Abstract
Social networks are a driving force of digital transformation and offer firms the opportunity to market products and services to both international consumers and providers, establish durable relationships with them, and improve their own competitiveness. The study analyzes the role played by the use of Facebook for online advertising, building interaction and brand communities, implementing social CRM activities, and conducting market research, as well as a sales channel alternative to physical presence, in firms’ international export performance, both in terms of managers’ perceptions and Facebook buy button conversion rate. A survey-based empirical analysis of 105 fashion firms operating worldwide was conducted. The results of multiple regression analyses show that building conversations and brand communities positively affects international export performance, while advertising via Facebook yields mixed results. By comparing firms that have a physical presence with those that do not, the former turned out to benefit from especially in-store advertising and promotions to enhance their Facebook buy button conversion rate; while the latter can improve their performance mainly by adopting outdoor and transit advertising and digital marketing. The research contributes to the existing body of knowledge on social media marketing and international business and, by adopting a firm-level perspective, provides interesting insights for practitioners since it allows to understand how to develop an effective Facebook strategy to succeed in foreign markets.
Highlights
IntroductionIn the increasingly digital and global marketplace, firms are undertaking their own digital transformations by rethinking their organizational structures, managerial practices, and marketing dynamics, and by exploiting emerging digital technologies, especially social networks, to extend their reach into foreign markets, engage customers all over the world, and increase their overall performance (Berman, 2012; Okazaki & Taylor, 2013; McCann & Barlow, 2015; Arnone & Deprince, 2016; Galati et al, 2017; Paniagua et al, 2017)
The variance inflation factor (VIF) statistic, which assesses how much the variance of an estimated regression coefficient increases if predictors are correlated, showed each value to be equal or below three (Hair et al, 2010)
As indicated previously in the methodology section, this paper focuses upon findings drawn from 105 fashion firms operating worldwide that use Facebook to communicate with their targets and, through the Facebook buy button feature, sell to foreign customers directly
Summary
In the increasingly digital and global marketplace, firms are undertaking their own digital transformations by rethinking their organizational structures, managerial practices, and marketing dynamics, and by exploiting emerging digital technologies, especially social networks, to extend their reach into foreign markets, engage customers all over the world, and increase their overall performance (Berman, 2012; Okazaki & Taylor, 2013; McCann & Barlow, 2015; Arnone & Deprince, 2016; Galati et al, 2017; Paniagua et al, 2017). Social networks, and in particular Facebook, have started to combine relational and transactional elements to offer their users the opportunity to search for a product and to purchase it (Liang et al, 2011; Liang & Turban, 2011; Turban et al, 2015) This new phenomenon, known as social commerce and sometimes as Facebook commerce, opens up new opportunities for firms. One way to conduct such commercial activity is by using Facebook’s buy button, a call-to-action button on Facebook pages and posts that enables users worldwide to acquire a product directly from a brand without leaving Facebook For this reason, and because of Facebook’s huge global user network, in 2017, e-commerce, retail, fashion, entertainment, and media were the biggest industries represented in Facebook pages and advertiser base (Business Insider, 2017). By integrating Facebook into their marketing and communication strategies, firms can access international networks, increase their brand advantages in foreign markets, improve their export performance, and support their internationalization process (Okazaki & Taylor, 2013; Galati et al, 2017; Fraccastoro & Gabrielsson, 2018)
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