relative importance of competition to contagion: evidence from the digital currency market," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Soumya Mukhopadhyay & V Kumar & Amalesh Sharma & Tuck Siong Chung, 2022. "Impact of review narrativity on sales in a competitive environment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(6), pages 2538-2556, June.
    18. Kittur, Prathamesh & Agarwal, Shailja, 2024. "Cultural bridges in Business: Critical review and future directions in cross-cultural B2B relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    19. Pyper, Keith & Marie Doherty, Anne & Gounaris, Spiros & Wilson, Alan, 2022. "A contingency-based approach to the nexus between international strategic brand management and export performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 472-488.
    20. Christian Homburg & Moritz Tischer, 2023. "Customer journey management capability in business-to-business markets: Its bright and dark sides and overall impact on firm performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1046-1074, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:155:y:2023:i:pa:s0148296322008530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.