Synthesis Paper: Perceptions Surrounding Advertising on Social Media and its

implications in Word of Mouth Advocacy

By Lindsay Simons

CMM 590 Mediated Communication Fall 2014

Overview

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A social network is “a type of web site model where individual members become

part of a broader virtual community” (Chung & Austria, 2010). Social media has greatly

expanded our ability to communicate and interact with each other through online

networks. Marketers have targeted this mediated communication because of its

widespread popularity and exponential growth of members. Its asynchronous nature

allows companies to send advertising messages that can be read at the users convenience,

giving users the power to seek information quickly and efficiently. Not only “has new

media demonstrably altered how often people communicate online, but it has also

enlarged the pool of individuals they communicate with, and led to new ways for

behaviors to be influenced” (Hill & Moran, 2011). As a result, marketers have the

potential to disseminate information about new brands and promotions across social

networks. Therefore, the main focus of this paper is to examine the research surrounding

people’s perceptions of social media in relation to ad strategy, with a focus on word of

mouth advocacy. An analysis of the research shows that the uses and gratification theory

combined with social media connections and interactivity, positively or negatively

influence users motivation to engage in word of mouth advertising.

Word of Mouth Advertising Campaigns

Focusing on the social consumers, rather than social media itself, will make

advertising more successful for companies that want to use social media for brand

promotion. The uses and gratifications, interactive features and social connectivity of

social media give users more power to provide feedback and manipulate information

about certain brands. Many studies have shown that consumers place great value on “user

generated messages such as peer recommendations on social media” (Chung & Austria,

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2011). Social media analysts have coined this term as tell-a-friend or “word of mouth

advocacy,” to describe the effective nature of social network users sharing and spreading

information about a brand over social media. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing

strategy because ads that motivate users to comment or share brand information on social

media has the potential to reach many consumers in a network.

Interactivity

Nancy Baym quotes Laura Gurak when she describes social media as a

communication technology that allows users to “talk back. You can talk back to the big

companies or you can talk back to individual citizens” (Baym, 2010, p.7). This is known

as interactivity, and it is an important feature of social media that enhances marketing

value. The word interactive, in itself, indicates the people are influencing each other.

Over social media networks, users are able to be more active in voicing their opinions

(Hill & Moran, 2011).

The social construction theory indicates that knowledge is constructed through

social interaction and therefore allows us to co-create an online world that has it’s own

meaning, norms and rules (Ballard-Reisch et al., 2011). Social media users have the

control to alter and participate in this world. A study done on the acceptance of

advertising in social networks showed that these socially constructed norms predict

acceptance and attitudes towards a brand (Van Noort et al., 2012). Ballard-Reisch et al.

(2011) explain that social media demands non-stop interaction for communication to

persist, and allows people to craft many responses. Often the choices on social media are

dependent on previous experiences (Ballard-Reisch et al., 2011). Applied to word of

mouth advertising, this simply can mean that users who have positive attitudes toward a

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brand from past experience are more likely to share or comment on that brand in the

future. In the same way, users may not even engage or read certain advertisements on

social media because they have negative attitudes about a brand. People interact with ads

based on previous attitudes, mood and the ads perceived credibility (Taylor et al., 2011).

Vernuccio (2014) presented studies that showed increased interactivity and

participation with online brands leads to more positive attitudes and source credibility. In

Chung & Austria’s research conducted Ramapo University, almost all participants

reported that they had interacted with a company brand on social media usually through

an opinion on a post or blog. When marketers foster participation and conversational

interactivity with consumers, the consumers have more of a say in the brand and become

a part of its image. Word of mouth gives the consumer more power because they become

key players in the message and distribution of a brand over social media (Vernuccio,

2014). As mentioned earlier, peer recommendations and online post sharing of an ad

foster consumer participation in word of mouth campaigns. The majority of college

students agreed that they enjoy how social media allows them to have a presence and

give feedback on company brand information (Chung & Austira, 2010). Therefore, ads

that create a conversational buzz on social media will attract more user participation and

create positive perceptions of a brand.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

The uses and gratifications theory has been very pervasive through much of the

research on social media marketing. This theory “assumes active, purposeful engagement

in media by audience members” (Ballard-Reisch et al., 2011, p.67). In other words,

individuals make choices about how to utilize media to satisfy their needs. These

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gratifications, or needs, can be personal or social. Personal gratifications include

information seeking, entertainment or relaxation needs, while social gratifications deal

with personal relationship needs (Ballard-Reisch et al., 2011). It takes a psychological

perspective in examining what needs motivate people to engage in certain online media.

This is very useful for marketing strategy because learning more about how people use

social media will help advertisers ascertain how to successfully reach consumers.

Chung & Austria (2010) conducted research at the Ramapo College of New

Jersey examining the effects of social media marketing in online shopping. They created

a research model based on the uses and gratifications theory that evaluated

variables of entertainment, interaction and information. They explain social media

entertainment as the level of amusement the web provides. Research shows that

something as simple as an entertaining web banner, or enjoying site navigation creates

more positive brand attitude. Social media interaction gratification deals with things such

as keeping up with friends and satisfying our need for connection with other people.

Social networks enhance users social needs and interpersonal relationships by giving

people a medium to discuss issues with others. Lastly, information gratification explains

users motivation to seek out information and how the content and ease of access

influences their choices. They conducted interviews to analyze how people use social

media in relationship to online shopping. They found that consumers said they would

rather browse on their own then be bombarded with promotional messages. The amount

of information and access to it over social media needs to be handled delicately, because

users get overwhelmed and frustrated. Marketers need to focus on key information such

as “concise language, clear visual cues and bullet points, and a conversational level in

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text” as ways to help information-seekers get what they need and create a positive brand

perception (Powers et al., 2012). Moreover, users perceive advertisements to be invasive

when they intrude or distract from their goals and gratification needs. Social media use is

often very goal oriented and word of mouth advertisements that deter their tasks will be

perceived negatively (Taylor et al., 2011). User information gratification is important for

advertisers targeting online word of mouth because ads that are more concise and

memorable are more likely to be remembered and spread. Specifically, “when social

network advertising delivered content or impressions that provided entertainment or

informational value or offered social value, consumers appeared more likely to respond

favorably” (Taylor et al. 2011). When users share an ad, it stimulates thought and results

in comment feedback and dialogue. In word of mouth campaigns, sharing advertisements

within interested groups can bring them closer together and gratify social and information

needs. In turn, this can lead to positive cognition about the brand that elicited the

information (Taylor et al. 2011). The research conducted by Chung and Austria (2010)

found that attitudes toward social media marketing messages are strongly correlated with

media interaction and information gratifications, however not much was found on

entertainment value (Chung & Austria, 2010).

In order to get users to share their information, marketers need to create an

incentive so that they are motivated to do so. Advertising is, “increasingly developed

with sharing as an objective: will consumers feel motivated to post a commercial on their

Facebook page or forward a YouTube link via e-mail to their friends and family? Sex

appeal, surprise, entertainment, and humor are some of the tools that are being employed

to motivate that sharing (Keller & Fay, 2012).” Generally, people will share when

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gratifications such entertainment are part of the advertising campaign. However,

consumers mostly share information based on how it gratifies their need to construct a

social identity. For example, a video that gives new insight into a controversial issue

gives the person incentive to post it because they will come across as intelligent on social

media. Consistent with the domestication theory, which explains how social media has

become an extension of our selves in everyday life, one study found that people felt that

social media was more a part of their identity than a means to escape reality. Everything a

user posts allows him or her to create an online impression that gratifies a social identity

need (Chung & Austria, 2010). Ballard-Reisch et al. describe this as social networking

“impression formation and management.” People are concerned with how they are

perceived by others in their network and they post things that contribute to their desired

image. They can manage and control these impressions through all of the features of

social media, such as “liking” or posting photos and status’s (Bryant et al., 2011). People

can essentially create an idealized self, and marketers can use this social desirability to

their advantage. By creating ads that users will want to post because it sheds them in a

positive light, they will be able to diffuse brand promotions across social networks

through word of mouth. This is one of the most effective ways to use word of mouth for

marketing due to the simple fact that people perceive the posts of others to be less of an

advertising scam, and generally more authentic. In addition, studies done on self-

congruity found that when a person’s self identity is reflected in the way the brand is

presented, “the likelihood that users will reference themselves in and derive meaning

from brand presentations increases” (Taylor & Fay, 2011, p. 263). In other words,

product or user images that are congruent with a users identity create positive attitudes

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about the brand and greater purchase intention. For example, an active clothing brand that

advertises staying healthy and happy will be congruent with people’s identity in the

fitness community, and therefore will be more likely to be shared.

Social connections

It is important to note that the type of connections we have on social media

influence the effectiveness of word of mouth campaigns. A strategy for marketers using

word of mouth advocacy is to target brand advocates in a social network to share the

content with their friends or followers. People value the opinions of established social

voices and are much more likely to engage with advertising material if it is coming from

someone they trust. Keller and Fay (2012) emphasize conversational techniques in word

of mouth advertising, researchers said “the sale is not generally going to happen because

of mere ad exposure. Instead, advertisers should be targeting two key types of people: the

consumer influencers, people who are interested in information and very engaged in

spreading information through their social networks; and current customers and

advocates of the brand who are ready to be rallied to the cause” (Keller & Fay, 2012, p

3). For example, choosing a brand advocate on social media who has a highly dense

network of influence to promote information will be the most effective.

This leads to Ballard-Reisch et al.’s (2011) discussion of the strong and weak ties

theory. They say the strength of a social network tie depends on the amount of time,

emotional intensity, intimacy and reciprocity of a relationship. The strength of these

variables correlates with the strength of the tie. Strong ties on social media have a level of

trust and similarity because they share many of the same network connections while

weak ties don’t require a time investment and can be formed faster (Ballard-Reisch,

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2011). The more similar people are in attitude, behavior and demographics, the stronger

their connection (Van Noort et al. 2012). Van Noort et al. (2012) conducted a study that

examined how tie strength impacted the persuasiveness of viral word of mouth

campaigns. The study used the social network of a student to create the campaign that

would spread by asking members to share it. Users within this student’s social network

received a campaign ad with a message in their inbox that told them to click a link for the

site. The link led to a virtual campaign game and once users played they were asked to

respond to a survey. The receivers of the message were asked to describe their

relationship to the sender. An analysis of the evidence showed that people who receive a

marketing campaign from a strong tie have more positive attitudes toward the brand. It

means that people are more open to explore messages from strong ties in their social

networks than weak ones. This is largely due to the fact that messages from strong ties

are perceived as more credible. Credibility is a part of persuasion and studies show that

perceived persuasive intent impacts the message. “If a message is not perceived as

persuasive, it receives more attention, is perceived as more credible, and has a stronger

effect on affective responses (Van Noort et al., 2012).”

Conclusions & Critique

Applied to uses and gratifications, interactivity and social connections, word of

mouth “has proven to be highly credible and linked to sales; advertising has been proven

to help spark conversation” (Keller & Fay, 2012). Ads that inspire conversation and

interactivity will attract more users and create positive perceptions of a brand. It seems

that for users to engage in word of mouth on social media the ad must come from a

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credible or strong source in their network and gratify identity, social and informational

needs. Ads that satisfy or contradict needs will be viewed positively or negatively

accordingly. Credibility and authenticity are important for the perception of the receivers

of ads on social media, while social identity is important for users as the sharers of

information. Not only is it useful to know for advertisers, but also for us as people in the

online world of social networking. If we want to communicate something we have to

realize the effect our tie strength will have on the message and realize their response will

be shaped by social desirability.

Corporations should start using what is called “open source branding,” which

deals with interactivity and the “crucial role of interaction with (and among) stakeholders

in the co-building of the brand and emphasizes the need to research effective

communication strategies for achieving this kind of engagement” (Vernuccio, 2014)

Social media was created for interpersonal interaction and its popularity has shifted more

power to users because they are now able to provide public feedback. In this sense social

media has remedied the problem of corporations having too much power, because some

of it has now been given back to the consumer. With word of mouth, people have the

power to construct, manipulate and share a brand message over their social network.

Much more research still needs to be done on word of mouth advertising on social

media. However, the research presented by Chung and Austria (2010) was useful because

it found that “information, communication, and socializing are main gratifications when

using the Internet.” It’s uses and gratifications model was able to measure and collect

empirical date on social media interaction, information and entertainment as variables in

college student’s online shopping perceptions. However, college students of this

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generation are extremely technology-oriented and familiar with social media. Social

media advertising will be most effective if it can reach all levels of online network users.

The sample does not take in to account all of the age groups on social networking sites.

Another weakness of the study is that their results did not support the evidence that

entertainment was a significant gratification in online shopping ads. They reasoned that

this could be because “social media is no longer an entertainment; rather, it is a common

practice in daily life.” I think that social media has become part of our lives in the sense

that we have so many uses for it. However, I do not think it loses its entertainment value

because of the endless amount of navigation, browsing and stimulation it provides. Their

results and conclusions about entertainment gratification are not consistent with the large

body of research that indicates entertainment is positively related to attitudes about

advertising (Chung & Austria, 2010).

The research done on social connections in word of mouth campaigns was

influential because it expanded information on this topic. This study was the “first to

investigate whether the persuasiveness of the viral marketing

campaign on SNS can be explained by the strength of the connection

between the sender and the receiver” (Van Noort et al., 2012). It

extended the literature to include the importance of social networks

connections rather than just message content in advertising. The

weakness of this study is that the ad campaign that was messaged to

social network users did not include the option of commenting. This

means that there is no room for users to comment negatively or

positively to an ad. In word of mouth campaigns, there is the possibility that people

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will respond negatively “in online communities or pass along (negative) comments with

the forwarded SNS campaign.” The campaign was limited because it does not address the

impact of positive and negative comments in the perception of an ad. The research in this

article looked primarily at user perceptions on social media and I think future research on

marketing on social media in general should look at whether positive brand perceptions

actually lead to purchase intentions. It is important to look at whether perceptions and

attitudes actually lead to behavior.

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