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54 Zyminkowska, 2018). There is still a need for more comprehensive empirical studies to
analyze the theoretical foundation of customer engagement behaviours and their response to social media marketing techniques in the existing literature (Shahbaznezhad et al., 2021). This enables customers’ behavioural responses to organizational communications, such as posts placed through Instagram and Twitter, to be examined. A few studies (e.g., Gümus, 2017;
Tellis et al., 2019; Voorveld et al., 2015; Garcia et al., 2021; Smith et al., 2015) have investigated the impact of social media content strategy on users engagement behaviour. A more in-depth analysis of the effects of social media content posted by firms has been done by Shahbaznezhad et al. (2021). As more knowledge and insights are warranted to identify how different types of content are more or less suited to various social media platforms, the current research drew further upon those theories. As a result, this research adds to the engagement and social media literature in a number of ways, while also pointing to areas that need to be explored further.
Firstly, the current research aimed to offer preliminary insights into understanding the role of different digital content types on online customer engagement outcomes. Exploring these direct effects for specific types of digital content is critical for managers because it allows them to understand how and, more importantly, why the best platform to post their content varies depending on the type of the content and the subsequent influence on users’
engagement behaviours. Unfortunately, no significant support could be found in the current study for these direct effects. However, previous research has found some correlations and evidence for the impact of different types of content on customer engagement measurements (e.g. Tellis et al., 2019; Voorveld et al., 2015; Dwivedi et al., 2021; Garcia et al., 2021;
Shahbaznezhad et al., 2021).
Secondly, the study sought to recognize the importance of platform type in supporting social media engagement behaviour. The social media platforms that have been used were Instagram
55 and Twitter. Most previous research has focused on single inquiry platforms. However, the study of Shahbaznezhad et al. (2021) used a double platform approach with Facebook and Instagram. The current research’s findings show that the platform Instagram, in general, generates more engagement behaviour, such as commenting and liking, compared to Twitter.
Besides, the platform generates comments that are more positively charged. This could be because Twitter is more of a customer service platform. Unfortunately for marketers, unsatisfied consumers create more word-of-mouth and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) than satisfied customers. Moreover, the most dissatisfied customers are also the most inclined to submit online comments (Stevens, Spaid, Breazeale, & Jones, 2018). Customers go to social media platforms such as Twitter to complain about a firms’ product(s) because of the very public nature of social media. Moreover, Instagram is an application with a very aesthetic platform (Shahbaznezhad, 2021). Users only need to double-tap for liking, which could be one of the reasons that firm fan page users show more liking behaviour on this platform than Twitter.
Thirdly, by examining how product type and product category may moderate the effectiveness of different types of content on users’ online engagement behaviours, this research provides preliminary insights into the role of these (moderating) variables. Exploring those
relationships to the level of different product types and categories, and different types of content is crucial for managers as it gives them insights in how and why the selection of the best type of content to post for their firm will vary depending on the specific type of product or service that is being communicated and for the specific category the firm operates in (i.e.
electronics, travel or fashion). Several studies have found a difference in digital marketing results for hedonic products compared to utilitarian ones (Pöyry et al., 2013; Li et al., 2020;
Kim et al., 2019; Zyminkowska, 2018, etc.). Furthermore, previous research has discovered a distinction between those effects in various product categories (Shahbaznezhad et al., 2021;
56 Li et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2019). The current study adds to those findings as the results show that for firms operating in the fashion category, posting entertaining content with hedonic product values will significantly generate more comments than informative or persuasive content and/or utilitarian values. Managers who want to engage with their customers through conversation in the form of comments might find these findings useful. If fashion category firms, such as Louis Vuitton, want to generate more active participation in the form of comments, they should consider posting entertaining content for their hedonic product(s).
Lastly, the findings of this paper identified some remarkable results regarding the significant effects of the product category on users’ engagement behaviour. Postings of firms operating in the travel category positively affected the ratio likes/followers and the engagement rate (%), showing hat such content contributes to the post’s continuous virality in the form of likes. Travel, or maybe even tourism companies, such as KLM, that want to attain high levels of customer engagement in the form of likes can leverage these findings, together with the significant evidence that Instagram generates more likes in general, to improve the virality of their content. Thus, posting their travel related content through the platform Instagram would highly benefit them.
For firms operating within the fashion category, the result regarding the negative effect between the sentiment score and the ratio comments/followers indicate that the more fan page users’ comment, the more negatively charged the overall sentiment of the post’s comments. In other words, users are more likely to voice their opinions and leave critical comments
compared to positive ones. This could be harmful to brands, and thus managers should carefully consider and decide regarding postings on social media platforms.
Despite the substantial support for the intriguing findings discussed in the section above, this study had some difficulty finding evidence for part of the stated hypotheses. The impact of various types of digital content on customer engagement remains partly unknown. One
57 explanation for the non-significant connections could be the small sample size. Regardless the lack of a significant relationship in this case, the significant findings for the fact that
entertaining content for firms’ in the fashion industry communicating hedonic product(s) (values) compared to other categories and types of content generates higher customer engagement in terms of comments provide support for the theoretical notion that different types of content shape online customer engagement (e.g., Tellis et al., 2019; Voorveld et al., 2015; Dwivedi et al., 2021; Garcia et al., 2021; Shahbaznezhad et al., 2021) and highlight the importance of distinguishing between these types of content in the context of firms’ postings on social media. Besides, more factors other than the platform, product type, and product category could play a role in the relationship between the type of content and customer engagement such as content freshness and brand attitude. Finally, scandals may impact on the effect of a firms’ digital content on customer engagement. Companies, or employees working for or on behalf of those companies, cause such corporate scandals by engaging in unethical behaviour. When such operations occur, the impact of digital content communicated by that organization on customer engagement is bound to be negative.
Managerial implications
This paper provides managers with some outstanding and valuable insights into how to improve their digital content marketing strategies to engage customers more effectively and get more substantial and more positive results on different engagement measurements. The main insight is that the category that firms, or the product or service communicated, are operating in should be carefully considered to develop a strategy. Different industries provide different online customer engagement outcomes, so it is advisable to consider this when deciding which type of content will be posted through what platform. The most successful digital marketing campaigns will treat product(s) and/or service(s) coming from specific
58 industries differently to perform better on the creation of likes and comments and the creation of more positive sentiment of the post’s comments. As worldwide, many people’s lives have become inextricably linked to their use of social media, and this number keeps on increasing, managers not considering above findings will drop out of the competitive field and lose engagement. Exploring the linkages between type of category, type of content, and customer engagement to specific levels of industries and content is crucial because it allows managers to understand how and why engagement results of specific postings vary depending on the type of category. As a result, the findings of this study have several actionable implications for marketing managers.
First, for firms’ communicating with (potential) customers through social media, the current research provides two actionable insights: (1) embrace Instagram and (2) monitor and respond to negatively loaded comments. This research shows that when compared to Twitter,
Instagram has a more significant positive influence on user activity on the firms’ social media accounts. Instagram was also discovered to stimulate users’ interests by gaining more likes, comments, and favourable comments. Because this platform is the most popular for social media co-creation with the brand, marketing managers must embrace Instagram in their digital marketing strategies. Moreover, the findings reveal critical evidence for the negatively online engagement behaviour of firms’ fan page users. Users appear to comment more when their opinion is negatively charged. Companies, especially those in the electronics industry, must monitor and respond to negatively loaded comments as negative comments are known to affect customers more compared to positive ones (Gümus, 2017). Thus, not taking action for comments could potentially harm their brand or firm.
Second, this study suggests that companies selling (luxury) fashion should communicate to their (potential) customers by posting entertaining content on the Instagram platform. It has been discovered that such content for fashion brands has a beneficial impact on active user
59 participation, i.e. contribution. Furthermore, as previously stated, uploading content on
Instagram is perceived as more entertaining than other platforms (Voorveld et al., 2015).
Therefore, the effect would be even more positive if this platform were used. Because digital customer engagement represents customers’ investment in brand-related activities,
implementing such a strategy for fashion brands would nourish customer-brand relationships and boost profitability (Rasool, Shah & Islam, 2020). On the other hand, given the utilitarian properties of Twitter, informational content for enterprises in the travel or electronics
industries would create higher outcomes on customer engagement when communicated through that platform (Pöyry et al., 2013).
Finally, the current study’s distinction between product categories provides particular marketing instructions for fashion, electronics, and travel firms. Businesses selling travel-related products or services, and tourist businesses, should include a liking behaviour strategy in their digital marketing strategy if they want to achieve high levels of online customer engagement. Posting entertaining, hedonic-valued content on Instagram will increase the company’s content’s virality and promote consumer engagement. As a result of the virality, their content can generate active customer interaction as more people will see the content.
Moreover, firms selling electronics should consider focusing on factors such as the number of likes, sentiment of the comments, and click-through-rates, rather than the number of
comments, because comments for brands in that product category are more negatively loaded.
Thus, the number of comments gives a false picture of the company’s online performance.
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