Marketers Are Using Social Media to Propel Personal Selling Efforts in Business-to-Business Markets 

Ellen Su 

Integrated Marketing Communications

Department of Fashion Business: LIM College 

Marketers Utilize Social Media to Propel Personal Selling Efforts in B2B Markets

Professor John Keane

20 June 2025

Abstract 

Marketers are utilizing social media to propel personal selling in business-to-business markets because social media marketing is the present and the future dominator of conversing with a public audience. Digital marketers acknowledge the impact, influence, and clarity that social media posts have in delivering a brand’s message, statement, mission, and strengthening the brand’s reputation. Social media is the fastest way to share news of a brand’s new product to millions of potential customers around the world. Social media campaigns can increase engagement, boost product or service sales, while building up an individual’s prestige. Marketers must create a plan, schedule future posts, and respond to positive or negative feedback from consumers. Marketers are responsible for generating new ideas for social posts. Social media must catch the eye of the target audience and align with the individual’s core values. Marketers must target the emotional needs of consumers, unlock their hidden desires, and sell them a product or service that will fix their issue. The textbook delves into the importance of social media marketing skills, which are inherently valuable to any marketer. Empathetic, well-versed, and organized speech from the marketer on a phone call leads to the deal being closed (Belch et Belch, 2021). The marketer must be aware of not appearing overly aggressive while maintaining a calm demeanor. This paper describes concepts from Chapter 22, Personal Selling, of Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. 

Marketers Are Using Social Media to Propel Personal Selling in B-to-B Markets 

The rise of social media platforms supplies marketers with innumerable valuable resources to reach millions of people through personal selling in business-to-business markets. Marketers study the successful social media techniques that propel business-to-consumer markets and integrate those methods to boost their businesses and social media figures who have curated a large following. A personal, genuine connection benefits the sales transaction. The marketer’s role is to convince the buyer that the sale will benefit their lives in some way. The marketer achieves the sale after addressing the receiver’s desires and shared, common goal. 

Chapter 22, Personal Selling, of Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective introduces dyadic communication as “direct and interpersonal communication that allows senders to immediately receive and evaluate feedback from the receiver” (Belch et Belch, 2021). Dyadic communication refers to scheduled responses to social media platform comments under the business’s posts. Marketers can set up written copy to instantly reply to all social media comments and address the receiver’s needs. Dyadic communication allows the marketer additional time for curating content, marketing campaigns for the business, and in-person events. 

High-profile clients hire marketers to sell their services or tangible goods to their target audience. The marketer’s role is to connect with the potential consumer and transition the looky-loo consumer, scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, into a brand-loyal customer. For instance, Chicken of the Sea, an American tinned fish corporation, adapted to the current market by shifting their advertising to focus on social media campaigns, rehiring American actress Jessica Simpson to star in their television commercial, and targeting the younger demographic through humorous short-form videos, memes, aesthetically designed product photoshoots, and vivid product placement (Belch et Blech, 2021). 

Integrating marketing communications to conform with modern-day technological advancements is a necessary step to expand a business. Social media is pertinent to the gaze of its target audience. When a consumer views a business Instagram profile, they are determining whether they will complete the transaction or exit. Marketers of personal selling must balance the utilization of social media tools, respond to positive feedback from clients, create profitable social campaigns, track relevant hashtags for the business, and coordinate posts to blend seamlessly. They plan for any disturbance, bad press, or positive feedback before a crisis occurs. 

Personal selling combines factors of cost-effectiveness, evaluation of the relative effectiveness of alternatives, and selection of which information to share with the public (Belch et Belch, 2021). The stages of personal selling are provider, persuader, prospector, problem solver, and procreator. The marketer highlights the consumer’s suppressed needs, convinces potential clients to purchase a service or good, searches for prospects, matches the client with a proposed solution, and creates a tailored option for the client. Knowledgeable, organized, empathetic speech from the marketer is key to closing a deal. 

Customer relationship management is crucial when marketing a social media influencer to the target audience. Targeting, acquiring, retaining, understanding, and collaborating with customers (Belch et Belch, 2021) is at the forefront of garnering a group of loyal clients. The delivery of the message through the phone call must reach all the objectives to secure a positive personal connection with the potential buyer. People buy from those they feel comfortable around. Marketers assess the situation by thoroughly considering the client’s needs before procuring a solution for their problem and completing a transaction. 

References

Belch, G. E., & Belch, M. A. (2024). Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing             

Communications Perspective(13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.