Strategic use of social media within business-to-business (B2B) marketing: A systematic literature review

Social media are increasingly becoming a valuable tool for Business-to-Business (B2B) organizations. However, social media research in B2B lacks a comprehensive overview from a strategic perspective, with most research to date having been focused on the tactical use of social media platforms, that is to say, in describing specific tools to implement a strategy. In the present systematic literature review we address this deficiency. Our findings reveal that prior B2B research predominately investigated social media as short-term tactics with context-specific limitations. Our thematic analysis extends beyond these boundaries and extracts from the literature three relationship-orientated themes in social media, namely their use as a tool for: 1) sales-facilitation, 2) integrated communication, and 3) employee engagement. These three themes are distinct yet interdependent and are each necessary if organizations are to develop a competitive advantage within the social media environment. The descriptive statistics and thematic analysis in the study present a set of five key findings that reflect the research gaps presently in the literature and thus highlight significant future research directions. The study also highlights the utility for organizations to employ social media in a strategic manner rather than simply as a tactical tool.