Not All Communication is Created Equal : An Investigation into the Way to Improve Communication Quality on SNS

Abstract

Social networking service (SNS) has unique characteristics that distinguish it from traditional communication environments. Primarily, SNS enables a fundamentally different ecosystem for communicating marketing activities. Incidentally, the communication paradigm has shifted online today, and a social media marketing strategy allows integrating bi-directional communication into the marketing process. This research attempts to identify an effective communication strategy to facilitate social media marketing using a combination of communication facets such as frequency, direction, formality, and content. In addition, the study demonstrates how perceived communication quality influences consumers’ attitude toward a corporate brand and e-WOM intentions. To achieve these objectives, we conducted two experiments: the first investigates the interactive effect of frequency (frequent vs. infrequent) and direction (uni-directional vs. bi-directional) of communication; the second examines the interactive effect of formality (formal vs. informal) and content (direct vs. indirect) of communication. Experiment 1 shows that in bi-directional communication, the frequency level of communication does not matter in perceptions of communication quality. However, if the direction of communication is uni-directional, frequent communications make consumers experience stronger perceptions of communication quality than infrequent communication. Experiment 2 demonstrates that among the combinations of formality and content of communication, informal and indirect communication is effective in increasing perceptions of communication quality. By integrating the results, the research concludes that bi-directional communication through informal modes, with indirect content is the effective communication strategy for social media marketing. This study extends the scope of social networking service (SNS) research in communication, and opens new research avenues for effective communication strategy on SNS. The study also provides valuable and applicable implications for corporate social media marketing activities.