Let’s give them something to talk about: Global brands’ use of visual content to drive engagement and build relationships

Abstract

This longitudinal content analysis of 1,393 Facebook posts made by the top 100 brands provides empirical evidence that leveraging visual communication is not enough for brands to solicit engagement. As brands adapt and adjust their Facebook visual content strategy to capture the attention of their publics in crowded News Feeds, they also need to employ text-based engagement strategies that get users to engage and interact with brand content. Once users start interacting with brand content, it is more likely that other users will engage with the content as well, igniting a conversation. The combination of brand posts with visuals and text-based messages gives brand publics something to talk about and ultimately can lead to stronger relationships.