Spreading the word through likes on Facebook: Evaluating the message strategy effectiveness of Fortune 500 companies

Purpose - This research aims to investigate the message strategies most likely to promote online "word-of-mouth" (WOM) activity for business-to-business (B2B)/business-to-consumer as well as product/service Facebook accounts. Design/methodology/approach - Using content analysis and HLM, th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of research in interactive marketing 2013-01, Vol.7 (4), p.269-294
Main Authors: Swani, Kunal, Milne, George, Brown, Brian P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Advertising expenditures
Brand loyalty
Brand names
Business communications
Business to business commerce
Communication
Content analysis
Customer services
Digital marketing
Digital media
Marketing
Popularity
Social networks
Websites
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Summary:Purpose - This research aims to investigate the message strategies most likely to promote online "word-of-mouth" (WOM) activity for business-to-business (B2B)/business-to-consumer as well as product/service Facebook accounts. Design/methodology/approach - Using content analysis and HLM, the authors measure the relationship between three types of message strategies and Facebook message "Likes" by analyzing 1,143 wall post messages of 193 Fortune 500 Facebook accounts. Findings - Research findings suggest that B2B Facebook account posts are more effective if they include corporate brand names and avoid "hard sell" or explicitly commercial statements. Furthermore, results suggest that including emotional sentiments in Facebook posts is a particularly effective social media strategy for B2B and service marketers. Originality/value - This study advances the knowledge of social media and online WOM behavior, as well as B2B and service advertising/communication literature, by relating message content to message popularity. In terms of managerial implications, this research provides explanations and support for the implementation of effective social media message strategies that are likely to promote WOM activity.
ISSN:2040-7122
2040-7130
DOI:10.1108/JRIM-05-2013-0026