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2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 743-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Markowitz-Elfassi ◽  
Moran Yarchi ◽  
Tal Samuel-Azran
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Television News ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Facial Attractiveness ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Central Arena ◽  
Facebook Pages

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of politicians’ facial attractiveness on their online popularity as reflected in audience engagement with their Facebook posts during the 2015 Israeli election campaign. Design/methodology/approach Using Israel’s 2015 election campaign as the case study, the authors analyzed all messages posted (n=501) on 33 politicians’ official Facebook pages during the week leading to Election Day. Findings The results demonstrate that audiences do engage more with posts of the more facially attractive politicians. These posts generated more shares, more comments and more participants in their discussions – but not more likes – relative to posts of less attractive politicians. These effects became even stronger when the posts were accompanied by one or more visual image, and remained significant even after controlling for other engagement predictors, such as a politician’s gender, seniority or the timing of a post’s publication. Social implications The findings emphasize the importance of attractive looks for politicians. The findings highlight that attractive politicians’ posts attract more attention, allowing them to better spread their ideas. Thus, politicians should aim to post aesthetic images and visuals to promote better engagement with their ideas on social media. Originality/value The study expands our understanding of online presentations of politicians, focusing on the effect of politicians’ facial attractiveness on their online popularity. Recent studies have demonstrated that physically attractive politicians enjoy more and better media attention on television news, but not in non-visual media such as radio and newspapers. This effect has not been examined in the social media environment, a central arena for today’s political debates and one that involves many visual messages.

Facebook practices for business communication among fashion retailers

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás Escobar-Rodríguez ◽  
Rocío Bonsón-Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The present study examines relationship building of major players in fashion retailing through social media. Using the theories of word-of-mouth marketing and brand community as theoretical frameworks, this paper analyses the impact of social media marketing in creating brand community. To that end, the use of the popular networking site Facebook was studied. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent and main purposes of the usage of this communication channel and to examine companies’ activity on their Facebook pages as well as to observe their audiences and the effect in their audiences’ engagement. Additionally, this paper analyses the main type of content and the most commonly used type of media. Design/methodology/approach Research was based on a content analysis performed on 2,326 Facebook posts; a sample of 46 international leading companies in the fashion industry was analyzed in the time period between March 1 and May 31, 2015. Findings Facebook audience is positively related to retailer’s size. However, audiences in this sector are not related to the level of activity of the retailers’ Facebook pages. Audience engagement and participation in fashion retailer’s Facebook sites is higher in small retailers. The main content of the Facebook pages of top fashion retailers is marketing, photo albums and videos being the most popular drivers of this means. Originality/value No previous research analyzed fashion retailers use of Facebook sites. This study examines the variables size and engagement of fashion retailers’ audience on Facebook according to retailers’ size and activity on their corporate profiles.

Improving sentiment scoring mechanism: a case study on airline services

2018 ◽  
Vol 118 (8) ◽  
pp. 1578-1596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wandeep Kaur ◽  
Vimala Balakrishnan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Exclamation Mark ◽  
Semantic Orientation ◽  
Social Media Text ◽  
Major Airlines ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Sentiment Score ◽  
Repeated Letter ◽  
Facebook Pages

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of including letter repetition commonly found within social media text and its impact in determining the sentiment scores for two major airlines in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach A Sentiment Intensity Calculator (SentI-Cal) was developed by assigning individual weights to each letter repetition, and tested it using data collected from official Facebook pages of the airlines. Findings Evaluation metrics indicate that SentI-Cal outperforms the baseline tool Semantic Orientation Calculator (SO-CAL), with an accuracy of 90.7 percent compared to 58.33 percent for SO-CAL. Practical implications A more accurate sentiment score allows airline services to easily obtain a better understanding of the sentiments of their customers, hence providing opportunities in improving their airline services. Originality/value Proposed mechanism calculates sentiment intensity of social media text by assigning individual weightage to each repeated letter and exclamation mark thus producing a more accurate sentiment score.

scholarly journals Augmenting brand community identification for inactive users: a uses and gratification perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Dessart ◽  
Cleopatra Veloutsou
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Uses And Gratification ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Facebook Pages

Purpose In an era where companies shift a part of their marketing budget to support their social media presence, very little is known about the antecedents and effects of participant identification in a social media community. This paper aims to examine the antecedents of community identification in a Facebook company-managed brand community, for inactive members, using the uses and gratification theory. Brand community identification is also expected to lead to higher levels of brand loyalty for these members. Design/methodology/approach This research reports the results of a quantitative with survey data from 389 members of a variety of different official Facebook pages. Findings The results reveal that inactive members of Facebook pages can be influenced to act in a way that is beneficial for a company. Perceived human and information value of the brand Facebook page lead members to identify with a brand community and identification is a strong predictor of loyalty to the brand. Practical implications This paper provides suggestions to managers on the development of brand community value that can increase brand community identification and loyalty of apparently inactive brand community members. Originality/value By showing that brand community identification and loyalty exist for users with low activity levels, this research challenges the widely accepted idea that only highly active members are valuable in online brand communities. Specifically, it reveals the most important motivations for these members to identify with the community and be loyal to the brand.

scholarly journals Imported feminism: problematizing the Westernized image of the feminist in Arab social media

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramy Magdy ◽  
Maries Mikhael ◽  
Yassmine G. Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Arab Women ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Women Experiences ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second Wave

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the discourse of Arab feminism social media pages as a form of real-time new media. This is to be conducted culturally to understand the Westernized character these pages tend to propagate and the politico-cultural significations of such a propagation. Design/methodology/approach Using visual and content analysis the paper analyzes both the written and visual contents of two popular Arab feminist Facebook pages, “Thory” and “Feminist doodles” to explore its culture relevance/Westernization via the categories of “re-employing the binary second wave feminism, the historical relevance and the Westernized tone of both pages. Findings The pages showed a tendency toward second wave, Westernized, anti-orient feminism. Such importation of feminism made the pages’ message not only a bit irrelevant but also conceptually violent to a large extent. Starting from alien contexts, the two pages dislocate the Arab women experiences of their situation for the sake of comprehending and adapting to heavily Westernized images. Originality/value The paper contributes to the ongoing debate over the gender issue in the Arab context after 2011, what it originally offers is discussing the cultural relevance of popular feminist Facebook pages claiming to represent the everyday struggles of the Arab women. In addition, it shows the impact of real-time media on identity formulation.

scholarly journals Assessing the applicability of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions for Global 500 corporations’ Facebook profiles and content

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Lo ◽  
Richard D. Waters ◽  
Nicklas Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Specific Direction ◽  
Global Nature ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Facebook Pages

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions are reflected on the official corporate Facebook pages from 259 organizations on Fortune magazine’s Global 500 list. This is the first attempt to create a conceptualization of Hofstede’s dimensions for organizational social media use. Design/methodology/approach To determine how Facebook is used by the Global 500 corporations, a content analysis was carried out based on the 2013 listing of the highest revenue corporations throughout the world. As a research method, content analysis allows researchers to examine the actual practices of communication by focusing on the information provided through textual and visual messages. Findings The results paint a mixed picture indicating that the global nature of these corporations is echoed in a somewhat similar overall presence on Facebook; but when the individual elements (About Us, updates, and media) are examined, statistical differences emerge in relation to the reflection of the cultural dimensions. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work to match Facebook behaviors with Hofstede’s dimensions. This work needs to be replicated with other organizations to determine its staying power. In addition, future research might tap into agency and any consciousness on the part of social media managers in a specific direction. Depending on those findings, they might make important statements on the emergence of a global social media culture.

Hotel social media marketing: a study on message strategy and its effectiveness

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Y. Leung ◽  
Billy Bai ◽  
Mehmet Erdem
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Social Media Marketing ◽  
Message Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Message Strategy ◽  
Message Format ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
Message Strategies

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a typology of social media messages to compare the effectiveness of different message strategies. Design/methodology/approach In total, 1,837 messages from 12 hotel brand Facebook pages were content-analyzed. Applying both correspondence analysis and multivariate analysis of variance, the study compared message strategy across hotel-scale levels and explored the effectiveness of different message strategies. Findings A typology of four-type message format and six-type message content was developed. The picture message was the best message format. Product, brand and involvement messages were shown to be more effective than information, reward and promotion messages. Promotion message was the least effective message content type. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of this study is the generalizability owing to the sample selection process. There is also the limitation on exclusion of control variables, selection of the three effectiveness measures and evolving social media technology. Practical implications The typology of Facebook message strategy developed in the study provided guidelines for hotel marketers to create messages on Facebook pages and track effectiveness. Hotels should also take full advantage of the picture format and product, brand and involvement contents. Originality/value This study created a new typology of social media message strategy consisting of two dimensions. It also provided empirical evidence to support the application of message strategy theory in the hotel social media marketing area.

The flashing of fireflies

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-56
Author(s):  
Peter Buell Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Audience Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Media Engagement ◽  
Original Insight ◽  
Media Practices ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose This paper aims to identify the characteristics of enduring audience engagement through social media. Design/methodology/approach The approach is to examine recent examples of successful social media practices to identify common characteristics. Findings The most common characteristics of successful social media engagement include continuous beta, co-ownership, room for error and convenor-ship. Originality/value The author’s analogy of successful social media to the biophysical phenomenon of entrainment is an original insight into social engagement.

Post popularity and reactions in retail brand pages on Facebook

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 957-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Antoniadis ◽  
Symeon Paltsoglou ◽  
Vasilis Patoulidis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Marketing Communication ◽  
Interactive Marketing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Message Length ◽  
Length Increase ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Social networking sites and Facebook have grown to become an important channel of interactive marketing communication with consumers for retail. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways posts characteristics and reactions affect post popularity and engagement in retail brands Facebook pages. Design/methodology/approach In total, 18 retail brand pages out of the 120 most popular brand pages on Facebook in Greece are examined for a three months’ period (April–June 2016). In all, 2,627 posts are analyzed with the use of OLS regressions in order to identify the characteristics of posts that increase consumers’ engagement, including the newly introduced reaction feature. Findings The results suggest that richness of content (images and videos) and message length increase the engagement levels and the popularity of posts. Reactions have a positive effect on engagement, and negative reactions stronger than positive reactions, except in sharing. On the other hand, posting time does not seem to have a statistically significant impact on the engagement and popularity of a post. Research limitations/implications The study was conducted during a period that reactions were only recently introduced by Facebook, therefore users and brands may not have been familiarized with their use. Practical implications The study contributes to the understanding of consumer engagement with retail brands’ pages on Facebook and social media, and the ways they use reactions and other ways of interactions with brand posts. The results can provide some insight to retailers on how to achieve higher levels of engagement for their brands through their Facebook pages, improving the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns. Originality/value The findings contribute in understanding the ways users interact with brand posts in Facebook using reactions, using a number of popularity measures, providing useful insights about reactions, engagement and e-WoM, extending prior research.

“We are all in this together:” police use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Hu ◽  
Beidi Dong ◽  
Nicholas Lovrich
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Facebook Pages

PurposePrevious studies consistently indicate that police agencies tend to use social media to assist in criminal investigations, to improve police-community relations and to broadcast both crime- and non-crime-related tips promotive of public safety. To date, little research has examined what content the police tended to post on their social media sites during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachBy selecting the 14 most widely attended police agencies' Facebook accounts, the current study collects and analyzes a sample of 2,477 police Facebook postings between February 1 and May 31, 2020. By using a mix-method approach, the study addresses three research questions: 1) What kinds of messages did the police tend to post on their Facebook pages before and during this pandemic? 2) What types of COVID-related police Facebook postings were made? 3) How did the public react to COVID-19-related police Facebook postings?FindingsThe findings suggest that the police have come to believe that social media can be used as an effective police−public communicative tool in stressful times. The findings also suggest that social media platforms have become a routinized tool of police−public communications which can, to some appreciable extent, substitute for the in-person contacts traditionally relied upon in community policing.Originality/valueThis study of police use of social media explores the question of whether the use of these media can serve as an effective tool to connect the police with the public under circumstances where in-person contacts are greatly constrained. Some public policy implications emerging from the findings reported are discussed, along with implications for further research along these lines.

Bilingual brand communities? Strategies for targeting Hispanics on social media

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dino A. Villegas ◽  
Alejandra Marin Marin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Spaces ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to explore different strategies used by brands to target the Hispanic market via social media from the lens of the Spanish language in a multicultural country like the USA. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a netnographic approach by drawing information from a study of the Facebook pages of 11 brands belonging to different industries. Findings Companies engage in four levels of cultural identity adaptation using different strategies based on ethnicity: language adaptation, identity elements, identity matching and Latino persona. The study also shows that merely translating Facebook pages do not generate high levels of communitarian interaction. Practical implications This study examines different strategies used by brands in the USA to target the Hispanic audience on social media to provide insights for brand managers to develop online engagement. Originality/value With the increase in cultural diversity in different countries and the rise of social media platforms, brand researchers need to better understand how cultural identity permeates marketing strategies in online spaces. Social media platforms such as Facebook offer flexible environments where strategies beyond product- and brand-related aspects can be used. This study extends the literature by showing the heterogeneity of cultural identity-based strategies used by companies to ensure customer engagement and brand loyalty and the impact of such strategies on users.

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