Social media in response to COVID-19: how increased social media usage affects the performance of B2B salespeople in the “new normal”

Abstract

External shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic can fundamentally change the working conditions of salespeople and their customer interactions. This paper examines whether and how a change in social media usage by B2B salespeople following the first wave of lockdowns in response to COVID-19 in 2020 affected their sales performance. The results of a survey of 568 B2B salespeople show that an increase in social media usage following this external shock can lead to an increase in salespeople’s performance under certain conditions: This effect is contingent on the salespeople’s level of training in social media and their customer focus in social media usage. If these conditions are not met, an increase in social media usage following this external shock may even decrease salespeople’s performance. These findings provide insights into how firms can better understand what helps to be prepared for a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic and successfully further embed social media in the functioning of their sales organizations.