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Studying the effect of social media advertising on consumer engagement, this study analyzes the impact of shared-experience versus personal message strategies, informational versus transformational creative appeals and low-involvement products versus high-involvement products. It aims to determine how best to combine ad elements to affect consumer engagement on different levels.

Using an online survey among 448 Facebook users, an experimental factorial design of 2 (message strategy conditions) X 2 (creative appeal conditions) X 2 (product types: TV vs. frozen pizza) was used. Each advertisement was evaluated on three facets of engagement: cognitive, psychological and behavioral.

Results indicate that informational appeal is preferable for all conditions. The effectiveness of message strategy differs by product type, and interactions between message and appeal are significant only for the high-involvement product. Additionally, it indicates that message strategy is most significant in affecting behavioral engagement and not necessarily cognitive or psychological engagement.

To develop effective Facebook ads, practitioners should use a personal/informational combination when working with high-involvement products and a shared-experience/informational combination when working with low-involvement products.

An original grid for integrating message strategy and creative appeal is constructed in this paper. Besides behavioral engagement, it also evaluates cognitive and psychological engagement. By comparing products with a high and low involvement level, it provides marketers with actionable recommendations to increase social media campaign effectiveness.

This study aims to provide nuanced insights into the effectiveness of digital outdoor advertising in redefining urban tourism appeal. Amidst a transformative era for urban tourism and city branding strategies, this study evaluates Tecoration’s influence on city branding and tourism promotion frameworks. Using the “Wave” digital outdoor advertising campaign in Seoul as a focal point, this analysis explores how such innovative marketing efforts reshape potential tourists’ perceptions and intentions toward visiting Seoul.

The study uses a bifurcated methodological framework. The initial phase undertakes a granular topical analysis, decoding keyword patterns from YouTube video commentaries, offering an unmediated insight into viewer sentiment. This is juxtaposed with a structural equation modeling technique in the subsequent phase, which serves to validate and triangulate the findings of the primary analysis.

The study reveals that viewer reactions, imbued with a sense of surprise attributable to both the content’s novelty and the technological innovation, exhibit a strong correlation with increased media engagement. This enhanced engagement significantly influences the viewers’ overall perception of the city, culminating in a marked increase in their intentions to visit Seoul.

The findings have transformative implications for city branding strategies, accentuating the potential of digital outdoor mediums. The study advocates for a paradigm shift that underscores the indispensability of Tecoration in elevating urban brand imagery and catalyzing the broader objectives of smart city metamorphosis, urban tourism rejuvenation and commercial growth trajectories.

The results of this research highlight the transformative potential of digital outdoor media in city branding. The findings suggest a shift in strategy, emphasizing the critical role of Tecoration in enhancing urban brand imagery, driving smart city development, revitalizing urban tourism and fostering commercial growth. This study underscores the strategic importance of integrating Tecoration into the urban branding framework, showcasing its vital contribution to the growth and dynamism of modern cities.

The findings of this study highlight the social implications of integrating Tecoration media in urban environments. By enhancing city branding and tourism through innovative digital signage, cities can foster a more vibrant and attractive urban atmosphere, promoting community pride and engagement. Additionally, the increased visitor traffic can boost local economies and support cultural exchange, contributing to the overall social and economic well-being of urban areas. Strategic use of digital outdoor advertising can also bridge the gap between technological advancements and public spaces, creating more interactive and inclusive urban experiences for residents and tourists alike.

This study embraces a viewer-centric perspective, delving into the relatively uncharted realms of surprise and media engagement within the digital consumption landscape. By adopting this innovative angle, the research significantly deepens the comprehension of viewer experiences and broadens the academic boundaries concerning city branding and media effect frameworks in management literature.

Amidst the growing emphasis on privacy protection, this study aims to investigate how online interaction introduced in Lead Generation Ads (LGAs) affects consumers' Self-Disclosure Intention (SDI), particularly in the context of the Chinese advertising market.

This research employs two scenario-based online surveys to analyse in depth the impact of LGAs on consumers' SDI. The first study collects valid feedback from 220 consumers through an online questionnaire to assess the direct effect of perceived interactivity on SDI. The second study, using an experimental design with a sample of 265 participants, further explores the mediating roles of perceived control and perceived vulnerability in the relationship between perceived interactivity and SDI and examines the moderating effect of privacy invasion experience (PIE).

This study reveals the significant and positive influence of perceived interactivity on SDI, with perceived control acting as a mediator that enhances this effect. Conversely, perceived vulnerability weakens the positive impact of perceived interactivity on SDI. Additionally, we explore the moderating role of PIE and find that it significantly influences the relationship between perceived interactivity and SDI. These findings underscore the importance of considering consumer privacy sensitivity, particularly in the design of interactive marketing strategies and within highly interactive advertising environments.

Our research uncovers consumer privacy attitudes and behaviours in the Chinese market, providing insights into its unique dynamics of privacy and information disclosure. However, the geographical and cultural specificity of our study may limit its generalizability. Future studies should expand into various cultural and market contexts, considering the impact of digital technologies on consumer interactions and information disclosure, thereby enhancing the depth and applicability of global marketing strategies.

Advertising platforms should explore online interactive communication methods to enhance consumers' perceived interactions and alleviate privacy concerns. Also, platforms should be designed with system security in mind to prevent the leakage and misuse of consumer data, thus increasing consumers' SDI.

The study provides insights for marketers on designing more effective and privacy-sensitive online advertising strategies in the Chinese market. Understanding the factors influencing consumers’ willingness to share personal information can lead to more effective engagement in digital marketing campaigns.

By integrating interactivity theory with privacy computing theory, this research provides a new perspective on the role of online interaction in consumer privacy protection and information disclosure decisions. The findings not only enrich the theoretical frameworks of interactive marketing and privacy protection but also offer empirical support for marketing practitioners in regard to designing interactive advertising strategies, especially balancing consumer privacy protection with the enhancement of shopping intentions.

Personal data is today recognized as an asset in the digital economy, generating billion-dollar annual revenues for many companies. But how much value do users derive from their seemingly free apps (zero-price services), and what user costs are associated with this value exchange? By adopting a human-centric lens, this article scrutinizes the complex trade-offs users face trying to capture the benefits and unperceived costs that such usage entails.

Using a mixed-method research design, this study is anchored in empirical survey data from 196 participants in Linköping, Sweden. The authors investigate users’ willingness to pay for these services in relation to different types of costs.

The results indicate that users can derive significant value from the use of free services, which can be interpreted as a win-win situation between users and companies. Regarding costs, this research shows that the most significant costs for users are associated with procrastination, sleep deprivation and reduced focus, which can be challenging to identify and evaluate from the users’ perspective.

This study shows that zero-price services provide significant benefits like enhancing social connectivity and offering a wide variety of content. Significant drawbacks, such as increased procrastination and sleep disturbances, highlight the psychological effects of these platforms. These impacts include behavioral changes, emphasizing the influence of online platforms on user engagement. Furthermore, a trend toward single-purchase preferences over free services suggests changing consumer attitudes toward digital payment models. This underscores the need for further research on non-monetary aspects in zero-price markets for better understanding and regulation of the digital economy.

This study shows that users appreciate the accessibility and potential of zero-price services but are wary of privacy concerns. It underscores the need for companies to balance profit objectives with user experiences and privacy requirements. Offering a range of ad-free premium services to meet diverse customer needs can be effective. Users’ high valuation of privacy and transparency suggests businesses should focus on human-centric, privacy-respecting strategies. Increased transparency in data usage and giving users greater data control could enhance the user experience and foster sustainable customer relationships.

The study calls for policymakers to focus on non-monetary risks of zero-price services, such as behavioral changes and digital well-being impacts. They should consider implementing regulations to protect users, especially children, from manipulative designs such as “dark patterns”. Policymakers must balance user protection with innovation, leading to a sustainable zero-price economy. For zero-price service users, awareness of non-monetary costs, like procrastination and sleep deprivation, is vital. Understanding that “free” services have hidden costs is important, especially for younger generations. Managing privacy settings and selective service choices can protect privacy and well-being.

This research shifts the focus from simply valuing personal data based on market prices to assessing the worth of free services themselves. By listing various hidden costs, it underscores the need for increased user awareness and greater corporate transparency. Uniquely, it finds that users prefer making one-time purchases over using zero-price services, extending prior assumptions in the field. Additionally, it also characterizes the zero-price economy ecosystem, highlighting differences between market types and provides a deeper understanding of the zero-price market and its related concepts.

Conceptual and empirical research over the past 20 years has moved the social media (SM) literature beyond the embryotic stage to a well-developed academic discipline. As the lead article in the special issue in the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing on Cutting-Edge Research in Social Media and Interactive Marketing, this review and agenda article has two key goals: (1) to review key SM and interactive marketing research over the past three years and (2) to identify the next wave of high priority challenges and research opportunities.

Given the “cutting-edge” research focus of the special issue, this review and research agenda paper focused on articles published in 25 key marketing journals between January 2021 and March 2024. Initially, the search request was for articles with “social media, social selling, social commerce” located in the article title, author-selected key words and journal-selected keywords. Later, we conducted searches based on terminology from articles presented in the final review. In total, over 1,000 articles were reviewed across the 25 journals, plus additional ones that were cited in those journals that were not on the initial list.

Our review uncovered eight key content areas: (1) data sources, methodology and scale development; (2) emergent SM technologies; (3) artificial intelligence; (4) virtual reality; (5) sales and sales management; (6) consumer welfare; (7) influencer marketing; and (8) social commerce. Table I provides a summer of key articles and research findings for each of the content areas.

As a literature review and research agenda article, this paper is one of the most extensive to date on SM marketing, and particularly with regard to emergent research over the past three years. Recommendations for future research are integrated through the paper and summarized in Figure 2.

Consumer welfare is one of the eight emergent content areas uncovered in the literature review. Specific focus is on SM privacy, misinformation, mental health and misbehavior.

Consumer behavior is evolving rapidly due to the increasing role of technology in daily life. Online food ordering has emerged as a key channel in this changing landscape. This paper investigates the relationships between online promotions, consumer skepticism, information sharing on social media and the intention to purchase food and beverages through online delivery services.

Measures were developed based on a review of existing literature. Data from 402 participants were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

The study reveals that online promotions significantly impact consumers' sharing of restaurant posts. Additionally, consumer skepticism about online food sales affects both their sharing behavior and their intention to purchase online. Engagement in sharing restaurant posts online is a strong predictor of online food purchasing intentions.

The findings offer valuable insights for restaurant operators, policymakers and technology developers in the competitive online food delivery sector. They emphasize the importance of implementing innovative promotions and crafting appealing food presentations. These strategies can accelerate customer decision-making, attract new customers and contribute to market expansion and customer base sustainability.

This research provides significant insights for restaurant owners and contributes to the limited literature on online promotions, consumer skepticism and information sharing in the restaurant industry. It also lays the groundwork for future studies aimed at deepening understanding in this field.

The aim of this study is to assess the mediating effect of source appearance (SA) and self-influencer congruence (SIC) on the relationship between visual content (VC) and customer engagement (CE) towards mobile advertisement.

This study uses a quantitative approach to test the proposed model based on the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theory. The non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from Pakistani mobile users through a self-administered questionnaire.

The study results prove that VC alone cannot generate mobile users’ engagement. SA is the key in this regard, which has a relatively higher importance compared to SIC. Furthermore, the serial mediation effect of SA and SIC on CE shows that attractive sources are likely to induce higher SIC and subsequent CE.

The results reveal that without a pleasing SA and positive SIC, mobile users skip the ads by perceiving them to be irritating or interruptive. Mobile ads might cost relatively less, but the advertisers should understand the significance of the SA toward minimizing the mobile advertising skepticism.

Advertisers can enhance the user’s engagement on mobile devices by addressing both the SA and SIC in their VC. The combined effect of both the SA and SIC on CE has not been assessed before. Furthermore, this study has used the SOR mechanism to examine CE.

El objetivo general de esta investigación es evaluar el efecto mediador de la apariencia de la fuente (SA) y la congruencia del auto-influencer (SIC) en la relación entre el contenido visual (CV) y el compromiso del cliente (CE) hacia la publicidad móvil.

Este estudio utiliza un enfoque cuantitativo para probar el modelo propuesto basado en la teoría estímulo-organismo-respuesta (SOR). Se utilizó la técnica de muestreo intencional no probabilístico para recoger datos de usuarios de móviles paquistaníes mediante un cuestionario autoadministrado.

Nuestros resultados demuestran que el contenido visual por sí solo no puede generar el compromiso de los usuarios de móviles. La apariencia de la fuente es la clave a este respecto, que tiene una importancia relativamente mayor en comparación con la congruencia del auto-influencer. Además, el efecto de mediación en serie de SA y SIC en CE muestra que es probable que las fuentes atractivas induzcan un mayor SIC y el consiguiente compromiso del cliente.

Los resultados revelan que sin una SA agradable y una SIC positiva, los usuarios de móviles omiten los anuncios al percibirlos como irritantes o interruptores. Los anuncios para móviles pueden costar relativamente menos, pero los anunciantes deben comprender la importancia de la apariencia de la fuente para minimizar el escepticismo de la publicidad móvil.

Los anunciantes pueden mejorar la participación del usuario en los dispositivos móviles abordando tanto la AS como el SIC en sus contenidos visuales. Hasta ahora no se había evaluado el efecto combinado de la AS y el SIC en el CE. Además, este estudio ha utilizado el mecanismo del SOR para examinar el engagement del cliente.

本研究的总体目标是评估源外观（SA）和自我影响者一致性（SIC）对移动广告视觉内容（VC）和客户参与（CE）之间关系的中介效应。

本研究采用定量方法来检验基于刺激-有机体-反应（SOR）理论提出的模型。研究采用了非概率目的性抽样技术, 通过自填问卷的方式向巴基斯坦移动用户收集数据。

我们的研究结果证明, 仅靠视觉内容并不能引起移动用户的参与。在这方面, 源外观是关键, 与自我影响者一致性相比, 源外观的重要性相对更高。此外, SA 和 SIC 对 CE 的串联中介效应表明, 有吸引力的信息源可能会诱发更高的 SIC 和随后的客户参与。

研究结果表明, 如果没有令人愉悦的SA和积极的SIC, 移动用户就会认为广告具有刺激性或干扰性, 从而跳过广告。移动广告的成本可能相对较低, 但广告商应了解广告源外观对减少移动广告怀疑的重要性。

广告商可以通过在视觉内容中同时考虑广告联盟和广告投放中心这两个因素, 提高用户在移动设备上的参与度。之前从未有人评估过 “SA “和 “SIC “对消费者参与度的综合影响。此外, 本研究还使用了 SOR 机制来考察客户参与度。

The purpose of this research is to examine the extent to which source attractiveness and source credibility (or skill in a sporting context) provide an effective marketing strategy for Field Hockey in New Zealand, a minority sport Minority sports struggle to generate capital and have minimal sponsorship backing due to small participation and viewership rates compared to “major sports”. By understanding how source attractiveness and source credibility work in the context of a minority sport such as hockey, more effective advertising towards target audiences can be achieved. We also consider differences between advertising to players and no-players of the sport. This is the first research to consider these issues.

Four advertisements were created in an experimental design that manipulated the two variables: source credibility and source attractiveness, in an advertisement promoting Hockey. A survey was conducted, using an online questionnaire.

Results show that a mixture physical attractiveness and skill (credibility) increase attitudes towards the advertisement. This results in positive intentions to both watch and play hockey. When the respondents were segmented into hockey players and non-hockey players, only skill is effective for the Hockey Player segment, whereas both skill and attractiveness are effective for non-players.

Future research should include comparing hockey to further minority sports codes. Additionally, understanding if male models created the same effects would be particularly interesting for further research.

Management should focus on skill, with physical attractiveness being considered, but not as the most important attribute. If targeting hockey players, skill needs to be especially visible. Even though these elements could be argued to be within the “proverbial eye of the beholder”, the results have shown that in terms of sports advertising, it is possible to portray these two attributes in a generalised way.

This research to focuses on source credibility and attractiveness in a minority sporting context, in particular field hockey, whereas the majority of research considers major sporting codes. In addition, involvement with the sport is also considered.

The purpose of this study was to examine consumer data acquired by branded prescription drug websites and the ethics of privacy related to the interconnected web of personal information accessed, packaged and resold by tracker technologies.

The research used the DMI Tracker Tool to collect data on the top 17 branded prescription drug websites, with a specific interest in the tracker technologies embedded in those websites. That data was analyzed using Gephi, an open-source data visualization tool, to map the network of trackers embedded in those branded prescription drug websites.

Findings visualize the interconnections between tracker technologies and prescription drug websites that undergird a system of personal data acquisition and programmatic advertising vehicles that serve the interests of prescription drug marketers and Big Tech. Based on the theory of platform ethics, the study demonstrated the presence of a technostructural ecosystem dominated by Big Tech, a system that goes unseen by consumers and serves the interests of advertisers and resellers of consumer data.

The 17 websites used in this study were limited to the top-selling prescription drugs or those with the highest ad expenditures. As such this study is not based on a random sampling of branded prescription drug websites. The popularity of these prescription drugs or the expanse of advertising associated with the drugs makes them appropriate to study the presence of tracking devices that collect data from consumers and serve advertising to them. It is also noted that websites are dynamic spaces, and some trackers within their infrastructures are apt to change over time.

Branded prescription drug information has over the past three decades become part of consumers’ routine search for information regarding what ails them. As drug promotion moved from print to TV and the Web, searching for drug information has become a part of everyday life. The implications of embedded trackers on branded prescription drug websites are the subject of this research.

This study has significant social implications as consumers who are searching for information regarding prescription medications may not want drug companies tracking them in a way that many perceive to be an invasion of privacy. Yet, as the Web is dominated by Big Tech, web developers have little choice but to remain a part of this technostructural ecosystem.

This study sheds light on branded prescription drug websites, exploring the imbalance between the websites under study, Big Tech and consumers who lack awareness of the system that operates backstage.

Built upon customer engagement marketing theory and uses and gratification theory, this study examines the link between individual social media marketing (SMM) performance indicators and restaurant sales performance at the firm level. Moreover, the study investigates the moderating effect of advertising expenditure on this proposed relationship.

Random effect regression models were developed in Stata to examine the associations between SMM performance indicators, advertising expenditure, and restaurant firm revenue. Twelve years of SMM data from brands' Facebook pages were collected with a web scraper built in Python. Natural language processing was used to analyze the sentiment of user-generated content (UGC).

The results suggest that restaurant annual sales revenue increases as the volume of brand posts, “like”s, “share”s and positive comments on restaurants' Facebook pages increase. However, the total number of comments and the number of negative comments show non-significant associations with revenue. Firm advertising expenditure negatively moderates the relationships between sales revenue and the number of “like”s, “share”s, total comments and positive comments.

Restaurants benefit from making frequent posts on SNSs. Promotions that motivate online users to “like”, share, and comment on brand posts should be implemented. Firms with limited advertising budgets are encouraged to actively create buzz on SNSs due to evidenced stronger effects of UGC on sales performance than large advertisers.

This research bridges the gap by studying the effects of individual SMM performance indicators on restaurant financial outcomes. The findings support the effectiveness of SMM; and, for the first time, demonstrate that SMM could generate a more profound impact for firms with low advertising budgets.