From Social to Sale: The Effects of Firm Generated Content in Social Media on Customer Behavior

Journal of Marketing, Forthcoming, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1509/jm.14.0249

Robert H. Smith School Research Paper No. RHS 2675073

Posted: 17 Oct 2015 Last revised: 7 Jul 2020

See all articles by Ashish Kumar

Ashish Kumar

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Ram Bezawada

Baruch College

Rishika Rishika

North Carolina State University - Poole College of Management; North Carolina State University - Poole College of Management

Ramkumar Janakiraman

North Carolina State University - Department of Business Management

P.K. Kannan

University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business

Date Written: October 16, 2015

Abstract

Given the unprecedented reach of social media, firms are increasingly relying on social media as a channel for marketing communication. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of firm generated content (FGC) in social media on three key customer metrics, spending, cross-buying and customer profitability. We further examine the synergistic effects of FGC with television advertising and email communication. To accomplish our objectives, we assemble a novel dataset comprising customers’ social media participation data, customer transaction data and attitudinal data obtained through surveys. Our results indicate that after accounting for the effects of television advertising and email marketing, FGC has a positive and significant effect on customers’ behavior. We show that FGC works synergistically with both television advertising and email marketing. We also find that the effect of FGC is greater for more experienced, tech-savvy and social media prone customers. We propose and examine the effect of three characteristics of FGC, namely valence, receptivity and customer susceptibility. We find that whereas all the three components of FGC have a positive impact, the effect of FGC receptivity is the largest. Our study offers critical insights for managers on how to leverage social media for better returns.

Keywords: social media, social media analytics, firm generated content, digital marketing, integrated marketing communication, cross-buying behavior, customer relationship management, propensity score matching, difference-in-differences

JEL Classification: C11, C33, C34, M31, M37, M39

Suggested Citation

Kumar, Ashish and Bezawada, Ram and Rishika, Rishika and Rishika, Rishika and Janakiraman, Ramkumar and Kannan, Pallassana, From Social to Sale: The Effects of Firm Generated Content in Social Media on Customer Behavior (October 16, 2015). Journal of Marketing, Forthcoming, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1509/jm.14.0249, Robert H. Smith School Research Paper No. RHS 2675073, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2675073

Ashish Kumar

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Ram Bezawada (Contact Author)

Baruch College ( email )

One Bernard Baruch Way, B12-240
New York, NY 10010-5585
United States

Rishika Rishika

North Carolina State University - Poole College of Management ( email )

Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27695-8614
United States
919-515-6944 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://rishika.wordpress.ncsu.edu/

North Carolina State University - Poole College of Management ( email )

Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27695-8614
United States
919-515-6944 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://rishika.wordpress.ncsu.edu/

Ramkumar Janakiraman

North Carolina State University - Department of Business Management ( email )

Raleigh, NC 27695
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/ncsu.edu/ram

Pallassana Kannan

University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business ( email )

Department of Marketing
College Park, MD 20742-1815
United States
301-405-2188 (Phone)
301-405-0146 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
3,074
PlumX Metrics