Table 2 Implications of the customers’... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Implications of the customers’ view on social selling activities and outcomes

Theme	Customers’ view	Implications for social selling	Social selling facet
Cold social media messages	B2B customers complain receiving a huge number of non-personalized social media messages by salespeople	Salespeople can be tempted to use social media to effectively identify the ideal customer, but rather they employ an oversimplistic approach	Understanding prospects, existing customers and influencers (Ancillai et al., 2019; Lacoste, 2016; Rodriguez et al., 2012)
Lurking behind the curtains	B2B customers emphasize the low social media usefulness for purchasing-related activities. They have a professional profile briefly describing their job role, usually repost corporate content and generally fear disclosing additional information on social media	Salespeople struggle to get a thorough understanding of the customers’ needs and pain points based on their social media activity
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers do not follow salespeople on social media	Salespeople should carefully consider the effectiveness of social media to build a network of valuable contacts	Connecting with prospects, customers and influencers through networking and consistent dialogue (Ancillai et al., 2019; Barney-McNamara et al., 2021; Lacoste, 2016)
Lurking behind the curtains	B2B customers are reluctant to comment, chat and ask questions on social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) as well as to participate in open dialogue in social media groups	Salespeople may struggle to develop valuable conversations on social networks
Use of social media and digital channels in one-to-one daily interaction	B2B customers increasingly use IM apps and video conferencing tools to manage their daily conversation with salespeople	Salespeople can leverage IM apps and other digital tools to dialogue with customers and build human bonds and trust beyond the professional relationships
The role of social media content in the buyer–seller relationship	B2B customers pay limited attention to salespeople’s and sales organizations’ social media content unless it fits their interests and needs	Salespeople’s efforts in crafting content on social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) should be focused on industry-relevant topics, companies’ major investments, organizational competencies, and awards.	Engaging customers and other relevant actors through valuable content (Ancillai et al., 2019)
	B2B customers feel more confident in receiving salespeople’s content in one-to-one interactions (i.e. via IM apps)	Salespeople should use case histories thoughtfully to avoid undermining buyers’ trust. Salespeople can adapt content focused on the suppliers’ production process and product to the customer’s specific needs and pain points in one-to-one interactions
	B2B customers feel more confident in liking and sharing content instead of overexposing themselves by commenting	Salespeople should acknowledge that buyers’ behaviors in social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) may display a lower level of engagement. Higher levels of engagement may be observed in one-to-one interactions through IM apps
Cold social media messages	B2B customers only follow up on personalized contact requests and shift the conversation to more institutional channels. Non-personalized requests are discarded even if the product or solution can be of interest	Salespeople’s use of social media enhances lead generation if salespeople employ a customized approach	Customer acquisition performance (Schendzielarz et al., 2022; Terho et al., 2022)
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers proactively use social media for supplier scouting and evaluation to speed up the information search process	Salespeople’s use of social media may positively influence inbound lead generation
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers largely base the suppliers’ selection on existing relationships and word-of-mouth via current suppliers, colleagues, partners and even competitors	Salespeople’s efforts in lead generation should combine social and traditional channels
The role of social media content in the buyer–seller relationship	B2B customers make up their opinion about the salesperson’s trustworthiness by cultivating the relationship over time, mostly outside of social media	Social selling alone hardly affects customer trust	Customer trust (Rose et al., 2021; Zhang and Li, 2019)
Use of social media and digital channels in one-to-one daily interaction	B2B customers increasingly use IM apps and video conferencing tools to manage their daily conversations with salespeople	Salespeople’s use of one-to-one social and digital channels can be helpful to build trust	Customer trust (Rose et al., 2021; Zhang and Li, 2019)
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers consider social media not essential to build a long-standing relationship with salespeople and advocate an evolution of such platforms as inventories of suppliers	Salespeople should consider that differences may exist between social media platforms, as activities in social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) can be less effective to cultivate buyer–seller relationships, while one-to-one social and digital channels can be more helpful	Customer relationships performance (Agnihotri et al., 2016; Ogilvie et al., 2018; Trainor et al., 2014)
Use of social media and digital channels in one-to-one daily interaction	B2B customers increasingly use IM apps and video conferencing tools to manage their daily conversations with salespeople
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers show little interest in the salesperson’s social media profile and activity and hardly link the social media content to the person or profile behind	Salespeople find social media useful to build their thought leadership, yet the customers’ assessment regarding their expertise and trustworthiness is primarily based on their activity outside of social media	Thought leadership and reputation (Itani et al., 2023; Terho et al., 2022)
The role of social media content in the buyer–seller relationship	B2B customers make up their opinion about the salesperson’s trustworthiness by cultivating the relationship over time mostly outside social media
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers show little interest in the salesperson’s social media profile and activity; rather, they are more interested in the selling firms’ page, information and content	Salespeople’s social media activity has a limited positive effect on the organizational brand performance; rather, the supplier company page and social media presence is more likely to have a positive influence	Organizational brand performance (Ancillai et al., 2019)
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers proactively use social media for supplier scouting and evaluation to speed up the information search process

Theme	Customers’ view	Implications for social selling	Social selling facet
Cold social media messages	B2B customers complain receiving a huge number of non-personalized social media messages by salespeople	Salespeople can be tempted to use social media to effectively identify the ideal customer, but rather they employ an oversimplistic approach	Understanding prospects, existing customers and influencers (Ancillai et al., 2019; Lacoste, 2016; Rodriguez et al., 2012)
Lurking behind the curtains	B2B customers emphasize the low social media usefulness for purchasing-related activities. They have a professional profile briefly describing their job role, usually repost corporate content and generally fear disclosing additional information on social media	Salespeople struggle to get a thorough understanding of the customers’ needs and pain points based on their social media activity
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers do not follow salespeople on social media	Salespeople should carefully consider the effectiveness of social media to build a network of valuable contacts	Connecting with prospects, customers and influencers through networking and consistent dialogue (Ancillai et al., 2019; Barney-McNamara et al., 2021; Lacoste, 2016)
Lurking behind the curtains	B2B customers are reluctant to comment, chat and ask questions on social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) as well as to participate in open dialogue in social media groups	Salespeople may struggle to develop valuable conversations on social networks
Use of social media and digital channels in one-to-one daily interaction	B2B customers increasingly use IM apps and video conferencing tools to manage their daily conversation with salespeople	Salespeople can leverage IM apps and other digital tools to dialogue with customers and build human bonds and trust beyond the professional relationships
The role of social media content in the buyer–seller relationship	B2B customers pay limited attention to salespeople’s and sales organizations’ social media content unless it fits their interests and needs	Salespeople’s efforts in crafting content on social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) should be focused on industry-relevant topics, companies’ major investments, organizational competencies, and awards.	Engaging customers and other relevant actors through valuable content (Ancillai et al., 2019)
	B2B customers feel more confident in receiving salespeople’s content in one-to-one interactions (i.e. via IM apps)	Salespeople should use case histories thoughtfully to avoid undermining buyers’ trust.Salespeople can adapt content focused on the suppliers’ production process and product to the customer’s specific needs and pain points in one-to-one interactions
	B2B customers feel more confident in liking and sharing content instead of overexposing themselves by commenting	Salespeople should acknowledge that buyers’ behaviors in social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) may display a lower level of engagement. Higher levels of engagement may be observed in one-to-one interactions through IM apps
Cold social media messages	B2B customers only follow up on personalized contact requests and shift the conversation to more institutional channels. Non-personalized requests are discarded even if the product or solution can be of interest	Salespeople’s use of social media enhances lead generation if salespeople employ a customized approach	Customer acquisition performance (Schendzielarz et al., 2022; Terho et al., 2022)
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers proactively use social media for supplier scouting and evaluation to speed up the information search process	Salespeople’s use of social media may positively influence inbound lead generation
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers largely base the suppliers’ selection on existing relationships and word-of-mouth via current suppliers, colleagues, partners and even competitors	Salespeople’s efforts in lead generation should combine social and traditional channels
The role of social media content in the buyer–seller relationship	B2B customers make up their opinion about the salesperson’s trustworthiness by cultivating the relationship over time, mostly outside of social media	Social selling alone hardly affects customer trust	Customer trust (Rose et al., 2021; Zhang and Li, 2019)
Use of social media and digital channels in one-to-one daily interaction	B2B customers increasingly use IM apps and video conferencing tools to manage their daily conversations with salespeople	Salespeople’s use of one-to-one social and digital channels can be helpful to build trust	Customer trust (Rose et al., 2021; Zhang and Li, 2019)
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers consider social media not essential to build a long-standing relationship with salespeople and advocate an evolution of such platforms as inventories of suppliers	Salespeople should consider that differences may exist between social media platforms, as activities in social networks (e.g. LinkedIn) can be less effective to cultivate buyer–seller relationships, while one-to-one social and digital channels can be more helpful	Customer relationships performance (Agnihotri et al., 2016; Ogilvie et al., 2018; Trainor et al., 2014)
Use of social media and digital channels in one-to-one daily interaction	B2B customers increasingly use IM apps and video conferencing tools to manage their daily conversations with salespeople
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers show little interest in the salesperson’s social media profile and activity and hardly link the social media content to the person or profile behind	Salespeople find social media useful to build their thought leadership, yet the customers’ assessment regarding their expertise and trustworthiness is primarily based on their activity outside of social media	Thought leadership and reputation (Itani et al., 2023; Terho et al., 2022)
The role of social media content in the buyer–seller relationship	B2B customers make up their opinion about the salesperson’s trustworthiness by cultivating the relationship over time mostly outside social media
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers show little interest in the salesperson’s social media profile and activity; rather, they are more interested in the selling firms’ page, information and content	Salespeople’s social media activity has a limited positive effect on the organizational brand performance; rather, the supplier company page and social media presence is more likely to have a positive influence	Organizational brand performance (Ancillai et al., 2019)
The relevance of social media in B2B customer networks	B2B customers proactively use social media for supplier scouting and evaluation to speed up the information search process		Organizational brand performance (Ancillai et al., 2019)

Source: Authors’ own work