Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam published a new article that examines the impact of owned social media on customer engagement and sales.
The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing , is titled “ A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Brand Owned Social Media on Social Media Engagement and Sales ” and is authored by Georgia Liadeli, Francesca Sotgiu, and Peeter W.J. Verlegh.
With more than three billion social media users worldwide, brands have long recognized the importance of establishing a strong social media presence. Recent surveys indicate that over 91% of firms will increase social media marketing budgets in the next three years and that 62% of consumers believe brands will succeed in the long run only if they have a strong social media presence.
The content that brands create and share through their social media channels is called “owned social media.” Liadeli says that “While brands are increasingly investing in owned social media, many are unsure about the overall return on their social media presence and ask how they can design more effective social media campaigns along the purchase funnel.” In other words, firms ask the following questions:
This new study about the impact of owned social media on social media engagement and sales is based on a meta-analysis of 1,641 elasticities across 86 studies spanning from 2011 to 2021 that covers 31 industries, 14 platforms, and 17 countries. Sotgiu explains that “Contrary to managerial beliefs that owned social media are primarily an engagement tool, we observe a stronger impact of owned social media on sales. There may be many consumers who ‘like’ individual posts or take the time to leave a comment or share the post from their personal accounts, but brands may be underestimating the impact of their owned social media by focusing on such easy-to-measure metrics.”
To create engagement via social content, companies are often advised to include a question at the end of their posts or create a contest. “However,” says Verlegh, “our study shows that the most effective content to stimulate social media engagement is to focus on emotions, such as with funny or touching posts. But if the goal is to stimulate sales, social media content should focus on communicating information and product benefits and steer away from the emotional.”
The study provides the following guidelines for Chief Marketing Officers and social media managers:
Full article and author contact information available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221123250
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Journal of Marketing
A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Brand Owned Social Media on Social Media Engagement and Sales
17-Aug-2022