The use of social media in the B2B sales process: a meta synthesis

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand how business-to-business organizations use social media during the sales process. Design/methodology/approach – The meta-synthesis steps methodology (Hoon, 2013) was applied. Findings – This study presents a theoretical framework and contributes to improved understanding of how business can use social media in the sales process stages. The results allow identifying stages, discussing the integration between marketing and sales and generating benefits for the organization. Originality/value – The proposed framework helps in understanding the previously performed fragmented studies. This study shows that social media use not only influences the sales process stages and increases the benefits to the business but also works as a mediator in the relation between sales process stages and identified benefits.

Keywords

• meta-synthesis
• social media
• sales process
• business-to-business