Analysis of content creation in social media

by B2B companies
Lauri Huotari and Pauliina Ulkuniemi
Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

Saila Saraniemi
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, and

Minna Mlsk
Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Abstract
Purpose The present study aims to examine how business-to-business (B2B) marketers can influence content creation in social media. Social
media tools are becoming an interesting component of B2B marketing because of the roles of personal relationships and interactions in these
markets. However, research has not approached social media content creation from a B2B marketing perspective.
Design/methodology/approach Social media tools are becoming an interesting component of B2B marketing because of the roles of personal
relationships and interactions in these markets. However, research has not approached social media content creation from a B2B marketing
perspective. The present study examines how B2B marketers can influence content creation in social media.
Findings The paper proposes that B2B firms engaging in social media as part of their marketing efforts should carefully consider the roles and
activities of various users, which are directed to and by different internal and external users. B2B companies can influence content creation in social
media directly by adding new content, participating in discussions and removing content through corporate user accounts and controlling employee
social media behavior or indirectly by training employees to create desired content and performing marketing activities that influence other users
to create content that is favorable for the company.
Originality/value The study contributes to the theoretical discussion over B2B marketing communication and the role of social media in it.
Keywords Internal communications, Internet marketing, Marketing channels, Communication, Marketing communications,
Business-to-business marketing
Paper type Research paper

and suppliers and, thus, deepen relationships (Kho, 2008).

Social media applications are enabled by the development of
Internet-based online technologies, but technology itself is not
the reason behind the popularity of applications such as
Facebook or Twitter. Instead, social media are popular
because individuals desire to be social and share their
experiences with other people (Chaffey et al., 2009). Thus,
social media tools are becoming an interesting component of
B2B marketing because of the roles of personal relationships
and interactions in these markets.
In traditional marketing, the audience is passive, while
interactive marketing communication tools, such as social
media, engage their audience to become an active party in
content creation (Wade, 2009). According to previous
research (Smith et al., 2012; Lee, 2013; Galea, 2007; Ryan
and Jones, 2009), companies experience a loss of control when
marketing via social media because the audience participates
in content creation. Content created by an audience is better
known as user-generated content (UGC) (Farrar, 2010). Even

Introduction
In the literature, the traditional approach to business-tobusiness (B2B) marketing has highlighted the roles of personal
relationships and interactions between sales representatives
and customers. This traditional approach describes contact
between sales representatives and customers as the heart of
effective customer relationship management (Ford et al.,
1998). More recently, marketing communications and
branding have emerged as important areas of management
in B2B marketing (Mlsk et al., 2011). For example, it has
become more common for like-minded professionals within
brand communities to share content, which contributes
to B2B interactions (Andersen, 2005; Bruhn et al., 2013).
Additionally, diverse tools of social media, such as Facebook,
Twitter, Slideshare and blogs, have been the subject of
increasing interest for B2B marketing because they provide
faster and more personalized interactions between customers

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0885-8624.htm

The financial support of Tekes the Finnish Funding Agency for

Technology and Innovation is gratefully acknowledged. The research on
which this paper is based is part of SHARP a research group at the Martti
Ahtisaari Institute of Oulu Business School.

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

30/6 (2015) 761770
Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0885-8624]
[DOI 10.1108/JBIM-05-2013-0118]

Received 23 May 2013

Revised 5 March 2014
Accepted 28 May 2014

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Content creation in social media by B2B companies

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

when a company hires a professional to create and develop

content, the audience continues their conversation (Weber,
2007). According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) definition, UGC is
published on a Web site that is publicly accessible or available
to a select group of people, demonstrates some degree of
creativity, is not created for commercial purposes (Kaplan and
Haenlein, 2010, p. 61), highlights the perspective of the
end-user and is uncontrollable. Control over content creation
in social media is a critical issue for marketers because a single
online contribution to a blog or forum can have long-term
effects on the reputation of their company (Ryan and Jones,
2009).
Until now, research has not approached social media
content creation from a B2B marketing perspective. A review
of the existing literature reveals that this topic has been
examined mainly from the perspectives of business-toconsumer (B2C) marketing (Williams et al., 2010; Schultz
and Peltier, 2013) or internal corporate communications or
recruiting (Frankola, 2009; Leader-Chive et al., 2008). UGC
creation involves the willingness of customers to engage in
activities related to co-creation, community and self-concept
(Christodoulides et al., 2012). Additionally, user-generated
content creation has been connected to brand equity because,
according to research, firm-created social media communication
impacts functional brand images, whereas UGC creates hedonic
brand images (Bruhn, et al., 2012). It has been proposed that the
optimization of UGC is central to applications of new interactive
social media in marketing communication. The increasing
adoption of new media channels in marketing communications
related to brand and management of customer relationships
motivates research in this area.
Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine how B2B
marketers can influence content creation in social media. First, we
will review existing knowledge about social media in general
and content creation in particular. We will focus on identifying
different types of users of social media as potential content
creators especially in a B2B context. Our theoretical
framework presents the different actors relevant to B2B social
media marketing and content creation and depicts their
mechanisms for influencing B2B content. Second, we conduct
an empirical study to elaborate on the theoretical model. Our
empirical research method is qualitative because a limited
amount of research has been carried out in this area. Empirical
data are based on interviews of representatives of B2B
firms with experience in the use of social media and the
management of content creation for marketing purposes. Four
industry experts were interviewed. In the analysis, abductive
reasoning was used because knowledge was built on the basis
of a theoretical model and empirical data (Dubois and Gadde,
2002).

and reach the top of search engine results (Ryan and Jones,
2009). These elements enable opportunities for B2B
marketers, but they also pose challenges and may cause some
B2B firms to hesitate to use social media. Indeed, B2B
organizations seem to have acknowledged the potential of
social media more slowly than B2C companies (Michaelidou
et al., 2011).
Chaffey et al. (2009) noted that creating a dialogue through
interactivity is an important feature of the Internet. For B2B
companies, social network sites enable interactions with their
customers for creating customer value, as well as building and
fostering relationships (Michaelidou et al., 2011). According
to Haeckel (1998), interactivity can be defined as the
synchronous exchange of information or the way two or
more organisms relate to each other. Interactivity between
people may be direct or occur through a medium. Thus, we
argue that interactions between users of social media
contribute to content creation. In the present study, we define
content creation according to Hoffman and Novak (1996) as
interactions in hypermedia computer-mediated environments.

Who are the users of social media?

Users of social media have been examined extensively in the
literature. Li and Bernoff (2008) classify users into six groups
based on how they participate in social media: creators, critics,
collectors, joiners, spectators and inactives. Creators and
critics create the content of social media. Creators add new
content, generate conversations, publish blogs or online
articles, or upload video or audio content to social media
channels. Critics react to content, for example, by posting
comments on blogs or editing wikis. Collectors organize huge
amounts of content created by critics and creators. For
example, collectors add tags to Web pages or photos and vote
for Web sites that guide users when they seek, visit or join
these communities. Joiners maintain their profiles on social
networking sites and visit those sites. Spectators are the largest
group, and they are consumers of social media.
Other researchers have categorized users of social media in
similar ways. In Table I, we present a selection of different
studies that classify users of social media. We identified roles
that are active or influential in content creation in the last
column.
From the perspective of content creation, the most active
and influential users are creators and critics (Li and Bernoff,
2008), celebrities (Golder, 2003), lead members (Pitta and
Fowler, 2005) and evangelists (Lee et al., 2006). According to
Li and Bernoff (2008), creators actually upload new content.
For example, a company functions as a creator when it shares
news about itself via Twitter, publishes a corporate blog or
uploads corporate videos to YouTube. Critics are users who
react to content uploaded by creators (Li and Bernoff, 2008).
Celebrities, lead members and evangelists have relatively large
influence over their communities (Golder, 2003; Lee et al.,
2006; Pitta and Fowler, 2005). They devote much time and
energy to their communities, for example, by uploading
numerous posts and involving and expressing themselves
(Golder, 2003; Lee et al., 2006; Pitta and Fowler, 2005). In
contrast to celebrities, lead members and evangelists, newbies
are newcomers to communities (Golder, 2003; Kozinets,
1998).

Role of social media interactions in content

creation
The major implications of the development of Internet
technology for marketing communications are interactivity,
transparency and memory (Gurau, 2008). With respect to
memory and transparency, companies are concerned that
Internet-based information, especially negative online
conversations about a company, can extend to bad publicity
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Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

Table I Different classifications of users of social media

Author

Roles suggested

Description

Relation to content creation

Golder (2003)

Newbies

Newbies have made their first online postings but

do not have strong commitment to social
networks
Celebrities contribute much time and energy to a
community
Free-riders only lurk in online communities
Newbies are newcomers to a community
Evangelists are leading members of a network
Creators invent new content and upload it to
social media
Critics react to original content, for example, by
commenting and criticizing it
Collectors share and organize content
Joiners belong to social networks and maintain
their profiles
Spectators consume what others produce. They
are the biggest group of users
Inactives do not participate in online communities
Lurkers belong to a specific online culture before
actively participating
Lead members are highly involved in a
community at all levels and upload the most
content

Low

Celebrities
Kollock and Smith (1996)
Kozinets (1998)
Lee et al. (2006)
Li and Bernoff (2008, pp. 41-45)

Free-riders
Newbies
Evangelists
Creators
Critics
Collectors
Joiners
Spectators

Nonnecke and Preese (2001)

Inactives
Lurkers

Pitta and Fowler (2005)

Lead members

Very influential user

Passive
Low
Very influential user
Actively creates new content
Actively comments
(Actively shares content)
Passive
Passive
Passive
Passive
Very active user

specific employees. A corporate user can be the company itself

or its B2B marketers. An employee user, on the other hand,
can be identified and connected to her or his employer. An
employee user has a human personality and, thus, can
communicate in a personal way in social media.
From the marketers perspective, it is important to define
the employees who create and control the professional content
for a company (Lee et al., 2006). This subject can be
addressed by viewing corporate blogging as an example of
social media (Lee et al., 2006; Ryan and Jones, 2009).
Corporate blogs offer a much more personal level of
communication and interaction with customers than, for
example, a static corporate Web site (Ryan and Jones, 2009).
Of course, the level of controllability depends upon a
companys social media tactics Brennan and Croft (2012).
Those authors identified two basic tactics used by B2B
companies:
1 tighter corporate control over content to ensure a coherent
message; and
2 empowerment of the staff to more openly engage with
wider social media audiences.

Because newbies, celebrities, lead users and evangelists are active

participants in their communities (Golder, 2003; Kozinets, 1998;
Lee et al., 2006; Pitta and Fowler, 2005), they can be either
creators or critics. Collectors do not create content, but they have
the important role of spreading content in social media (Li and
Bernoff, 2008). Thus, collectors may be defined as creators or
critics because they share content that can be interpreted as a
new contribution to the community. For example, sharing a
YouTube video as new content in a different community can
generate new conversation about that video.

Users of social media in the B2B context

Although most of the previous research on users of social
media has focused on consumer context, the same roles are
also applicable in the B2B context. In social media, creators
and critics actually create content. In terms of UGC creation,
especially in B2B marketing, a marketer must consider the
broad range of external stakeholders (Bruhn et al., 2013) and
internal employees (Brennan and Croft, 2012) of their firm.
Internal users
In this study, the term internal user refers to a user who is
on the payroll of a company. From the perspective of a B2B
marketer, internal users are colleagues. According to Lee et al.
(2006), it is important to pay attention to employees of a
company who can create company-related content in social
media. We divide internal users of social media into two
sub-user groups: corporate users and employee users, who use
social media not only to communicate on a personal level
(Ryan and Jones, 2009) but also as a traditional mass
communication medium (Lee et al., 2006). Corporate users
represent the voice of the company and cannot be identified as

Additionally, two strategies are discussed in Lee et al.s (2006)

study on blogging:
1 company-wide blogging, i.e. a bottom-up strategy
allowing grassroots employees to blog; and
2 a top-down blogging strategy where bloggers include
specific professional, a group of professionals or even a
company executive.
According to Lee et al. (2006), a top down blog can enhance
corporate credibility and trust by sharing well-considered
opinions about a company and give outsiders new insight
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Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

about the corporate culture. On the other hand, Brennan and

Croft (2012, p. 112) argued that this protectiveness over the
brand may indicate social media laggards. In contrast,
leaders multiply their presence and impact across social
media, although not always as planned.
However, Lee et al. (2006) stress that the authenticity rather
than the number of bloggers is necessary for success. An
authentic human voice is important element of blogging
because it separates corporate blogging from traditional
marketing channels.

Influence of marketing activities on content

creation
Internal activities influencing content creation direct
and indirect
Social media involve many-to-many communication, which
provides an opportunity for marketers to engage in
conversations about corporate issues (Ryan and Jones, 2009).
According to Ryan and Jones (2009), social media marketing
consists of two basic elements:
1 raising the online profile of the business, products and
services by contributing positively to the online
community; and
2 managing the reputation of the company by monitoring,
assessing, responding to and influencing online
conversations.

External users
In this study, the term external user refers to all users of
social media other than internal users. External users are
divided into groups: corporate users, customer users,
professional users and civilian users. Corporate users are
enterprises that use their company voice for content creation.
The term customer users describes individuals who are
employees of current or potential customers of B2B
marketers. As potential decision-makers for customers, they
are the most interesting audience for B2B marketers.
Professional users are other business-related stakeholders.
Civilian users are individuals who are interested in the
company but are not connected professionally to the
company.
Because social media communities are formed by
individuals who share common interests (Alavi et al., 2011;
Kietzmann et al., 2011), the stakeholders of a company may
be interconnected through social media. Thus, B2B marketers
should consider all stakeholders as possible users and content
creators of social media. Potential stakeholders include not
only buyers but also investors, media representatives and
potential employees (Brennan and Croft, 2012). In fact,
Brennan and Croft (2012, p. 111) argued that B2B-related
discussions on Facebook or Twitter are often endorsements
from trusted, known sources rather than comments from
random strangers as in consumer markets.
Table II summarizes internal and external users of social
media from the perspective of B2B marketers. Different users
can act as a creator or a critic in social media, but her or his
activity and influence over the community depends on that
individual.

Kietzmann et al. (2011) discussed how companies can benefit

from social media by starting or manipulating conversations.
Descriptions proposed by Ryan and Jones (2009) and
Kietzmann et al. (2011) are consistent with those of different
roles for users in content creation (Li and Bernoff, 2008). A
creator is a community member who contributes by starting a
conversation. A critic responds to conversations and, thus, she
or he influences content creation. Thus, a company can
influence content creation by adopting the role of a creator or
a critic and interacting with other members of communities.
This is a direct way to influence content creation, and it is only
activity that is controlled completely by B2B marketers.
Online communities are potential media that companies
can use to interact and build relationships with their
customers (Alavi et al., 2011; Bruhn et al., 2013). For
example, a blog can be a medium for generating conversations
with customers, ask their opinions and gauge their reactions to
changes in the company and the industry (Ryan and Jones,
2009). Conversations in social media can have a positive tone,
but certain discussion may damage the reputation of a
company (Ryan and Jones, 2009; Szmigin et al., 2005).
Employees can engage actively in content creation for their
company by participating in online conversations. However,
employee participation in conversations can provide
indirect influence from the perspective of marketers. As

Table II Users of social media from the perspective of B2B marketers

Users

Internal users
Corporate user
Employee user

External users
Corporate user
Customer user
Professional user
Civilian user

Description
User can be identified as an enterprise. Content created or added by a company is treated as a voice of the company.
Corporate user can be the B2B marketer itself
Employee user can be identified as an ambassador representing their company. Employee user has an occupational
identity. Some employee users are more influential than others
User can be identified as an enterprise. Content created or added by a company is treated as a voice of the company
Customer users are individuals who are customers or potential customers of the company. They are the most
attractive audience for marketing activities. Some customer users are more influential than others
Professional users are all stakeholders of the company other than customers or potential customers. They have
professional connections to the business where the company operates
Civilian user represents him- or herself in social media and not their employer. Civilian users are not connected
professionally to the business

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Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

Bruhn et al. (2013) noted, interactions in B2B brand

communities are driven mainly by professional objectives. It
would be ideal to allow employees to perform as online
evangelists. However, their participation in social media raises
issues related to control. For example, use of corporate blogs
involves balancing control over employees with their
autonomy to act as online evangelists. (Lee et al., 2006). It is
an internal corporate responsibility to brief employees about
participating in social media.

Kozinets et al. (2011) describe two principal alternative means

for influencing content creation without direct participation
by marketers:
1 the beginning of a conversation can be organic; and
2 a company can indirectly influence other parties.
When the marketer does not intend to generate a
conversation, that conversation is purely organic. In this case,
users of social media simply start to discuss a specific subject.
A company may not have access to conversations when
communities limit access to a particular audience (Gurau,
2008; Kietzmann et al., 2011).
An opinion leader can be described as an individual whose
WOM opinions, whether online or offline, are influential
(Godes and Mayzlin, 2009), and this description parallels one
description of online evangelists (Lee et al., 2006). A company
should try to engage users who are influential and trusted
sources in their communities. We use the term influential
user to refer to those individuals who exert significant
influence over members of a community (Figure 1).
According to previous research (Chaffey et al., 2009; Godes
and Mayzlin, 2009; Haywood, 1989; Kozinets et al., 2011;
Lee et al., 2006; Li and Bernoff, 2008), a marketer can
encourage and indirectly influence content creation through
different marketing activities. Figure 1 illustrates how B2B
marketers can influence content creation in social media. In
Figure 1, solid lines represent direct influence, and dotted lines
represent potential indirect influence.

External activities influencing content creation

direct and indirect
A marketer can directly influence content creation by adopting
the role of a creator or a critic. If a company is not directly
participating in content creation, then their influence can
be described as indirect. Based on the assumption that
communities and networks of social media must have creators
and critics (Li and Bernoff, 2008), a company can indirectly
influence UGC creation by affecting creators and critics.
Generating and influencing conversations indirectly is
associated with word-of-mouth (WOM) communication.
Word-of-mouth communication is a significant feature of
social media because social networking sites afford the
possibility to monitor the spreading of WOM (Trusov et al.,
2009). Haywood (1989) describes the traditional view of
WOM as getting opinion leaders to spread good words about
the company in the marketplace.
Figure 1 The B2B company influences on content creation in social media

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Content creation in social media by B2B companies

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Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

the B2B context, participation in social media conversations

depends on the community and its users. B2B companies are
willing to participate in conversations in communities where
the debaters are professionals and related to the industry. The
role of a corporate user is to communicate company or
industry related information through corporate accounts in
different social media applications. For example:

Empirical research methods

To elaborate on our theoretical framework, we conducted an
empirical study. Data were collected through four semistructured expert interviews of four B2B marketers who use
social media in their work. All of these interviewees are
involved in designing, coordinating and executing B2B social
media marketing. We selected these subjects because they are
experts experienced in the influence of UGC creation. We also
wanted to involve experts representing different business
contexts in terms of company size and nature of the business
and customer base (Table III).
Interviews were conducted face-to-face and recorded. All
recordings were transcribed. Interview themes were based on
the theoretical framework and indirect and direct means for
companies to influence content creation in social media. The
purpose of these interviews was to reveal how these companies
attempt to influence content creation in social media. Certain
questions concerned different types of users. These questions
were intended to determine whether corporate employee and
civilian social media users exist in the B2B context. The
analysis of these empirical data was initiated by repeatedly
reading and browsing the data to obtain an overview. At the
beginning of the actual analysis, QSR NVivo 9 software was
used to organize the material according to the themes in the
theoretical framework.

We use Power Plant Ltd. corporate account for everything we publish in

social media. Sure employees can publish as individuals everything they
want but we publish everything in the name of the company. It is a corporate
identity. We have to consider that everything we publish can be interpreted
as companys comments. Basically if we re-tweet [re-publish a message
made by third party] something it can be interpreted as our opinions or
comments. Power Engines Ltd (Interviewee).

A corporate user is a corporate voice that represents the

thoughts of the entire company. Corporate user accounts are
an extension for traditional communication channels, and
the role of a corporate user is to communicate company or
industry related information at a companywide level.
The administrator of a corporate user account can remove
content published by other users. Removing comments is one
way to directly influence the content. According to our data,
the tone of conversations among professionals is mainly
positive, and there is little need to remove negative comments.
Only irrelevant and inappropriate comments by civilians are
removed. Negative comments are managed by responding
directly to their authors:

Empirical analysis

We have answered to them [negative commenting] as best we can. Power

Engines Ltd. (Interviewee).

This empirical analysis is organized according to influencing

internal activities and influencing external activities. According to
our framework, internal activities include corporate user
accounts and training and means to control the social media
behavior of employees. External activities are direct actions as
well as other marketing activities.

We havent removed any conversations [from the communities that are

administered by Power Plant Ltd.] except spamming. Conversations with
businesslike tone we wont remove, that is the starting point. Power Engines
Ltd. (Interviewee).

Indirect influence through training employees about social media

behavior
Our study suggests that employers train their employees
active participation and content creation. Power Engines Ltd.
systematically trains its employees to use social media to
achieve their daily business objectives. This is an indirect
influence over content creation that encourages employees to
create certain content. The role of employee users is to
participate in conversations related to their company and
industry. One of the interviewees summarized his influence on
content creation in social media as follows:

Influencing internal activities

Direct influence through corporate user accounts
Adding content is an obvious way to influence content.
According to our data, a B2B company can directly influence
content by participating in conversations or removing content, if
possible.
Participating in conversations is an appropriate way to
influence content, especially in the B2B context. However, in
Table III Description of the interviewees
Company

Position of the interviewee(s)

Size of the
company

Agricultural
wholesaler Ltd
Lightning Ltd

Entrepreneur

Micro firm

Managing Director Marketing

Coordinator

SME

Software Ltd

Director, Administration &

Marketing

SME

Power Engines
Ltd

Senior Manager of
communications and branding

Global firm with

20,000 employees

Social media tools in

use

Main area of business

Customers

A wholesale vendor of
agricultural products
Develops and produces
LED lights and related
software
Develops customized
software for business
customers

Local farms and

businesses
Wholesalers and
construction companies

Facebook

ICT manufacturers,
banking and insurance
sectors and technology
companies in traditional
industries
Industrial multinational
manufacturers in different
industries

Corporate blog,
LinkedIn account

Supplies power engine

equipment and
solutions

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Corporate blog,
LinkedIn account

Facebook, Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube
and Google accounts

Content creation in social media by B2B companies

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

In practice, we try to promote for our employees to participate in

conversations if they locate one. Power Engines Ltd. (Interviewee).

The amount of conversations is incredibly huge. Only thing we can do is to

communicate to business units that if they perceive conversations they
should participate in them because it may be useful. In practice we try to
promote to take part in conversations. Power Engines Ltd. (Interviewee).

It is important that all employees who participate in

conversations in social media understand the content and
tone of voice desired by their employer. The nature of social
media makes it possible for uncontrolled negative
commentary to spread throughout the Internet. Thus, when
participating in conversations, the tone of responses is
especially critical.
Employee participation in social media is also a matter of
corporate politics. According to these interviews, employee
participation in conversations related to their companies or
industries should be guided at some level, but these employers
trust the judgment of their employees. Companies vary in their
needs to brief their employees about using social media.
According to our interviews, some companies do not instruct
their employees but plan to begin to provide training:

According to these interviews, it is appropriate to respond to

both positive and negative commentary. However, given the
vast amount of social media content, responding to every
comment or example of company related content would
require extensive resources.
Direct influence through controlling content creation by employees
The most extreme way to influence content creation is to deny
employees the opportunity to debate certain issues or
participate in certain social media platforms or forums.
According to the data, this approach can block corporaterelated issues from the public. This gives for a company an
opportunity to control corporate communications as desired.
Preventing members of an organization from participating in
conversations can be interpreted as a direct way to influence
content creation. According to these interviews, in terms of
controlling its employees content creation, the company
should consider carefully where to restrict employee
participation in social media to control content creation:

No we havent [instructions how social media should be used]. In fact it

would be topical at this moment (Lightning Ltd.).
On other hand, the best instructions would be be smart when acting as an
employee in spare-time and in conversations [of social media]. I think that
our employees have behaved in smart way when they have participated in
conversations. If you have lots of instructions and directions it wouldnt
work (Agricultural Wholesaler Ltd.).

A couple of years ago, a CEO of another Finnish LED-lightning

manufacturer participated in conversations in social media. For example in
[general discussion forum]. I think that it wasnt a very positive thing. He or
she tried to stand up for different issues but other participants tore him or
her into pieces [. . .]. That is why we havent participated in those
conversations [between civilians]. CEOs and companys names were public
information (Agricultural Wholesaler Ltd.).

Only several people participate in a real-life conversation,

whereas a single person can shout their opinions to the
whole world through social media. Thus, the tone of voice
is a very critical issue:
I have to think about the content because it is very important to evaluate
what kind of associations it could call up in different segment groups. It is
very challenging. Basically the content should not insult anyone. But the
content is always different. A message to professionals includes professional
expressions and it is pointed to professionals (Agricultural Wholesaler Ltd.).

Participating in conversations in communities where civilians are

debating is treated with hesitance. Civilians use nicknames, and
their comments may be inappropriate in content and tone.
Debate among civilians is undesirable because it lacks
professional perspective and opinions may be extremely
polarized. It is a difficult task to control and monitor employee
social media behavior due to the extensiveness of social media.
In summary, B2B companies can influence content creation
in two manners:
1 direct influence by adding and removing content through
corporate user accounts and controlling content creation
by employees; and
2 indirect influence through training employees in social
media behavior.

It is important for a B2B company to understand that

employees have professional and civilian user identities in
social media. People act as civilians and as individuals in
certain social media platforms, e.g. in their spare-time, but
they represent their employer in work-related platforms:
Our sales representatives participation [in LinkedIn] is related to sales. I
think that their purpose is to increase sales and awareness about the
company (Lightning Ltd.).
Our employee from product development has commented a news report in
[local newspaper] but in his own name (Agricultural Wholesaler Ltd.).

According to our data, employees participate in social media

to promote their occupational expertise. In the B2B context,
users signal their professionalism and create an important and
influential status in social media. Certain users are more
influential than others. In the B2B context, greater
professionalism connotes a more influential user express.
Employee participation differs in online and actual
conversations with the professionals. The difference is that
conversations in social media are available to users other than
the original participants. Other users can access the discussion
until an administrator removes the content:

However, it is essential to identify clear roles of corporate and

employee users. Corporate users should focus on general
marketing related to the company, whereas employee users
should demonstrate professionalism and interact as
individuals.
Influencing external activities
According to our data relevant to direct actions that influence
content creation by influential professional users, it seems
unlikely that a B2B marketer can exert influence over the content
creation by influencing specific social media users. Instead of
lobbying one or two users, the interviewees influence the
content of social media by promoting marketing messages
through other communication channels. This approach directs
the public opinion about the company. Additionally, influencing
the audience at a public level is a possible means to influence
conversations that have not been identified.

[. . .] [corporate blogging] is a long-term process to create professional

image to the writer (Lightning Ltd.).

Extent and number of different conversations in social media

are enormous. It would appear unlikely that only a few people
could have a significant influence. When an employee locates
a conversation concerning his or her business area, he or she
should be capable of joining it:
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Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

Civilians may, however, participate in debates among

professionals. Debates between civilians may vary from one
extreme to another. Their experiences and information is
based on public images and publicly available information
about companies and industries:

it is critical to integrate external marketing activities and social

media behavior of the company.

Summary of the empirical analysis

In Figure 2, we summarize the empirical analysis and present
an empirically adjusted framework for understanding how a
B2B company can influence social media content. In
comparison to our theoretical understanding, we have
identified three empirically grounded adjustments to our
framework. First, instead of emphasizing direct actions to
influence external users, we argue, with respect to external
marketing activities, that it is more reasonable to use an
integrated marketing communication strategy in which the
advancement of user-generated content creation is also taken
as an objective for actions. Thus, through external marketing
activities in general, firms should also aim to engage
prospective and current customers to initiate social media
content creation. In a B2B setting, this might be related to
existing customers giving references or leads for creating
content that is relevant to potential sales efforts.
Second, in addition to professional community, we have
added a second type of community, a civilian community. The
civilian community represents the social media communities
in which civilians debate about issues related to B2B
companies or industries. Professional communities represent a
community in which professionals debate and to which
civilians most likely do not have access. The empirical data

Our company has been mentioned a few times in conversations in [general

discussion forum] or similar sites. We notice it when somebody has linked
our website to the conversations (Lightning Ltd.).
The conversation is very diverse because non-professionals and people who
pretend professionals present false statements about different lightning
technologies. In other hand some of them are smart and ventilate different
alternatives. In practice then our company is brought out. Lightning Ltd.

Our data indicates that desired outcomes can be obtained

by integrating marketing activities, e.g. using traditional
marketing communication to influence social media content.
For example, a company that does not have access to a specific
social media community can have indirect influence through
other communication mediums. Indirectly influencing the
content of social media through other communication
mediums is one approach to controlling large numbers of
conversations:
Sure we try to influence them through other [communication] mediums
[than social media] every time it is possible. It is normal. Conversations
concerning the industry are difficult to influence because there is so much of
it (Power Engines Ltd. Interviewee).

In summary, B2B marketers are limited in their ability to

directly influence content creation by external users. More
importantly, performing marketing activities can be applied to
influence external civilian and professional users. In this case,

Figure 2 Empirically adjusted framework of a B2B company influencing social media content creation

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Content creation in social media by B2B companies

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Lauri Huotari, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Saila Saraniemi and Minna Mlsk

Volume 30 Number 6 2015 761770

strongly support the diversion between civilian and B2B

communities as well as the importance for B2B companies
to notice the possible threats of participation in civilian
conversations. Importantly, civilian communities are not the
types of communities in which the corporate users or employee
users should take part, but rather the influence of the company
may be conducted indirectly through civilian users. According to
the empirical data, debate between civilians can be extremely
far-reaching in social media. If a B2B company aims to influence
conversations among civilians, its resources allocated to the task
should be relatively much higher than those resources allocated
to directly influencing B2B communities.
Third, the empirical findings of this study are with regard to
the attitudes for how to treat social media behaviors of
employees. Instead of controlling employees social media
behaviors, companies should merely focus on training and
encouraging employees to use social media. Our data clearly
indicate that social media is such a new form of communication
that, to use it successfully, employees require training.

rights. However, on the basis of these findings, it is more

important to encourage and support the use of social media by
training employees rather than focusing on limiting its use.
Additionally, Brennan and Croft (2012) pinpoint openness on
the part of a company as a means for employees to position
themselves as innovative experts in the market.
With respect to managerial implications, professional
communities are valuable for B2B companies because their
employees can promote their occupational professionalism to
other professionals. In professional communities, the identities of
users and their employers are available to other users. Thus,
employees of B2B companies can create personal relationships
through social media and promote their products and services to
appropriate audiences. It is important to control the choice of
social media where employees are allowed to represent their
company. Certain civilian communities are inappropriate places
to promote professionalism and debate issues concerning the
industry.
In summary, we acknowledge the limitations of our
research. The focus of our research is a phenomenon that has
not been researched extensively within the B2B sector. Thus,
our findings are exploratory insights that should be
investigated further in future research. In terms of our
empirical approach, our intention was to learn how informants
view channels and methods of influence. However, our
examination did not focus on mechanisms of influence at the
level of revealing actions and their outcomes. In future studies,
this type of examination would contribute to the knowledge
required to take a clear strategic stand on the use of social
media by B2B firms.

Conclusions
The purpose of the present study was to learn how B2B
marketers can influence content creation in social media. In
conclusion, we propose that B2B firms engaging in social media
as part of their marketing efforts should carefully consider the
roles and activities of various users, which are directed to and by
different internal and external users, as depicted in our
framework (Figure 2). In a B2B context, the content of social
media is created by corporate, employee, professional and
civilian users, all of whom play crucial roles in the complex
ensemble of social media and content creation. We suggest that
a B2B company can influence content creation in social media
directly by adding new content, participating in discussions and
removing content through corporate user accounts and
controlling employee social media behavior or indirectly by
training employees to create desired content and performing
marketing activities that influence other users to create content
that is favorable for the company. We also pinpoint the difference
between professional and civilian communities and recommend
that companies consider both communities in their social
marketing strategies.
Our findings support existing theories that B2B marketers
can directly influence content through corporate user
accounts (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Li and Bernoff, 2008; Ryan
and Jones, 2009). Our data concur with the existing theory
stating that communicating through a corporate user account
is an extension of corporate communications (Brennan and
Croft, 2012). According to these data, corporate user
accounts are used to communicate company- or industryrelated information to different social media applications,
whereas employee users generally participate in discussions in
a more interactive manner.
According to previous research, a B2B company must
communicate to its employees the type of content they should
or should not add to social media (Lee et al., 2006; Ryan and
Jones, 2009; Szmigin et al., 2005). Training employees to use
social media in a desired manner can be interpreted as
an indirect attempt to influence content creation. Existing
theories mainly emphasized outlining opportunities for
employees to participate in social media and limiting their

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Corresponding author
Pauliina Ulkuniemi can be contacted at: pauliina.ulkuniemi@
oulu.fi

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