Developing social media presence for B2B clients. Case: Kalmar

This thesis is carried out as a research-based paper for Kalmar - a cargo-handling solutions provider and port automation company. The main objective of the thesis to investigate how to develop a social media presence that is aimed to B2B customers. In order to achieve the purpose of this thesis, the author developed separate stages to be completed in sequence. Firstly, a literature review was built by gathering a variety of up-to-date social media theories and concepts as a foundation for the later research. Secondly, the author examined and analysed the social media presence of Kalmar, its direct competitors as well as successful B2B practices in Twitter and LinkedIn as a benchmarking study. The benchmarking was mainly done via secondary research and observations over the course of three months. Afterward, a qualitative research was conducted by interviewing Kalmar’s marketing executives and managers to examine its social media awareness as well as define the gap between an effective social media presence in literature review and reality. The key research results were considered next. Lastly, the author discussed the key findings against the literature review and benchmarking, and later recommended actions and solutions that can be applied by the case company. The results showed that Kalmar is present on social media. However, the case company has not fully utilised these digital tools to gain a competitive edge. In addition, limitations in reaching out to customers—the centre of business—were observed. Therefore, the author proposes a number of further development ideas, for example, customer research, for Kalmar to consider proceeding with in the near future