L'applicazione di Social Media Strategies nelle PMI: un'indagine qualitativa svolta su Piccole e Medie Imprese B2B manifatturiere italiane

The aim of the present thesis is to gain deeper understanding about the use of Social media in B2B SMEs. In particular based on previous researches, frameworks and models proposed in literature, the evaluation framework created by Effng & Spil (2016) has been adapted to evaluate if B2B SMEs have effectively implemented a Social Media Strategy for the management of Social Media, what are the main effects of such strategic approach and the main barriers and diffculties that could prevent a strategic Social Media use in B2B SMEs. The research objective can be considered relevant because it addresses a critical aspect that many SMEs have to face nowadays because of the large diffusion of Social Media and new emerging online Marketing strategies as Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing, which require an intensive and strategic use of Social Media. Morevorer during the literature review has been noticed a lack of studies to investigate how SMEs are really using Social Media (especially considering the Italian scenario). Due the nature of the research a qualitative approach through multiple case studies has been preferred because the study did not aim to obtain statistical generalizability testing and analysing numeric variables. The sampling procedure followed the indications from Patton (1990) and Stake (2013). The fnal result was a sample of eight Italian B2B SMEs which operate in the same market sector, have the same revenue, number of employees and online visibility measured through the IVO model developed by Cioppi et al., (2016). The only difference between the selected SMEs was the presence of an online Marketing agency supporting Social Media management in four SMEs. The fnal results have been gathered by the analyisis of SMEs online presence, documents and reports provided by entrepreneurs and interviews with SMEs owners. Interviews have been trascribed and analyzed through thematic analyisis and deductive content analysis. The study contributes to identify the fundamental factors of a strategic approach to Social Media management and to show how they are linked eachother. Moreover the analysis of the cases studies shows that these elements can be "indispensable conditions" for a proftable use of Social Media by B2B SMEs. Another important contribution of the research is the identifcation of a strong gap of internal skills in SMEs which are essential to manage Social Media with a strategic approach. In this case the study highlights the decisive contribution of online Marketing agencies in mitigating the previous gap and in promoting the dissemination of a “strategic approach” to the Social Media management in SMEs.