Social media advertising: The role of personal and societal norms in page like ads on Facebook

Abstract

ABSTRACT Considering advertisers’ and marketers’ increasing interest in social media advertising, this study focuses on one of the most distinctive characteristics: consumers’ normative perceptions in response to other consumers’ interactions with social media ads. In particular, this study examines the antecedents and behavioral consequences of personal and societal norms in the context of Page Like Ads, which are a type of social media ad that shows friends’ interactions with a brand’s page, app, or event in Facebook’s News Feed. Survey findings indicate that interpersonal influences (e.g., family) form personal descriptive and injunctive norms, which influence consumers’ intentions to interact with Page Like Ads. Social influences (e.g., numbers of ‘likes’) elicit societal descriptive and injunctive norms, yet they are not significantly related to behavioral intentions. This study contributes to the growing research stream of social media advertising and provides practical implications for social media advertising strategies.