Persuasive messages, popularity cohesion, and message diffusion in social media marketing

Nowadays social network influencers play an important role in marketing by introducing products to their audience. In this article, we investigate the persuasion cues related to beauty and fashion influencers present on YouTube and Instagram. More precisely, we investigate how the para-social interaction (PSI) the audience creates with the online influencer, along with their perceived credibility, are related to the purchase intention and how they are, in turn, related to the social and physical attractiveness and attitude homophily. We base our research on four beauty influencers popular in France and control our results by the age of the participants and by the influencer. We find that attitude homophily is positively related to PSI but, surprisingly, the physical attractiveness shows negative relationship or no evidence of relationship. Both credibility of the influencers and PSI exhibit significant and positive relationships to purchase intention.

Social media is being increasingly used as a platform to conduct marketing and advertising activities. Organizations have spent a lot of time, money, and resources on social media ads. However, there is always a challenge in how organizations can design social media advertising to successfully attract customers and motivate them to purchase their brands. Thus, this study aims to identify and test the main factors related to social media advertising that could predict purchase intention. The conceptual model was proposed based on three factors from the extending Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) (performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, and habit) along with interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance. The data was collected using a questionnaire survey of 437 participants. The key results of structural equation modelling (SEM) largely supported the current model’s validity and the significant impact of performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance on purchase intentions. This study will hopefully provide a number of theoretical and practical guidelines on how marketers can effectively plan and implement their ads over social media platforms.

People worldwide are largely engaged and attached with the web 2.0 technology and Social media platforms. By the same token, businesses start looking at such technologies as effective mechanisms to interact more with their customers. Equally, the related issues of social media marketing have been also the focus of attention for academics and researchers to expand the current understanding about such phenomena over the marketing area. Accordingly, the main aim of this study is to systematically examine and review the current studies that have conducted over the related area of social media and marketing. By reviewing approximately 144 articles, the researchers were able to provide an overview of the main themes and trends covered by the relevant literature such as the role of social media on advertising, the electronic word of mouth, customers’ relationship management, and firms’ brands and performance. In this review, it has also studied the most common research approaches adopted to examine the related issues of social media marketing. Further discussion is also introduced followed by an explanation of the current review limitations and recommended directions to be examined by future studies.

Social media marketing is an integral element of 21st-century business. However, the literature on social media marketing remains fragmented and is focused on isolated issues, such as tactics for effective communication. The current research applies a qualitative, theory-building approach to develop a strategic framework that articulates four generic dimensions of strategic social media marketing. Social media marketing scope represents a range from defenders to explorers, social media marketing culture includes the poles of conservatism and modernism, social media marketing structures fall between hierarchies and networks, and social media marketing governance ranges from autocracy to anarchy. By providing a comprehensive conceptualization and definition of strategic social media marketing, this research proposes an integrative framework that expands beyond extant marketing theory. Furthermore, managers can apply the framework to position their organizations on these four dimensions in a manner consistent with their overall corporate mission and objectives.

The emergence of social commerce has brought substantial changes to both businesses and consumers. Hence, understanding consumer behavior in the context of social commerce has become critical for companies that aim to better influence consumers and harness the power of their social ties. Given that research on this issue is new and largely fragmented, it will be theoretically important to evaluate what has been studied and derive meaningful insights through a structured review of the literature. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of social commerce studies to explicate how consumers behave on social networking sites. We classify these studies, discuss noteworthy theories, and identify important research methods. More importantly, we draw upon the stimulus–organism–response model and the five-stage consumer decision-making process to propose an integrative framework for understanding consumer behavior in this context. We believe that this framework can provide a useful basis for future social commerce research.