Digital content marketing on social media along the B2B customer journey : The effect of timely content delivery on customer engagement

Abstract

This study demonstrates the importance of content timeliness as a driver of engagement in business markets. Through an experimental approach, we show that if the customer is exposed to firm-generated content that he or she deems relevant in a particular journey stage, this leads to higher customer engagement with the selling firm and the content that it generates. We contribute to extant understanding of digital content marketing research in a B2B context by demonstrating that there are no universally correct sequences for presenting content to customers at different stages of the customer journey in order to systematically increase engagement. Instead, the findings suggest that the types of content customers prefer to see in different journey stages varies between individuals. For managers hoping to benefit from digital content marketing, we advocate further investments into technologies that improve the selling firm's ability to target content based on the customer's idiosyncratic use needs at different journey stages.