You absolutely (don’t) need this!examining differences on customer engagement components for (anti)haul youtubers’ videos
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
ISSN: 2040-7122
Article publication date: 11 February 2021
Issue publication date: 19 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on the content published by social media influencers – i.e. YouTubers – on their YouTube channels. The main purpose of this research is to analyse whether anti-consumption-framed content (anti-hauls) generates more views, more dislikes (and less dislikes) and more comments, as customer engagement components, than pro-consumption-framed content (hauls).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on 160 videos published on YouTube by 80 influencers on their respective channels, this study mainly analyses whether there are differences between anti-consumption and pro-consumption content in the various elements that constitute customer engagement (i.e. number of views, likes, dislikes and comments).
Findings
Results indicate that there are differences between anti-consumption and pro-consumption content in terms of total number of views, likes, dislikes and comments. All these customer engagement components are higher for anti-consumption-framed videos, which offers interesting implications for both theory and practice.
Originality/value
This study extends previous literature by accounting content published by social media influencers on their social media accounts, instead of analysing the most traditionally studied content that is published by brands on their own social media; and classifying this content as anti/pro-consumption rather than using the traditional dichotomy between transactional/emotional content. Brands should pay special attention to the content generated by social media influencers because it is a powerful form of electronic word-of-mouth that currently plays a significant role in customers’ (non)purchase decisions.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Authors would like to thank the editor Prof. Schibrowsky and the anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of the manuscript and their many insighful comments and suggestions that have helped in its improving and clarity.
This work was supported by the Mediterranean Research Center of Economics and Sustainable Development (CIMEDES) and the University of Almería (Agrifood Campus of International Excellence, ceiA3).
Citation
García-de-Frutos, N. and Estrella-Ramón, A. (2021), "You absolutely (don’t) need this!examining differences on customer engagement components for (anti)haul youtubers’ videos", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 86-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-11-2019-0181
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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