Corporate Influencing im Business-To-Business-Vertrieb

Business-to-Business (B2B) sales is becoming increasingly digitized, and this digitization has a strong influence on how customers and sellers interact, communicate, and create value in business relationships. The use of the professional social network LinkedIn in Business-To-Business sales has increased and a new phenomenon, known as corporate influencers, is increasingly observable on LinkedIn. Literature has primarily focused on salespeople’s social media behavior, performance outcomes and effects on customer relations. However, little is known about the objectives pursued with corporate influencing, their actual activities on LinkedIn in this role, and the opportunities and challenges that arise from corporate influencing. A Grounded Theory approach is adopted to explore this phenomenon. Based on 31 interviews with experts from various B2B sectors, personal and corporate objectives, specific corporate influencer activities, and the associated opportunities and challenges of corporate influencing are identified.