Effective Use of Social Media in Creating Brand Engagement

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Conference Track

Social Media/ Internet/ Mobile/ Direct Marketing

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

Social media marketing (SMM) involves using social media outlets to engage with current, past, and potential customers in an effort to build and strengthen ongoing relationships. As more and more businesses use social media to interact with customers, it is important to understand how firms can use the platform to increase engagement. Extant literature has clearly established that interactions are precursors to relationships; thus, understanding how firms can facilitate positive interactions is crucial to understanding how brands build and maintain relationships with their customers. This study considers two specific types of brand interaction used social media marketing: transactional and social. Transactional interaction involves sharing information that is directly related to a purchase. Social interaction involves sharing information that goes beyond that which is needed to make a sale. In the SMM context, both types are important; however, as being social is an inherent part of social media, it would be expected that when social interaction is used, consumers response rates (engagement) would increase. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of these post types on consumer responses. A content analysis was conducted on six business Facebook Pages over a two-week time frame. Results suggest that there could be a link between social posts and brand engagement. Future quantitative studies are needed to gain a better understanding of this relationship.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Digital Commons@Georgia Southern License

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