Using Social Media Strategically To Improve Marketing Performance: The B2b Sme Context

Using social media (SM) strategically to enhance firm performance has at-tracted much attention; but limited research exists to examine it through the lens of business-to-business (B2B) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Building on the market-driven view and the dynamic capabilities view, we posit that market orientation stimulates SM use to enhance cus-tomer relationship management (CRM) and brand management, which con-tribute to marketing performance. Our research model is empirically tested using a survey. The findings broadly support our hypotheses. Interestingly, although SM use influences brand management capability, its suggested in-fluence on CRM capability occurs indirectly through brand management ca-pability. Both CRM and brand management capabilities positively influence marketing performance. Our findings provide novel conceptual and empirical advancement of how market-centric B2B SMEs use SM strategically to en-hance their marketing capabilities, and hence marketing performance.