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Developing effective social media messages: Insights from an exploratory study of industry experts

Developing effective social media messages: Insights from an exploratory study of industry experts
Developing effective social media messages: Insights from an exploratory study of industry experts
As consumers are increasingly utilizing the social network and media platforms for prepurchase information, managers are confronted with producing effective social media messages that can favorably influence buyers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions towards brands. A qualitative, in-depth, elite interview investigation with social media marketing experts was undertaken to develop awareness of the factors influencing the effectiveness of social media marketing. Adopting a thematic analysis approach, this study establishes the three overriding themes of interactivity, credibility, and infotainment as being valuable in determining how social media marketing can enhance brand performance. Attitude theory and the hierarchy-of-effects model is utilized to support understanding and explain the decision making of social media users in this context. Overall, this study provides managers with a thorough explanation of the effects of the identified core themes on social media attitudes and intentions. Implications for social media marketing theory and practice are presented based upon the depth and breadth of knowledge attained from the analysis of the expert interview data.
attitude, elite expert interviews, hierarchy-of-effects., social media, social media messages, social network and media platforms
0742-6046
551-564
Majid, Sarhang
ed7df3d9-b73c-4355-8bc8-409760dafb33
Lopez, Carmen
f11f88d5-36c4-4beb-a4c5-ceb16a6df19c
Megicks, Phil
5330ca01-abb8-4e41-b079-07c1e7656336
Lim, Wai Mun
496d241c-a042-48c9-9c16-ee361a784f9d
Majid, Sarhang
ed7df3d9-b73c-4355-8bc8-409760dafb33
Lopez, Carmen
f11f88d5-36c4-4beb-a4c5-ceb16a6df19c
Megicks, Phil
5330ca01-abb8-4e41-b079-07c1e7656336
Lim, Wai Mun
496d241c-a042-48c9-9c16-ee361a784f9d

Majid, Sarhang, Lopez, Carmen, Megicks, Phil and Lim, Wai Mun (2019) Developing effective social media messages: Insights from an exploratory study of industry experts. Psychology and Marketing, 36 (6), 551-564. (doi:10.1002/mar.21196).

Record type: Article

Abstract

As consumers are increasingly utilizing the social network and media platforms for prepurchase information, managers are confronted with producing effective social media messages that can favorably influence buyers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions towards brands. A qualitative, in-depth, elite interview investigation with social media marketing experts was undertaken to develop awareness of the factors influencing the effectiveness of social media marketing. Adopting a thematic analysis approach, this study establishes the three overriding themes of interactivity, credibility, and infotainment as being valuable in determining how social media marketing can enhance brand performance. Attitude theory and the hierarchy-of-effects model is utilized to support understanding and explain the decision making of social media users in this context. Overall, this study provides managers with a thorough explanation of the effects of the identified core themes on social media attitudes and intentions. Implications for social media marketing theory and practice are presented based upon the depth and breadth of knowledge attained from the analysis of the expert interview data.

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Developing Effective Social Media Messages - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 22 January 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 February 2019
Published date: June 2019
Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version (which may be under embargo) of the following article: Majid S, Lopez C, Megicks P, Lim WM. Developing effective social media messages: Insights from an exploratory study of industry experts. Psychol. Mark. 2019;1–14., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21196. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
Keywords: attitude, elite expert interviews, hierarchy-of-effects., social media, social media messages, social network and media platforms

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 434289
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/434289
ISSN: 0742-6046
PURE UUID: 63e11dac-b670-4ffb-8942-5bdb47ee2da7
ORCID for Carmen Lopez: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5510-1920
ORCID for Phil Megicks: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7826-1927

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Date deposited: 18 Sep 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:12

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Contributors

Author: Sarhang Majid
Author: Carmen Lopez ORCID iD
Author: Phil Megicks ORCID iD
Author: Wai Mun Lim

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