The role of social media presence, responsiveness, and interactivity in enhancing key relationship strength indicators within B2B contexts: European Marketing Academy Conference 2018

Extant research on use of social media by firms has mostly focused on B2C contexts, yet given their benefits for firms (e.g. creating awareness, enhancing brand image, etc.), scholars' attention has increasingly turned to the role and usage of social media for B2B brands. In such contexts, research has primarily examined the challenges relating to the use of social media from the seller's perspective. This paper extends this line of research by investigating the impact of B2B brands' social media presence, interactivity, and responsiveness on key supplier-customer relationship indicators (commitment, interactivity, satisfaction, and partner quality) from the customer's perspective. Data from an online survey (N=200) with customers of B2B brands were analysed using structural equation modelling. We reveal that social media presence has a positive impact on all indicators, responsiveness positively influences commitment, while interactivity enhances perceptions of brand partner quality.