How advertising in offline media drives reach of and engagement with brands on Facebook

ABSTRACT

Research investigating the drivers of consumers’ engagement with brands on social media is proliferating. However, little is known about how advertising outside social media drives engagement with brands on social media. This study aims to explore the relation between advertising spend in different offline media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, out of home), and reach of and engagement with brand pages on Facebook. The study uses a unique real-life data-set containing information about the Facebook pages of 45 brands for approximately three years combined with Nielsen Advertising Spend data. Results showed that while advertising in offline media influenced organic and viral reach, the number of page likes was directly influenced by advertising on Facebook only. It can be concluded that offline advertising is relevant in driving consumers’ online brand engagement; however, there is a unique set of drivers for organic reach, viral reach and likes.     

The impact of pronoun choices on consumer engagement actions: Exploring top global brands' social media communications

To enhance the understanding of consumer engagement with brand content on social media, this study examines how pronoun choices affect different types of consumer engagement (e.g., likes, comments, shares) by simultaneously exploring five different pronoun types (first-person singular, first-person plural, second person, third-person singular, and third-person plural). Furthermore, this study explores how the effects of these linguistic (pronoun) choices vary across two brand classifications: characteristics (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and offerings (goods vs. services). The proposed multivariate Poisson regression model, analyzing 15,788 unique brand posts from Facebook over an 8-month period, reveals differences in engagement due to pronoun usage across brand classifications. These results offer a deeper understanding of how the way brands talk to consumers on social media platforms influences consumers' attitudes (likes), propensity to engage with the brand (comments), and willingness to share branded content with their social networks (shares) across different brand classifications.     

Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook

Abstract

Sport fans develop unique and engaging relationships with their favourite sport teams, both offline and online. However, research on sport fan engagement is still limited in relation to social media. The purpose of this research is to understand why and how sport fans engage with clubs on social media. Following the Uses and Gratifications approach and the Consumers’ Online Brand-Related Activities framework, seven motivations (Information, Entertainment, Personal Identity, Integration and Social Interaction, Empowerment, Remuneration and Brand Love) and three dimensions of online engagement behaviours (Consumption, Contribution and Creation) were considered. A web-based survey was conducted among football club fans of a major UEFA league on Facebook, resulting in 562 responses. The need for Information, Empowerment and Brand Love mainly drive Consumption, Contribution and Creation, respectively, while the need for Integration and Social Interaction emerged as the second most important motivation overall. This study contributes to the emerging research on social media use in the sport marketing literature, thus revealing additional opportunities for managers to engage their fan base online.     

Popularity of Brand Posts on Brand Fan Pages: An Investigation of the Effects of Social Media Marketing

Social media outlets constitute excellent vehicles for fostering relationships with customers. One specific way to do this is to create brand fan pages on social networking sites. Companies can place brand posts (containing videos, messages, quizzes, information, and other material) on these brand fan pages. Customers can become fans of these brand fan pages, and subsequently indicate that they like the brand post or comment on it. This liking and commenting on brand posts reflects brand post popularity. In this article, we determine possible drivers for brand post popularity. We analyze 355 brand posts from 11 international brands spread across six product categories.Results show that positioning the brand post on top of the brand fan page enhances brand post popularity. But the findings also indicate that different drivers influence the number of likes and the number of comments. Namely, vivid and interactive brand post characteristics enhance the number of likes. Moreover, the share of positive comments on a brand post is positively related to the number of likes. The number of comments can be enhanced by the interactive brand post characteristic, a question. The shares of both positive and negative comments are positively related to the number of comments. Managers of brands that operate brand fan pages can be guided by our research with regards to deciding which characteristics or content to place at brand posts.     

How virtual brand community traces may increase fan engagement in brand pages

Brand pages in social media are a great way to foster consumer gathering around a brand, but it can be challenging to keep fans engaged and coming back to see updated content. Brands with millions of fans on Facebook have seen organic reach fall below 2% of their base. In this article, we describe how the creation of virtual brand communities can help brand managers increase fan engagement. We suggest the steps, conditions, advantages, and limitations involved in nurturing a brand page as an online social gathering that assumes some of the characteristics of a virtual brand community. The results of our study show that a brand page can have some of the characteristics of a virtual brand community—topical information exchange, identity communication, and establishment and internalization of cultural norms. We also show the importance of having celebrities among fans in order to foster social interactions and legitimate social practices on brand pages.     

Trialogue on Facebook pages of grocery stores: Customer engagement or customer enragement?

Abstract

The pervasiveness of social media is compelling businesses to review their way of managing customer experiences. Businesses use social media to interact and engage with customers. Several studies have studied why businesses have adopted social media. However, there is a dearth of research as to why customers interact with businesses on social media in the grocery sector. This paper aims to explore how and why customers react to corporate messages on Facebook pages of Tesco and Walmart. Netnography approach was adopted to gain an insight into the various ways customers engage with the grocery stores on its Facebook pages. This study reveals that social media empower customers, influence the relationships customers have with grocery stores and generate customer engagement. Findings also show that the social customer is both a curse and a blessing to Tesco and Walmart when they create or destroy value for the business. This paper contributes to knowledge by (1) uncovering how customers react to corporate and customer posts on corporate Facebook pages; (2) showing how value can be created and destroyed; and (3) proposing a model illustrating how the main constructs of the study are interconnected: social media, relationship marketing, customer empowerment and customer engagement.     

The Difference a Smile Makes: Effective Use of Imagery by Children’s Nonprofit Organizations

ABSTRACT

Which emotions are most appealing to donors in nonprofit outreach materials? Previous studies have shown that in print and television materials, images depicting negative emotions lead to increases in donor response. In this study, we examined whether images of negative affect in children in social media appeals lead to increased information sharing compared to positive or neutral images of children. We analyzed Facebook posts from 2016 from 2 large children’s nongovernmental organizations, UNICEF USA and Save the Children US, and examined the relationship between the type of emotion in the image and the number of likes, comments, and shares that the post received. We found differences in the responses according to the organization sending the message and the affect of the children depicted. For Save the Children US, negative images, specifically sad and fearful images, generated significantly more likes, shares, and comments. For UNICEF USA, there was no difference in information sharing for positive, neutral, or negative images. Findings from this study demonstrate that negative emotional imagery of children can affect social media engagement with nongovernmental organizations, but this effect appears to be inconsistent.     

Consumer engagement behaviors in the online wildlife trade: Implications for conservationists

This study investigates consumer engagement behaviors in the online wildlife trade, drawing implications for conservationists. The first study undertook a quantitative content analysis of 500 Facebook posts in wildlife trade lateral exchange markets to show how creative strategies, media type and persuasion tactics influence the number of likes and comments that posts receive. The second study then undertook a thematic discourse analysis to develop a rich understanding of the culture, beliefs and motivations that influence how consumers engage in the markets. Findings showed that an overwhelming majority of posts use a functional or informational strategy and that when posts use overt persuasion tactics the number of comments decrease. A conceptual model of how cultural factors may impact the success of marketing strategies is then proposed. These findings have implications for conservationists who seek to build engagement with wildlife trade consumers online.     

Evaluating Facebook brand content popularity for service versus goods offerings

Marketers using social media are struggling with its successful implementation, specifically in engaging their audiences through creation of popular brand content. Yet, creating popular brand content can lead to positive financial and brand outcomes. This research examines Fortune 500 companies' brand content strategies that contribute to Facebook content popularity metrics (i.e., number of likes and comments) for service versus goods offerings. Building on psychological motivation theory and the noted differences in culture and capabilities between goods and service firms, the article analyzes the key differences in service and goods brand content strategies in terms of branding, message appeals, and vividness. The findings from a multivariate multilevel Poisson model show that the use of corporate brand names is more popular for service messages whereas the use of product brand names, images, and videos is more popular for goods messages. Furthermore, service messages generate a higher number of comments than goods messages.     

Social media engagement: a model of antecedents and relational outcomes

This article investigates individual-level antecedents and relational outcomes of social media engagement. Social media engagement approached in this study is a three-dimensional construct composed of affective, cognitive and behavioural dimensions. Surveying more than 48 Facebook pages, spanning nine product categories and 448 consumers, the results show that product involvement, attitude towards the community and online interaction propensity all impact social media engagement. The study also reveals that high social media engagement increases brand relationships significantly, particularly affecting brand trust, commitment and loyalty. Additionally, community engagement appears as a precursor of brand engagement. These findings provide insight into antecedents and outcomes of engagement for academic research and bring value to online brand and community management.     

Social Networking the Brand—An Exploration of the Drivers of Brand Image in the South African Beer Market

Social network marketing has risen to the fore as an innovative and cost effective method of reaching a target audience. However, owing to the recentness of this marketing technique, there is little scholarly research in this area, especially in emerging markets. This study considered the impact of interactivity and media richness on brand attitude and brand image in the South African beer market. It also tested whether brand involvement has a moderating effect in this regard. The empirical work was conducted through an electronic survey of Facebook fan page users. The results revealed that interactivity had a positive effect on brand attitude, whilst media richness did not. Brand involvement, tested for a moderating effect on the above relationships, was not found to be significant. As expected, brand attitude was found to be strongly linked to brand image in this context. The findings stress the importance of bidirectional communication in favor of media rich design. This suggests that marketers of beer would be well advised to engage with customers on fan pages in routinely responding to their comments and allowing them to upload suitable content. If consumers feel that they have ‘ownership’ of these pages and are able to have a positive influence on brand evolution, fan pages are likely to yield positive results in social media campaigns.     

What You Feel,Is What You Like Influence of Message Appeals on Customer Engagement on Instagram

Visual-based social media are growing exponentially and have become an integrated part of the customer engagement strategy of many brands. Prior work points to the textual message content as a driver of customer engagement behavior. So far, little is known about the impact of visual message content, specifically visual emotional and informative appeals. We extract emotional and informative appeals from Instagram posts using machine learning models and use a Negative Binomial model to explain customer engagement. We test our model on 46.9 K Instagram posts from 59 brands in six sectors. Our results show that visual emotional and informative appeals encoded in brand-generated content influence customer engagement in terms of likes and comments. Specifically, we demonstrate that positive high and negative low arousal images drive customer engagement. Informative appeals do not drive customer engagement with the exception of informative brand-related appeals. These findings help brand managers in developing an effective customer engagement strategy on visual social media.     

Attracting Comments: Digital Engagement Metrics on Facebook and Financial Performance

Many companies are now using social media such as Facebook for advertising and marketing purposes. To understand how using social media affects a company's business performance from a digital engagement perspective, this study examines how user comments on company Facebook posts influence company revenue. S&P 500 companies' revenue information in a five-year time span (from 2010 to 2015) is collected, and this information is matched to more than 24 million user comments directed at these companies' Facebook posts. The hypotheses are tested using static (fixed effects [FE] and random effects [RE]) as well as dynamic (generalized method of moments [GMM]) panel data analyses in econometric methods. The estimation results indicate that digital engagement volume, defined as the total number of Facebook comments a company received, has a significant and positive effect on revenue. In addition, digital engagement valence, defined as the average tone of Facebook comments directed toward a company, also has a significant and positive effect on revenue. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Social Network?: Nonprofit Constituent Engagement Through Social Media

Social media has become an important part of public relations for nonprofit organizations. Social media has the potential to engage stakeholders and constituents of nonprofit organizations. However, little scholarly attention has been focused on how users react to social media posts by nonprofit organizations. To enhance understanding of how organizational social media activity affects users’ engagement, this study examines Facebook and Twitter utilization and user response of nonprofit advocacy groups. The analysis reveals that users respond differently to stimuli across platforms.     

Who is the better player? Off-field battle on Facebook and Twitter

Social media networks have become essential to the modern business world, and are especially vital for sports firms and athletes. Social media networks are new channels for firms to connect with their audience and establish a social customer relationship. For sports firms, athletes play a special role, as they are the firms’ ambassadors and the focus of virtual communities of fans. For most athletes, social media is a powerful tool to take advantage of their time in the spotlight. However, social media has much more potential. This work analyzes the social media profile and content created by six well-known sports figures—Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant—to develop a model (STAR) for social media use. The adoption of this model can enhance fan engagement online and therefore increase athletes’ and firms’ brand value and connectivity with consumers.     

Predicting sports fans’ engagement with culturally aligned social media content: A language expectancy perspective

There is limited research showing how strategically generated content can boost Twitter engagement. The problem is acute for sports clubs with large fan bases. We determine the ideal content generation strategy using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Language Expectancy theory. This study examines whether culturally aligned tweets can improve fan engagement. Using tweets from a sports league, we demonstrate that culturally aligned features may be used to build machine learning and deep learning models that predict a tweet's engagement level. According to our research, culture-specific social media content that meet fans' language expectations can increase Twitter engagement.     

Interact with me on my terms: a four segment Facebook engagement framework for marketers

Abstract

Facebook is used by over 1 billion highly heterogeneous users each month. However, there exists little guidance for marketers when it comes to actionable consumer engagement strategies for this social media platform. The purpose of this article is to profile key segments of Facebook users and build an implementable marketing strategy framework that can help marketers better target their Facebook consumers, and better craft their marketing mix and Facebook campaigns. Based on focus group interviews and a qualitative survey, four distinct types of Facebook users are identified and profiled: attention seekers, devotees, connection seekers and entertainment chasers. Correspondingly, a four-segment marketing strategy framework is proposed to guide content creation and engage consumers in thriving Facebook brand communities.     

Environmental factors to maximize social media engagement: A comprehensive framework

Social media is a crucial tool for companies to reach their customers as additional touch point and build brand awareness, but effectively using these platforms to engage with customers remains an area of research. Branded social media posts are aimed to deepen the customer-brand-relationship in form of social media engagement. In this study, we aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence social media engagement by examining the role of environmental factors, including the type of media and content of brand posts, brand involvement of the company, social media channel used, and cross-channel management strategies. We utilize social cognitive theory as our framework and identify three social media environments that must be considered to create social media engagement: (1) the imposed, (2) the selected, and (3) the created environment. We gather more than 7000 brand posts of twenty global brands using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram giving insights on the driver of social media engagement. By examining these factors, we aim to provide a framework for understanding the drivers of social media engagement and how companies can effectively use social media to engage with their customers.     

Exploring Civic Engagement Through Seniors' Good Citizenship Behavior Within Clubs

The argument for civic engagement is that it enables individuals to feel empowered and shapes their political and social attitudes which are attributes that promote individuals to be better citizens. This study focuses on senior citizens, and we use the place-attachment theory to better understand the good citizenship behavior of seniors within clubs, and we further explore how this behavior affects their civic engagement. The findings provide insights into seniors' civic engagement within the confines of clubs. As a result of these findings, we go on to suggest a framework for understanding the behavior of civic engagement. Our model of seniors' civic engagement in clubs provides greater insights for academics and policy makers on the sources and physical places that can foster communities to come together for shared interaction and cohesion.     

Consumer intentions to engage in s-commerce: a cross-national study

Social media has reached global proportions; yet, little is known about how consumers engage with firms in ways that lead to social commerce (s-commerce) – an emerging area of importance in the literature. This study addresses this gap and extends previous research by examining factors that influence consumers’ intentions to engage in s-commerce in four countries: Chile, Spain, South Africa and Australia. Specifically, this study develops and tests a model of consumers’ intentions to engage in s-commerce through brands’ Facebook pages incorporating personal variables (involvement in brands’ products and services, satisfaction with brands’ Facebook page), trust variables (message credibility of Facebook posts, trust in firms’ Facebook) and social variables (peer communication, social media dependency, online social interaction propensity) on predicting intentions to purchase products and services through brands’ Facebook pages if s-commerce was available to them. The findings show that the main drivers of s-commerce engagement are message credibility, trust in the brands’ Facebook, involvement, peer communication and online social interaction propensity, as influencers of consumer satisfaction with brands’ Facebook and social media dependency, which in turn drive intentions to engage in s-commerce. Contributing to theory and practice, these relationships are discussed for the four countries involved in the study.