Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Industrial Marketing Management

Perspectives on social media ant its use by key account managers

Sylvie Lacoste
Leonard de Vinci, Pôle Universitaire, Business Lab, 12 av. Leonard de Vinci, 92916 Paris La Defense Cedex, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Social media has recently received increased attention from practitioners and academics. Although social media
Received 28 February 2015 helps build relationships, no academic study to date has investigated the use of social media by key account
Received in revised form 17 December 2015 managers, although building and developing relationships with key customers are at the core of these managers'
Accepted 18 December 2015
expertise. This research contributes to building the first level of understanding of how key account managers use
Available online 31 December 2015
social media and the major issues. To address this topic, we perform a qualitative research study using the
Keywords:
grounded theory methodology. We present a model of key account managers' use of social media derived
Social media from our empirical data and relate it to a key customer engagement model.
Key account managers © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
LinkedIn
Viadeo

1. Introduction
A 2015 Deloitte report on Facebook's global economic impact
(Deloitte, 2015) shows that Facebook has 1.35 billion connected people,
has an economic impact totaling US$227 billion and enabled 4.5 million
jobs. The report stresses that businesses increasingly use Facebook's
marketing tools (pages and targeted advertising) to grow. The number
of active social users increased by 12% between 2014 and 2015; today,
56% of the North American population and 44% of the Western
European population have an active social account (“We Are Social,”
2015). Although Facebook ranks number one in social media, it is
followed by mixed personal and professional use of Google+ and Twit-
ter and by professional use of LinkedIn.1 Disentangling figures that ad-
dress personal and professional data is occasionally difficult, but
today's ever-increasing number of active social accounts is an indicator
that firms and individuals seek professional benefits from social media.
There are numerous definitions of social media, ranging from the
seminal article by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), who consider social
media involves Internet-based applications that create and exchange
user-generated content, to the simpler definition of “any tool or service
that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations” (Safko, 2011). However,
researchers (Agnihotri, Kothandaraman, Kashyap, & Singh, 2012) posit
that individuals use social media “to participate in social networks,
which enable[d] them to create and share content, communicate with one
another, and build relationships” (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010, p. 312).
Defining social media as a tool that helps build relationships is particu-
larly relevant in key account management (KAM). KAM is defined as the
focus by suppliers on customers that desire a long-term relationship
E-mail address: sylvie.lacoste@profecogest.com.
1
https://www.linkedin.com/static?key=what_is_linkedin&trk=hb_what.
and the focus on this relational exchange (Colletti & Tubridy, 1987;
Lacoste, 2012). This specific customer management approach, particu-
larly in a global scope, is defined as “going far beyond relationship
management skills” (Wilson & Weilbaker, 2004) or even as the “new
frontier in relationship marketing,” which was the title of an article by
Yip and Madsen (1996). Toulan, Birkinshaw, and Arnold (2006) empha-
size the role of “inter-organizational fit” to differentiate a key account
from a standard customer and define this concept as being “built on a
foundation of trust and reciprocity in the establishment of a relationship”
(p. 62). Key account management can be defined as a dyadic relation-
ship that has moved from arm's length to collaboration through the
mutual integration and coordination of supplier–customer activities
(Wilson & Weilbaker, 2004).
Therefore, we posit that KAM is the “utmost” form of supplier–
customer relationship management and that social media helps build
relationships. Studying how the two concepts connect is highly interest-
ing. In addition, because social media is used by individuals, this
research is investigating more specifically the role of key account
managers in the use of social media and addressing the following
research questions:
How do key account managers view and use social media? What
benefits do these managers derive from such a use, and what are the
issues the managers face?
We found little prior academic research on this specific topic; social
media is mostly used and studied from the viewpoint of a company or
product presentation and promotion (Svatošová, 2012), from a market-
ing point of view instead of a direct selling perspective. However, as
Agnihotri et al. (2012) state, sales scholars have called for study
mechanisms that link salesperson use of technology to relationship per-
formance (Ahearne, Jones, Rapp, & Mathieu, 2008; Hunter & Perreault,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.12.010
0019-8501/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
34 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
2007; Rapp, Agnihotri, & Forbes, 2008). A 2012 special issue of Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management followed this call on the topic of
social media and its effect on sales; however, academic articles investi-
gating the use of social media by customer-facing employees remain
scarce.
The sales function is different from the key account management
function. Pardo (2000) stresses that KAM implies the creation of a
completely different “mission” (relative to the selling one), although
most key account managers start their careers as salespeople and
KAM involves selling skills and activities. KAM is often the evolution
from a simple short-term selling perspective to a complex, longer-
term one with a common core competence, which is customer relation-
ship management. This is why, in the literature review, we refer to this
previous academic research on the use of social media by the sales force
to pinpoint what can also apply to key account managers.
Thus, we hope to contribute to social media and KAM research, by
extending the application of social media to the KAM function.
We show how key account managers use social media and how it
helps them interact with key customers; we aim to emphasize the
difference in social media use between the selling and KAM functions.
We hope to contribute to KAM research, first, by presenting a model
of key account managers' use of social media and, second, by showing
the managerial implications of social media for the role of key account
managers. We also compare the model we derive from empirical
data to previous purely conceptual models (Kietzmann, Hermkens,
McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011; Sashi, 2012).
The paper is organized as follows. First, we take a funnel-shaped
perspective and discuss the positioning of social media in academic
research before we focus on the use of social media by the sales force.
Second, we present our empirical data, which are based on qualitative
research with key account managers in France in different industries
and sized company. Third, we begin the discussion and present a
model related to key account managers' social media use. We then
compare our model and results to previous conceptual models and
discuss our contribution.
2. Literature review
2.1. Social media in academic research
A search of a multisource academic database for the keywords
“social media” in the title of academic articles returned 2679 articles,
but the oldest article dates from only 2006. Sood and Pattinson (2012)
date the rapid development of Web 2.0 to 2004, which support
the emergence of social media as a primary form of communication
and social interaction. The first use was mostly personal; however,
since 2009, usage has emerged toward business communication and
interaction.
Nonetheless, the use of social media in business remains paradoxi-
cal. According to Safko (2011), 99% of business managers believe social
media will have a significant effect on their business; however, almost
two-thirds report that they are not sure of its meaning (Schultz,
Schwepker, & Good, 2012). Even among leading users of social media
in the high-tech industry, there seems to be little coherence in usage.
For example, Cisco maintains tight control over social media output,
whereas Intel and Oracle allow technical and creative staff to “speak”
without a pre-agreed script (Brennan & Croft, 2012).
Although the corporate use of social media remains in its infancy,
some scholars are voicing prescriptions. For example, when Campbell
et al. (2013, p. 45) observe, “it is better to concentrate on a specific goal
or objective, such as increased brand awareness, increased sales, accelerat-
ed new-product adoption, customer retention, or real-time insight,”
they simply note advice from Maddock and Vitón (2009). Other scholars
act as prescribers and support firms by providing them with ex-ante
frameworks (Kietzmann et al., 2011) or conceptual models (Sashi,
2012), and even attempt to bring their own insight or reasoning
because they lack data to build a strong corpus of knowledge. Brennan
and Croft (2012, p 112) observe, “it is likely” that social media
address stakeholder groups other than targeted buyers and sellers,
whereas Trainor (2012, p 329) state, “It is conceivable that social media
applications could positively influence firm performance.” O'Leary (2011)
conclude, “Social media can work to eliminate and mitigate asymmetries
of information.” Thus, scholars and practitioners are moving in parallel
to build knowledge and experience in social media, and both groups
seem to focus more on marketing than on sales and customer-facing
functions.
Several scholars emphasize that marketing, including advertising, is
the most recognized use of social media (Askool & Nakata, 2011; Looney
& Ryerson, 2011; Schaupp and Bélanger, 2013). Moncrief, Marshall, and
Rudd (2015), referring to Andzulis, Panagopoulos, and Rapp (2012),
explain the marketing prevalence with a trajectory starting from
marketing, the function in charge of establishing the presence on social
media and integrating sales strategy as the final use phase. Such a social
media “life cycle” approach may explain why sales and customer-facing
functions are underrepresented on social media, that is, because firm
use is not sufficiently mature to have reached that stage. Järvinen,
Tollinen, Karjaluoto, and Jayawardhena (2012) confirm with an
empirical study that the two most important objectives of business-
to-business (B2B) firms2 using social media is creating and enhancing
brand awareness, or what they call the “soft side” of marketing. They
(2012, p. 106) confirm that most firms develop “customer relationships
by engaging them in interactive discussions over brands and products rath-
er than attempting to directly drive sales” (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010;
Kho, 2008; Michaelidou, Siamagka, & Christodoulides, 2011). Brennan
and Croft (2012) draw the same conclusion: “Social media are considered
to be a vehicle for soft marketing through relationship and brand develop-
ment, rather than a hard-sell vehicle.” This conclusion is confirmed by a
recent OgilvyOne global survey of salespeople that shows only 9% of
salespeople report any social media-related focus on sales by their
respective organizations (Fetherstonhaugh, 2010). Many companies
remain reluctant to embrace social media to assist sales (Agnihotri
et al., 2012).
Moreover, B2B firms have been slower than their business-to-
consumer (B2C) counterparts to use social media (Michaelidou et al.,
2011), with the exception of telecommunication (IT) and service
provider companies. However, this must be nuanced as far as the sales
population is concerned because a study by Moore, Hopkins, and
Raymond (2013) show that significant differences exist between B2C
and B2B sales force typologies, particularly in prospecting, handling
objections and following up after sales. For those specific selling actions,
B2B salespeople are more interested than their B2C counterparts in
using social media.
2.2. Focus on the use of social media by the sales force
Specific studies of the use of social media by a sales force are scarce.
However, there has been a very recent surge in such research, either
directly focusing on salespeople or indirectly focusing on them via
research on B2B use of social media.
In the following sections, we analyze the articles to focus on features
that can be applied to key account managers.
2.2.1. Social media perceived as a natural vehicle for the B2B sales force
Moore et al. (2013) note that B2B salespeople tend to use profes-
sional social media sites (such as LinkedIn) more than B2C salespeople
do; the scholars explain this tendency by suggesting that B2B salespeo-
ple engage in more relationship-oriented selling. This tendency was
2
Business to business refers to business that is conducted between firms, rather than
between a firm and individual consumers.
 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
previously observed by Michaelidou et al. (2011), who find that rela-
tionship marketing is peculiarly important in a B2B setting. Bauer,
Grether, and Leach (2002) and Sharma (2002) suggest that Internet-
related technology could be used as tools to build relationships. In the
context of relationship-oriented selling, the advantages of social media
are its interactivity, the two-way communication process, the possibili-
ty of communicating 24 h, seven days a week, the possibility of immedi-
ate updating and personalization or precise targeting (Svatošová, 2012).
Agnihotri et al. (2012) emphasize that, in the B2B sales context, social
media can be used to reduce the costs of acquiring customers (prospect
qualification) but also to generate referrals and increase salespeople's
credibility in the marketplace. Sales to existing customers can also be
increased by using social media to facilitate the transaction process
(Järvinen et al., 2012).
Some scholars also suggest that as end consumers increasingly use
social media connections, this behavior expands to the B2B area;
customers also expect relationships with their business counterparts
beyond their personal networks (Rapp, Beitelspacher, Grewal, &
Hughes, 2013). Additionally, buyers are “pushing” sellers to adapt
their selling process and to limit face-to-face interaction, closing some
deals with the use of virtual interaction involving social media
(Schultz et al., 2012).
2.2.2. Social media opens the door to sales opportunities
Two-way conversation allows salespeople to obtain information on
prospective customers, and the latter can contact salespeople
(Andzulis et al., 2012). Traditional prospecting methods such as cold
calling and canvassing are challenging because salespeople may work
with unqualified prospects and waste a great deal of time before they
realize they are doing so, whereas social media can be used to qualify
leads early in the sales process because open information can help select
the right prospect from the start. Furthermore, salespeople can share in-
formation and presentations that are targeted to the prospect's profile,
making the first interaction more efficient (Rodriguez, Peterson, &
Krishnan, 2012).
In addition to these interactions with (potential) customers, social
media helps salespeople gain competitive intelligence because they
can also access and follow competitors' social media initiatives and
even specific competitors' interactions with the same prospects or
customers (Agnihotri et al., 2012).
2.2.3. Social media for building and nurturing customer relationships
For some scholars, social media makes transactional marketing
obsolete and is the ideal tool for relational marketing or relationship-
oriented selling (Andzulis et al., 2012). Gonzalez (2008) as quoted by
O'Leary (2011, p. 131), referring to a CEO, said,
“This business used to be about relationships… I knew the people at my
customers by name, and they knew me too. But now, I'm just viewed as
a supplier, just another company to include in the RFP (request for
proposal) process, and relationship is less important than being the
lowest-cost provider.In this setting, it is possible that social networking
applications could be used to begin to rebuild the personal relationships
that may have been de-emphasized over the years in favor of digital
processes.”
Some practitioners view social media as a “rebirth” of personal
relationships. Along these lines, customers perceive social media as a
means for being heard, understood and appreciated. For salespeople
who listen to their customers via social media, the tool is an important
component to build trust (Andzulis et al., 2012). Specifically, salespeo-
ple can build trust in a “soft” and gradual way by sharing links or
responding to comments and by drawing customers into the
salespeople's own social networks (Agnihotri et al., 2012). Further-
more, social media provides salespeople access to personal informa-
tion about their customers (for example, birthdays and personal
35
interests), which can help the salespeople add a personal touch to
the business relationship or even create strong interpersonal links
(Agnihotri et al., 2012). Beyond those interpersonal bonds, Brodie,
Hollebeek, Juric, and Ilic (2011) posit that repeated positive social
media interactions between the buyer and the seller lead to stronger
customer engagement.
2.2.4. Social media as a personal value creator for salespeople
Social media can also help salespeople create a collaborative
community (Weinberg, de Ruyter, Dellarocas, Buck, & Keeling, 2013)
to better service their customers. Creating an internal or external (sub-
contractor) network to supply customers and customer-specific content
via social media leads to higher customer-perceived value. At the same
time, salespeople is at the core of the network, which helps them
penetrate the customer's own social network and create economic
value for themselves (Agnihotri et al., 2012; Stephen & Toubia,
2010). This economic value is correlated with “influence,” which on
social media is measured not only by the number of posted publica-
tions but also by the extent to which these publications are shared
and commented. In other words, an author's “influence” is indicated
by the number of comments on a publication (O'Leary, 2011).
Internal working relationships and coordination strategies are
essential for high sales performance (Plouffe & Barclay, 2007;
Steward, Walker, Hutt, & Kumar, 2010). Efficient use of social
media for internal and external networking contributes to improved
sales performance.
2.2.5. Risks and challenges of using social media for salespeople
The emergence of social media in seller–customer interactions may
lead to the disappearance of traditional methods of communicating
with customers. For example, salespeople are losing control over
information about customer needs as the latter use social media to
express their needs or to build up their own knowledge about products
(Agnihotri et al., 2012); these conversations can be viewed by compet-
itors. Social media helps buyers transfer information power from sellers
to buyers (Rollins, Nickell, & Wei, 2014). Thus, social media leads to a
greater need for responsiveness and higher transparency from sellers;
it turns information into a “commodity” (Marshall, Moncrief, Rudd, &
Lee, 2012) and may call for a change in corporate culture and the end
of the “silo” mentality (Andzulis et al., 2012). A study carried out by
OgilvyOne shows that 68% of sales professionals state they believe
that social media has a major effect on buying behavior and that the
selling process is changing faster than their own organizations are
adapting to it (Fetherstonhaugh, 2010). This finding confirms that the
deployment of social media within sales departments to support sales
processes and performance remains in its infancy (Gupta, Armstrong,
& Clayton, 2011).
As we have shown some theoretical evidence of the benefits of using
social media in the selling process and such a use is presently emerging
within sales departments, the question remains whether or not another
crucial customer facing function, which is key account management, is
following similar social media use patterns.
Davies and Ryals (2009, p. 1027) state: “… despite the rapid growth in
the use of KAM by companies, research into the process of KAM implemen-
tation and how companies transition from traditional sales to KAM orienta-
tion has been scarce” — if recent research has been further implemented
to better understand KAM organizational issues (Guenzi & Storbacka,
2015; Tzempelikos & Gounaris, 2015), the transition of the use of
emerging tools, such as social media, from sales to KAM remains largely
unexplored.
To ascertain whether key account managers confront the same is-
sues as salespeople, and more specifically to understand key account
managers' social media agenda, we conducted a qualitative study that
we describe in the next section.
36 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
3. Methodology
3.1. Research design
In a 2003 article, Geiger and Turley present and critically evaluate
grounded theory (GT) as a “fruitful method for business-to-business re-
search in general and sales research in particular” (2003, p. 580). Glaser
and Strauss (1967) originally developed grounded theory as a qualita-
tive research methodology, the objective of which is to build theory di-
rectly from field data (Mello & Flint, 2009). Geiger and Turley (2003)
observe, “Grounded Theory is conceived of as a way of studying social ac-
tors as well as their relationships, interactions, and conflicts in an ever-
changing world. In this sense, it seems particularly suitable for marketing
and sales research, because these areas often necessitate research tools
that are more accommodating of the complexity and fluidity of person-
to-person interaction than [are] standard survey instruments.”
Because we investigate the social behavior of key account managers
who employ networking tools and how such use affects the managers'
relationships with key customers, we felt GT would be particularly rel-
evant. Moreover, no previous academic research has been performed
or theories developed in that specific field.
Because Glaser and Strauss (1967) recommend “real life immersion of
the researcher in the sphere to be researched,” we looked for participants
who use the tools we wanted to investigate, that is, key account man-
agers who have a profile on LinkedIn and Viadeo (the French version
of LinkedIn3) and, more specifically, who are members of KAM groups
created on both social media sites. We sent a message to key account
managers who met these criteria and invited the managers to partici-
pate in an academic study on their use of social networks—to be carried
out either by phone or face-to-face. More than 20 key account managers
in various positions (ranging from national account to global account
managers) agreed to be interviewed, which represented an approxi-
mately 20% positive answer rate (although more people agreed to an in-
terview but did not really use social media). We focused on a
homogeneous cultural background, that is, French key account
managers.
For triangulation purposes (Yin, 2003, p. 98), we also invited individ-
uals such as social media community leaders and managers to partici-
pate. We stopped the search for new informants when the ideas
expressed began to be redundant, and the research had reached “theo-
retical saturation” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).
3.2. Data collection
Within the key sample characteristics in Table 1, the participants
work for industrial or service companies ranging from medium-sized
manufacturers to a few CAC 40 firms (i.e., the 40 largest French compa-
nies listed on the Paris stock exchange).
In developing our sample, we aimed to maximize diversity among
the participants, that is, men and women whose ages ranged from 30
to 55 years.
To interview the participants, we used the mixed interview method
described by Romelaer (2005). In this method, the informant speaks
spontaneously after the researcher introduces the theme of the inter-
view with short sentences. The researcher then merely guides the inter-
view, when necessary, with reformulations. We used reformulations
and refocusing questions to maintain the discussion during the inter-
view within the intended scope of the research, but we did not use a for-
mal interview guide, just a list of themes (which we did not forward to
the informant) related to the research that we eventually used for the
refocusing questions.
The themes to be covered during the interviews were about (1) the
informant's personal data (position, industry, experience), (2) the
3
http://fr.viadeo.com/en/.
characteristics of the social media tools used and (3) the differentiation
between professional versus personal use. Our aim was also to (4) link
social media to the different stages of the key customer relationship
(initiation, development, maturity) and (5) collect information about
the use of social media versus other traditional tools (face-to-face
meetings, email, etc.), encouraging the informants to make use of
storytelling. The main advantage of this method is that it helps the re-
searcher maintain some distance (and not be too intrusive), and in an
atmosphere of trust, the informant can provide extensive data.
In the present situation, the introductory question aimed to help
participants to talk about the way they are using social media, “As a
key account manager, do you use social media? Which sites? Precisely
how do you use them, and how does social media help you in your
professional life?”
Generally, the meeting was ending on a final question to providing
some insights on the future, “How do you see your use of social media
evolving in the near future?”
The interviews lasted, on average, one to two hours. Each interview
was either handwritten or audiotaped and transcribed. To identify the
different social media uses, we created a model; to reach that final
stage, we used grounded theory coding, which involves open, axial
and selective coding (e.g., Strauss & Corbin, 1998). As the first check
on the reliability of our findings, we followed Miles and Huberman's
(2003, p. 126) procedure: We coded the first verbatim transcription
twice, once manually and then with the NVivo software. We reached
an intra-coding rate of 87%, which gave us confidence to use the
NVivo coding for the rest of our transcriptions. Once we had coded
several transcriptions and had stabilized our coding plan, we asked an
independent researcher fluent in qualitative research methodologies
to review our first verbatim transcriptions and coding plan. We
discussed some minor points of divergence to agree on the final coding
plan. We corrected the NVivo coding plan before we resumed the cod-
ing process.
As the second check of the reliability of our results, we presented
them to our informants in a workshop. The participants then shared
their views in a group discussion. The informants offered minor sugges-
tions regarding the wording of our results and agreed with the overall
structure and outcome. The transcriptions, the coding process and our
informants' trustworthiness assessment gave us confidence that our
results captured, at that stage, the most important issues regarding
the use of social media by key account managers.
4. Results
For clarity, we present the informants' most revealing comments in
appendix, sorted by topic, which we detail in the following sections.
4.1. Perception of social media by key account managers
Most interviewed key account managers perceive social media is not
being used to its full potential for two major reasons. First, some key
account managers do not foresee the dynamic of social media to build
key customer relationships as they see it as a “static” tool such as a
“gigantic organization chart” or an address book; second, there has
been no major “push” from key customers to use such tools (requests
from buyers or other customers' counterparts to communicate via social
media seem to remain mostly at the level of a few individual initiatives).
Furthermore, social media is not recognized as a professional tool in
many companies, and access may even be forbidden on company pre-
mises (Fagard, 2015). Even when the use of social media is allowed, in
most cases, there is no clear guidance; thus, key account managers
adapt their own behavior and their use of social media, following a
“blurred” boundary between the “personal/private” and “professional”
areas.
Thus, most of the key account managers choose their own social
media network and navigate on the network(s) with the feeling they
 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43 37

Table 1
Social media study: List of participants.

Participant's ID Function Industry Meeting type Contacted via

Participant 1 Smart grid M&A and partnerships director Energy Face-to-face LinkedIn
Participant 2 Key account manager — industry Fasteners & fixings Phone Viadeo
Participant 3 Key account manager E-business automotive Phone Viadeo
Participant 4 Key account manager Interim/recruitment Face-to-face Viadeo
Participant 5 President Consultancy Face-to-face Viadeo
Participant 6 National key account manager Facility services Phone Viadeo
Participant 7 Key account manager Banking Phone Viadeo
Participant 8 Key account manager Insurance by Internet Phone Viadeo
Participant 9 Global account manager Energy Face-to-face LinkedIn
Participant 10 Key accounts multichannel process automation Dematerialization of supplier invoices Face-to-face Viadeo/mail
Participant 11 Key account manager Energy Face-to-face Viadeo/mail
Participant 12 Key account manager IT Face-to-face LinkedIn/mail
Participant 13 Global account manager IT Phone Viadeo/mail
Participant 14 Key account manager Anchoring techniques and artificial intelligence — training Phone LinkedIn
Participant 15 Key account manager Stationery Phone LinkedIn
Participant 16 Strategic account manager Sunglasses, protection glasses Phone LinkedIn
Participant 17 Key account engineer Service distributor of electronics and maintenance products Phone LinkedIn
Participant 18 Key account manager Packaging Phone Viadeo
Participant 19 Sales & key accounts Automotive Phone Viadeo
Participant 20 Key account director Appliances Face-to-face Physical network
Participant 21 Change manager IT Face-to-face Via another participant
Participant 22 Community manager IT Face-to-face another participant

are moving in a “gray” area and defining themselves by their own
rules—or they try to be safe by following what their colleagues or boss
is doing.
In that context, key account managers mostly use social media to
create a personal profile on a professional background. The descriptions
the informants use in their comments, “centered on me” and “a personal
image,” lead to a narcissistic vision of their professional profile because
there is no or a weak link with their company. Thus, social media reflects
individuals' education, experience and competencies and is integrated
as a tool for forging a professional identity on the individual level.
However, there is a very strong differentiation between social media
used in a personal or professional context and social media used for
purely private purposes. Most of the participants have a Facebook
page, which they use for purely private purposes, whereas the partici-
pants use LinkedIn and Viadeo in a professional context. The partici-
pants perceive that Viadeo has a smaller scope and is limited to a
French context, whereas they perceive LinkedIn as attracting profes-
sionals from a higher level (top management) with a more international
scope. As a result, key account managers who deal with national key
accounts tend to be on Viadeo more, whereas key account managers
who deal with international purchasing centers focus more on LinkedIn.
Proposition 1. Because there seems to be a corporate “no man's land”
concerning the professional use of social media by key account managers,
with little guidance and rules, most are left alone to define their use of social
media, which may explain why they first use those tools (specifically Viadeo
or LinkedIn) to create their personal/professional profile. Their first concern
is to use social media to unveil their professional identity.
In addition to using social media to forge their professional identity,
most key account managers stress that they are searching for potential
key customers. The participants emphasize the dynamic process of
using social media to give credibility to what they do and the business
they want to develop. They are looking for skill certifications and recom-
mendations, they want to demonstrate their skills and expertise
(communicating within specialized groups), and they want to share
information with buyers (e.g., blogging) to better understand and
align with the latter's interests. Thus, these managers try to create inter-
actions not only with (potential) key customers but also with a larger
audience within the managers' area of expertise.
Proposition 1bis: In addition to creating their personal/professional
profile, key account managers use social media to position themselves,
to signal their expertise to build their professional reputation and
their credibility. In that way, they use social media to create “personal”
value.
4.2. Key account relationship connection through social media
Key account managers also use social media to start building
relationships with their (potential) key customers by “connecting” to
them. We separate the first steps of building this relationship into two
phases: the preparation and the initiation of the relationship.
4.2.1. Key account relationship preparation through social media
In marketing, generating leads is the process of collecting names and
contact information about qualified prospects, who will be contacted by
salespeople for direct selling. Salespeople can use social media during
the process.
Key account managers, as salespeople, also seek to develop new key
accounts and try to contact the “right” person within a targeted custom-
er. Whereas salespeople may rely on the marketing department to use
content marketing to bring in a large number of qualified prospects,
key account managers may work on a single qualified prospect they
have defined as a potential key account. They need to understand the
customer organization to find the appropriate contact.
The participants use Viadeo and LinkedIn not only to search for the
right contact but also to get “upstream” information about that contact:
his or her own contacts, experience and interests and how to get in
touch with that contact through, eventually, a third party who may
serve as an introduction link. The participants use social media to
prepare the relationship initiation.
4.2.2. Key account relationship initiation through social media
Among the participants, participant 7 and 4 stress the difficulty of
reaching prospects by phone and being blocked by a secretary who in-
vite them to send an email request while they both explain the benefit
of using social media (see Appendix): the buyer or potential contact
will feel less harassed if he or she receives a social media notification
or is connected to the key account manager via a common acquaintance,
as he or she may study the key account manager's profile and decide to
answer the request or not. Key account managers and buyers seem to
perceive social media is less “intrusive” than phone canvassing.
38 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
When the key account manager has properly unveiled his or her
level of expertise and professional credibility (see Proposition 1bis),
the buyer may be enticed to answer the connection request.
The buyer or customer's counterpart may even reverse his or her
“calculative commitment” to the incumbent supplier. Marketing
scholars (Sashi, 2012) defines “calculative commitment” as a rational
choice and as a “lack of alternative suppliers [that] creates lock-in or stick-
iness with the current supplier” (2012, p. 266). We posit that a buyer in
such a situation may find in a key account manager's profile information
that may let him or her think that such a new (potential) supplier may
“unlock” the situation and offer a supply alternative worth
studying—the reason the social media contact may lead to the first in-
teraction. Thus, the buyer makes a rational choice by thinking about
opening his or her supplier portfolio to a newcomer, which can be the
first step toward a future commitment and engagement.
Proposition 2. Key account managers' second concern is to use social
media to connect to the targeted key customer. Such a connection relies
on a two-step approach, preparing and initiating the relationship with
the key customer, which can be defined as creating the first steps for
engagement with key customers.
Nevertheless, in key account management, this process for acquiring
key accounts remains limited (the purpose of key account management
is to select a limited number of strategic customers). Instead, key
account managers use social media to obtain a better understanding
of their key customers' counterparts and decision makers to develop
and nurture the relationship.
4.3. Key account relationship networking through social media
The key success factors of key account managers are related to the
following issues investigated by Abratt and Kelly (2002). Key account
managers must have the ability to identify problems and provide
solutions within their key accounts. These managers must understand
the customer's main concerns. They must be familiar with their
customer's competitors and what effect they have on the customer's
businesses. Key account managers must anticipate the customer's
future needs and should have a sound knowledge of the customer's
strategic direction. Close interpersonal relationships between key
account managers and their key account customers are essential to
the success of the long-term partnership. To obtain this deep under-
standing of their key customer, key account managers must develop
their network to anticipate their key customers' next move, as Partici-
pant 17 describes it:
Viadeo and LinkedIn allow you to better know the interests of key
accounts' decision makers and their own “connections.” They allow
you to follow globalized customers, even if they have presently no global
purchases, but you may anticipate such future purchasing structure by
analyzing stakeholders worldwide (especially with LinkedIn). This
anticipation means to expand your network of influence across borders
and understand the ramifications between countries. This is going into a
spider web to untangle the threads.
The core competency of key account managers is forging a network
of relationships, beyond buyers, to better understand and anticipate
their customers' needs. To build this network at different hierarchical
levels, across different functions and often in different countries, key
account managers must map a relationship. As described by Webster
and Wind (1972), the key customer's buying center consists of people
with different roles: deciders, users, influencers and gatekeepers. Key
account managers must identify the people who play those different
roles within their customer organization and outside the customer's
internal organization—that is, within the customer external network,
including the retailer, the customer's customer and third parties (Cova
& Salle, 2008). Social media networking helps key account managers
who are responsible for the different levels of interactions. This
networking approach can go through contacts, who are external to the
customer company but can introduce the key account manager to peo-
ple within the customer network. Information pulled from social media
networking (also via colleagues or competitors) helps key account man-
agers build competitive intelligence and benchmark and steer their own
operational moves toward their key customers.
Merging internal (within the customer network) and external
(outside the customer network) networking helps key account
managers get a better understanding and plan increased involvement
in their customers' business, which leads to trust building and
forging emotional bonds with key customers' representatives,
what Gustafsson, Johnson, and Roos (2005) describe as “affective
commitment.”
Proposition 3. Social media helps key account managers gather informa-
tion beyond the “borders” of key accounts and by networking with
colleagues, competitors, customers' own customers and third parties
(e.g., consultants), social media is an effective tool for obtaining a deep un-
derstanding of key customers as the first step toward building affective
commitment (Sashi, 2012), which is key for retaining customers.
4.4. From key account virtual relationship management to a physical (face-
to-face) one
Our informants stress the role of social media in the pre-relationship
or initial stage and that they quickly abandon virtual relationships for
traditional relationship tools, such as face-to-face meetings, telephone
calls and emails. Most participants perceive social media as a connection
tool, a means of initiating the first contact to bring the contact into the
traditional funnel of relationships. Most of the informants do not
consider social media a means for nurturing and developing relation-
ships. Relationship management remains within the scope of traditional
business relationship management; for most of the participants, the
word “relationship” is connected to the physical encounter.
The managers do not recognize virtual relationships as deep
relationships, and the participants feel that inter-organizational links
start with interpersonal links. This attitude is discussed by Abratt and
Kelly (2002), who observe that the formation of close interpersonal
relationships between key account managers and their key account
customers is essential for a successful long-term partnership. The
interviewed key account managers feel that interpersonal relationships
cannot be built in a virtual world and that physical encounters prevail.
Most key account managers feel that the human relationships that
they develop with their key customers represent their added value.
They stress this human relationship as the core value of key account
relationship management.
Participant 17 observes:
“Human relationships also help to bring added value by maintaining the
link purchaser/key account manager. It is also thanks to the human
relationship that we can maintain sales turnover in a declining market.”
Participant 4 says:
“What makes the difference in our KAM business, it really is the
relationship with the buyer, as we work together to sell internally the
agreement that we concluded—it is a ‘couple’ relationship.”
We touch here on the “intrapreneurial” dimension of the key
account manager, who, in a mature relationship, is bound to the buyer
to roll out the framework contract they both signed. As key account
managers more and more sell solutions or hybrid offerings (Ulaga &
Reinartz, 2011), a key account manager works with a buyer to effective-
ly deploy the involved services; thus, the managers' interpersonal bonds
are key to the success of the deployment.
 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
One reason key account managers are eager to move away from
social media to develop a relationship with their key customers is the
issue of cyber-security and confidentiality. When a company's compet-
itive advantage depends on the customization of sold solutions, the
company does not want competitors to be aware of the details of the
offering.
Proposition 4. To build long-term relationships and connect with a key
customer with calculative and effective commitment (Sashi, 2012), key
account managers feel they need to switch, at an earlier stage, from virtual
to physical relationships. Customers cannot be retained through virtual
relationships alone; face-to-face involvement is required to create customer
engagement.
5. Discussion
5.1. Presentation of a model of key account managers' use of social media
As presented in our results, we have built four propositions derived
from the empirical data. By linking together those four propositions, we
are now in a position to create a model of key account managers' use of
social media.
This model, with the different building blocks, is represented under
Fig. 1.
The first proposition, which highlights how key account managers
first use social media to unveil their professional identity, is represented
within a building block called “identity”. This building block leads to a
second one, which represents Proposition 1bis: how the professional
identity is the first social media foundational level from which the key
account managers will derive their personal value and start to be inter-
active (sharing, posting, blogging, and belonging to virtual communi-
ties). Hence, they will begin forging their reputation and credibility.
According to our second proposition, this reputation and credibility
will help the key account managers connect to potential key customers
(leading to the “connection” building block). This is because buyers will
be more open to connect to someone they find credible and convincing
in his role. From “connection”, the key account managers will move
Fig. 1. A model of key account managers' use of social media.
39
along a timeline to reach another step and a building block called
“retention”, which represents our third proposition: how internal and
external networking help managers improve their understanding of
key customers and take the first step toward building effective commit-
ment (Sashi, 2012), which is a key for retaining customers.
Our fourth proposition leads to another building block, “engage-
ment”. This is the switch from virtual to “face-to-face” relationships —
the willingness of key account managers to move into the “real” world
as soon as possible.
5.2. Implications
The model uncovers three levels of social media use and networking.
The first level is the narcissistic vision of key account managers' profes-
sional profiles, which uncover self-centered networking, emphasizing
an expertise in KAM (the managers are members of KAM communities
and blog). Second, social media tools are used to create virtual connec-
tions with new key customers and to retain customers by using interac-
tions within the customer network or with external stakeholders
who often belong or belonged to the physical network of connections
but in a remote position, for example, competitors (occasionally ex-
colleagues) or own suppliers. The third level of networking is to deepen
customer engagement by entering the real world.
Thus, two major networks (internal and external to the key custom-
er) are entangled because within those two networks are many
common connections (for instance, a competitor works with the same
key customer). Key account managers use their external networks to
connect to targeted contacts within their key customer network
(e.g., a consultant who can help reach a decision maker).
At the same time, there is a tension between the two networks. The
fact that the key account managers cannot segment their use of social
media between their external and key account networks may be the
major reason why managers do not use (or seldom use) social media
to develop and nurture key account relationships. In the interviews,
the participants focus using social media primarily and mostly to initiate
relationships, which the participants then move out of the virtual
world to manage with traditional tools (face-to-face meetings, phone
meetings and emails). The main reason for this focus is that key account
40 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
managers want to hide their customized actions and offerings from the
overall network and avoid providing competitors any insight into what
they are doing with their key accounts. Even when the managers' exter-
nal networks are not open to competitors, the participants are not
confident about mastering the web of connections that have access to
the participants' profiles.
Social media offers key account managers a “coopetitive” network-
ing approach; on the one hand, they can access a large number of
connections in a cooperative approach to connect to their key customer
organization. On the other hand, the social media principle is to offer
very open connections so that everyone can see what is posted or
shared, including competitive information because competitive intelli-
gence works both ways.
The other tension, which also explains why key account managers
do not use social media much in managing key accounts to nurture
interactions, is the tension between the personal and professional and
the company aspects. Many managers are concerned about the image
they provide with social media; they use this virtual tool to build their
reputation and expertise as key account managers, and they use such
attributes to leverage their presence on social media. However, most
participants report that they receive no backup or guidance from their
own companies. The participants browse social media sites from their
homes and use free versions. In many cases, the participants' companies
are also present on social media but mostly through the marketing
department to create brand and product awareness or enhancement.
Some scholars claim better alignment between marketing and sales
(Homburg, Droll, & Totzek, 2008; Joshi & Gimenez, 2014), particularly in
the case of being present on social media (Liyakasa, 2013; Sabnis,
Chatterjee, Grewal, & Lilien, 2012). However, our research shows this
new paradigm is far from having reached in most firms. This slowness
also may be a hindrance for key account managers who attempt to le-
verage their own practice with corporate practices.
Our findings also emphasize the switch from virtual to human/phys-
ical relationships. Although we have previously exposed the reasons
linked to the confidentiality of key account relationship management,
other reasons may be linked to French cultural idiosyncrasies. In The
Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business,
Erin Meyer (2014) suggests different scales for measuring cultural
differences. One scale is about “trusting,” and countries are rat from
task-based to relationship-based. For some countries, trust is based on
business-related activities, whereas for some others, trust is based on
personal interactions (sharing meals, sharing time with one another).
Not surprisingly, the United States is on the far end of the continuum
with high task-based relationships, whereas France is more toward
the opposite side, or relationship based. An examination of articles in
which scholars study the use of social media in sales and B2B relation-
ships shows that almost all are performed in the United States or by
U.S. scholars. For instance, Marshall et al. (2012, p. 358) observe,
“Today, social media technology appears to be affecting traditional
approaches to these central characteristics of the sales role to the point
that in certain instances, salespeople are having completely virtual
relationships with clients.” This is the opposite of our findings, although
we need to be cautious because the authors studied salespeople, not
key account managers.
However, the trusting scale shows that U.S. customer-facing people
are less reluctant to adopt virtual relationships because they are more
focused on building trust via business activities, whereas French
customer-facing individuals are more focused on developing trust and
the relationship via physical social activities such as face-to-face meet-
ings and sharing lunches.
By definition, key account managers focus on developing a relation-
ship with their key customers, but French culture may reinforce the
managers' willingness to move as soon as possible from a virtual to a
human/physical relationship.
This willingness to move from virtual to face-to-face relationships
may define a type of French guanxi. Guanxi is a Chinese term and a
specific Chinese form of relationship. Wang (2007) defined guanxi as
composed of two Chinese characters, guan (gate) and xi (connection):
“one must pass the gate to get connected to networks” (p. 81). If we trans-
pose the term to this study, social media represents the gate that allows
French key account managers to enter human or physical networks. In
this study, we do not find the reciprocal obligations contained in guanxi.
However, we find the same willingness to turn a virtual and impersonal
relationship into a personal relationship and the creation of an “insider”
network (between the key account manager and people from the key
customer organization) in which trust and empathy function as pillars
to support the building of a long-term relationship.
5.3. Theoretical contribution
Our study contributes to the enrichment of previous studies by in-
troducing a new perspective on social media.
For instance, Kietzmann et al. (2011) present a framework of “seven
building blocks - identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relation-
ships, reputation, and groups - firms can monitor and understand how
social media activities vary in terms of their function and impact, so as
to develop a congruent social media strategy” (2011, p. 250). In a
2012 article, Kietzmann et al. draws further on the previous article
and emphasize how “researchers should focus on the fundamental build-
ing blocks of social media to understand how consumer behavior is chang-
ing” (2012, p. 116).
In the present study, we move further from the functional building
blocks described by Kietzmann et al.'s (2011) to investigate and under-
stand how social media is used in a business, and not a consumer, mar-
ket environment, specifically how a company functions, key account
managers, use the different traits of social media activities and how
they can interrelate them.
Thus, we bring a different perspective to Kietzmann et al.’s, 2011
honeycomb. Kietzmann et al. (2011); Kietzmann, Silvestre, McCarthy,
and Pitt (2012) present reputation in a different building block than
identity whereas our research shows that reputation is rooted in and
strongly related to their professional identity but also to their own per-
sonal experience and expertise, which forge their credibility. This triad
identity, reputation and credibility is the foundation that will make
the (social media) connection with the targeted key customer possible
(or not), as the buyer or the key customer's counterpart will answer
any connection request by studying available information on the key ac-
count manager's identity, reputation and credibility on social media. It is
a major antecedent to the concept of connection.
Kietzmann et al. (2011) also refer to social media as a method for
maintaining or building relationships. Our research shows that key ac-
count managers mainly focus on using social media to create targeted
connections via a two-step process (preparing and initiating the con-
nection) and look to increase connections within or outside the key cus-
tomer organization. However, key account managers do not maintain
key customer relationships via social media. To engage customers
(long-term relationships, which are the symbol of KAM), the managers
move to traditional “face-to-face” interactions. Thus, the present study
shows the limitation of social media within the key customer engage-
ment life cycle.
From that perspective, this research contributes to link the use of so-
cial media to different phases of the key customer relationship. If we
refer more specifically to Sashi's (2012) customer engagement cycle,
we can enrich this model by linking our empirical data to this conceptu-
al approach (see Fig. 2). In the KAM approach, the use of social media is
key to the connection phase (finding and reaching the right contact).
Using social media has an indirect effect on retaining key customers,
as key account managers use internal and external networking to deep-
en their understanding of their key accounts and customize their offer-
ings. Key account managers develop long-term relationships (customer
engagement) via traditional face-to-face relationships. Social media no
longer plays a major role in repeated interactions. Thus, key customer
 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
Fig. 2. The key customer engagement cycle.
satisfaction, commitment (especially affective commitment) and advo-
cacy are related to the creation of physical and emotional bonds than
through the use of social media.
If we try to relate this key customer engagement cycle to the KAM
taxonomy defined by Homburg et al. (2002) in their 2002 seminal arti-
cle, we can posit that social media supports the present development of
cross-functional, dominant KAM, in which activities are “intense and are
proactively created” (2002, p. 52), the fact that “these companies are
completely focused on their key accounts” today leads most of them to in-
clude social media in managing these accounts.
At the opposite, top management KAM, for which 86.1% of key ac-
count coordinators are based in the suppliers' headquarters, shows
that physical contacts may still be used in all phases of KAM (which is
borne out by the fact that some informants declined to participate in
the research as they did not use social media at all in their KAM activi-
ties). This work shows how KAM programs can blend virtual and phys-
ical interactions according to the different phases of the key customer
engagement cycle.
5.4. Managerial contribution
From a managerial viewpoint, we offer key account managers a re-
flective tool for their practices. This model may help those who were re-
luctant to use social networking to enter the social media field by
measuring the issues and defining their own strategy for managing
key account relationships.
This model can also help redefine the missions of KAM team mem-
bers. One participant declined the interview as he did not use social
media at all to manage his key accounts, but wished to be invited to
the focus group, during which the results of the research were present-
ed and discussed. The discussions persuaded him to appoint a young
graduate as an internal key account assistant in charge of gathering
key customer intelligence via social media and to target new key cus-
tomers. Recently, the participant confirmed he was quite happy with
41
this new organization, in which he was dealing with physical KAM,
whereas the virtual connections, initiated by his assistant, were starting
to bring in potential key customers.
He recognized that, without this meeting, he would have created the
junior key account manager position in charge of finding new key cus-
tomers in the traditional way but felt this would not have been as effi-
cient as using social media to initiate connections.
This is a good example how social media can help key account man-
agers and directors re-engineer their organization and no longer split
their account allocation by key customers but by the different phases
of the customer engagement cycle, with overlap between the virtual
and physical interactions to reinforce the team activities toward greater
key customer understanding.
This is also an opportunity to get young graduates to join KAM teams
with a back-office role with the responsibility of managing virtual inter-
actions, to prepare connections and work on competitive intelligence.
These missions will reinforce the key account managers' physical inter-
actions and customized offerings.
This study is the first approach that provides key account managers,
but also top management, with valuable guidelines for including social
media in KAM programs.
5.5. Conclusion, limitations and avenues for research
Further to previous purely conceptual models (Kietzmann et al.,
2011; Sashi, 2012) related to social media use, we present here a first
model derived from empirical data related to the use of social media
by key account managers. As a result, we build a bridge between the
use of social media and key account management.
From a managerial viewpoint, the study offers key account man-
agers a reflective tool for their present and future practices.
The major finding of our study is to pinpoint that virtual social net-
working, in terms of key account management, is the first step toward
42 S. Lacoste / Industrial Marketing Management 54 (2016) 33–43
more personal and physical relationships as a type of entrance gate
toward customer engagement.
Schultz et al. (2012) and Moncrief et al. (2015) emphasize that
salespeople should use social media at every stage of the sales process.
However, this approach does not seem relevant for the key account
managers we interviewed since they are not keen to nurture relation-
ships by using social media. This is the major difference between selling
and managing key customers. In the first case, selling targets many
(potential) customers, often with standard products or services, and
social media may help reach and work with as many targets as possible.
In the case of key customers, managers search for a limited number of
customers with a strategic and operational “fit”; the role of the key
account manager is to develop the “fit” by customizing the offering.
This must be done far from the competitive arena, which is not possible
with social media. The need for discretion prevails over the use of social
media. In summary, sales and key account managers share only the
“upstream” use of social media; that is, they use social media as an ad-
dress book to enlarge their network (customer or external network),
to build their personal or professional reputations, and to increase
their sphere of “influence” (O'Leary, 2011).
Similar to all academic studies, this study has several limitations. The
study focuses on LinkedIn and Viadeo and ignores other social media
sites, such as Twitter, YouTube and blogs. However, this was the out-
come of the empirical data; very few key account managers interviewed
use the other social media sites, or when they use blogs and other sites,
the participants utilize their LinkedIn connections to share them.
Facebook was almost never mentioned in the professional sphere
(only the private one).
We also discuss what may be some idiosyncratic features of French
KAM with our proposition of a French guanxi approach. A natural step
for further research would be a multicultural study of how cultural
background affects the professional use of social media.
We present what we believe were the most important aspects of the
present use of social media by key account managers. However, because
the topic is new, countless avenues are open for future research. In the
future, social media will play a larger role in key account management,
allowing additional research on the transversal role of key account
management and changes in supplier and key customer relationships,
to name only a few. We hope that this research opens the door for future
articles on the role of social media in key account management.
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx.
doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.12.010.
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