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Social media usage in container shipping companies: Analysis of Facebook messages
Abstract
The importance of social media is increasing rapidly in the business world as in the lives of individuals. However, business-to-business (B2B) markets have difficulties in adapting to the newest 21st-century forms of communication. This study evaluates the current social media behaviors of container shipping companies to help practitioners increase their engagement in relation to the algorithms of these platforms. After identifying container shipping companies that use social media most actively, this study analyzed their Facebook messages in terms of branding, message appeals, direct-sales, and information cues, drawing on WOM psychological motivation theory and dual process theory. The study reveals that most companies do not use social media technology, and lack clear, generally accepted social media strategies. The analysis indicates that the inclusion of emotional appeals increases the engagement level of the messages but direct-calls-to-purchase decreases. Video and photo contents produce better engagement while video content increases virality. Finally, the number of fans of these companies no longer directly affects the engagement rate of posts with Facebook's changing News Feed algorithm. This means that the current engagement rate calculation methods in the literature have become obsolete. It is recommended that practitioners closely follow the ever-changing algorithms of social media channels and should not hesitate to use social media advertising.
... Therefore, the strands about the communication in transportation companies still run in parallel, not yet producing research under the problem of the effective communication on sustainable transportation practices. The current literature has not adequately pointed out sustainability communication practised by transportation companies (Lam and Lai, 2015;Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020). Recently, Zieba and Johansson (2022) specified the requirement of promoting transparent corporate reporting and how the sustainability claims are constructed and communicated to stakeholders. ...
... Companies should be conveying their sustainability messages though communication channels to reinforce and communicate their commitment towards sustainability (Yuen et al., 2018). Few scholars have analysed the communication channels as Facebook messages (Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020), Twitter posts (Altuntaş Vural, 2021), non-financial reports (Górecka and Strojek-Filus (2022) and CEO letters (Seo et al., 2021). Bitiktas and Tuna (2020) examined the Facebook messages of container shipping companies and emphasised that many of them ignore social media and do not convey clear messages to stakeholders. ...
... Few scholars have analysed the communication channels as Facebook messages (Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020), Twitter posts (Altuntaş Vural, 2021), non-financial reports (Górecka and Strojek-Filus (2022) and CEO letters (Seo et al., 2021). Bitiktas and Tuna (2020) examined the Facebook messages of container shipping companies and emphasised that many of them ignore social media and do not convey clear messages to stakeholders. Altuntaş Vural et al. (2021) contributed to how the shipping companies position their brands within the scope of sustainability. ...
... Therefore, the strands about the communication in transportation companies still run in parallel, not yet producing research under the problem of the effective communication on sustainable transportation practices. The current literature has not adequately pointed out sustainability communication practised by transportation companies (Lam and Lai, 2015;Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020). Recently, Zieba and Johansson (2022) specified the requirement of promoting transparent corporate reporting and how the sustainability claims are constructed and communicated to stakeholders. ...
... Companies should be conveying their sustainability messages though communication channels to reinforce and communicate their commitment towards sustainability (Yuen et al., 2018). Few scholars have analysed the communication channels as Facebook messages (Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020), Twitter posts (Altuntaş Vural, 2021), non-financial reports (Górecka and Strojek-Filus (2022) and CEO letters (Seo et al., 2021). Bitiktas and Tuna (2020) examined the Facebook messages of container shipping companies and emphasised that many of them ignore social media and do not convey clear messages to stakeholders. ...
... Few scholars have analysed the communication channels as Facebook messages (Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020), Twitter posts (Altuntaş Vural, 2021), non-financial reports (Górecka and Strojek-Filus (2022) and CEO letters (Seo et al., 2021). Bitiktas and Tuna (2020) examined the Facebook messages of container shipping companies and emphasised that many of them ignore social media and do not convey clear messages to stakeholders. Altuntaş Vural et al. (2021) contributed to how the shipping companies position their brands within the scope of sustainability. ...
... Los servicios de redes sociales se han vuelto cruciales para algunas organizaciones en el servicio al cliente o en sus departamentos de mercadotecnia donde se proponen soluciones para la indexación de influencers 1 o nichos de oportunidad para incursionar dentro del Internet (Arora et al., 2019). También, presentando estrategias de publicación eficaz dentro de las plataformas de redes sociales, la identificación del tipo de mensajes o los tipos de transporte de mensajes apropiados (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). Por otro lado, en el estudio de Rousidis, Koukaras & Tjortjis (2020) en sus hallazgos indicaron que los docentes o académicos de cualquier disciplina o cultura, podrían impartir cursos a través de plataformas como redes sociales gracias a las diferentes funcionalidades que brindan las herramientas de social media, como Portal Home, Historias de voz y el almacenamiento en la nube de Facebook, los cuales incentivaban a Identificación de áreas de aplicación de arquitecturas de software basadas en modelos los estudiantes a realizar una participación más activa. ...
... Con el propósito de realizar una búsqueda exploratoria basada en el objetivo y las PI, se construyó una cadena de búsqueda. La búsqueda exploratoria permitió identificar los estudios base que fueron guía para el proceso de búsqueda (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020;Chugh & Ruhi, 2018;Peruta & Shields, 2017;Purohit, Castillo & Pandey, 2020). ...
... se basan en la extracción de conocimiento de los conjuntos de datos, para posteriormente analizarlos con el objetivo de comprender no solo comportamientos, sino también sentimientos y emociones. Así mismo, existen otros autores que el enfoque de sus investigaciones se proyectan hacia la Mercadotecnia o Gestión de negocios, proponiendo soluciones para la indexación de influencers, o nichos de oportunidad para incursionar dentro de Internet (Arora et al., 2019), mencionan estrategias de una publicación eficaz dentro de las plataformas de redes sociales e identifican el tipo de mensajes o los tipos de transporte de mensaje apropiados (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). Kurnia & Suharjito (2018) y Purohit, Castillo & Pandey (2020) desarrollaron aplicaciones basadas en sus propuestas de modelo con el propósito de realizar un monitoreo del desempeño de las publicaciones en las redes sociales, reduciendo el tiempo de espera para el conocimiento de las métricas totales de páginas de Facebook o Twitter. ...
Empresas que fazem distribuição de produtos no atacado normalmente têm grande quantidade de itens comercializados de diversos fabricantes em seu portfólio de produtos. Assim, encontrar e recomendar produtos ao cliente entre milhares de possibilidades se caracteriza num desafio para a equipe de vendas. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar uma arquitetura de sistema de recomendação para implantação em ferramentas de sistema de automação de força de vendas e suportado por Inteligência Artificial que possa recomendar produtos online a cada interação no processo de venda. Foram usados os seguintes os métodos e materiais: revisão sistemática da literatura, pesquisa exploratória quali-quantitativa, experimentos computacionais, estudo de caso, prova de conceito do sistema e pesquisa com o método Delphi junto a especialistas com aplicação de questionários. A arquitetura foi aplicada construindo-se uma prova de conceito numa empresa de distribuição de autopeças na qual o sistema foi capaz de fornecer recomendações de quatro algoritmos diferentes.
... Los servicios de redes sociales se han vuelto cruciales para algunas organizaciones en el servicio al cliente o en sus departamentos de mercadotecnia donde se proponen soluciones para la indexación de influencers 1 o nichos de oportunidad para incursionar dentro del Internet (Arora et al., 2019). También, presentando estrategias de publicación eficaz dentro de las plataformas de redes sociales, la identificación del tipo de mensajes o los tipos de transporte de mensajes apropiados (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). Por otro lado, en el estudio de Rousidis, Koukaras & Tjortjis (2020) en sus hallazgos indicaron que los docentes o académicos de cualquier disciplina o cultura, podrían impartir cursos a través de plataformas como redes sociales gracias a las diferentes funcionalidades que brindan las herramientas de social media, como Portal Home, Historias de voz y el almacenamiento en la nube de Facebook, los cuales incentivaban a Identificación de áreas de aplicación de arquitecturas de software basadas en modelos los estudiantes a realizar una participación más activa. ...
... Con el propósito de realizar una búsqueda exploratoria basada en el objetivo y las PI, se construyó una cadena de búsqueda. La búsqueda exploratoria permitió identificar los estudios base que fueron guía para el proceso de búsqueda (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020;Chugh & Ruhi, 2018;Peruta & Shields, 2017;Purohit, Castillo & Pandey, 2020). ...
... Los modelos propuestos por autores como He et al. (2017); Salloum et al. (2017) y Tocoglu et al. (2019 se basan en la extracción de conocimiento de los conjuntos de datos, para posteriormente analizarlos con el objetivo de comprender no solo comportamientos, sino también sentimientos y emociones. Así mismo, existen otros autores que el enfoque de sus investigaciones se proyectan hacia la Mercadotecnia o Gestión de negocios, proponiendo soluciones para la indexación de influencers, o nichos de oportunidad para incursionar dentro de Internet (Arora et al., 2019), mencionan estrategias de una publicación eficaz dentro de las plataformas de redes sociales e identifican el tipo de mensajes o los tipos de transporte de mensaje apropiados (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). Kurnia & Suharjito (2018) y Purohit, Castillo & Pandey (2020) desarrollaron aplicaciones basadas en sus propuestas de modelo con el propósito de realizar un monitoreo del desempeño de las publicaciones en las redes sociales, reduciendo el tiempo de espera para el conocimiento de las métricas totales de páginas de Facebook o Twitter. ...
Social media se refiere al conjunto de técnicas y herramientas que están
tomando relevancia para la recolección de información sobre el comportamiento de
los usuarios en las redes sociales. El objetivo de esta investigación fue identificar los
enfoques, modelos de análisis, técnicas y herramientas de social media aplicados en
arquitecturas de software, con el fin de detectar las áreas de aplicación por medio
de estudios empíricos. Para ello, se realizó un mapeo sistemático de la literatura
con el cual se seleccionaron treinta artículos publicados entre 2015 y 2020. Los
resultados validaron que en los últimos tres años se han incrementado en un 57%
las publicaciones, principalmente en el área de investigación centrándose en diseñar
arquitecturas de software que incorporen modelos de análisis de social media en los
componentes y crear nuevas oportunidades en las redes sociales.
... Social media's importance is increasing rapidly in the business world as in the lives of individuals (Bitiktas et al., 2020). Thus, customer engagement (CE) in co-creating customer experience and value is receiving increasing attention from business practitioners and academics alike (Brodie, 2011). ...
... In this context, we consider sharing, in terms of the extent of involvement, as the highest form of engagement followed by commenting and liking (Bitiktas et al., 2020;Cho et al., 2014;Cooper et al., 2019;Swani et al., 2014). Higher active or passive customer participation (customer engagement) with contents at least leads to better spreading the company messages, create better customer experience (Chiang et al., 2018), by enhancing relationships (De Vries et al., 2014), and increasing customers' value (Ersoy et al., 2018). ...
... Kim et al. (2020) reveal that information quality is the most important predictor of customer engagement (CE); therefore, restaurants need to mainly focus on providing high-quality information through their social networks. Posts should include videos and images because they have the highest positive impact on engagement (Bitiktas et al., 2020;Siyam et al., 2020). Furthermore, Vaičiukynaitė & Gatautis (2018) add that marketers should use more social messages and images with humans to increase the number of likes, comments, and emotional expressions and foster customer engagement (CE) on Facebook. ...
Social media's importance is increasing rapidly in the business world as in the lives of individuals (Bitiktas et al., 2020). Thus, customer engagement (CE) in co-creating customer experience and value is receiving increasing attention from business practitioners and academics alike (Brodie, 2011). The study aims to examine content strategy on coffee shops' Facebook brand-fan pages in terms of differences in the length of the text part of the posted content and its impact on customer engagement. Using the Fanpage karma web application, we collected a total number of 1254 of 10 coffee shops' brand-fan pages posts published on Facebook during the year 2019. We found that there is a statistically significant difference between text length according to post type (status, photo, video, link) (p=0.0007), and also customer engagement differs depending on post type (p=0.0009). Surprisingly we also revealed that in text length, there is a statistically significant difference only between photo and status types of posts (p-Value=0.0009) and in customer engagement (CE), only between the photo and video types of posts (p-Value=0.0044). Results of linear regression also were not able to support hypothesis, that the shortest length of the text leads to higher customer engagement (CE). The study extends the research on customer engagement (CE) and expands the knowledge about the Facebook content strategy of coffee companies. Finally, it offers recommendations for future research in the examined area.
... For instance, several studies have proposed that posts with high interactivity (i.e., posts inviting users to perform an action, such as a request for feedback or visiting a website) and high vividness (i.e., posts containing photos or videos) will generate more likes and comments [17,18]. This study uses the word-of-mouth (WOM) psychological motivation theory, which is a widely used approach in defining the message characteristics that are likely to encourage online WOM activity and influence engagement rates in social media posts [19,20]. Businesses can benefit by incorporating appropriate message strategies to facilitate interactive engagement, which can build trust, satisfaction, and improve a firm's reputation [21]. ...
... Although some studies have examined stakeholder engagement on social media based on the WOM psychological motivation theory [19,20], this study presents a novel contribution by analysing engagement from a value perspective. This study not only considers the message characteristics that may motivate stakeholders to engage, but it also considers the values perceived by stakeholders that can influence their engagement behaviour. ...
Social media is an important driver of firm success by providing an avenue for stakeholder engagement. Operating in a highly complex and competitive environment, firms in the ship management industry can utilise social media platforms to engage with their stakeholders, which can enhance stakeholder satisfaction and loyalty. However, stakeholder engagement rates can vary, with some posts generating more engagement than others. Drawing on the perceived value and word-of-mouth psychological motivation theories, this study introduces a theoretical model to identify and examine factors influencing stakeholder engagement on LinkedIn in the ship management industry. A hierarchical regression analysis is conducted on the posts of ten ship management firms to study the influence of content type and message characteristics variables on engagement rates. The results revealed nine variables that can significantly influence stakeholder engagement. They are links, corporate brand names, call-to-actions, message length, tangible resources, social content, emotional content, first-person texts, and emojis. The findings provide recommendations for firms in the ship management industry in terms of the message strategies to incorporate into their posts to encourage higher engagement rates. This study also enriches literature for stakeholder engagement on social media.
... Information technology (IT) was initially primarily used to automate business processes, but today it is seen as the primary force behind an enterprise's value creation. Social media's influence has altered global producers' and consumers' behaviors (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). It enables seamless communication between customers and businesses. ...
... Most SMEs keep struggling to reap the advantages offered by social media due to their lack of technological knowledge, while some SMEs perform better in their marketing through social media channels (Pourkhani et al., 2019). Today, using (SM) as a tool for the company is essential (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020) and ...
Purpose: The usage of social media (SM) by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) received relatively less attention and the findings in the literature are mixed in terms of the effect of SM on SME performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of SM utilization on SME business performance (SMEBP) in Saudi Arabia. Theoretical Framework: Based on the resource-based view, this study proposed that SM internal utilization (SMIU) affects positively the SMEBP and marketing innovation (MI). MI is expected to affect the SMEBP and mediate the effect of SMIU on SME performance (profitability (PR) and business growth (BG). Design/Methodology/Approach: The population of this study is the SMEs in Al-Riyadh city in Saudi Arabia. A simple random sampling is deployed. The data was collected using a questionnaire. A total of 451 respondents representing SMEs participated in this study. Findings: The finding was derived using Smart PLS version 4. The findings showed that SMIU affected positively PR and BG of SME and MI. MI affected positively the PR and BG of SME and mediated partially the effect of SMIU on PR and BG of SME. Research practical Implication: Decision makers are advised to deploy SM more effectively and to create a rewarding culture for innovative ideas to improve performance. Originality/Value: This study helps to enhance the understanding regarding the role of marketing innovation and social media internal usage in improving the performance of SMEs in emerging economies.
... In the case of communities affected by the pandemic, it is necessary to maintain a certain level of communication, a type of communication aimed at reducing anxiety and increasing solidarity, which involves enhancing digital connections in direct relation to increasing physical distance (Hannigan et al. 2020). Another important role in the digital strategies is played by the paid commercials, the pay-to-play model, addressed to a more customized segment of the audience (Bitiktas and Tuna 2020). ...
... The popularity of each creative space was calculated, together with the users' commitment (C), virality (V), and the engagement degree (E) of the user community (Bonson and Ratkai 2013;Bonson, Royo, and Ratkai 2017;Meltzer, S , tef anescu, and Ozunu 2018;Bitiktas and Tuna 2020), to identify the degree of involvement of the digital user community, which was the second step of the investigation. The chosen sample includes 126 independent creative and cultural spaces from Cluj-Napoca and Timis , oara. ...
One of the economic sectors most affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic has been the cultural and creative industries, turning cultural workers into a financially vulnerable group. The purpose of this study was to identify some early forms of the resilience of cultural activity during the emergency period of the COVID-19 crisis. The engagement index of the users’ communities was evaluated through some metric indicators in social media, the transfer of cultural-creative activities in the online environment, and the content and impact of digital stories. A sample of 126 independent cultural spaces in Romania was assessed. To validate the content of the social media stories promoted by various independent cultural entities, interviews with the managers of several creative spaces were performed. During the emergency period, we noticed the intensification of the digital activity, with creative spaces switching their activities from on-site to online. The content of Facebook posts highlighted stories about their own activity, about the activity of other spaces, or those encouraging social campaigns. The resilience associated with the independent cultural and creative sector is more an individual adaptation than an organizational or collective adaptation. For instance, the online cultural performances were some of the emergent reactions to the COVID-19 crisis.
... This facilitates the creation of talent pools and succession planning [Bolander et al., (2017) The most frequently referred talent planning practice was work-related social media usage. Social media usage is rapidly becoming significant in both the business world individuals' daily life [Bitiktas and Tuna, (2020), p.1]. ...
... Among the talent planning practices, work-related social media usage was the most frequently mentioned practice. The significance of social media usage is expanding rapidly in the business world as in individuals' daily life (Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020). Walford-Wright and Scott-Jackson (2018, p.226) claim that social media is an important tool in talent attraction. ...
The extremely competitive and goal-driven structure of container shipping has led firms to acknowledge the need for qualified and competent employees to accomplish business objectives. Accordingly, talent management (TM) is a critical factor to achieve these objectives and effectively execute corporate strategy. Therefore, this study primarily aims to contribute to the development of the TM field by examining TM-oriented subjects concerning the primary actors of Turkeys container shipping industry (container shipping lines and ocean freight forwarders). First, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify existing TM practices and obtain data for the identification and conceptualization of talent management functions. Second, a combined method of in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis was used to investigate the most common talent management practices under TM functions in Turkeys container shipping industry and highlight the differences with the current literature.
... While the literature has addressed branding in many industries, few studies have examined branding in container shipping (e.g. Jang et al., 2014;Yang, 2018;Bitiktas and Tuna, 2020;Surucu-Balci et al., 2020). Within this limited literature, Jang et al. (2014) reported that the most important factor determining brand equity in container shipping firms is cost-related service quality whereas brand association is less important. ...
... One strategic tool to create brand engagement and implement brand positioning strategies for container shipping companies is social media (Surucu-Balci et al., 2020). Bitiktas and Tuna (2020) recently analysed message appeals, branding, and informational content of container carriers' Facebook messages. They found that many container shipping firms ignore social media and fail to convey clear messages to stakeholders. ...
Brands are steadily seen as offering a critical point of differentiation and a sustainable figure of competitive advantage for business to business marketers. However, brand management in Business to Business (B2B) industries is still at its starting point. Companies can use their brands to promote their sustainabilities to their industrial customers. Social Media may provide a visibility that emphasize the firm's sustainability practices and their impact on stakeholders. Therefore, this study aims to explore how shipping companies position themselves in relation to sustainability strategies. In the first stage of the study, the key drivers of sustainability have been discovered by longitudinal content analysis, afterward the social media analytics has been performed for the Ocean Carrier companies in which are positioning their brands through their sustainabilities. The research findings will be useful for both academics and managers who are interested in understanding and further developing the business use of participatory Social Media analytics to achieve the sustainability. Hence, this may be considered as a distinct way of attaining sustainability.
... In 2020, Fevzi Bitiktas, and Okan Tuna [8] have stated business-to-business (B2B) markets which rapidly increase the business world as in the lives of individuals. It can evaluate the current social media behaviors of container shipping companies to help practitioners to increase their relation to the algorithms of these platforms. ...
... However, it needs to more improved models on optimization. B2B [8] have less inventory and reduced transaction cost and it requires prequalification Low order conversion rates are the main drawbacks that considered in this methodology. ...
Nowadays, social media has emerged as one of the activity among the users on their day-to-day life activity. This research work plans to develop a statistical review that concerns on social media advertising among college students from diverse universities. The review analysis on social media advertising is given under six sections such as (i) Personal Profile; (ii) Usage; (iii) Assessment; (iv) Higher Order statistics like Community, Connectedness, Openness, Dependence and Participation; (v) Trustworthiness such as Trust, Perceived value and Perceived risk; and (vi) Towards advertisement which involves attitude towards advertisement, response towards advertisement and purchase intension. The initial stage is on questionnaire preparation based on social media networking. The records stated in the questionnaire are intimately taken about the usage of social media sites and the advertisement on social media networking. In the second stage, the planned questionnaire is distributed over college students from diverse universities. The entire questions are made mandatory in this questionnaire and subsequent to this, the students from various universities are demanded to fill up their response to this questionnaire. These responses from the students are then taken for analysis purpose. In this research work, the analysis is performed on the basis of higher-order statistical analysis that favorably concerned on correlation coefficients and entropy. This in turns helps to determine the correlation and entropy among the response towards the social media network.
... Building on these ideas of affordance theory, we propose that B2B marketers likely perceive varied affordances for different types of social media, as platforms have distinct characteristics, functionalities, and audiences. For example, Facebook is a social networking site (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020), LinkedIn a professional networking site (Cortez et al., 2023), and Twitter a microblogging site (Leek et al., 2016;Leek et al., 2019), each with distinct uses and strengths for messaging. This idea is supported by a recent qualitative case study, which found that B2B firms use SM platforms differently: Facebook served as a recruiting tool to disseminate information to a wide range of stakeholders; LinkedIn served both as a lead-generation tool targeting customers and a recruitment platform for potential employees; and Twitter functioned as a lead-generation tool while also linking to other social media platforms (Andersson & Wikström, 2017). ...
Social media (SM) has become an essential means of engaging key stakeholders for business-to-business (B2B) firms. As a result, academic research has paid increasing attention to the factors that drive SM engagement in business markets. Although studies have examined the types of SM content that generate higher engagement in B2B contexts, current research lacks deeper insight into message strategies across different social media platforms (SMPs). We address this knowledge gap by examining whether the use of SM content strategies by B2B firms varies across platforms and whether their effectiveness in generating engagement varies across SMPs. In doing so, we build a new SM content strategy framework focused on messaging functions that capture a broad set of message stakeholders. Using advanced Random Forest modeling, we analyze 1700 SM messages and related engagement data from 18 of the largest Canadian B2B companies based on their revenues. We advance current research knowledge by demonstrating how different message strategies across SMPs achieve higher engagement levels. The findings offer concrete insights for practitioners to effectively engage diverse stakeholders across different SMPs.
... Recent studies have revealed that social media is intensively used by the private sector (Asanbekova and Maksüdünov, 2018;Ferrer-Rosell et al., 2019;Sheng, 2019;Bitiktaş and Tuna, 2020;Tsao et al., 2021;Arica et al., 2022;Lacarcel and Huete, 2023), public institutions (Lam et al., 2019;Jason and Abby, 2020;Eom and Lee, 2022), and civil society (Osokin, 2019;Yuan, 2020;Lorenz-Spreen et al., 2023) as a communication tool. In addition, political parties have been effectively using it as a communication tool in recent years (Akyol, 2015;Borah, 2016;Maksüdünov, 2018;Gilardi et al., 2022;Saputro et al., 2023). ...
Facebook is becoming widely used by all private, public, and non-governmental organisations in Central Asia. However, this study is limited to national tourism organisations, operating to promote the destination. The primary purpose of the study is to reveal the current state of online promotion activities of national tourism organisations in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The Facebook pages of the above-mentioned organisations were subjected to content analysis. According to the results, the adoption of social media as a destination-marketing tool has been actively used for the last few years as a relatively new phenomenon in Central Asia. Moreover, social media is being used insufficiently in terms of content, language, and user engagement. Still, the research results revealed that Kazakhstan was in a better position, followed by Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The findings of this study may provide important clues for the relevant government institutions and organisations responsible for destination marketing.
... Fo demonstrates the amount of coder agreements, N stands for the total number of coder decisions, and k identifies the number of categories (Perreault Jr & Leigh, 1989;Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). The inter-coder reliability value for this study was calculated as 0.83. ...
Talent management (TM) is a critical aspect of organizational success, particularly in industries characterized by constant change and intense competition, such as the Turkish container shipping industry. This study aimed to explore the barriers to talent management practices and identify potential actions that companies in this industry can take to overcome these challenges. Through structured interviews with 31 participants employed in Turkish shipping companies, a range of barriers emerged, including economic conditions, the employment of incompetent individuals, lack of investment in talent management, disregard for employee value and development, lack of institutionalism, high employee turnover, failure to implement education effectively, and time constraints. In response to these barriers, potential actions were identified, including the development and utilization of innovative and remedial strategies, valuing employee development, providing employee welfare, and allocating adequate time and budget resources. These findings provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by organizations in the Turkish container shipping industry and offer actionable recommendations to enhance talent management practices. By implementing these actions, companies can create an environment that attracts, develops, and retains talented individuals, contributing to their long-term success in a competitive industry. Acknowledging and addressing these challenges is crucial for organizations seeking to improve talent management practices and remain competitive in the Turkish container shipping industry.
... However, not all tools indicate the same customer engagement. For instance, sharing and commenting requires more appreciable support from customers, and thus it can be considered as a more engaging behavior (Bitiktas et al., 2020;Cooper et al., 2019;Kent et al., 2020;Ngai et al., 2020;Rakoczy et al., 2019;Rajnoha et al., 2016;Mura et al., 2021;Popp et al., 2018) than liking. Consequently, companies should achieve higher levels of the customers' engagement because it positively impacts outcomes such us sales, competitive advantage, profit, and brand evaluation (Gruss et al., 2020;Harrigan et al., 2017;Kim et al., 2020;Rather, 2020;So et al., 2016;Zheng et al., 2016, Zámečník et al., 2015. ...
Social networks change the way how companies conduct their marketing activities. Potential customers become part of companies' marketing activities instead of just being passive participants. The ability to actively involve customers thus becomes a critical factor in the success of marketing activities. The study aims to determine how the posts' different content on the companies' Facebook pages affects the engagement of the message recipients. A retrospective, longitudinal study approach was used. Five hundred fifty-three posts from the four Slovak largest fuel retail sellers' Facebook pages were analyzed. The results revealed the significant difference in the medians of the passive engagement (χ2 (3, N = 533) = 85.685, p-value = < 0.0001) and active engagement (χ2 (3, N = 533) = 85.685, p-value = < 0.0001) according to different content types. The paired rank differences suggest that while entertainment messages (EM) significantly encourage both types of engagement (passive and active), informational messages (IM) and social messages (SM) encourage mainly passive engagement. The study extends the research on active and passive customer engagement, and thus, it contributes directly to understanding engagement and customer experience with social media and expands the knowledge about the Facebook content strategy. Finally, it offers recommendations for future research in the examined area.
... companies use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Flicker, Instagram, and SlideShare to achieve brand popularity (Swani et al., 2017); higher firm stock performance (Liu, 2020;Mumi, Obal, & Yang, 2018;Prantl & Mičík, 2019); better sales outcomes (Eid et al., 2019;Rodriguez et al., 2012;Vieira et al., 2019); better engagement with existing customers and to secure potential leads (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020;Shen et al., 2020); to identify B2B firms' target markets (Lashgari et al., 2018); and to recruit new employees (Kumar & Möller, 2018). However, on platforms such as Glassdoor, the presence of B2B employees targets a favorable perceived brand personality Robertson et al., 2019). ...
Despite a vast increase in electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) research over the past two decades, insights into e-WOM in the Business-to-Business (B2B) context have been limited, resulting in an incomplete understanding of its meaning and the market implications. The existing conceptualizations of e-WOM are deeply entrenched in the characteristics of a particular context—Business-to-Customers (B2C)— and, consequently, focus exclusively on end customers. The diversity of B2B stakeholders and the complexity of their relationships in the online communicative space demand a clearer understanding of the e-WOM concept in this specific context. This paper synthesizes the key studies in this area and proposes an organizing framework for online B2B communicative networks based on a stakeholder approach. It differentiates between seven forms of e-WOM, illustrating its complexity in B2B contexts and allowing a fine-grained understanding of the phenomenon. Informed by the literature reviewed, this paper offers a more nuanced conceptualization of e-WOM, emphasizing its ability to cover a range of contexts. It enables firms to fully understand the concept and manage their relationships with different e-WOM actors/stakeholders in the online environment. A future research agenda is provided for the field, allowing researchers to direct and craft B2B e-WOM theory and practice.
... In the delivery of goods; not only speed and accuracy are the keys to successful implementation (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). The availability of a fleet to support the delivery process so that the goods can arrive at their destination safely, and Controlling to supervise the delivery process so that it runs according to the plan it should be. ...
This study aimed to determine the effect of fleet availability and control on the smooth delivery of PT. Cardig Logistics Indonesia. The survey method is used as a way to collect primary data. The population is taken from employees who work in the operational section and get a sample of 30 people. The writer used a descriptive statistical analysis method, multiple linear regression, correlation coefficient, determination coefficient, or determination to test the research hypothesis to conduct this research. The results showed that the availability of the fleet (X1) and controlling (X2) on the smooth delivery (Y) of PT. Cardig Logistics Indonesia has a positive and significant effect. From the research result, the more dominant is the variable of fleet availability.
... .18531/Studia.Mundi.2022.09.02.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] A befolyásoló tényezőkről elmondható, hogy a válaszadóink összességében könnyűnek ítélik meg az online vásárlást, amelyeket kényelmesen az otthonukból is megvalósíthatnak, elkerülve a nagy tömegeket, valamint olyan termékeket is elérhetnek, amelyek egyediek és a környezetükben lévő üzletekben nem találnak a kínálatban. ...
Az online vásárlás egyre inkább a hétköznapi életünk részévé vált, melynek hatására az e-kereskedelem volumene exponenciálisan növekedett az elmúlt években. Az e-kereskedelem mellett a közösségi média oldalak használata is életünk szerves részét képezi, amelynek jelentős hatása van a vásárlásainkra is. Célkitűzésül azt fogalmaztuk meg, hogy megvizsgáljuk az online vásárlási szokásokat, az azokat befolyásoló tényezőket. Kutatási célkitűzésünk teljesítése érdekében online kérdőíves felmérést végeztünk, melynek elemszáma 477 fő. Eredményeink alapján megállapítható, hogy az online vásárlás gyakorisága, a webáruházak böngészése és az online vásárlásra való havi költésnél generációs különbségek tárhatóak fel. A fiatal generáció tagjai az online vásárlás mellett a webáruházak kínálatát is gyakrabban böngészik, míg az X generációsokra a magasabb átlagos havi költés jellemző. A mintánkban szereplő online vásárlók könnyűnek ítélik meg az online vásárlást, amelyeket kényelmesen az otthonukból is megvalósíthatnak, elkerülve a nagy tömegeket. Az online vásárlást emellett jelentősen befolyásolják különböző közösségi média oldalak, melyeknek köszönhetően más fogyasztóktól származó információkhoz, véleményekhez juthatnak. Az eredményekből azt a következtetést vonhatjuk le, hogy az online kereskedelemmel foglalkozó vállalatoknak célcsoportjuk alapján differenciált marketingakciókat kell kidolgozniuk és alkalmazniuk. A nőket megcélzó termékek vagy szolgáltatások esetében például célszerű lehet influenszerek bevonása a különböző reklámkampányokba, tekintettel arra, hogy a nők az alternatívák keresése és értékelése kapcsán jelentősebb figyelmet fordítanak a közösségi médiára, mint a férfiak.
... According to a number of studies, social media is increasingly becoming an important component of the business context (Bitiktas et al., 2020). Social media is widely discussed as a public channel through which companies disseminate information and forces companies to tell the truth. ...
... According to a number of studies, social media is increasingly becoming an important component of the business context (Bitiktas et al., 2020). Social media is widely discussed as a public channel through which companies disseminate information and forces companies to tell the truth. ...
This research aims to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with the deployment of social media to improve supply chain sustainability. This exploratory research can lead to deeper insights regarding the opportunities as well as problems experienced due to the use of social media in supply chains. The study selected a three-phase Delphi study approach with both qualitative and quantitative analyses. This study recorded feedback from 34 experts with sufficient knowledge of information technology and sustainable pharmaceutical supply chain. 48 independent constructs separately in enterprise and public media were extracted. All the constructs were ranked, ultimately leading to 10 major constructs which played a significantly crucial role in the sustainability of supply chains. While social media challenges and opportunities in supply chain sustainability are discussed in this article, further studies on social and environmental sustainability and providing operational solutions to these challenges are still needed. No paper has directly extracted the impacts of social media specifically on enterprise and public media individually. While most papers mainly focused on economic and environmental sustainability, this paper pays close attention to sustainability and social media.
... For instance, Baru€ on€ u and Sanri (2019) investigated the B2B social media interactions in the Turkish maritime industry and found that posts on corporate brands and promotions on special days recorded highly positive reactions from the followers. A comprehensive study by Bitiktas and Tuna (2020) investigated the social media engagement behaviour of the top 30 shipping lines. The findings suggested that the majority of shipping companies do not use social media technology and do not have a clear strategy to implement them successfully. ...
Purpose
This study explores the levels of Facebook engagement of the two largest Europe-based shipping lines, Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), to discover the marketing orientation of the topics advertised and to ascertain whether they tend to be about brand recognition, new transport services, or value propositions for stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The Facebook posts of Maersk and MSC were analysed using social media text mining and social network analysis (SNA); in- and out-degree centrality analysis was performed to determine the key terms in their posts. NetMiner software was used to collect the respective data on Maersk and MSC. The inquiry period was set between May 2020 and February 2021.
Findings
The results indicated a divergence in their post contents, with higher engagement and a wider, more active follower base for MSC than for Maersk. Maersk primarily posts about logistics services and supply chain solutions. MSC communicates about new and large container vessels. Both companies seek greater brand recognition and information sharing through social media.
Originality/value
These results can be used by the stakeholders to evaluate whether Maersk and MSC truly deliver on their respective value propositions communicated online through their social media engagement. It can also help Maersk and MSC gauge the level of effectiveness of their communication with stakeholders and modify their digital engagement strategy accordingly.
... Estos indicadores que son parte de las herramientas implícitas de Facebook, permiten calcular el impacto en el público objetivo. Por otra parte Bitiktas & Tuna (2020), indican que las principales métricas de Facebook para calcular la efectividad de las publicaciones son los comentarios, me gusta, reacciones, y compartir. ...
Las circunstancias que atraviesa el productor agrícola
rural del Ecuador exhorta a reflexionar sobre soluciones
que permitan su evolución económica y social. Por
ello, este trabajo tiene como objetivo establecer la
viabilidad de los agronegocios como una solución de
desarrollo, aprovechando la dedicación y capacidades
que muestra el sector agrario que nunca se detiene ni
en épocas de pandemia. En lo metodológico, se revisan
sucintamente seis casos de países latinoamericanos
con características similares al entorno ecuatoriano,
que ya han aplicado esta herramienta , para entender
su la evolución fenomenológica que de acuerdo con los
conceptos revisados implica una cadena de valor
conducente a la transformación productiva de bienes
primarios propios de la zona. Mediante un análisis
cualitativo se determinó las variables recurrentes y
se las categorizó, como resultado se evidenció que el
modelo propuesto ofrece beneficios, sostenibilidad
y presencia en el mercado, siempre que se aplique
pertinentemente a los intereses comunes de los actores
y que se incentive a la asociación y organización de los
mismos
... Advertising and marketing communication are gradually used in the transportation and shipping management fields (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). Collins (2002) extended the concept of brand image and brand equity to include employer image and showed that both company image and employer image play a vital role in attracting potential job seekers. ...
challenge of a shortage of seafarers. Despite high salaries as incentives and improved working environments, the
turnover of seafarers remains high. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the influence of seafaring
advertising on shipping image and to explore the moderating roles of social information from parents and
teachers in the relationship between shipping image and willingness to have a seafaring career.
Students in the navigation and engineering departments of a maritime vocational school were invited to
participate in this research. We collected 202 valid samples, through a two-stage questionnaire survey, in order
to investigate the changes of shipping image and willingness to have a seafaring career after watching advertising
about seafaring. Hierarchical regression was used to verify the proposed conceptual framework. The results
revealed that respondents’ attitudes toward seafaring advertising significantly affects shipping image, which in
turn influences their willingness to have a seafaring career. The effect of the planned intervention on the image of
shipping and willingness to have a seafaring career was moderated by contextual factors (social information from
parents and teachers). Managerial implications for encouraging students to seek employment in the shipping
industry and occupational choices are discussed.
... Crucial components such as service, competition, and costs have extended the function of hinterland logistics throughout the supply chain (Nam and Song 2011 ;Wei and Dong 2019). From a marketing perspective, the use of social media in various fields of maritime logistics has recently been observed (Bitiktas and Tuna 2020). However, consideration of social media strategies of seaports is limited and this is viewed as a promising area that needs investigation. ...
The increasing importance of maritime transportation in entire logistics flows have increased the interest in maritime logistics. Despite the growing body of the literature on this emerging discipline, there is lack of a detailed investigation regarding the categorization and emerging topics. The primary aim of this study is to analyse the advances in the literature and to suggest a research agenda for this concept by exploring the main research domains in this phenomenon. To achieve these aims, this study adopts content analysis-based review method to examine the concept and citation analysis to explore the latent structure of maritime logistics. The research streams have been obtained through two databases; the main themes, highlighted topics, and related analytical categories have been investigated through content analysis. Citation and co-citation analysis were conducted to understand the intellectual structure of the studies and the relationship of the analytical categories. The study presents a comprehensive synthesis of existing research suggesting a systematic source of information for both scholars and practitioners, shaping the future research agenda. The findings indicate that there is an increasing emphasis on design, optimization, and planning of port and ship operations while sustainability and marketing perspectives are somehow neglected in the researches.
... SM includes a variety of online platforms, such as business networking sites (LinkedIn), social networking sites (Facebook), microblogging sites (Twitter), photo sharing sites (Instagram), video sharing sites (YouTube), and commerce communities (Amazon.com). These platforms allow companies to interact with their customers and stakeholders, as they are usually sources of requests, suggestions, or complaints [27]. Many internet users utilise two or more SMs [28]. ...
Social media (SM) plays an increasingly important role in small and medium businesses, including wineries. However, little is known about the managerial adoption and use of SM by wineries. This study aims to understand wineries’ SM usage by analysing their strategic objectives of SM usage and main differences in relation to their SM usage, as well as establishing factors contributing to SM usage. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions) is discussed together with additional explanatory factors relevant in the studied context (attitude toward SM, self-efficacy, and anxiety). A quantitative survey of 78 wineries from the Alsace wine region of France was conducted. The results show that SM is currently used by a majority of wineries, but that strategic alignment is missing. There are significant differences in SM usage according to winery size, export orientation, and winemakers’ profiles. The results also confirm that wineries need resources and knowledge to use SM more extensively.
... In the delivery of goods; not only speed and accuracy are the keys to successful implementation (Bitiktas & Tuna, 2020). The availability of a fleet to support the delivery process so that the goods can arrive at their destination safely, and Controlling to supervise the delivery process so that it runs according to the plan it should be. ...
This study aimed to determine the effect of fleet availability and control on the smooth delivery of PT. Cardig Logistics Indonesia. The survey method is used as a way to collect primary data. The population is taken from employees who work in the operational section and get a sample of 30 people. The writer used a descriptive statistical analysis method, multiple linear regression, correlation coefficient, determination coefficient, or determination to test the research hypothesis to conduct this research. The results showed that the availability of the fleet (X1) and controlling (X2) on the smooth delivery (Y) of PT. Cardig Logistics Indonesia has a positive and significant effect. From the research result, the more dominant is the variable of fleet availability.
... Unfortunately, not many SMEs entrepreneurs have fully understood how to optimize the use of social media. Social media is still viewed as a tool for casual interaction and not yet fully reconceptualized as an effective, transformative tool to improve business performance [4]. The capacity of SMEs entrepreneurs to reach potential buyers, transfer the knowledge of the product, and influence the customer to buy is another challenge. ...
This thesis examines the impact and critical importance of branding in B2B financial technology (Fintech). The industry has long relied on the B2C branding and marketing.
The complexity and sophistication of financial technology require a bespoke B2B Fintech approach. The research interviewed senior fintech executives across several continents to create a new suite of branding and marketing models to be used by the industry, specifically the c-suite.
This seminal research is intended to galvanize the conversation and expand thinking concerning B2B models in Fintech.
Enabled by Web 2.0 technology, social media has revolutionised the way organisations communicate with their audiences by allowing a two-way interaction between companies and their stakeholders. The oil and gas industry, whose businesses are notorious for their environmental and social impacts, utilises social media to engage its stakeholders and improve branding. However, social media posts have different levels of engagement. This paper aims to identify and evaluate, through hierarchical regression modelling, the characteristics of social media posts that generate higher stakeholder engagement in the oil and gas industry. Three diverse research paradigms centring on Social Presence Theory, the Triple Bottom Line framework and Source Credibility Theory were integrated in an attempt to provide logical explanations for stakeholder engagement. The study's findings demonstrate that the existence of hashtags, reposts, call-to-action, emojis, exclamation marks or question marks, the tangibility of resources, and well as social and environmental content all significantly influence stakeholder engagement rate. The results also show that there are significant positive interactions between hashtag usage as well as commercial and environmental content type when facilitating engagement. Overall, this study offers novel insights into the factors behind stakeholder engagement and has important implications for the future application of social media practices for oil and gas companies.
Influencer marketing is on the rise and more and more brands try to establish cooperation with influencers in order to achieve some business goals in the e-commerce sector. In this study, we analyze influencer marketing in terms of its effectiveness as a marketing channel supporting e-business goals. Moreover, we identified differences in terms of gender and age. The aim of this chapter is to point out the most suitable segments for employing influencer marketing. Our study is of a quantitative nature and works with a base of 709 respondents from selected regions of Central and Eastern Europe. In the analysis, we used the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon W test, and Chi-squared test. Data were collected using an online questionnaire during the second quarter of 2020. The results pointed to the existence of statistically significant differences both in the case of gender and age of the respondents. Furthermore, we identified the most appropriate segment for employing influencer marketing and compared our findings with selected existing studies in the field. In the end, we also pointed out the limitations of the study and its potential future direction. The study’s practical implications lie in better-informed marketing managers who decide on marketing strategies. Based on the results, managers will be able to decide whether it is beneficial for them to allocate human and financial resources and time for this purpose.
span lang="EN-US">The purpose of this study was to gather, analyze, and elaborate big data on Facebook’s essential information, with a specific focus on the information obtained from Korean-popular (K-Pop) fan pages on the social networking site. For this analysis, a total of 3,531,736 comments by Korean-pop fans were gathered from various K-pop Facebook pages. In order to interpret how 11 extremely popular Facebook pages shape Thai fans’ enthusiasm for the South Korean music industry, descriptive statistics and visualization analysis were employed. Finally, data analytics and correlation analysis were used to evaluate the essential understanding of the Facebook pages. The research revealed three key findings: i) K-pop fan pages provide more opportunities for Thai fans to express their support for K-pop artists and advocate for causes, ii) K-pop fan pages provide more opportunities for Thai fans to communicate with K-pop artists, and iii) K-pop fan pages build opportunities for Thai fans to establish a more glamorous online presence despite limitations concerning financial resources, foreign language skills, and opportunities. In the future, the research outcomes may be valuable for academic studies and practice.</span
Companies obtain insight into experiences and expectations of stakeholders through social media (SM), where users openly express their opinions and feelings. Shipping companies also extensively use SM to engage stakeholders. Having better engagement is directly influenced by to what extent SM posts touch on the emotions and cognition of stakeholders. This study aims to identify the perspectives and sentiments of stakeholders on Arctic shipping routes (ASR) and to explain the emotional and cognitive standings of stakeholders about ASR. The results show that majority of practitioners are against ASR, and they position this issue as an environmental dilemma in their minds. Also, environmental considerations, companies’ behaviors & attitudes, and policy themes dominate practitioners’ minds. The current paper is the first that identifies the feelings and opinions of stakeholders towards ASR. The findings have the potential for shipping companies to clarify first their Arctic policies and second their SM-based engagement strategies.
Introducción: Los mensajes sobre el uso pedagógico de los móviles en el aula generan debate en las redes sociales y logran crear opinión en la ciudadanía. Los objetivos de este trabajo son: analizar las características de los discursos que se difunden en Facebook y Twitter sobre el uso educativo de los móviles en el aula, según si los argumentos que defienden se basan en la promoción, la prohibición o la indeterminación, e identificar los perfiles de sus principales agentes emisores, así como el tipo de contenido argumental de los mensajes que tienen mayor impacto. Metodología: Se plantea un estudio descriptivo transversal. Se analizan 142 mensajes en español o inglés, sin excluir su procedencia geográfica, desde una aproximación mixta empleando el criterio de engagement para clasificar su relevancia. Resultados: Los resultados muestran que la argumentación predominante es la de la promoción del uso educativo de móviles en el aula siendo los profesionales de la educación quienes mayoritariamente la publican. Los argumentos de prohibición son emitidos principalmente por los medios de comunicación y los perfiles institucionales, siendo estos mensajes los que tienen mayor repercusión. Discusión: Teniendo en cuenta que el liderazgo informal generado en las redes sociales puede provocar cambios en la agenda social y/o política, se destaca la relación hallada entre el tipo de usuario y el tipo de mensaje emitido. Conclusiones: Entre otras, se observa que las críticas y recelos al uso de los móviles en el aula se deben a la confusión generalizada entre móviles y redes sociales.
Bu çalışmada e-ticaret sitelerine ait Facebook hesaplarında paylaşılan çeşitli içerik türleri ile web sitesinde
yapılan satın almalar arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Katz (1959) tarafından
geliştirilmiş olan kullanım ve memnuniyet teorisine dayanan ve medya araştırmacıları tarafından takipçilerin
yapılan paylaşımlarla etkileşime girme nedenlerini araştırdıkları ‗Bilgilendirici‘, ‘Eğlendirici‘ ve ‗Ödüllendirici‘
içerik türleri kullanılmaktadır. Facebook sayfasında seçilen firmanın ilgili içeriklerinin belirlenmesine yönelik
342 adet paylaşımı için İçerik Analizinden yararlanılmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen kodlamalara ilişkin kodlayıcılar
arası güvenilirlik katsayısı 0,93 olarak tespit edilmiş olup, belirlenen içeriklere yönelik etkileşim oranları
hesaplanmıştır. Her bir içeriğe ait etkileşim oranları, Web sitesi dönüşüm oranlarıyla karşılaştırılarak, bu oranlar
arasındaki ilişki incelenmiştir. Ayrıca bu ilişkiyi daha geniş açıdan değerlendirmek için yapılan paylaşımlarda
web sitesine yönlendiren linklerin olup olmamasının etkileri de incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, içerik
türlerine göre etkileşim oranlarının gösterdiği farklılıkları ve bunun neticesinde takipçi etkileşimlerinin web
sitesinde satın almaya hangi oranlarda dönüştüğünü ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma bu yönüyle literatüre özgün bir
değer katarken Facebook sayfa yöneticileri için de bakış açısı kazandırabilecek sonuçlara sahip olmaktadır.
Bu çalışmada e-ticaret sitelerine ait Facebook hesaplarında paylaşılan çeşitli içerik türleri ile web sitesinde yapılan satın almalar arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Katz (1959) tarafından geliştirilmiş olan kullanım ve memnuniyet teorisine dayanan ve medya araştırmacıları tarafından takipçilerin yapılan paylaşımlarla etkileşime girme nedenlerini araştırdıkları ‘Bilgilendirici’, ’Eğlendirici’ ve ‘Ödüllendirici’ içerik türleri kullanılmaktadır. Facebook sayfasında seçilen firmanın ilgili içeriklerinin belirlenmesine yönelik 341 adet paylaşımı için İçerik Analizinden yararlanılmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen kodlamalara ilişkin kodlayıcılar arası güvenilirlik katsayısı 0,93 olarak tespit edilmiş olup, belirlenen içeriklere yönelik etkileşim oranları hesaplanmıştır. Her bir içeriğe ait etkileşim oranları, Web sitesi dönüşüm oranlarıyla karşılaştırılarak, bu oranlar arasındaki ilişki incelenmektedir. Ayrıca bu ilişkiyi daha geniş açıdan değerlendirmek için yapılan paylaşımlarda web sitesine yönlendiren linklerin olup olmamasının etkileri de incelenmektedir. Elde edilen bulgular, içerik türlerine göre etkileşim oranlarının gösterdiği farklılıkları ve bunun neticesinde takipçi etkileşimlerinin web sitesinde satın almaya hangi oranlarda dönüştüğünü ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma bu yönüyle literatüre özgün bir değer katarken Facebook sayfa yöneticileri için de bakış açısı kazandırabilecek sonuçlara sahip olmaktadır.
Internet, digital and social media has changed the roles in advertising. Social media has enabled customers via negative or positive electronic word-of-mouth comments may affect other customers. Digital and social media marketing used in various sectors can be cheaper, viral, easy for circulation and affect relationships between customers and the company via interaction. This study aims to define digital marketing and social media marketing, advantages for the customers and the marketers along with the potential risks for the customers and marketers. As a result of the literature review of the keywords, it is found that for the customers’ data privacy is an important risk as the private data of the users collected by the social media platforms might be used improperly, and for the marketers, the negative electronic word-of-mouth about the product or services might have negative outcomes for the company.
Bilgi ve internet teknolojilerinin gelişimiyle, çoğu işletme gerek müşterilerine gerekse de ilgili pay daşlarına ulaşmada
sosyal medyayı yaygın bir şekilde kullanmaya başlamıştır. Her ne kadar sosyal medyada işletmelerin müşterilerine
yönelik iletişimleri ön planda olsa da paydaşlarının da işletmelerin sunmuş oldukları sosyal medya mesajlarından
etkilendikleri bilinmektedir.Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, işletmeden işletmeye (B2B) firmalarının sosyal medya
üzerinden paydaşlarıyla kurdukları ilişkiyi Türk lojistik hizmet sağlayan işletmeler örnekleminde incelemektir.
Ayrıca, bu çalışma sosyal medya yayınlarında en çok kullanılan medya türü ve içerik türünü analiz etmektedir.
Araştırma, 739 Facebook gönderisinde yapılan içerik analizine dayanmakta olup; örneklem olarak Facebook’ta aktif
faaliyet gösteren 30 Türk lojistik hizmet sağlayan işletmenin 1 Kasım 2017 ve 31 Ocak 2018 arasındaki paylaşımları
dikkate alınarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu çalışma, Türk lojistik hizmet sağlayan işletmelerin kurumsal profilleri
üzerindeki faaliyetleri göz önünde bulundurarak, Facebook'taki takipçilerinin katılımını incelemektedir. Bu yönüyle
çalışmanın katkısı,lojistik sektörü gibi birden fazla tarafın birbiriyle yoğun iletişimde olduğu bir sektörü sosyal medya
kullanımı ve paydaş katılımı açısından inceleyen ilk çalışma olmasıdır.
Purpose
The liner shipping industry underwent a major round of change between 2014 and 2017 where the concentration ratio of the top ten carriers rose from 64 per cent in 2013 to 82 per cent by 2017. This paper aims to analyze the impact of these developments on the state of shipping connectivity for major container transshipment hubs in Southeast Asia, namely, Port Klang, Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas.
Design/methodology/approach
The developments in shipping services deployed before and after the latest round of reshuffling in the liner shipping industry were analyzed.
Findings
Significant service rationalization took place in the period that saw 38 per cent reduction in the number of shipping services called at the ports. Participation in alliance arrangement was revealed to be important for shipping lines to compete successfully on the Asia–Europe trade route in the new shipping landscape. Terminal operators should expect further rationalization of services should overcapacity persist. Maintaining hub status would require the ability to accommodate the strategic, operational and commercial requirements of the entire alliance rather than just focusing on the key shipping line.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to examine the effects of the latest round of consolidation in the liner shipping industry. In-depth analyses were conducted for shipping services where the service configuration was examined. The case of Southeast Asia and the Asia–Europe trade route was used to illustrate the impact with managerial and policy implications for shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities.
The social media are becoming a major channel of online interactive participation, and local governments are seizing this opportunity to enhance citizen engagement in political and social affairs. This article analyses the various forms of social media used – that is, Twitter or Facebook – by citizens in their relations with Spanish local government, to determine which of these achieves the strongest degree of commitment. We also analyse the influence of various factors on this level of commitment. The results obtained show that Facebook is preferred to Twitter as a means of participating in local government issues. Other factors that are relevant to citizen engagement are the level of online transparency, mood, the level of activity in social media and the interactivity offered by the local government website. The findings of this study contribute significantly to understanding how citizen engagement is influenced by the type of social media adopted.
Purpose –This study examined how various characteristics of brand posts influence online engagement on Facebook brand pages.
Design/methodology/approach –The data used for this study was obtained from the posts of 10 popular official brand pages. For the selected period between March 1 and May 1, 2014, a total of 1,030 posts were obtained and manually processed. To assign post categories to the posts created by page administrators, we performed manual coding, following the coding development strategy.
Findings –The results demonstrated that the media and content type of posts exert a significant effect on user online engagement. This study used liking, commenting, and sharing behavior as a measure of users’ online engagement to specify the new phenomena.
Originality/value –The findings are relevant for the theory of information dissemination and provide valuable and directly applicable implications for the social media marketing of companies.
Using an integrated model, this study examined the influence of compatibility, cost effectiveness, interactivity and trust on Facebook usage and its subsequent impact on organizations performance. Statistical analyses were based on the data collected, through survey questionnaire from 259 SMEs in Malaysia. PLS method was used to test the hypotheses.
The study revealed that Facebook usage has a strong positive impact on financial performance of SMEs; similarly it was also found that Facebook usage positively impacts the non-financial performance of SMEs in terms of cost reduction on marketing and customer service, improved customer relations and improved information accessibility. Additionally, factors such as compatibility, cost effectiveness and interactivity was identified as factors that influence Facebook usage among SMEs
This experiment examines interactivity and vividness in commercial web sites. We expected increased levels of interactivity and vividness would lead to more positive attitudes toward web sites, stronger feelings of telepresence, and greater attitude—behavior consistency. In addition, we expected increased levels of vividness to lead to the development of more enduring attitudes toward the site. Participants explored four web sites. Increases in interactivity and vividness were associated with increased feelings of telepresence. In addition, increases in vividness were associated with more positive and more enduring attitudes toward the web site. Implications for new media researchers and practitioners are discussed.
The principle of engagement underlies much of the relational and organization–public communication research. Unfortunately, the principle of engagement suffers from a lack of clarity in the public relations literature. Use of the term engagement varies widely. This article clarifies the principle of engagement by positioning it within dialogue theory. We posit a conceptualization of engagement as: Engagement is part of dialogue and through engagement, organizations and publics can make decisions that create social capital. Engagement is both an orientation that influences interactions and the approach that guides the process of interactions among groups.
Although public relations scholarship has often discussed the possibilities of dialogue and engagement using social media, research has not truly explored this dynamic. Instead, research on social media platforms has focused on measuring the content and structure of organizational profiles. This study seeks to enhance the field's discussion about social media engagement by determining what organizational content individual stakeholders prefer on Facebook in terms of liking, commenting, and sharing. A content analysis of 1,000 updates from organizations on the Nonprofit Times 100 list indicates that, based on what they comment on and Like, individuals prefer dialogic, as well as certain forms of mobilizational, messages; however, they are more likely to share one-way informational messages with their own networks. These findings are interpreted using practical and theoretical implications for the practice of public relations.
The focus of this chapter is to address emerging trends, opportunities, and key challenges facing managers in their communication processes in an increasingly interactive social media environment. A review of the current social media literature and two qualitative research studies provide insights into the changing nature of the communications process in social media, as opposed to more traditional, communications environments. These insights are drawn together to provide a number of managerial implications for social media marketers.
We examine social- and self-motives as drivers of Word of Mouth (WOM). The main proposition is that the transmitter expects to gain personal and social benefits from sharing his opinion about a brand. The gains are in the form of expected satisfaction of self- and social-needs. In the research model, self-needs (i.e., self-enhancement and self-affirmation) are considered the initial driver of WOM. The desire for their satisfaction through WOM results in an intended social interaction, which in turn triggers social-motives: social-needs (i.e., social comparison and social bonding) and social-intentions (i.e., helping others and providing social information). WOM is the outcome of the intention to engage in a social interaction that is initiated by the intention to satisfy self-needs. Through an empirical analysis, we examine how the underlying mechanism varies for positive and negative WOM. Positive WOM is motivated primarily by the need for self-enhancement, and negative WOM is motivated by the need for self-affirmation. The need for social comparison affects both valences of WOM, the need for social bonding affects only positive WOM, and intention to help others and share social information affect only negative WOM. The findings suggest that discussing brands can be a mechanism for acquiring personal and social benefits, and consequently, promotional campaigns should highlight the gains customers accrue through WOM.
Social media outlets constitute excellent vehicles for fostering relationships with customers. One specific way to do this is to create brand fan pages on social networking sites. Companies can place brand posts (containing videos, messages, quizzes, information, and other material) on these brand fan pages. Customers can become fans of these brand fan pages, and subsequently indicate that they like the brand post or comment on it. This liking and commenting on brand posts reflects brand post popularity. In this article, we determine possible drivers for brand post popularity. We analyze 355 brand posts from 11 international brands spread across six product categories.
Results show that positioning the brand post on top of the brand fan page enhances brand post popularity. But the findings also indicate that different drivers influence the number of likes and the number of comments. Namely, vivid and interactive brand post characteristics enhance the number of likes. Moreover, the share of positive comments on a brand post is positively related to the number of likes. The number of comments can be enhanced by the interactive brand post characteristic, a question. The shares of both positive and negative comments are positively related to the number of comments. Managers of brands that operate brand fan pages can be guided by our research with regards to deciding which characteristics or content to place at brand posts.
Word of mouth marketing — the intentional influencing of consumer-to-consumer communications — is an increasingly important technique. The authors overview and synthesize extant word of mouth theory and present a study of a marketing campaign in which mobile phones were seeded with prominent bloggers. Eighty-three blogs were followed for six months. Findings reveal the complex cultural conditions through which marketing “hype” is transformed by consumers into the “honey” of relevant, shared communications. Four word of mouth communication strategies are identified — evaluation, embracing, endorsement and explanation. Each is influenced by communicator narrative, communications forum, communal norms and the nature of the marketing promotion. An intrinsic tension between commercial and communal interests plays a prominent, normative role in message formation and reception. This “hype-to-honey” theory shows that communal word of mouth does not simply increase or amplify marketing messages. Rather, marketing messages and meanings are systematically altered in the process of embedding them. The theory has implications for how marketers should plan, target and benefit from word of mouth and how scholars should understand word of mouth in a networked world.
We discuss consumer engagement with a website, provide a systematic approach to examining the types of engagement produced by specific experiences, and show that engagement with the media context increases advertising effectiveness. Based on experiments using measurement scales involving eight different online experiences, we advance two types of engagement with online media — Personal and Social-Interactive Engagement. Our results show that both types are positively associated with advertising effectiveness. Moreover, Social-Interactive Engagement, which is more uniquely characteristic of the web as a medium, is shown to affect advertising after controlling for Personal Engagement. Our results offer online companies and advertisers new metrics and advertising strategies.
Although word-of-mouth (WOM) activity has been studied as an outcome variable of other constructs such as satisfaction, less
attention has been given to the antecedents and moderators of WOM when considering WOM as a central construct. Hence, we propose
a model of WOM antecedents and moderators using a meta-analytic review. The results show that all antecedents have significant
effects on WOM activity, with customer commitment showing the strongest effect. The following hypotheses are also supported:
(1) WOM valence is a significant moderator, (2) cross-sectional studies show a stronger influence of satisfaction and loyalty
on WOM activity than longitudinal studies, and (3) studies of WOM behavior show a weaker link between loyalty and WOM activity
than studies of WOM intentions. In addition, we show that satisfaction has a stronger relationship with positive WOM than
loyalty, whereas (dis)loyalty has a stronger relationship with negative WOM than does (dis)satisfaction. We discuss this finding
based on the different natures of positive and negative WOM.
Most research related to the reliability and validity of marketing measures has focused on multi-item quantitative scales. In contrast, little attention has been given to the quality of nominal scale data developed from qualitative judgments. Judgment-based (“coded”) nominal scale data are important and frequently used in marketing research-for example, in analysis of consumer responses to open-ended survey questions, in cognitive response research, in meta-analysis, and in content analysis. The authors address opportunities and challenges involved in evaluating and improving the quality of judgment-based nominal scale data, with specific emphasis on the use of multiple judges. They review approaches commonly used in other disciplines, then develop a new index of reliability that is more appropriate for the type of interjudge data typically found in marketing studies. Data from a cognitive response experiment are used to illustrate the new index and compare it with other common measures. The authors conclude with suggestions on how to improve the design of studies that rely on judgment-coded data.
Free full text till 25 October 2019 https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ZgoO,L-HRQUyJ
In liner shipping, business conditions have become tougher in recent years in an already very competitive industry. Retaining customers and trying to attract new customers are crucial for liner companies’ survival. Thus, it is vital for liner companies to deliver superior customer value with limited resources. This study aims to introduce 7 innovative solutions as design requirements (DRs) and examine to what extent these 7 solutions facilitate to enhance 5 proposed customer values (CVs) in liner shipping. CVs and DRs are identified based on literature analysis and then validated by interviewing academic and industry professionals. A case study of K Line provides insight of the relationship between the CVs and DRs. The Fuzzy QFD approach is deployed to analyze the relative importance of each DR. The results reveal that “Use of Eco Ship and Eco Container Technology”, “Big Data Solution for Ship Information Management” and “Automation and Digitalization of System” are the three most effective innovative solutions for enhancing customer value in liner shipping.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to clarify business-to-business (B2B) firms’ strategies of social media marketing communication. The study aims to explore the factors contributing to the formation and adoption of integration strategies and identify who the B2B firms target.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study approach is used to compare four multinational corporations and their practices. Face-to-face interviews with key managers, and extensive readings and observations of the firms’ websites and social media platforms have been conducted.
Findings
The study results in a model, illustrating different processes of selection, adoption and integration involved in the development of social media communication strategy for B2B firms. Major factors involved in determining the platform type, and strategies used within different phases and processes are identified.
Research limitations/implications
As the chosen methodology may limit generalizability, further research is encouraged to test the model within a B2B context especially within small and medium enterprises as only large multinational corporations were investigated in this study.
Practical implications
The paper provides insight into how B2B marketers can align social media with their firms’ goals through the strategic selection of platforms to reach the targeted audience and communicate their message.
Originality/value
The study uncovers the benefits gained by B2B firms’ through interaction with individuals on social media. This is a significant contribution as the value of such interaction was previously undefined and acted as a barrier for adopting social media in some B2B firms.
Given the indirect role of social media in value creation, the article “Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales” by Agnihotri, Dingus, Hu, and Krush (2016) is notable for highlighting the role of social media as an antecedent to value generation within the sales process. Considering the fast pace at which knowledge of the impact of social media within B2B sales is developing, we critically appraise Agnihotri et al.’s work and position it within the emerging literature on social media communication in the sales process. We conclude with a research agenda identifying a diverse set of new directions for investigating social media within the sales process.
Purpose
Social media communications on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn can allow managers to interact cost effectively with trading partners. However, although most firms have an online presence on multiple social media platforms, the question remains as to whether marketers’ widespread social media investments are beneficial for firms. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents competing hypotheses to explore how firms’ investment in one form of social media impacts activity on another form of social media. To do so, the authors draw on a data set of 208 large Australian organizations using objective social media activity metrics that measure business-to-business (B2B) audience engagement.
Findings
The findings suggest that widespread social media activity on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube negatively affects a firm’s marketing activity on Facebook. The results indicate that having a social media preference whereby firms focus on a specific social media platform is more effective in forming successful inter-organizational relationships than a multiplatform approach.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the sparse research that seeks to leverage social media for audience engagement beyond a business-to-consumer context. The study’s findings provide insights into the key mechanisms that underlie firms’ B2B social media strategies, and in so doing, offer a fresh perspective on the importance of interactive marketing communication.
Purpose
Container shipping is a standardized business-to-business service market where carriers need to stay customer focused to survive. Market segmentation is an ideal solution to develop customized marketing programs for each segment, but container lines need personalized marketing programs for each customer. Hence, the purpose of this study is to develop a segmentation framework that can help container lines to profile each customer more efficiently considering their needs, strategic importance and demographics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study has adopted an exploratory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers of container lines.
Findings
Segmentation bases are the type of customer, container volume, loyalty, seasonality, decision maker, the industry of shipper, cargo characteristics, container type, destination region and export/import. Market segmentation in container shipping can be helpful in developing effective customized marketing offering, including effective price discrimination and customized marketing communications.
Practical implications
A port-specific segmentation approach was adopted and a flexible segmentation framework was proposed for container lines to adapt in different hinterlands.
Originality/value
Unlike the literature, this study suggests market segmentation can be very helpful in customized marketing in business-to-business services like container shipping industry. This study also suggests port-specific market segmentation for container lines instead of route-specific.
Since the emergence of social media, industrial marketing academics and marketers have also been intrigued by the influence of such media on the discipline. As, social media research in the field of industrial marketing has been of increasing interest, this research attempts to review and assess the advances in social media research in the industrial marketing field. From the literature review conducted, it can be identified that some of the research areas have witnessed steady theory development increases, e.g., sales and marketing communications, while others are clearly lagging behind, e.g., pricing and ethics. Also methodological pluralism is called for instead of more traditional methods (conceptual analysis, qualitative and survey) to establish and solve more nuanced research problems. This research provides a review of the current state of research in the field and suggests directions for future development.
Purpose
This study aims to explore why and how business-to-business (B2B) companies use social media and which users and stakeholders they communicate with.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a case study approach because of its exploratory nature. Data from three companies consisted of interviews and observation of websites. The analysis includes within-case and cross-case displays to find patterns and themes in the data.
Findings
The study shows that companies in a B2B contexts use social media as communication to enhance customer relationships, support sales and build their brands, in line with prior research. However, they also use social media as a recruiting tool, a seeking tool and a product information and service tool.
Research limitations/implications
The findings confirm extant literature showing that B2B companies can directly influence content through corporate user accounts. Furthermore, firms in early stages of social media do not target any special stakeholders with broader messages, while more experienced social media users develop special messages for different stakeholders.
Practical implications
This study contributes by shedding light on how B2B companies use social media. It also shows how different channels are effective with different stakeholders.
Originality/value
Few studies have investigated the use of social media in a B2B context. This study goes beyond prior work by detailing how different social media tools are used, identifying different users and stakeholders, and explaining why different tools are used for different purposes targeted towards different stakeholders. New applications of the use of social media are also identified.
Purpose
The present study examines relationship building of major players in fashion retailing through social media. Using the theories of word-of-mouth marketing and brand community as theoretical frameworks, this paper analyses the impact of social media marketing in creating brand community. To that end, the use of the popular networking site Facebook was studied. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent and main purposes of the usage of this communication channel and to examine companies’ activity on their Facebook pages as well as to observe their audiences and the effect in their audiences’ engagement. Additionally, this paper analyses the main type of content and the most commonly used type of media.
Design/methodology/approach
Research was based on a content analysis performed on 2,326 Facebook posts; a sample of 46 international leading companies in the fashion industry was analyzed in the time period between March 1 and May 31, 2015.
Findings
Facebook audience is positively related to retailer’s size. However, audiences in this sector are not related to the level of activity of the retailers’ Facebook pages. Audience engagement and participation in fashion retailer’s Facebook sites is higher in small retailers. The main content of the Facebook pages of top fashion retailers is marketing, photo albums and videos being the most popular drivers of this means.
Originality/value
No previous research analyzed fashion retailers use of Facebook sites. This study examines the variables size and engagement of fashion retailers’ audience on Facebook according to retailers’ size and activity on their corporate profiles.
Although social media usage in business markets continues to grow, managers still struggle with designing popular brand message posts. This research investigates the key factors that contribute to Facebook brand content popularity metrics (i.e., number of likes and comments) for Fortune 500 companies' brand posts in business-to-business (B2B) versus business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Building on psychological motivation theory, the authors examine key differences in B2B and B2C social media message strategies in terms of branding, message appeals, selling, and information search. Using Bayesian models, they find noteworthy differences in the propensity of viewers to popularize brand posts. Specifically, the results indicate that the inclusion of corporate brand names, functional and emotional appeals, and information search cues increases the popularity of B2B messages compared with B2C messages. Moreover, viewers of B2B content demonstrate a higher message liking rate but a lower message commenting rate than viewers of B2C content.
The case describes the launch of a social media platform by the largest container shipping company in the world. Maersk Line garnered over I million fans on Facebook 40,000 followers on Twitter, and 22,000 on Instagram. They also launched and became active on other social media networks such as Linkedin, Pinterest, and Google+ and created a social media home base for Maersk Line called Maersk Line Social that published articles and stories about the company in a less formal manner. The case discusses the organizational aspects of the program launch, as well as pressure from the marketing department to better integrate the largely independent social media operation into the company's broader marketing efforts.
The era of social media networks has created significant opportunities for business relationship development yet there exists a paucity of research in this area. To address this, this paper identifies four key tensions within the current literature: relational versus transactional exchanges, emergent versus strategic social media network development, the pace of social media network formation versus the development of trust, and the notions of sharing and reciprocity versus competitive advantage. This study draws on the principles of netnography, incorporating data from 554 LinkedIn group interactions and 12 interviews with professionals in one global industry to provide insight into business relationship development stemming from one social media network. Significant contributions to theoretical and practical knowledge are made through the recognition of tensions in the literature, the application of the notion of Granovetter's ties to a contemporary context and the novel use of netnography. Furthermore, the resultant model conceptualises the use of social media networking in building networks and relationships which lead to new business and enhance business performance.
While social media sites have been successfully adopted and used in the B2C context, they are perceived to be irrelevant in B2B marketing. This is due to marketers' perception of poor usability of these sites in the B2B sector. This study investigates the usability of social media sites when adopted for B2B marketing purposes in the one of world's largest social media market: China. Specifically, by extending the Technology Acceptance Model with Nielsen's Model of Attributes of System Acceptability, we assess the impact of usefulness, usability and utility on the adoption and use of these sites by B2B marketing professionals. The empirical investigation reveals that marketers' perception of the usefulness, usability and utility of social media sites drive their adoption and use in the B2B sector. The usefulness is subject to the assessment of whether social media sites are suitable means through which marketing activities can be conducted. The ability to use social media sites for B2B marketing purposes, in turn, is due to those sites learnability and memorability attributes.
With the phenomenal growth of mobile and social media, many organizations are realizing they need an online presence to reach out to digitally savvy customers. But delivering a seamless customer experience across various online and offline channels is increasingly challenging. This article describes how Hummel, a European sports fashion company, overcame the challenges and successfully transitioned toward omnichannel retailing. Based on this case, we provide insights to guide organizations with similar ambitions, and the implications for their CIOs.
Purpose
– This paper aims to draw attention to the emerging phenomenon of business to business (B2B) digital content marketing, offers a range of insights and reflections on good practice and contributes to theoretical understanding of the role of digital content in marketing. B2B digital content marketing is an inbound marketing technique and hence offers a solution to the declining effectiveness of traditional interruptive marketing techniques.
Design/methodology/approach
– Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 key informants involved in B2B content marketing in the USA, UK and France, in five industry sectors.
Findings
– B2B digital content marketing is an inbound marketing technique, effected through web page, social media and value-add content, and is perceived to be a useful tool for achieving and sustaining trusted brand status. Creating content that is valuable to B2B audiences requires brands to take a “publishing” approach, which involves developing an understanding of the audience’s information needs, and their purchase consideration cycle. Valuable content is described as being useful, relevant, compelling and timely. Content marketing requires a cultural change from “selling” to “helping”, which in turn requires different marketing objectives, tactics, metrics and skills to those associated with more traditional marketing approaches. The article concludes with a theoretical discussion on the role of digital content in marketing, thereby contextualising the findings from this study within a broader exploration of the role of digital content in marketing and relational exchanges.
Originality/value
– As the first research study to explore the use of digital content marketing in B2B contexts, this research positions digital content marketing with regard to prior theory, and provides both an agenda for further research, and suggestions for practice.
This study contributes to the current dearth of knowledge on the potential of social media as a marketing tool in industrial settings, by focusing on factors that determine social media adoption by B2B organizations. A conceptual model, which draws on the technology acceptance model and resource-based theory, is developed and tested using quantitative data from B2B organizations in the UK. Findings suggest that perceived usefulness of social media within B2B organizational contexts is determined by image, perceived ease of use and perceived barriers. Additionally, the results show that adoption of social media is significantly affected by organizational innovativeness and perceived usefulness. The moderating role of organizational innovativeness is also tested but no support is found. The findings of the study are further validated via nine qualitative interviews with B2B senior managers, yielding additional interesting and in-depth insights into the drivers of social media adoption by B2B organizations.
Brands and word of mouth (WOM) are cornerstones of the marketing field, and yet their relationship has received relatively little attention. This study aims to enhance understanding of brand characteristics as antecedents of WOM by executing a comprehensive empirical analysis. For this purpose, the authors constructed a unique data set on online and offline WOM and characteristics for more than 600 of the most talked-about U.S. brands. To guide this empirical analysis, they present a theoretical framework arguing that consumers spread WOM on brands as a result of social, emotional, and functional drivers. Using these drivers, the authors identify a set of 13 brand characteristics that stimulate WOM, including three (level of differentiation, excitement, and complexity) that have not been studied to date as WOM antecedents. The authors find that whereas the social and functional drivers are the most important for online WOM, the emotional driver is the most important for offline WOM. These results provide an insightful perspective on WOM and have meaningful managerial implications for brand management and investment in WOM campaigns.
The objective of this article is to provide an initial assessment of Facebook use by Western European municipalities considering two aspects: citizens’ engagement and municipalities’ activity. Data on 75 local governments in 15 countries were collected and tested for both government use and citizens’ engagement. Findings show that the use of Facebook by Western European local governments has become commonplace. The audiences of the official Facebook pages are rather high, but citizen engagement in general is low. Activity levels by municipalities and engagement levels by citizens in general terms are not statistically related to municipality characteristics, Facebook page metrics, or the technological readiness of the population. It seems that channel activity is more a decision on the part of local governments than a consequence of citizen demand. This article proposes a methodology that can be used in future research to measure citizen engagement on social media (SM) platforms. Furthermore, this research highlights the importance that local governments attach to clearly establishing the main purpose of their SM accounts to avoid frustration on the part of citizens that can lead to distrust and reduce the chances that citizens will invest their resources, time, and knowledge in participation.
Purpose
– This research aims to investigate the message strategies most likely to promote online “word-of-mouth” (WOM) activity for business-to-business (B2B)/business-to-consumer as well as product/service Facebook accounts.
Design/methodology/approach
– Using content analysis and HLM, the authors measure the relationship between three types of message strategies and Facebook message “Likes” by analyzing 1,143 wall post messages of 193 Fortune 500 Facebook accounts.
Findings
– Research findings suggest that B2B Facebook account posts are more effective if they include corporate brand names and avoid “hard sell” or explicitly commercial statements. Furthermore, results suggest that including emotional sentiments in Facebook posts is a particularly effective social media strategy for B2B and service marketers.
Originality/value
– This study advances the knowledge of social media and online WOM behavior, as well as B2B and service advertising/communication literature, by relating message content to message popularity. In terms of managerial implications, this research provides explanations and support for the implementation of effective social media message strategies that are likely to promote WOM activity.
Business-to-business (B2B) marketers hesitate to embrace social media as a marketing tool, unlike their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts, and they struggle to implement successful social media strategies due to their limited understanding of the phenomenon. Drawing on communication and word-of-mouth theories, the authors investigate how marketers use Twitter differently across contexts and predict key factors likely to influence the message strategies used in each. A longitudinal content analysis and logistic regression support the assessment of a sample of more than 7000 tweets by Fortune 500 companies. Marketers in B2B and B2C settings exhibit significant differences in their branding and selling strategies; their use of message appeals; and the use of cues, links, and hashtags to support information searches. Whereas B2B marketers tend to use more emotional than functional appeals in their tweets, neither B2C nor B2B marketers have adopted “hard sell” message strategies.
Several studies have investigated differences between goods and services advertisements, but no research has examined differences between business-to-business services advertising and consumer services advertising. The authors use the content analysis method to investigate differences in several message elements in the context of the two types of services advertisements. In their sample of 186 advertisements, 91 ads were for business-to-business services and 95 were for consumer services. The specific message elements evaluated were message appeal, headline usage, price information, quality claims, and the inclusion of an Internet address. The findings indicate significant differences between business-to-business and consumer services advertisements in the types of message appeals used.
This paper aims to examine the impact of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR), with a focus on ethical and environment questions related to the constructs of customer satisfaction (CS), relationship maintenance (RM) and customer loyalty (CL), on determining the attitudinal and behavioural loyalty and maintenance of customers in the shipping industry. For this purpose, this study enhances its empirical validity by collecting data from 214 respondents in South Korea and testing the hypothesis using structure equation modelling. It was found that (1) CSR is an effective relationship marketing tool that requires further research to investigate its benefits; (2) systemic investigation in CSR activities in the shipping industry finds publishing CSR reports the most preferred tool among major shipping companies; and (3) there is a strong empirical evidence which supports that values have a significant impact on the customers' perception of CSR performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
This study analyzed a social media campaign promoting child welfare to explore the associations among people's social media use, their engagement with different social media platforms (blog, Facebook page, Twitter account), and three intended behavioral outcomes (social media behavior, offline communication behavior, and helping behavior). An online survey of 73 participants shows that people's use of each social media platform was significantly related to their engagement with it at a bivariate level (when the other control variables were not considered). Social media use was also related to all three behavioral outcomes. Additionally, users’ engagement played a significant mediating role in the relationship between their social media use and their offline communication behavior.
This study aims to propose a set of metrics in order to assess reactivity, dialogic communication and stakeholder engagement (popularity, commitment and virality): stakeholders’ mood and social legitimacy on corporate Facebook pages. These metrics can offer a better understanding and measurability of this social media/social network/online communication management tool.
Design/methodology/approach – Three theories (dialogic, stakeholders and legitimacy) were considered in the development of these metrics. Empirical evidence was collected from a sample of 314 European companies. Then ten active companies were used to validate the proposed metrics on Facebook.
Findings – The constructed set of metrics was found to be valid and efficiently usable according to the principles of the applied theories. Moreover all the proposed metrics could be adapted for such sites as Google +
Research limitations/implications – Limitations can only be identified within the validation
process as the metrics were only applied to ten representative companies from the Eurozone.
Practical implications – The proposed metrics will help users, marketing/PR/ communication professionals and company managers to measure their and their competitors’ popularity, commitment, virality (metrics which reflect stakeholder engagement), and the mood of stakeholders, and use content analysis in order to measure social legitimacy via CSR information disclosure on Facebook. Thus the
online reputation of a company can be practically measured.
Originality/value – This paper is the first proposing metrics to assess stakeholder engagement and social legitimacy on a corporate Facebook page that can be used in both academic and professional circles to a gain a better understanding of corporate online communication via Facebook.
Corporate pages on social networking sites (SNSs) have become the key platform where publics interact with companies and organizations around the world. Focusing on one of the most important world economies, China, this study explored the types of public engagement with corporate pages on leading Chinese SNSs as well as the motivations and antecedents that drive such engagement. Given the participatory and communal nature of SNSs, this study proposed a conceptual model incorporating social media dependency and several social relationship factors, including parasocial interaction, perceived source credibility, and community identification, that influenced Chinese publics’ engagement with companies on SNSs. We conducted a web survey with a random sample of 245 Chinese SNS users to test the proposed model. The results confirm that with the exception of perceived credibility, social media usage and relationship-oriented factors played a significant role in inducing public engagement in China.
The article examines the use of social media by Internet users related to advertising and marketing, called "consumers' online brand-related activities (COBRA)." Interviews are conducted with such Internet users through instant messaging as to their motivations for engaging with brands and brand name products through social media. It was found that a desire for information, a desire for entertainment and the possibility of reward were the primary motivations for COBRA activity by Internet users, with entertainment being the primary motivation for the generation of brand-related social media content.
To our knowledge, ours is the first study to report on Facebook advertising as an exclusive mechanism for recruiting women ages 35-49 years residing in the USA into a health-related research study. We directed our survey to women ages 35-49 years who resided in the USA exclusively using three Facebook advertisements. Women were then redirected to our survey site. There were 20,568,960 women on Facebook that met the eligibility criteria. The three ads resulted in 899,998 impressions with a reach of 374,225 women. Of the women reached, 280 women (0.075 %) clicked the ad. Of the women who clicked the ad, nine women (3.2 %) proceeded past the introductory page. Social networking, and in particular Facebook, is an innovative venue for recruiting participants for research studies. Challenges include developing an ad to foster interest without biasing the sample, and motivating women who click the ad to complete the survey. There is still much to learn about this potential method of recruitment.
Firms should be able to apply the time-based philosophy of revenue management to their sales forces. To do so requires a revision in the way most sales divisions traditionally have viewed salesperson time. Hence, a different type of proposed measure, revenue per available salesperson hour, is proposed to better integrate the value of the salesperson''s time as a factor in sales potential and revenue calculation. This article seeks to (1) foster a positive perception of revenue management as a viable sales approach, (2) establish a framework for such a strategy, and (3) set a useful road map for facilitating execution.
Books reviewed in this issue:
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Think, Play, Do: Technology, Innovation, and Organization
Results without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You
The Pursuit of New Product Development: The Business Development Process