The Role of Using Social Media in the Performance of Manufacturers in Industrial Marketing (Case Study: Industries in western Iran)

Social media are always considered as an important source for industrial marketing research. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of social media on the manufacturers’ performance in western Iran. For this purpose, the impact of using social media on variables, includingmanufacturers’ personal goals ( Bulletin et al., 2011), The benefits of research media (Homburg et al., 2010; Schultz, 2012), support of producers from each (Schultz et al., 2012), manufacturers’ characteristics (Kotler and Keller, 2012) and manufacturers’ perceptions (McShane and Von, 2005). The questionnaire containing 37 indicators confirmed by experts was used to measure the variables. The present study was a descriptive-correlational research in terms of the method. The sample was randomly selected. The population of this study consisted of all manufacturers in the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and Ilam. The statistical sample included manufactures. The results showed that the use of social media in order to align personal goals with industrial purposes with an emphasis on the characteristics and perceptions of manufacturers has a considerable impact on increasing their performance.

social media, performance, manufacturers' characteristics