How to Make B2B Firms'Content Marketing More Effective?A Configuration Analysis Perspective Based on Weibo Data
As digital technology develops rapidly,many B2B firms start the path into digital transformation by using social media to open their official accounts and publishing firm-generated content.However,it is reported that a lot of firms'official accounts are at slumber.More and more research has focused on B2B firm-generated content,but has not reached consistent results on the types and the effects of B2B firm-generated content,and failed to reveal how B2B firms publish firm-generated content based on the context surrounding them.From the perspective of information transmission and based on signal theory,this research considers the B2B firm-generated con-tent as the way for firms to transmit positive signals to the others,and utilizes content analysis tools to re-classify the types of B2B firm-generated content.According to the contents on Weibo official accounts from 75 listed Chinese B2B firms and combining prior research results,this research divides B2B firm-generated content into four categories,which are product information,firm news,social responsibility information,and interaction information.By applying the fsQCA method,this research finds that different com-binations of firm-generated content improve the search index of list company and firms'increasing rate of main business income.Social responsibility information and firm news are the core content of developing the search index of list company and firms'in-creasing rate of main business income,while product information and interaction information play the supplemental role.In addition,firm-generated content is affected by different combinations of internal and external environmental characteristics.This research summarizes the patterns of publishing B2B firm-generated content:low degree of supplier concentration and high degree of customer concentration are the key conditions for generating product information.High degree of marketing investment and high degree of customer concentration are the key conditions for publishing firm news,while low degree of business connection is the key condition for generating interactive information.The conditions for releasing social responsibility information are more complex,that is,firms will release social responsibility information when they have abundant resources or they are in difficulties with resources and circum-stance.This research has the following contributions.First,relying on the perspective of information transmission,it re-classifies the types of B2B firm-generated content,which clarifies the division standard of B2B firm-generated content,examines the necessary of early investment on positive signals and the information transmission value of firm-generated content,and enlarges the application of sig-nal theory in content marketing field.Second,based on configuration perspective,it elaborates the effect of different combinations of firm-generated content on the search index of list company and firms'increasing rate of main business income,which reconciles the inconsistent conclusions of previous research from the holistic perspective,and sheds new light on the research of B2B content mar-keting domain.Third,it illustrates the configuration effect of external and internal environmental characteristics on the publication of firm-generated content,which expands the research on B2B firm-generated content.This research indicates that publishing B2B firm-generated content is helpful to firms'survival and growth,and it can be regarded as the strategic action to respond to digital transformation.Managers should pay more attention to social responsibility information and firm news since these two types of firm-generated content are critical to the increase of the search index of list company and firms'increasing rate of main business income while product and interaction information play supplementary role.Considering the fact that environmental factors will influence the publication of firm-generated content,managers also should clarify the external and internal environmental characteristics,and then publish different types of firm-generated content based on the environmental analysis,which will drive the digital transformation via the application of social media.
Firm-generated contentInternal characteristicsExternal environmentFirms'increasing rate of main business incomeSearch index of listed companyConfiguration effect
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