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Given the increasing importance of using social media to maintain consumer engagement, brands design posts using different characteristics that interact with each other to generate combination, which jointly influence consumer engagement. A methodological innovation is presented in which rough set theory is employed to analyse single and combined effects of brand post characteristics on consumer engagement on the Sina Weibo platform. Diverse characteristic combinations are shown to affect consumer engagement at varying intensities. The method is complementary in confirming single and combined effects of post characteristics. The research strengthens the understanding of consumer engagement based on characteristic combination perspective and helps to provide more effective reference to formulate social media marketing strategies owing to being closer to the real-world situation faced by brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent popularity of social media as a powerful marketing channel, limited studies have examined how customer personalities influence their reactions toward social media content. Thus, this study examines the role of a customer psychological characteristic known as fear of missing out (FOMO) in the formation of anticipated emotion (i.e. elation, envy, comfort, and expense regret) and purchase intention toward a restaurant based on social media marketing. Using surveys, the study collected information on 345 social media users. A SmartPLS estimation shows that customer anxiety over missing out is a strong indicator of anticipated emotions toward the restaurant experience. Specifically, positive impacts of anticipated envy and comfort on customer purchase intentions are found. However, customer anticipated expense regret toward future experiences negatively influences behavioural intentions. Finally, this study examines differences in relationships between FOMO, anticipated emotions, and purchase intentions across demographic profiles (i.e. gender, age, income, and education). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study adopts a multi-stakeholder approach to document the use of Instagram for real estate marketing in India. We conducted 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews of participants including eight real estate agents and 12 consumer who had purchased or were in talks of purchasing properties through social media post references. Using Couldry’s theory of framing digital media as a practice, the study presents an integrated framework incorporating audience expectations, algorithm expectations, agent strategies, and agent challenges. Findings indicate three themes crucial from the audience’s perspective for the popularity of Instagram as a real estate marketing platform including para-property elements, agent ethos, and convenience. Agent interviews highlight the strategies to cater to audience and algorithm expectations including self-branding, engagement, quality, consistency, and promotions. Two challenges were identified including the degree of disclosure and role-identity crisis. The study results can help realty agents ramp up their use of visual media platforms such as Instagram in their marketing efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractFear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a significant topic in consumer psychology, extending beyond social media to marketing. This article introduces a new metric called ‘OnlineAdFOMO,’ developed through a study involving 407 customers. It highlights that consumers fear missing events and opportunities like discounts and limited-time offers used by online retailers to drive purchases. We create a unidimensional 14-item scale via rigorous validity and reliability analysis. This new perspective on FOMO allows further exploration of consumer responses to FOMO marketing appeals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMemes have emerged as trendy, influential marketing tools that effectively capture attention, resonate with audiences, and offer diverse content appeals. This study examines how different dimensions of meme content—emotion, information, entertainment, and creativity—affect brand image, electronic word of mouth (e-WOM), and brand continuance intention, thereby focusing specifically on brand-generated memes. For this study, brand image and e-WOM have served as mediators. The analysis of an online survey with 822 valid responses revealed that the dimensions of meme content significantly impact brand image, e-WOM, and brand continuance intention. Brand image partially mediates meme content dimensions and brand continuance intention, whereas e-WOM fully mediates the relationship. Furthermore, social media involvement moderates the effects of meme content dimensions on e-WOM, brand image, and brand continuance intention. The findings offer valuable theoretical and practical insights on those involved in meme and social media marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx students are less likely to be recruited by colleges across various “high-touch” practices like high school visits and mailers. Given such exclusionary patterns, this study explores how colleges strategically serve Latinx students using an increasingly important, “low-touch” recruiting tool: social media. Our multiple case study analyzes Twitter feeds for two selective emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) to determine whether and to what extent their social media footprint reflects servingness (Garcia, et al., 2019). Findings reveal exemplary digital media practices that center servingness by validating Latinx identities, as well as cautionary lessons that perpetuate deficit views of Latinx populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:Design/methodology/approach:Findings:Originality/value:This study evaluates the effectiveness of social media marketing (SMM) activities for IT companies (ITCs) in the enterprise software market. Specifically, it examines the impact of SMM activities on perceived market leadership and customer engagement while considering the moderating role of product category knowledge.A quantitative research design was employed, utilizing data collected from 322 users of customer relationship management (CRM) software who follow these companies on social media. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses and evaluate the relationships between SMM activities, perceived market leadership, and customer engagement.The results indicate that informativeness and customization in SMM activities significantly enhance perceived market leadership and customer engagement. Conversely, interaction and entertainment dimensions have limited impact. Perceived market leadership mediates the relationship between SMM activities and customer engagement. Moreover, product category knowledge strengthens the influence of informativeness on customer engagement.This study addresses a critical gap in the literature by exploring the role of SMM activities in B2B contexts, specifically in the enterprise software market, where research is limited. It provides actionable insights for ITCs, emphasizing the strategic importance of informative and tailored SMM approaches in establishing market leadership and fostering customer engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the hierarchical effects of social media content posted by higher education providers on the enrolment decision-making of international students. The present study integrates the AIDA and TAM models to test a novel UAIED model comprising of five hierarchical stages: Usage→ Attention→ Interest→ Evaluation (Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Credibility) → Desire. This research analyses data collected from 235 international students via a two-stage structural equation modelling process using SPSS Statistics and SPSS Amos. The test results indicate that usage, attention and interest are hierarchically connected to evaluation (perceived usefulness and perceived credibility, respectively), and to desire. Furthermore, none of the control variables (age, gender, nationality and the study programme level) significantly impact any construct associations. In addition, this study discovered that LinkedIn had the highest perceived usefulness and perceived credibility among the four social media platforms in this research. The findings inform university managers and host country policymakers about using social media to engage international students in a rational manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instagram as a social media platform has gained prominence as the medium of influencer marketing practices targeting consumers of beauty products, yet little is known about source characteristics affecting Instagram opinion leadership resulting in consumers' purchasing behavior. Thus, this work examines effects of Instagram influencers' attributes (credibility, attractiveness, innovativeness, and sense of humor) on their perceived opinion leadership and its subsequent impacts on consumers' behavioral intentions. The research also analyzes complementary moderating effects of parasocial relationship and social identity reinforcing behavioral implications of social media opinion leadership. Empirical results from 202 Instagram followers reveal that credibility, innovativeness, and sense of humor exert positive influence on perceived opinion leadership which subsequently enhances levels of positive word-of-mouth, purchase, and loyalty intentions. Besides, social identity strengthens positive impacts of opinion leadership on consumers' word-of-mouth and purchase intentions. Thus, the findings not only contribute to the theory of opinion leadership, but have beneficial implications enabling beauty brands to develop effectual social media marketing communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to empirically investigate the factors that influence the perceived uniqueness and authenticity of social media influencers to predict viewers' social media engagement with video content. Data for this study were collected from YouTube users in the United States through a survey methodology. The empirical findings indicate that influencers' production expertise and playfulness significantly affect their perceived uniqueness, resulting in viewers' sense of attachment toward them. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that influencers' content expertise and playfulness significantly impact their perceived authenticity, leading to viewer attachment and continued social media engagement. The theoretical and managerial implications of social media marketing are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractA rise in social media users has spurred innovative marketing strategies, particularly in content consumption. ASMRtists, creators of sensational media content, are capturing attention across the business world, especially in the food and beverage industry. This study addresses a research scarcity by exploring a link between food ASMRtists (FAs) and sensory marketing using a mixed-method technique. Phase one involved a qualitative content analysis of 240 posts uploaded by the eight most-followed FAs on Instagram, examining visual and textual elements (18,912 texts). Phase two conducted a quantitative analysis of post engagement through the number of likes, views, comments, shares, featured posts, post frequency, and duration of posts. The research results depict an essential comprehension of sensory engagement for practitioners enhancing marketing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe deteriorating environment necessitates immediate remedial measures to preserve life forms in their natural state. There is an urgent need to regulate anthropogenic activities. This scholarly work examined the factors that lead to environmentally friendly consumption among consumers. We extended the TPB model with additional variables, namely social media marketing (SMM) and environmental concern (EC) to investigate consumers’ green purchase behavior. Furthermore, the moderating effect of greenwashing (GW) was examined. Data from 388 respondents were analyzed using the PLS-SEM technique. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to incorporate greenwashing as a moderating variable between GPI and GPB. Finally, the study discusses theoretical and managerial implications and outlines several strategies for marketers to promote green products and mitigate the negative effects of greenwashing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing literature on consumer participation on social media, little is known about customer experiences of social media interactions with brands and the subsequent impact on full-service restaurants, an economic sector that has heavily embraced social media marketing. This study examined the direct and indirect effects of social media-mediated customer engagements with brands on restaurant customers' purchase intentions in South Africa's Free State Province. Drawing on a positivist epistemology and a quantitative research methodology, a convenience sample of 379 full-service restaurant customers was surveyed, and 307 customers responded successfully. According to the analyses, customer-to-customer (C2C) and customer to business (C2B) social media engagements positively influenced customer purchase intentions both directly and indirectly through brand equity. The study recommended interventions to augment customers purchase intentions and actual purchases in full-service restaurants, such as incorporating content creation, customer relationship management, on-the-job digital skills training, and a social media marketing strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a comprehensive framework based on the theory of consumer engagement marketing. It examines the role of brand-initiated social media marketing (SMM) efforts—specifically entertainment, customisation, interactivity, and trendiness—in encouraging consumers to voluntarily contribute on social media platforms. These contributions are reflected in consumer-to-brand and consumer-to-consumer interactions, which, in turn, influence consumer engagement and online search behaviour. A theoretical model was developed and tested using survey data from 388 consumers experienced in visiting smartphone brand pages in Egypt. The data was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings indicate that SMM elements such as entertainment, customisation, and interactivity significantly drive consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-brand interactions, which subsequently lead to increased consumer engagement and online search behaviour. Notably, consumer engagement behaviour fully mediates the impact of consumer-to-consumer interaction on online search behaviour. The study offers important theoretical insights and managerial implications for brands aiming to enhance consumer engagement through social media strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to determine the antecedents and consequence of social media marketing (SMM) for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and to empirically find out if SMM provides strategic competitive advantages to the SMEs. The study also examines the mediating role of utilitarian value and hedonic value for impacting strategic competitive advantages. Finally, the study investigates the role of leadership support of the SMEs. With the support of extant literature review, motivational theory, technology acceptance model, and other related theories, a conceptual model has been developed. The theoretical model has been validated using partial least square – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with a survey from Indian small and medium enterprises. The research study shows that SMM impacts positively to both utilitarian value and hedonic value. The explanative power of the proposed empirically validated model is 69%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to fill literature gaps in the use of adaptive selling on social media platforms by observing consumer and sales force behavior in the consumer electronic market. The study's main objectives are framed to answer the following questions: How does adaptive selling influence consumer outcomes in consumer electronics? What are the effects of social media on consumer outcomes through adaptive selling? The unit of analysis was individual consumers who use consumer electronics, retailers' services and products offered through salespeople. The sample size of 400 consumers of electronic products was reached via electronic surveys. The questionnaire was adapted from literature to satisfy the quantitative nature of the study. This study found adaptive selling behavior of salespeople to be positively significant in predicting consumer outcomes. The outcomes of the study give statistical proof that social media use in sales has a positive impact on adaptive selling habits. The study also revealed a significant positive impact of consumer satisfaction on customer loyalty; this relationship is identified as critical in the consumer electronics retail market. This study is unique because it widens the understanding of social media use among salespeople in emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thorough dissection of prominent scholarly contributions can shed light on the evolution of research trajectories. Using marketing research as a case, this study aims to probe into the recognition and resonance that research enjoys across social media landscapes, employing the power of Altmetric. We employed an analytical approach involving descriptive statistics coupled with the Spearman correlation test, scrutinizing Altmetric data for the most heavily cited works in the marketing discipline (n: 137). Our examination illuminates that the United States and the United Kingdom are the dominant contributors to the majority of tweets and readership relating to these works. Noteworthily, marketing research featured in top-tier publications registered the highest Altmetric scores from both Twitter and Mendeley. An intriguing pattern surfaced in our exploration, highlighting a positive relationship between Altmetric scores drawn from social media platforms and citation counts on the Web of Science (WoS), as well as between Mendeley readership and WoS citations. These Altmetric insights underscore the pivotal role social media plays in propelling citation rates of research, implying that researchers can significantly amplify the visibility and citation impact of their work by strategically employing social media platforms and tapping into Altmetric indicators' potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasingly sophisticated improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in marketing communications, a gap prevails between heightened levels of excitement around it and high-level application. Consequently, this topic necessitates in-depth investigation to prepare for future changes. This study examines the role of AI in programmatic advertising through a quantitative content analysis of AI-enabled digital programmatic advertisements. Although the idea that sponsorship disclosure, appeals, and sentiments are important in persuasive messages has been documented, this study extends existing literature by examining these concepts within AI-enabled programmatic advertising. Sponsorship-linked marketing and congruence theory guided this study. The results showed that only about half of the ads revealed sponsorship information. Further, the brand-sponsor association was not clearly established in the ads. A sentiment analysis showed the prominence of positive sentiments in the ads. Additionally, the ads mostly used product- and consumer-focused appeals. Theoretical and research contributions and strategic marketing implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketing researchers have devoted considerable attention to marketer-generated content (MGC), social media engagement behaviour (SMEB) and online relationships. Prior studies, however, do not integrate these critical elements of social media marketing. Our study, which is underpinned in the Elaboration-Likelihood Model, offers evidence that MGC leads to SMEB, which has a positive impact on relationship quality. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study, which comprises a content analysis of the official Facebook pages of American political parties and semi-structured interviews with voters who engage with political MGC, reveals that peripheral cues are the primary drivers of SMEB. Based on the quantitative and qualitative evidence, we demonstrate that shares are a higher-involvement activity than likes. We recommend that political marketers should rely on distinct sets of MGC cues to elicit shares and likes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the online representation of the Lotus Lantern Festival's destination appeal. The study analyzes 2000 Instagram photographs from 2013-2020 to categorize the festival's core resources and attractors. The results show that Culture and History had the highest percentage of photos, followed by Entertainment, Special Events, Mix of Activities, and Physiography and Climate. The article emphasizes the importance of Tourist Generated Content (TGC) in promoting and popularizing the festival, suggesting that festival organizers utilize social media marketing strategies to engage both hosts and tourists. [Extracted from the article]

Despite the increased adoption of social media marketing and accreditation practices by NPOs, little attention has been paid to their active promotion of accreditation information on social media and its potential impact on people’s attitude or behavioral change. This study examines whether the integration of accreditation information in nonprofit organizations’ social media marketing affects online users’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the promoted nonprofits This study conducts an online experiment using fictitious social media pages that include identifiable information on the NPOs’ environmental causes combined with an accreditation logo on public charities’ accountability as a device to test the signaling effect. This study created a factorial design of (2 × 2) by the combination of the existence of an accreditation logo (presence/absence) and the environmental awareness level (high/low). A total of 146 completed responses from graduate and undergraduate students of a public university were used for the analysis. Results show that respondents, having a high level of environmental awareness, demonstrated more positive attitudes toward the advertised nonprofits with certificate logo. This study suggests that the implementation of social media marketing with accreditation logo should be approached with caution, as it could potentially backfire with individuals with low environmental awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine how fast fashion companies attempt to build legitimacy for their actions through social media marketing communications. The data are sourced from Lindex's and H&M's Instagram posts to explore how sustainability claims are related to the discursive legitimation strategies of authorization, rationalization, moral evaluation, and mythopoesis. In our critical discourse analysis, we show how visual and verbal components participate in the construction of these discursive legitimation strategies. Our findings allow us to advance discussions of fast fashion as a market institution by critically addressing the role of fast fashion companies and the ways in which they aim to legitimize this unsustainable business model by harnessing sustainability claims. By analyzing visual and verbal components as a part of the discursive construction of legitimacy, our research adds empirical detail to conceptualizations of the mediating role of social media in perpetuating the harmful practices of the fashion industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAimMethodResultsConclusionsAlcohol promotions in conventional channels are associated with subsequent alcohol consumption in young people, but little is known about young people’s exposure to digital alcohol marketing. This exploratory study investigated young people’s exposure to, and engagement with, alcohol marketing on social media platforms, variations across sociodemographic groups and associations with alcohol-related behaviors.An online survey was conducted with 3698 participants aged between 14 and 20 years (M = 17.1; SD = 1.8) in New Zealand. The survey asked about social media use and exposure to and engagement with alcohol product marketing on their preferred platforms, alcohol consumption patterns, hazardous drinking (AUDIT-C scores) and purchasing alcohol online.Nearly three-quarters of the sample who responded to questions about exposure to alcohol marketing (70.6%; n = 1541) reported seeing marketing on at least one social media platform, with older respondents (18–20 years) more likely to report exposure than younger respondents (14–17 years); no differences were found across gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic groups. Over one-third of those who responded to questions about engagement (40.7%; n = 850) reported engaging with alcohol marketing and this varied by age, gender and ethnicity. Recall of exposure to alcohol marketing was less strongly associated with online purchase and having ever drunk alcohol than was engagement with alcohol marketing, which was also associated with hazardous drinking.Engagement with alcohol marketing was more strongly related to alcohol behaviors, including online purchasing, having ever drunk alcohol, and drinking at hazardous levels, than exposure. These findings also demonstrated inequitable patterns of engagement with alcohol marketing on social media associated with these novel algorithmic marketing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions (HEIs) invest substantially in their social media presence for marketing, branding, student engagement, and recruitment purposes. To better understand HEIS' current social media strategies, this study developed a mixed-method approach to analyze Facebook content and posting practices of postsecondary institutions in Ontario, Canada. A total of 13,467 Facebook posts from 42 HEIs were collected using the Napoleon Cat application, and subsequently coded and analyzed. Applying descriptive statistics and regression analysis alongside content analysis, results demonstrate that HEIs generally followed similar practices concerning posting frequency, length, types, and timing. Although HEIs employed all five main branding positions – namely Elite, Nurturing, Campus, Outcome, and Commodity – HEIs were found to concentrate on promoting Nurturing elements and Campus activities. Moreover, results revealed several significant differences in strategies of institutions with different sizes (large, medium, and small) as well as different types (university and college) in both marketing activities and branding positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant literature on the use of social media marketing for recruiting higher education students has an unstructured nature. To address this gap, this paper introduces a novel method called 'algorithmic document sequencing' (ADS) that links the key findings of 43 relevant articles procured from all databases to one another on the use of social media marketing for student recruitment in higher education. The key findings from these articles were sequenced through cosine similarity on R in an algorithmically structured way. This new method can help researchers connect the insights drawn from the use of social media marketing activities and developments in higher education literature and provide marketing professionals at universities with invaluable clues to develop social media marketing strategies to be implemented within their higher education institutions to develop their brand, become more competitive and meet their marketing goals. Furthermore, ADS can be applied to any domain to link extant literature or thematically homogeneous documents to each another for a systematically synthesized cohesive review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising competition and social media usage increased the importance of university brand personality and strategic marketing in higher education. This study explores the interrelationships between brand-generated content (BGC) and user-generated content (UGC) on social media and universities' competitive strategy and brand personality. BGC that included four universities' tweets and UGC that consisted of consumer comments were analyzed by content and correspondence analysis in R programming language. The findings indicated that BGC was in alignment with universities' generic strategies. BGC-UGC dispersions across brand personality were in alignment for the differentiator university, while there was a mismatch between BGC and UGC for low-cost universities. The differentiator university was associated with being prestigious, cosmopolitan, and conscientious, while the low-cost universities were associated with sincerity. The findings supported the applicability of generic business strategies to the higher education context and showed the strategic link between brand personality and the pursued generic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We outline our suggested research agenda according to the following themes: CSM's relationship with other "marketing and society" sub-disciplines Power and politics in social marketing The changing nature of vulnerability Context-specific intersectionalities Bio-socio-material understandings of social problems and social change Teaching CSM Within each of these themes, we offer some context to the opportunities for developing CSM, followed by research propositions and research questions that can help guide future research in these areas. CSM could also be integrated across other elements of the marketing curriculum, through the inclusion of social marketing cases, examples, and methods, for example in units such as international marketing, services marketing, and consumer behaviour. In this editorial, critical review, and research agenda for this special section of the I Journal of Marketing Management i on "Critical Social Marketing: Towards Emancipation", we argue that the need for critically informed approaches to pro-social behaviour and social change is ever more important. These units could be placed alongside other pertinent marketing and society subjects such as Marketing Ethics, Social Responsibility, Critical Marketing, Sustainable Marketing, Race and Marketing, and Marketing and Gender, that would form important pillars in redesigned marketing degree programmes. Charting the CSM landscape Gordon ([63]) explains that CSM involves critically analysing social marketing theories, concepts, discourses, and practice I and/or i examining the deleterious impact of commercial marketing activities on social marketing problems - to generate critique, conflict and change that facilitates emancipatory social good. [Extracted from the article]

Inconsistent results regarding consumers' reactions to sponsorship disclosure call for more research into the mechanisms underlying the effects of sponsorship disclosure. Considering the critical role of trust in advertising and marketing, we examined how sponsorship disclosure influenced trust toward the endorser of a product and subsequently affected attitudes toward the endorsed product and intentions to purchase the product. These effects were examined for both influencers and celebrities. The results of an online experiment revealed that sponsorship disclosure increased trust toward the endorser, which in turn led to more positive attitudes toward the endorsed product and increased purchase intentions. However, these effects were significant only for influencers, but not for celebrities. These findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of sponsorship disclosure and have implications for advertising regulation and social media marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential impact of the triadic social interaction instigated by spatial distance between author, reader, and business that detects tourists' geographical decision patterns. A social media asset for brands is a digital presence that encourages positive consumer responses in media communication. Using 2,129 items of author-reader-business paired review data, the findings indicate that geographical proximity between the review triad has assimilated patterns to assess reviews. Spatial regression analysis visualized spatial heterogeneity across US regions, showing that a lower spatial distance between tourists and businesses positively improved media assets; in contrast, close spatial proximity had a strong impact among peer tourists. As spatially heterogeneous tourists positively accept media sharing toward the business, the review triad model imposes the varying effects of triadic spatial distance that helps tourism policymakers implement an effective location-based social media marketing strategy for the food tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertisers aim to avoid content containing controversy, sex, violence, and profanity, while platforms like Reddit aim to monetize as much content with ads as possible. This research explores the dynamics of content monetization in the two-sided market of social media, focusing on Reddit's brand safety system's effectiveness in shielding advertisers from unsafe user-generated content (UGC). Analyzing 2,267 active subreddits and 2.74 million submissions over three months in 2022, 55% to 66% of subreddits with relatively high toxicity were deemed acceptable for advertising. Overall, brand safety on Reddit seems to only affect 15% of submissions, with 85% deemed safe for advertising. Inconsistencies in blocking highly toxic subreddits suggest that factors like subreddit size may impact Reddit's brand safety decisions. Thus, it appears that Reddit's economic motivations in content monetization outweigh advertiser pressure for brand safety. This research underscores the need for more transparent and precise brand safety solutions. It also suggests that advertiser concern in appearing alongside "unsafe" content is overblown, as no advertisers have spoken out against brand safety on Reddit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing uncertainty has frequently been associated with alterations in investor behaviour in scientific discourse. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) despite generating 10% of the EU's GDP, has largely been overlooked in investigations into the relationship between socialmedia uncertainty and its impact on the stock markets. The purpose of this article is to examine the dependence between the largest stock indices of the CEE markets and Twitter uncertainty measures. The Vector Autoregressive (VAR) methodology, specifically bivariate Granger causality is applied to investigate the relationship between social media messages and market behaviour reflected in returns of the main stock indices for Croatian CROBEX, Czech PX, Hungarian BUX, Polish WIG and Romanian BET indices. The author discovers substantial evidence indicating that the CEE region exhibits heterogeneity concerning its relationship with uncertainty in stock markets, with measures related to recession, political events, and natural disasters being of utmost relevance. While the VAR model and Granger causality have been studied in relation to many markets, there is a lack of studies on the effect of Twitter-based wider spectrum of uncertainty measures on the CEE region. Twitter-based uncertainty measures on the CEE region represent a significant knowledge gap, that when addressed, could offer valuable insight into the region's financial dynamics, thus potentially affecting hedging strategies, enhancing investor's awareness and informing policy-making decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors developing brand loyalty through social media influencers (SMIs) are immensely important to academics and marketing practitioners since it is a remarkable driver of organizational success. This research investigates the impact of SMIs homophily in developing customer brand engagement (CBE) and its impact on BL. We collected valid data from 412 respondents using laptop brands in Pakistan and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The findings indicate that the SMIs homophily is crucial in establishing CBE and BL. The results further show that CBE's emotional and cognitive dimensions significantly mediate the relationship between SMIs homophily and BL. However, the emotional CBE has a stronger mediating impact on BL. The study provides valuable insights for brand managers to hire SMIs who resemble their fans to grab their loyalty toward the brand. This study unfolds new avenues in social media marketing, consumer behavior, and branding literature by understanding the association between SMIs homophily, CBE, and BL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs thematic content analysis to explore how the content source (brand vs. brands in collaboration with celebrities), content type (informative, social, and entertaining), and content format (videos, links, photos, and text) shape customer engagement on Twitter. It also aims to unpack the user-generated content (UGC) patterns and users' attitudinal and behavioral reactions in response to brand-generated content (BGC). Using 5086 tweets generated by a brand and 4676 brand-related tweets generated by users, the findings demonstrate a significant increase in user engagement with the content generated by brands in collaboration with a celebrity compared to the content generated solely by the brand regardless of the content type. The findings also reveal that social and entertaining content attracts more user engagement than informative content. Users tend to engage more with tweets containing images than tweets containing videos or links. The findings further illustrate that most users' brand-related content is in the 'mention' style, and most users' comments include negative behavior-related content. Our findings provide marketing managers with actionable insights into monitoring and managing brand-related social media content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to identify the determinants of social media marketing (SMM) and analyze its influence on the performance of micro, small, and medium-sized tourism enterprises (MSMT Es) using the innovation capabilities (IC) of the firm as a mediating variable. Therefore, responses were collected from 401 MSMT Es for quantitative analysis using structural equation modelling (Smart-P LS4). The findings reveal that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, cost-effectiveness, competitive pressure, and entrepreneurial orientation all have a significant effect on the adoption of SMM by MSMT Es. This in turn leads to the progression in the performance of MSMT Es, supplemented by their innovation capabilities. This study provides decision-makers and managers to have a thorough understanding of elements influencing the adoption of SMM and hence realizing its true value in improving the performance of MSMT Es. It also emphasizes how significant it is for business firms to include IC to supplement their operational effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being one of the modern marketing technologies, social media marketing is effective to reach the right target market and it is widely utilized by business entities and tourism destinations to promote products and services. Through applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, this research is designed to examine how tourism principal service providers use social media marketing. SPSS version 23 was employed to compute mean, one-way Analysis of variance and multiple regressions. The effective sample size is 176 tourism and hospitality organizations. The findings revealed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions have significant impacts on the use of social media marketing. However, social influence has not a significant effect on the outcome variable. The major implication drawn from the study is that the need to pay due attention to provide appropriate training for tourism and hospitality sectors regarding usefulness and easiness of e-marketing innovations and technologies which helps to devise and implement creative management and marketing strategies that in turn contribute to tourism destinations and organizations to become competitive enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editorial in the Journal of Promotion Management explores the impact of digitalization on social media platforms and the challenges and opportunities it presents for businesses and consumers. It discusses topics such as influencer marketing, gamification, consumer behavior, and the darker side of digital marketing. The articles in this special issue provide theoretical foundations, case studies, and practical applications related to digital promotion strategies. The research aims to enhance understanding of the complexities of digital marketing in a social media-driven world. [Extracted from the article]

"Technology Advances and Innovation in Wine Tourism: New Managerial Approaches and Cases" is a book that explores the intersection of technological innovation and wine tourism. It focuses on how the wine tourism industry is adapting to global competition and changing consumer expectations, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book covers various topics, including the role of social media influencers in brand perception, the use of mobile apps in wine tourism, and the potential of virtual reality to enhance travel experiences. It also emphasizes the importance of flexible and dynamic strategies in managing technological change. Overall, the book provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities in the field of wine tourism. [Extracted from the article]

Social media marketing facilitated prospective students to communicate and collaborate to gather information relevant to higher education institutions and their respective brand equity. More complex and dynamic models focusing on customer-based brand equity often lack empirical support in higher education sectors, particularly from more than one country. Drawing from the elaboration likelihood model, this study empirically investigated how higher education institutions can develop brand equity using social media marketing. The quantitative findings from 936 undergraduates from Sri Lanka and Vietnam indicated social media marketing influences the brand equity of higher education institutions through brand credibility. Taking into the comparison between two emerging countries, Vietnamese students are more concerned about brand credibility through social media marketing activities to form brand equity compared to their Sri Lankan counterparts. The findings provide some practical implications for educational marketers to promote their higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to study the indirect effect of Insta influencers' endorsement on Indonesian consumers purchase intention through brand attitude and brand credibility. A survey method based on an online questionnaire is distributed to collect data from Indonesian Instagram users that resulted in 288 usable responses. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is carried out to test the hypotheses. Research findings provide implications for both marketers and influencers by bolding the attribute of an effective endorsement that has tangible direct impact on Indonesian consumers' behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative literature review advances understanding of travel vlogs as a critical component of contemporary digital tourism marketing and highlights the transformation of digital marketing over the past three decades. The paper explores the role of vlogs in modern tourism marketing practices and proposes a travel vlog ecosystem comprising three actors: the vlogger, the viewer, and the destination marketer. The paper is the first to examine the motivations and interactions of each of these actors and proposes a new model to explain these roles and relationships. The paper advances the tourism destination digital marketing literature by examining existing literature gaps and identifying future research opportunities in vlogging activities, particularly the vlogging ecosystem and the involvement of three main central actors. Given the increasing importance of social media in destination marketing strategy, this paper also provides valuable practitioners insights to inform strategic marketing activities using vlogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms offer brands an opportunity to freely engage with their consumers and form value-laden relationships. They also offer influencers, acting as representatives of brands, an opportunity to develop relationships with consumers and through this, shape purchase intentions. Despite this, research is yet to examine how specific media characteristics, namely media richness and media naturalness act to shape the illusory parasocial relationship that forms between the influencer and the influenced as well as how media characteristics impact upon perceptions of authenticity. Media richness relates to the ability of information to change understanding within a specific time interval and media naturalness refers to the degree to which communication incorporates proximity, feedback, facial expression, body language and speech. This study addresses this research gap by examining the salience of the relationships between media richness, media naturalness, perceived authenticity and parasocial interactions. It then examines the relationships between these constructs and purchase intentions. Structural equation modelling and a sample of 221 social media users was employed to examine the interrelationships between constructs. The findings reveal that parasocial interactions were the strongest driver of purchase intent. Media richness had an important role to play in the development of authentic and genuine parasocial interactions. These interactions subsequently play a large role in shaping purchasing behaviours. Media naturalness and authenticity were however revealed to be necessary but not sufficient conditions for purchase. Understanding the role of media richness and naturalness in social media marketing will support marketing managers to design effective campaigns that enhance conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has experienced significant cultivation, use, and online marketing growth in recent years. Objectives: This study utilized natural language processing on Twitter data to examine trends in public discussions regarding this novel psychoactive substance. Methods: This study analyzed the frequency of #Delta8 tweets over time, most commonly used words, sentiment classification of words in tweets, and a qualitative analysis of a random sample of tweets containing the hashtag "Delta8" from January 1, 2020 to September 26, 2021. Results: A total of 41,828 tweets were collected, with 30,826 unique tweets (73.7%) and 11,002 quotes, retweets, or replies (26.3%). Tweet activity increased from 2020 to 2021, with daily original tweets rising from 8.55 to 149. This increase followed a high-engagement retailer promotion in June 2021. Commonly used terms included "cbd," "cannabis," "edibles," and "cbdoil." Sentiment classification revealed a predominance of "positive" (30.93%) and "trust" (14.26%) categorizations, with 8.42% classified as "negative." Qualitative analysis identified 20 codes, encompassing substance type, retailers, links, and other characteristics. Conclusion: Twitter discussions on Delta-8 THC exhibited a sustained increase in prevalence from 2020 to 2022, with online retailers playing a dominant role. The content also demonstrated significant overlap with cannabidiol and various cannabis products. Given the growing presence of retailer marketing and sales on social media, it is crucial for public health researchers to monitor and promote relevant Delta-8 health recommendations on these platforms to ensure a balanced conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a new form of influencer marketing, led by virtual ambassadors has appeared. Motivated by virtual influencers' (VI) potentials as corporate social responsibility (CSR) messengers, the study (1) compared the persuasive power of VIs with different humanness; and (2) examined how humanness and endorser-CSR fit interplay in affecting source credibility via drawing upon the expectancy violation theory. An online experiment with a two (type of VI: humanlike vs. cartoonlike) × two (endorser-CSR fit: high vs. low) between-subjects design has been conducted via prolific (N = 202). As a result, there was no interaction effect between fit and type of endorser. Further, VIs with higher humanness predicted higher trustworthiness, expertise, and attractiveness. Lastly, higher expertise and trustworthiness elicited higher CSR engagement intention. Attractiveness and trustworthiness positively affected brand attitude, as trustworthiness was found to be the strongest predictor and the only mediator to affect both CSR engagement and brand attitude. Delving into what enhances VIs' persuasiveness and how the subsequent effects influence consumers' attitudes about the endorsed message reveals the social media marketing potential of VIs to serve as effective communicators between consumers and brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explain the linkage between perceived social media marketing activities (SMMAs) and purchase intentions through the mediating effects of brand trust, brand experience, and brand love based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory. The sample consists of 200 social media users who followed a brand's social media on any platform. The multiple sequential mediation model is tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results reveal that perceived SMMAs have a significant positive influence on brand trust. Furthermore, brand trust also has a significant positive influence on brand experience and brand love. Subsequently, brand experience and brand love positively influence purchase intentions. In addition, the relationship between perceived SMMAs and purchase intentions is sequentially and positively mediated by brand trust and brand experience. This study demonstrates that the influence of SMMAs on purchase intentions is indirect. Instead, when consumers perceive positive SMMAs from a brand, they will develop brand trust, followed by brand experience, thereby increasing the tendency to purchase from the brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Social Media & Capitalism: People, Communities and Commodities" by Suddhabrata Deb Roy explores the relationship between social media and capitalism from a Marxist humanist perspective. The author analyzes how social media functions as a commodity and its impact on people's lives. The book examines the role of social media in promoting consumerism, creating new social needs, and maintaining capitalist ideology. It also explores the exploitative nature of social media commerce and its effects on labor. While the book does not provide a direct solution to escaping capitalism, it offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking analysis of the topic, making it a valuable resource for scholars and graduate students interested in the intersection of media, society, and technology. [Extracted from the article]

Due to their political power, the largest social media platforms are often compared to governments. Consequently, their unaccountability to the public has prompted widespread concern. This article examines two prominent responses in academic and policy debates, here characterised as the multistakeholderist and rule of law responses. The former aims to increase civil society influence in platform governance. The latter argues platforms should follow similar rule of law principles to public institutions. Neither response offers meaningful democratic accountability. Their 'tech exceptionalist' view of platforms as state-like entities focuses on regulating existing concentrations of power instead of structural reforms, and they largely overlook the role of state regulation in constituting corporate power. Neither considers substantially reforming today's privatised, highly-concentrated social media market. Consequently, they at best offer partial and unequal accountability. Instead, the article advocates reforms guided by an ideal of economic democracy, aiming to redistribute ownership and control of digital infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article answers the research question: under what conditions and with what methods would museum visitors feel comfortable (and not comfortable) sharing sensitive information for the purposes of museum research or evaluation? We ground our study in literature about sharing personal information in person, online, and in the context of digital marketing and social media. In our interviews of n = 114 science center visitors, we found that while majorities would share sensitive information in person with an evaluator, age and gender were important factors in predicting whether or not someone feels comfortable doing so in public settings or with tablet questionnaires. We then discuss the ethical importance of giving visitors choice in whether to and how to share their information for the purposes of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This teaching innovation develops social media and strategic marketing skills through student promotion of community organizations and businesses - our local economic engine - following community or business interruptions (e.g., natural disasters, pandemic, seasonal closures). Our communities are periodically impacted by necessary shutdowns for economic reasons or to protect public safety; however, many local organizations lack the marketing or technology expertise to communicate effectively with their customer base during these times, creating significant disparities between small businesses and larger corporations. This experiential learning assignment was specifically designed to engage students in a social media campaign in which they created social media posts to support their communities and local businesses using the common hashtag #OpenForBusiness. Through this applied experience, students are able to learn real-world social media strategies relevant to their marketing careers, including the elements of design, strategic messaging, and effective solicitation of consumer behavior. Furthermore, this teaching innovation addresses a critical gap in business education, namely, the disconnection between theoretical concepts and practical experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife tourism is an important type of ecotourism including in South Africa. We considered how the aesthetic value theory can be applied to wildlife tourism by assessing the relative popularity of species with tourists in South Africa and which traits predicted popularity. When data from six published visitor surveys across seven protected areas were combined, we found that only 26 species out of 299 mammals and 850 + birds were selected by 2245 tourists. Elephant (48%), black and white rhinos (36%), lion (36%), cheetah (35%) and giraffe (34%) were the most popular in these visitor surveys with similar results reported in data from destination marketing and social media, but not wildlife auctions. When 13 species traits were assessed using ordinations and Generalised Linear Models, traits associated with specific aesthetics were important as large mammals that use open vegetation, with highly contrasting coat colours and/or are fluffy were most popular. Given the diversity of animals in South Africa, those responsible for wildlife tourism opportunities could diversify the types of species used in marketing to better match animals likely to be encountered in the wild, enhancing repeat visitor experiences while promoting the conservation of more species in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]