Page 8 - April_2024 Broucher.indd

ABDC-A*

Amit Shankar

Title: Effectiveness of B2B social media marketing: The effect of message source and message

content on social media engagement

Journal: Industrial Marketing Management

Social media message strategy is critical in determining how customers
will engage with B2B firms on social media platforms. The present

study examined the role of message source (i.e., firm-generated vs.
employee-generated) and message content (i.e., emojis and objective

information) in determining social media engagement. Four experiments
were conducted to test the proposed relationships. The study findings

revealed that employee-generated content leads to higher social

media engagement (i.e., intentions and behaviors)
than firm-generated content. Content-based trust

and engagement-based trust were found to be the
underlying mechanisms by which message source

impacts social media engagement. Furthermore, we
observed that, for an employee-generated message,

including emojis has a greater impact on customer
engagement than when they are included in a firm-

generated message. Finally, no evidence was found

concerning the effectiveness of incorporating objective information in social media messages on customer
engagement. These findings have marked implications for B2B marketers in developing effective social media message

strategies.

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