Consumer engagement on social media: insights from a virtual brand community

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitor Moura Lima ◽  
Hélio Arthur Reis Irigaray ◽  
Carlos Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Based on the conceptual model of consumer engagement in a virtual brand community, this study aims to investigate this phenomenon and gauges the validity of the model’s assumptions in the context of a Facebook fan page. Design/methodology/approach The interactions between L’Oréal Paris Brazil and the members of its virtual community were collected for three months using a netnographic approach. The data of these interactions were evaluated using content analysis techniques. Findings The dimensions, processes and sub-processes of the conceptual model of consumer engagement, as proposed in the literature, were confirmed. Furthermore, the results reinforce the perspective that simple participation or involvement does not presume engagement, which reflects a complex psychological state dependent on the context and requiring previous and subsequent processes to manifest. Research limitations/implications The findings were based on an examination of a high-end beauty product brand’s Facebook page. Nevertheless, these findings are not necessarily limited to high-end context consumers. Larger scale research (i.e. involving wider product categories) could endorse the underlying theoretical model of engagement. Practical implications The study contributes to understanding the dynamics of how brands build relationships with consumers through social media and confirms the dynamics of the engagement concept and its role as a tool to increase brand value and competitive advantage. Originality/value This study contributes to the field by bridging the knowledge gap concerning consumer engagement in a social media context with practical and empirical evidence.

Using enterprise social networks as a knowledge management tool in higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Corcoran ◽  
Aidan Duane
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Enterprise Social Networks ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The management of organisational knowledge and the promotion of staff knowledge sharing are largely neglected in higher education institutions. The purpose of this study is to examine how enterprise social networks can enable staff knowledge sharing in communities of practice in that context. Design/methodology/approach The study is framed as an Action Research project, covering three cycles over a 12-month period. During the Diagnosing phase, a conceptual model was developed for empirical testing. Data were collected through 30 semi-structured interviews and a number of focus groups. This was supplemented by content analysis and reflective journaling. Findings The findings support the conceptual model and provide insight into the antecedents necessary for the creation of an enterprise social network-enabled knowledge-sharing environment, the motivators for and barriers to participation, and the perceived organisational and individual benefits of increased staff knowledge-sharing activity. Research limitations/implications As the study has a higher education focus, all of the findings may not be generalizable to other types of organisation. Further development of the conceptual model and testing in other contextual settings will yield greater generalizability. Practical implications A number of findings have practical implications for the management of higher education institutions, such as the evidence of a divide between faculty and other staff. In general, the study findings provide an opportunity for educationalists to better understand the scope and impact of employing social media platforms for knowledge sharing. Originality/value This paper adds to the growing body of work on organisational implementations of social media, and should be of interest to practitioners and researchers undertaking similar projects.

How social media aids consumer engagement

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 21-23
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings – Marketing interest in consumer engagement is widely evident. This is illustrated by the fact that having a substantial base of engaged consumers is now high on the agenda of many marketers. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, individuals demonstrating such high levels of commitment can secure added value for the brand in question. Engagement inspires tendencies which reach further than purchasing and other market-related activities. High levels of attachment are typical of engaged consumers who will often thus serve as brand advocates. Practical implications – The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value – The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Customer experience with the branded content: a social media perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Waqas ◽  
Zalfa Laili Hamzah ◽  
Noor Akma Mohd Salleh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms

PurposeSocial media platforms are important channels to create a favourable customer experience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the types of experiences customers can have with the branded content on social media.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 20 participants using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.FindingsThe results identify seven types of branded content experience which are evoked when customers interact with branded content on social media. The results also suggest that branded content experience acts as a driver of consumer engagement with branded content which eventually leads to customers' sense of virtual community.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings provide theoretical implications for content creators. Further research should aim at comparing the branded content experience on different social media platforms and across different product categories.Originality/valueThis study contributes to customer engagement and experience literature in social media content by enhancing the understanding of branded content experience concept and its conceptual relationship with customer engagement in the social media context.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2019-0333

Engaging consumers with sustainable fashion on Instagram

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Sponder Testa ◽  
Sonia Bakhshian ◽  
Rachel Eike
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Sustainable Fashion ◽  
Content Theme ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore drivers of consumer engagement with sustainable fashion brands on Instagram to specifically answer the research question: what drives popularity of sustainable fashion among digital consumers?Design/methodology/approachTwenty-five global fashion retailers were identified and categorized as either (a) sustainable fashion brands (SFB), (b) sustainably aware mainstream brands (SAB) or (c) traditional fashion brands (TFB). Content analysis of the 25 retailer's Instagram posts over a three-week period was analyzed and categorized according to content theme. Data were analyzed for quantity of Likes and Comments (engagement) to identify engagement strategies with each of the brand groups.FindingsIt was found that different strategies may be taken regarding social media strategy for SFB, SAB or TFB. Consumers were engaged with unfamiliar content, for instance, sustainability to a consumer unfamiliar with the topic or how it applies to a specific brand. Digital consumers were looking for exciting and aesthetically pleasing posts. Specifically, all consumers were engaged with posts about Fashion and Lifestyle.Practical implicationsAs the result of this study, sustainable fashion best practices and social media strategies were presented for the three brand categories of fashion retailers.Originality/valueThis study analyzed a cross-section of global fashion brands and identified “best practices” for digital consumer engagement with sustainable messages through Instagram. The findings provide original value, specifically in the area of fashion marketing via social media to communicate brand identify to digital consumers for brand growth.

scholarly journals Social media influencers, product placement and network engagement: using AI image analysis to empirically test relationships

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N. Rutter ◽  
Stuart J. Barnes ◽  
Stuart Roper ◽  
John Nadeau ◽  
Fiona Lettice
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Product Placement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Close Fit ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Beauty Products

PurposeThis research tests empirically the level of consumer engagement with a product via a nonbrand-controlled platform. The authors explore how social media influencers and traditional celebrities are using products within their own social media Instagram posts and how well their perceived endorsement of that product engages their network of followers.Design/methodology/approachA total of 226,881 posts on Instagram were analyzed using the Inception V3 convolutional neural network (CNN) pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset to identify product placement within the Instagram images of 75 of the world's most important social media influencers. The data were used to empirically test the relationships between influencers, product placement and network engagement and efficiency.FindingsInfluencers achieved higher network engagement efficiencies than celebrities; however, celebrity reach was important for engagement overall. Specialty influencers, known for their “subject” expertise, achieved better network engagement efficiency for related product categories. The highest level of engagement efficiency was achieved by beauty influencers advocating and promoting cosmetic and beauty products.Practical implicationsTo maximize engagement and return on investment, manufacturers, retailers and brands must ensure a close fit between the product type and category of influencer promoting a product within their social media posts.Originality/valueMost research to date has focused on brand-controlled social media accounts. This study focused on traditional celebrities and social media influencers and product placement within their own Instagram posts to extend understanding of the perception of endorsement and subsequent engagement with followers. The authors extend the theory of network effects to reflect the complexity inherent in the context of social media influencers.

When will consumers be ready? A psychological perspective on consumer engagement in social media brand communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 704-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linlin Liu ◽  
Renjing Liu ◽  
Matthew Lee ◽  
Jiawen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Brand Loyalty ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Engagement Theory ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Personal Engagement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explain whether consumer engagement in social media brand communities (SMBCs) motivates consumer brand loyalty; and second, to explore the antecedents of consumer engagement by developing a model based on personal engagement theory. Design/methodology/approach Online survey data from 279 brand community members of Weibo (one of the most popular social media websites in China) were used to test the proposed model. Structural equation modeling with partial least squares was performed to test both the measurement model and the structural model. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the interaction effects. Findings The findings show that three factors, namely, recognition, community identification and self-efficacy, had significant positive effects on consumer engagement in SMBCs, which consequently enhanced brand loyalty. Self-efficacy moderated the effects of both community identification and recognition on consumer engagement. The impacts of three factors on consumer engagement are contingent upon the type of SMBCs. Originality/value This study extends and advances the literature on consumer engagement by explaining consumer engagement in SMBCs from a new theoretical lens. This study also enriches personal engagement theory by investigating the effects of the interaction between different conditions of engagement. In addition, this study contributes to brand loyalty literature by providing empirical evidence of the impact of consumer engagement on brand loyalty. Finally, this study contributes to the online brand community study by introducing personal engagement theory into SMBC context, and examining the moderating role of SMBC types.

An emoji-based metric for monitoring consumers’ emotions toward brands on social media

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Moussa
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Brands ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Satisfaction Index ◽  
American Customer Satisfaction Index ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce and test a new emoji-based metric that could be used to monitor consumers’ emotions toward brands on social media.Design/methodology/approachTo test this new metric, 720 consumer tweets were retrieved from official Twitter accounts of 18 leading global brands representing 6 product categories/markets. In order to check its validity, the emoji-based metric was correlated with two measures: the percentage of positive emojis from Brandwatch’s (2018) Emoji Report and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for 2017.FindingsThe findings of this paper indicate that consumers tend to use more (vs less) positive emojis when expressing their feelings toward Coca-Cola (vs Taco Bell). They also show that the new metric is highly and positively associated with the ACSI, hence supporting its validity.Research limitations/implicationsThe new metric is only applicable to brands that have a social media presence.Practical implicationsThe proposed metric is easy to implement and interpret by almost every researcher and manager.Originality/valueWhile all extant brand sentiment analyses focus on analyzing the words in brand-related user-generated content, this paper considers an alternative source of information about emotions, that is, emojis. Beyond being valid, the proposed emoji-based metric is unique, easy to implement and interpret, and generalizable.

Exploring the optimized social advertising strategy that can generate consumer engagement with green messages on social media

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Kyu Kim ◽  
Mark Yi-Cheon Yim ◽  
Eunjin (Anna) Kim ◽  
William Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Green Product ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Message Strategy ◽  
Self Construal ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Given that many consumers are skeptical about environmentally based advertising campaigns, the purpose of this study is to propose an optimized message strategy to facilitate consumer engagement with green messages in social media contexts. Design/methodology/approach Four empirical studies are conducted using self-report questionnaires to test proposed hypotheses with a focus on the interplay between claim specificity and benefit appeals in green advertising on social media. Findings The current study examines the interaction effects of claim specificity and benefit appeals on consumer engagement in social media. Specifically, the results reveal that when the message claim is abstract, using other-benefit appeals produces more positive consumer engagement than using self-benefit appeals. Moreover, the results illustrate that self-enhancement motivates consumers to engage with green product advertising messages when the advertising appeal is abstract and the advertising message is associated with benefits for others. Finally, it is found that consumers’ self-construal level moderates the interaction effect of claim specificity and benefit appeals type on consumer engagement on social media. Practical implications This paper has practical implications to both social media managers and advertisers in the green product industry: a match with advertising claim specificity and construal level (i.e. social distance: self-benefit vs other-benefit) should be ensured to increase consumer engagement on social media. In addition, self-enhancement and self-construal should be considered for a better message strategy in social media contexts. Originality/value The findings make important contributions to the literature in that we extend the applications of construal level theory to social media contexts as a valid theoretical tool to identify optimized green message strategies. As such, it provides future researchers and practitioners in the domain of green campaigns with useful guidelines to boost more consumption of green products.

Influencer marketing

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Stubb ◽  
Anna-Greta Nyström ◽  
Jonas Colliander
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Disclosure Control ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Control Post

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a particular form of sponsorship disclaimer in sponsored content by social media influencers (SMIs), namely a sponsorship compensation justification disclosure. A sponsorship compensation justification disclosure explains why influencers and brands engage in sponsorship collaborations by providing a normative reason that justifies the existence and dissemination of sponsored content.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental design was used to compare the effects of a sponsorship compensation justification disclosure made by either an influencer or the sponsoring brand, to a simple sponsorship disclosure and a no disclosure control post, on consumers’ responses to a product-review video by a YouTube influencer.FindingsThe paper offers empirical evidence that sponsorship compensation justification generates more positive consumer attitudes toward influencers receiving sponsorship compensation, and increases source and message credibility, compared to a simple sponsorship disclosure.Research limitations/implicationsThe hypotheses were tested on one YouTube video, comprising of a single product category, one SMI and one social media platform. Further studies might replicate the experiment on different product categories and on different social media platforms.Practical implicationsThis empirical study can offer brand communication managers and influencers important information on how to communicate and design sponsorship disclosures to reach-desired responses from consumers.Originality/valueThe study is the first study to empirically demonstrate the effects of this particular type of sponsorship disclosure.

A model of mobile technologies acceptance for knowledge transfer by employees

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1053-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Kuciapski
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Model Based ◽  
New Variables ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Although mobile devices are ubiquitous among employees, their awareness and readiness to use mobile technologies for competence development is still not widespread and therefore requires further exploration. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to explain the determinants that affect employees’ intention to use mobile devices and software for knowledge transfer during the process of knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model based on the UTAUT with new variables concerning relative usability (RU) and user autonomy (UA) and new connections between the determinants was developed as a result of a subject matter literature review. A structural equation modelling approach was used to validate the model on the basis of data collected via a survey collected from 371 employees from 21 sectors, both public and private. Findings The UTAUT model extended by new variables like RU and UA explains employee acceptance of mobile technologies for knowledge transfer reasonably well. New proposed variables highlighted that the usability of technology compared to other solutions and user autonomy in the selection and the use of applications have the strongest impact on the employees’ intention to use mobile devices and software for knowledge transfer. Research limitations/implications This model explains the 55 per cent behavioral intention of employees to use mobile technologies for knowledge transfer. Even though it is quite high in terms of acceptance theories, some new variables should be explored. Furthermore, study does not verify whether m-learning acceptance for knowledge transfer is sector-specific. Practical implications Mobile technologies used for knowledge transfer by employees should allow for high UA through their ability to select solutions that they find convenient, use of preferred platforms, personalize applications and utilize devices and software in various environments. They should not be simplified and should have the same functionality and efficiency of use as alternative solutions like web and desktop applications, even if additional effort to learn them would be required. Mobile technologies that take into account UA and RU support the process of employees capturing, distributing and effectively using knowledge. Originality/value The elaborated model provides a valuable solution with practical implications for increasing mobile technologies acceptance for knowledge transfer. The study results contribute both to knowledge management and technology acceptance research fields by introducing two new determinants for the acceptance of technologies in knowledge transfer, such as UA and RU with several additional connections between existing UTAUT variables.

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