Consequences of social media marketing for customer engagement

Abstract

The current study examines the impacts of social media marketing factors on customer engagement (CE) with the assistance of five independent factors, i.e., interaction, trendiness, customization, word-of-mouth (WOM), and entertainment. The descriptive, relational, and causal research design was applied for data collection from a sample size of 400 respondents through the use of convenience and judgmental sampling techniques. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires, while secondary data was collected from books, the internet, and focus group discussions. The theoretical part of the current study highlights the interaction between social media marketing factors in their collective influence on consumer engagement, loyalty, and interaction. Regression and correlation tests showed that entertainment, WOM, and interaction factors were the highest predictors of CE. The predictor that stood out was entertainment, whereby humor, creativity, and interesting content create a more intense consumer interaction experience. WOM, through peer support and consumer-generated content, helps to build more favorable consumer attitudes. Interaction underscores the importance of personal communication in fostering trust between consumers and brands. Trendiness and customization, though favorable to CE, did not have independent predictive value; therefore, these factors can be viewed as being mediated by more potent predictor factors. This study also reveals the synergistic effects of social media promotion factors, whereby strategies that complement each other, such as personalized messages that stimulate WOM behavior or engaging content that targets trends, can create greater engagement. Implications for practice reveal that marketers should focus more on entertainment, interactivity, WOM, as well as trendiness and customization as complementing strategies for improving brand-consumer relationships. This study offers valuable contributions to marketers and researchers who want to optimize their social media campaigns while dealing with dynamic consumer behavior.