Brand-related Content Research Articles

Does user-generated content influence value co-creation in the context of luxury fashion brand communities? Matching inclusivity and exclusivity

AbstractGiven the rise of digital technologies, brands must retain complete control and accountability for user content creation and diffusion. This paper investigates the influence of user-generated content on multiple luxury consumers’ value perceptions that arise within brand communities. A type of non-participatory netnography is performed on three fashion brand communities to analyze the content published by community members non-intrusively. Findings show that brand-related content allows users to share their perceived experiential benefits with their networks, ultimately reinforcing the brand’s experiential and symbolic dimensions. Moreover, user content influences one’s perception of value and attitude. However, if the sense of social homophily and membership is evident, diminishing a brand’s perceived value through brand dilution is unlikely. While previous studies revising the outcomes of online exposure for luxury firms have primarily focused on firm-controlled messages, this investigation acknowledges the importance of brand communities in creating and spreading brand-related content and their effect on luxury appeals. This study appears timely as the digital era empowers consumers to be proactive in Value Co-Creation dynamics and freely define the meaning of inclusivity in exclusive luxury.

Bibliometrics of Brand-related Social Media Content

This study presents bibliometric analysis of brand-related content on social media. By filtering by topic in the WOS database, publications between 2000 and 2021 on two types of social media content, firm-generated content (FGC) and user-generated content (UGC), are examined. For FGC, 47 articles in the database are reviewed, while 3502 articles are included in the analysis for UGC. The research results found that while the FGC studies of the researchers mainly were “Business,” the UGC articles were “Computer Science Information Systems” predominantly. In addition, the journal that gives the most place to studies with the FGC topic is the Journal of Marketing. On the other hand, the journals New Media & Society and Sustainability published 46 articles each for UGC studies. As a result of the co-word network analysis, although there were five themes in the map of the FGC articles, more than ten themes were found in the map of the UGC articles. The research results are expected to shed light on researchers who will work on brand-related social media content in the following years.

Is Consumer Generated Branding the Way Forward for Digital Advertising: Examining the Effects of Message Source, Presentation Format and Involvement on Consumer Decisions on X (Formerly Twitter)

This empirical study compares the effects of consumer generated brand-related content versus brand generated advertising on X (formerly Twitter). Guided by the theory of planned behavior, elaboration likelihood model of persuasion, and media richness theory, this study utilized a 2 (source: user generated content vs. advertising) × 3 (format: video vs. image vs. text) × 2 (involvement: high vs. low) between-subjects research design (N = 493). Results revealed that consumer generated branding in richer media format has significantly greater influence on consumer decisions than brand generated ads. Findings lay the foundation for interdisciplinary research into the impacts of consumer-generated branding. These results challenge online marketers to rethink their advertising strategies on X and other social networks.

To comment or not? The role of brand-related content type on social media

In recent years, social media platforms have transformed into dynamic spaces for brand-consumer interaction, with commenting emerging as a strategic tool for brands to connect with their audience. This research study aims to examine what types of incentives trigger customers’ engagement in terms of commenting on different brand-related content types on social media. A total of 415 questionnaires were analyzed and a structural equation modeling approach was used to investigate the relationships among communal, self-interest, and reward incentives as independent variables and intentions to comment on commercial, personal opinion, and lifestyle brand-related content on social media as dependent variables. The results reveal that communal and reward incentives positively influence intentions to engage in commenting on commercial, personal opinion, and lifestyle content, whereas self-interest incentives negatively influence intentions to engage in commenting on the three types of analyzed brand-related content on social media. The paper focuses specifically on intentions to comment on different types of brand-related social media content rather than on contributing activities in general. The present study fills the research gaps, concerning the lack of analysis of the influence of different incentives on intentions to comment on different brand-related content types on social media.

Using a Photo-Elicitation Procedure to Examine Consumers’ Motivations to Post Visual Brand-Related User-Generated Content

The recent popularity of visual social media has seen a parallel increase in the amount of visual brand-related user-generated content (Br-UGC). This brand-related content created by consumers can have a significant influence on brand outcomes. Yet little is known about why consumers post visual Br-UGC. Current research examines consumers’ motivations to post visual Br-UGC by departing from research on textual Br-UGC and research on visual content posting on Instagram. Moreover, we compare motivations to post branded selfies (e.g., pictures that feature the brand and the social media user together) to motivations to post other visual Br-UGC. Photo-elicitation interviews with 30 (M age = 21.77, SD age = 2.71, 83.3% women) participants revealed that consumers use brands as subtle cues to express their (ideal) online identities. Notably, this finding is present for both branded selfies as well as pictures without a person present. Other important motivations include social interaction, aesthetics (i.e., whether the picture is beautiful), and empowerment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

What Makes Customers More Engaged on Social Media? An Investigation of Customers’ Responses to Brand-Generated Content on Twitter

This study employs thematic content analysis to explore how the content source (brand vs. brands in collaboration with celebrities), content type (informative, social, and entertaining), and content format (videos, links, photos, and text) shape customer engagement on Twitter. It also aims to unpack the user-generated content (UGC) patterns and users’ attitudinal and behavioral reactions in response to brand-generated content (BGC). Using 5086 tweets generated by a brand and 4676 brand-related tweets generated by users, the findings demonstrate a significant increase in user engagement with the content generated by brands in collaboration with a celebrity compared to the content generated solely by the brand regardless of the content type. The findings also reveal that social and entertaining content attracts more user engagement than informative content. Users tend to engage more with tweets containing images than tweets containing videos or links. The findings further illustrate that most users’ brand-related content is in the ‘mention’ style, and most users’ comments include negative behavior-related content. Our findings provide marketing managers with actionable insights into monitoring and managing brand-related social media content.

I Share, Therefore I Trust: A moderated mediation model of the influence of eWOM engagement on social commerce

Marketers increasingly integrate social commerce into their business activities and encourage users to share brand-related content. The present research investigates the role of consumer trust in shaping shoppers’ intentions to purchase products online in various social commerce contexts (i.e., collectivist vs. individualist cultural orientation, high vs. low social tie strength). Based on the Dual Systems Theory approach, consumer engagement with eWOM sharing is proposed to drive trust, which in turn enhances purchase intention. In three experimental studies (N = 153, 179, 298 respectively), this research demonstrates that trust in eWOM messages is an underlying mechanism of the effect of consumer engagement with electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on purchase intention (Studies 1–3) and proposes two boundary conditions that support a moderated mediation model of this effect: consumer orientation toward collectivism-individualism (Study 2) and social tie strength (Study 3). Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Exploring a customer engagement spillover effect on social media: the moderating role of customer conscientiousness

PurposeThough prior research has addressed customer engagement (CE) with a focal object (e.g. a brand), the dynamics characterizing customers' engagement with different objects and the potential spillover from a customer's engagement with one object to that with another remains tenuous, exposing an important literature-based gap. The authors, therefore, develop a model proposing the existence of a spillover effect from customers' brand engagement to their engagement with brand-related content and suggest customers' personality trait of conscientiousness to moderate this effect.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey-based experiment using 380 Danish Facebook users was conducted to test the model.FindingsThe results suggest customers' brand engagement as a significant predictor of their engagement with brand-related content, corroborating the proposed spillover effect. A weaker spillover effect is observed for highly (vs less) conscientious customers, substantiating the moderating role of customer conscientiousness. Moreover, customer conscientiousness is found to interact with brand content-related (i.e. commenting/content creation) task type and brand type (i.e. utilitarian/hedonic) (e.g. more conscientious customers are less likely to engage in brand-related content creation vs. commenting tasks), weakening the spillover effect.Originality/valueThis study extends prior research by quantitatively corroborating an intra-individual CE-based spillover effect from customers' brand engagement to their engagement with brand-related content. The authors also unearth a moderating role of customer conscientiousness, which interacts with brand- and brand content-related task type, on the spillover effect, informing the development of digital marketing strategies.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Official and the Non-Official Social Media Brand Communication Methods on Egyptian Women’s Consumer-Based Brand Equity

Companies communicate their brands with customers through social media, either officially through their official pages or non-officially through social media users’ Electronic Word of Mouth or brand-related content created by Social Media Influencers. This study evaluates the effectiveness of these three brand communication methods on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), including brand awareness, brand image, brand attitude and purchase intention. The study further clarifies the most influential consumer and firm-related factors on Egyptian women’s behavioural intentions. It identifies the motives for following the official and non-official brand communication methods, interaction with brand posts and characteristics of the most followed social media influencers. A total of 400 Egyptian women answered an online/offline survey. Moreover, four focus group discussions were conducted. Based on the modified brand value chain model, the findings indicate that users’ eWOM is the most followed and influential brand communication method in Egyptian women’s purchase intention. Most Egyptian women are silent followers and prefer to follow younger influencers interested in fashion, sports, travelling and visiting new places. Egyptian women’s age, working status, past brand experience, real need to purchase, visuals of brand posts and peer pressure are the most influential firm-related and consumer-related variables on purchase intention.

How Small Brands Could Attract Generation Z Using Tiktok

As TikTok continues to rise in popularity among social media users, brands, particularly small ones, face difficulties in finding ways to connect with customers on the site. The use of social networking sites by brands to interact with their target market has grown crucial for a number of reasons, including finding new audiences, advertising goods, and fostering connections. The purpose of this study was to investigate how small firms are using TikTok to reach Generation Z customers and how the consumers are interacting with the brand-related content in light of the growing academic interest in TikTok. With the help of Survey, in which 20 Gen Z participated, we came to a result that TikTok holds a huge potential as majority of participants had been influenced to purchase product/service they had seen on platform.

Integrating Network Clustering Analysis and Computational Methods to Understand Communication With and About Brands: Opportunities and Challenges

Brand-related content cocreated by consumers can play a crucial role in brand–consumer interactions and provide brands with valuable insights hidden in vast seas of unstructured data. We propose and evaluate a framework integrating a social network approach and scalable automated content analysis of texts and visuals for studying brand-related communication on social media. To illustrate the proposed approach, we use Twitter content related to two brands: Barclays and Sierra Club. By applying network clustering algorithms we identify different types of organically emerging communities around brands. Cluster-specific diffusion leaders are identified using their in-degree centrality values. To examine the unique characteristics of brand-related content within each cluster, we apply and assess the accuracy of popular off-the-shelf solutions for text and image analysis, also known as application programming interfaces (APIs). Of six sentiment analysis solutions, only one shows acceptable reliability levels. For computer vision APIs, we first identify labels that have unclear or imprecise meaning and calculate accuracy levels, resulting in acceptable accuracy levels for four of the five APIs. We discuss conceptual and practical implications of this integrative approach and of the technological hurdles that these popular automated content analysis applications pose.

Understanding Brand-Related Content Consumption: The Role of Source of Content, Persuasive Knowledge, and Product Type

Purpose - This study applies the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory to investigate how source of content (firm- and user-generated content) impacts content-consumption, which is mediated by persuasive knowledge. While prior studies treat persuasive knowledge as a unidimensional construct, this study addresses two dimensions of persuasive knowledge (conceptual and attitudinal). Lastly, this study explores different effects of user-generated content related to different product types (utilitarian and hedonic) on persuasive knowledge
 Design/Methodology/Approach - Three conditions of stimuli are designed to test our hypotheses with 214 participants familiar with brand-related content posted on Facebook. An independent t-test, MANOVA, and PROCESS are employed in this study.
 Findings - The results show that FGC stimulates more conceptual persuasive knowledge than UGC. By contrast, consumers perceive UGC to be more appropriate and tend to like UGC more than FGC. In addition, this study finds that two dimensions of persuasive knowledge mediate the relationship between source of content and consumer content consumption. Regarding UGC, this study shows that compared to hedonic products, UGC regarding utilitarian products evokes consumers to infer persuasive intent and decreases perceived appropriateness.
 Research Implications - This study sheds light on proving a relevant application of the S-O-R theory and regulatory theory to propose a holistic framework to help better understand the relationship between source of content, product types, persuasive knowledge, and content-consumption in the context of Facebook.

Promoting Health Brands through Social Media. A Quantitative Analysis about the World’s Best Cancer Hospitals

Cancer hospitals enforce different initiatives to accelerate digital transformation, such as mobile health or artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, some health professionals are not willing to adopt these technologies. In order to change some employees’ perspectives, these hospitals resort to social media platforms. This paper aims to evaluate how the worlds’ best cancer hospitals manage social media platforms, as well as their corporate website, with the aim of disseminating brand-related content and reinforce their reputation. Therefore, we reviewed literature on cancer hospitals’ corporate communication strategies, brand, social media platforms and online patient communities. We then resorted to 48 quantitative indicators to analyze how the 200 best cancer hospitals in the world managed Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as their corporate website, for branding purposes. In order to identify the 200 best hospitals, we explored the World’s Best Specialized Hospitals 2021, an annual ranking published by Newsweek and Statista. The 48 indicators covered different elements concerning the hospitals’ identity and communication activities, as well as patient engagement on social media platforms. Our quantitative analysis proved that most cancer hospitals had a corporate website (70.5%) as well as a profile on Facebook (74%), Twitter (74.5%) and YouTube (67.5%). Nevertheless, most of them did not respect the 48 key performance indicators. Finally, we proposed three main conclusions: a) cancer hospitals should establish a Corporate Communication Department employing different experts in communication, health and big data; b) they should promote an integrated corporate communication approach; and c) they should implement brand ambassador programmes.

Influencers As Endorsers and Followers As Consumers: Exploring the Role of Parasocial Relationship, Congruence, and Followers’ Identifications on Consumer–Brand Engagement

Given the benefits and effectiveness of consumer online brand engagement, influencer advertising and marketing have become increasingly popular on social media. Consumer online brand engagement, including consuming, contributing, and creating brand-related content, is closely related to a brand’s reputation and image. This study determines how the two aspects related to influencer endorsement—namely, influencer–follower parasocial interaction (PSI) and influencer–brand congruence (congruence)—affect the three levels of consumer online brand-related activities (COBRAs) on Sina Weibo. We also examined the mediation effect of consumers’ personal identification (PI) and social identification (SI) with brands in this process. The data were collected from 390 Weibo users in China, and valid data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that PSI and congruence have a direct positive effect on consuming brand-related content; PSI has an indirect influence on contributing brand-related content through SI’s mediation effect; and both PSI and congruence contributed to creating brand-related content, with the mediating effect of PI and SI. This study extends the literature on the motivation of consumer–brand engagement (engagement) on social media and discusses the roles of PI and SI in influencer marketing, filling a gap in the research and bringing new perspectives for brands and corporates.

In the eye of the (fire)storm: better safe or sorry? Crisis communication strategies for managing virality of online negative brand-related content

ABSTRACT Companies face a considerable number of online complaints on social media, with some escalating into major virality (online firestorms). Given the risks associated with reputation and sales, companies implement crisis response communication strategies to refrain audiences from forwarding content to others. Despite the positive effects of such strategies, the mechanism that underpins the effects are not yet analyzed in the literature. The current study proposes that in situations of potential online firestorms, brand attitude influences conative responses, including intentions to forward negative content to others. An apology is the response strategy most often implemented, despite others being mentioned in the literature. The current study evaluates how corrective actions compare with an apology in dealing with complaints, with the type of responses being proposed as a moderator of the effects of brand attitude. Results show that brand attitudes following exposure to a crisis response strategy have significant effects on refraining intentions to forward negative e-WOM. An apology is the preferred option as a response strategy in general. However, when specific triggers of complaint are analyzed, corrective actions and apology perform similarly. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The Role of Social Capital in Contributing to Lifestyle Brand-Related Content on Social Media

The purpose of this research is to analyze the differences in users’ intentions to like, comment and share lifestyle brand-related content on social media based on the social capital focus. In this paper, social capital is conceptualized as a positive outcome of users’ interaction on social media, focusing on bonding and bridging dimensions of social capital. However, in order to examine the differences in intentions to like, comment and share between social media users with bridging and bonding focus, social capital is analyzed as a cause of social media engagement in terms of liking, commenting and sharing brand-related content on social media. A survey with social media users was carried out, using questionnaires as a method of data collection. A data set of 415 effective responses is collected and factor analysis and ANOVA test was used. The respondents were divided into two groups: social media users with bridging focus and with bonding focus. The results of factor analysis identified the factors as conceptualized in the literature. The results of ANOVA test indicated existence of significant differences in intentions to like, to share and to comment lifestyle brand-related content depending on the social media users’ social capital focus. Social media users with bridging focus showed stronger intentions to like, share and comment lifestyle brand-related content comparing to social media users with bonding focus. The findings of this research study may help social media marketing managers to successfully design and implement effective lifestyle brand-related content depending on the users’ social capital focus.

What drives liking different brand-related social media content?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the interrelationships between incentives and social media users’ intentions to like different brand-related social media content. The study is based on the uses and gratification (U&G) theory and investigates three types of incentives i.e. communal, self-interest, and reward incentives which act as antecedents of customers’ intentions to like three types of brand-related content (commercial messages, personal opinion messages, and lifestyle messages).Design/methodology/approachA data set of 415 effective responses was collected and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analyzing the data.FindingsThe obtained results indicate that communal and reward incentives enhance the intentions to like brand-related commercial, personal opinion, and lifestyle content. Self-interest incentives reduce the intentions to like three types of analyzed brand-related content with the strongest negative influence on intentions to like lifestyle content. Regarding the content type, the main drivers for liking lifestyle content and commercial content are reward incentives, whereas liking personal opinion content is mostly motivated by communal incentives.Originality/valueThis study provides valuable insights about users’ motivation to like brand-related content on social media with a focus on different types of brand-related content. The study has strong theoretical contributions as well as practical implications.

Effects of social media brand-related content on fashion products buying behaviour – a moderated mediation model

PurposeThis study aims to examine in which circumstances consumer’s self-congruity moderates the indirect influence of consumer-based brand equity (mediating role) in the relationship between firm-created and user-generated social media content and intention to purchase fashion products.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors carried out an online survey with social media users of fashion brands and collected data from 622 participants across two samples to investigate whether consumers’ perceptions of equity of fashion brands mediate the relationship between social media brand-related communication created by both firms and users and the intention to buy the fashion brands. The indirect relationship is further moderated by self-congruity.FindingsThe results indicate that brand equity mediates the relationship between social media communication and purchase intentions of fashion products, and self-congruity moderates the relationship between social media communication types and purchase intentions, such that higher/lower levels of self-congruity strengthen/weaken the impact of social media communication on purchase intentions.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the business and marketing literature by exploring how social media communication, branding and fashion align with the individual’s self-concept and buying behaviour.

Understanding the different types of UGC participants and social context for fashion brands: insights from social media platforms

PurposeThe study aims to look at the types of social media participants through user-generated content (UGC) and how this leads to brand engagement in a fashion retail context. In doing so, it explores the effects of social context of brand-related content on other social media users, which promotes socially influenced consumer brand engagement (SICBE) in social media settings.Design/methodology/approachThe study postulates the existence of social realities as consistent with social constructivism, with multiple realities of social influence outlined on the basis of ontological relativism. To fulfil the proposed research objectives, research data were gathered from professional and social participants based on specific inclusion criteria, purposive sampling technique and a semi-structured interview method.FindingsFindings highlighted various types of UGC participants with differing objectives in their use of UGC; these participant types are passive, creators, critics and collectors/consumers. The study uncovered many social context that can increase the effectiveness of UGC. The social context is explored through social trust, Fashion UGC expertise and relevance. These UGC participants and social context can foster SICBE in a fashion retail context.Originality/valueThis study proposes a holistic framework which highlighted the role of UGC participants and social context can foster SICBE in a fashion retail context.

Consumer’s Online Brand-Related Activities on the Social Network Instagram: An Analytical View of the Motivation for These Activities

The method of categorizing consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRA) is a relatively recent finding in marketing research. Based on this, there is a need for further exploration of a related issue. One of these is the relational link between COBRAs and consumer motivations for these activities. With this research, this study aims to assess the statistical significance of such trajectories of relationships of the motivations on consumers’ online brand-related activities related to all three levels of brand-related content activities in terms of the social network platform Instagram. These motivations have origins in the uses and gratification theory. Three levels of analyzed activities are the most recent comprehensive classification. The research database was made up of responses from 335 online questionnaires. The collection of data was carried out in the 1st half of 2021. Primary data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and PLS PM (Partial least squares path modelling) equations, while average variance extracted metric and composite reliability were used to describe the suitability of the latent variables that entered the analysis. For the analysis, four research hypotheses were formulated dealing with 12 partial trajectories of relationships, of which only three trajectories were not statistically significant. However, at least one significant trajectory was identified for each motivation, allowing us to confirm all formulated hypotheses. The findings of the analysis supported the claims of the existence of statistically significant effects for all the motivations investigated against consumers’ online brand-related activities. The obtained results also identified social interaction as the strongest motivator. The authors discussed the potential drivers and implications for theory and practice in a separate section, comparing with existing related research. The most significant contribution of this research is considered to be the confirmation of the exploratory findings that link COBRA activities and motivations on a scale that has not yet been analyzed (by this we mean 3 levels of activity and 4 categories of motivation). This formed the basis for this investigation, and the results obtained are in agreement.