The concept of consumer engagement is used in advertising and among marketing practitioners, ranking consumer engagement as one of the top priorities of online marketing activities (eMarketer, 2013; Calder, Malthouse, & Schaedel, 2009). More recently, consumer engagement has also interested management and marketing academics as a subject of study (Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric, & Ilic, 2011; Mollen & Wilson, 2010). Among the reasons behind this interest are that consumer engagement is associated with consumer trust (Hollebeek, 2011), satisfaction and loyalty (Bowden, 2009) and commitment (Chan and Li, 2010), all of them strong indicators of long-term sales, word-of-mouth and brand advocacy. The positive outcomes derived from consumer engagement behaviours (CEBs) means that marketing practitioners use these as key performance indicators of the success of marketing activities through social media (eMarketer, 2013). Many of the metrics used by marketing practitioners relate to behavioural outcomes (Figure below), with a clear focus on interaction rates that occur on the different social media platforms.

 

 

Figure – Metrics used to measure engagement by marketing practitioners (2014)

engagement

Source: (eMarketer, 2014)

 

In the case of Facebook, these engagement behaviours are constrained by the things that the platform allows its users to do. In the context of a Facebook Fan Page, users can engage in page liking behaviour of any fan brand page. This leads to a user being able to follow the content that the brand page publishes. Users can also leave comments on the Fan Page publicly and privately. Regarding the content that is published by the brand, users’ interactive activities are also constrained. Once content from the fan page appears in the newsfeed (which is the main page for Facebook users) users can “react” to the content (either liking the content, and with the new additions to the platform, users can also express feelings of love, laughter, surprise, sadness and anger), leave a “comment” on it, “share” it into their personal profile or into a friend’s profile.

References

  • Brodie, R.J., Hollebeek, L., Juric, B., Ilic, A., 2011. Customer Engagement Conceptual Domain, Fundamental Propositions, and Implications for Research. Journal of Service Research 14, 252–271. doi:10.1177/1094670511411703
  • Calder, B.J., Malthouse, E.C., Schaedel, U., 2009. An Experimental Study of the Relationship between Online Engagement and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Interactive Marketing 23, 321–331. doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2009.07.002
  • eMarketer, 2014. Better Measurement, Metrics Needed for Engagement [WWW Document]. URL http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Better-Measurement-Metrics-Needed-Engagement/1010684 (accessed 8.15.14).
  • eMarketer, 2013. Social’s Value Measured in Engagement Over Sales [WWW Document]. URL http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Socials-Value-Measured-Engagement-Over-Sales/1010116 (accessed 8.27.13).
  • Mollen, A., Wilson, H., 2010. Engagement, telepresence and interactivity in online consumer experience: Reconciling scholastic and managerial perspectives. Journal of Business Research 63, 919–925. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.05.014

 

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