Content area
Full Text
Introduction
In the attempt to build online engagement among consumer groups, marketing practitioners are investing heavily in social media. Facebook’s growing dominance of digital is well known; in 2017, Facebook accounted for 23 per cent of total US digital advertising spending. In 2018, Facebook is expected to take $1 of every $10 spent on all advertising – digital and non-digital combined (eMarketer, 2018). However, most of the investment into digital strategy appears largely wasted, with an average of only 0.07 per cent of Facebook fans interacting with a brand’s post (Gayomali, 2014) and up to 61 per cent of consumers stating that they do not see social media as a place to interact with brands (Ritson, 2011).
Regardless of these figures, social media content directed at consumers continues to proliferate as digital spending increases. However, these marketing efforts will fail unless marketers understand how to effectively engineer their content to facilitate customer engagement (Lee et al., 2013). This paper aims to provide a broader understanding of how to enhance consumer engagement through social media content. To provide managers with guidance for developing social media content, this research investigates the distinct effects of informational, entertaining, remunerative, and relational content on social media engagement behavior (SMEB).
The advent of social media has changed the marketer–customer interface, allowing customers to engage directly with the organization in both personal and real-time interactions (Harrigan et al., 2015). Business environments have become more dynamic and interactive, with customers seeking participation and engagement with unique offerings and activities of the organization (Vivek et al., 2012). As a result, both academics and practitioners have begun to focus on the concept of engagement in social media platforms (Brodie et al., 2013). However, despite this interactive avenue to create value and engage with the firm (Brodie et al., 2013; Gummerus et al., 2012), little research has investigated how engagement is achieved. Although recent studies have explored both the antecedents and consequences of customer engagement (van Doorn et al., 2010; Gambetti et al., 2012; Leckie et al., 2016), studies that consider engagement with social media are only beginning to emerge (Malthouse et al., 2013), revealing a clear need to develop a theoretical understanding of the nature...