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As brand equity (BE) is a valuable, but intangible, asset of any firm, understanding BE represents a primary task for many organizations. Factors that influence the development of BE are of inordinate academic and practical significance and a source of continuous investigation. While the current literature on social media communication (SMC) and BE provides a wealth of information, our study pioneers the most recent processes of mediation and moderation of electronic word-of-mouth and product involvement (PI) in BE research. Accordingly, the results of this work will likely become one of the key sources of information in sustainable marketing planning and in the development of strategies. To accomplish this goal, we assessed the structural relationships among SMC, electronic word of mouth (e-WOM), PI, and BE. A questionnaire survey was administered concerning consumer brands in China. In this survey, due to the need for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the questionnaire was distributed and collected via the internet. A total of 369 data sets were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of our investigation reveal that: (a) social media firm- and user-generated content have a positive impact on e-WOM, (b) social media firm- and user-generated content have a positive impact on BE, (c) e-WOM has a positive impact on BE and serves as an intermediary role between SMC and BE, and (d) PI exerts specific moderating effects between SMC and BE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customers acquired through a referral program have been observed to exhibit higher margins and lower churn than customers acquired through other means. Theory suggests two likely mechanisms for this phenomenon: (1) better matching between referred customers and the firm and (2) social enrichment by the referrer. The present study is the first to provide evidence of these two mechanisms in a customer referral program. Consistent with the theory that better matching affects contribution margins, (1) referrer–referral dyads exhibit shared unobservables in customer contribution margins, (2) referrers with more extensive experience bring in higher-margin referrals, and (3) this association between the referrer’s experience and margin gap becomes smaller over the referral’s lifetime. Consistent with the theory that social enrichment affects retention, referrals exhibit lower churn only as long as their referrer has not churned. These findings indicate that better matching and social enrichment are two mechanisms through which firms can leverage their customers’ networks to gain new customers with higher customer lifetime value and convert social capital into economic capital. One recommendation for the managers of the firm studied is to recruit referrers among their customers who have been acquired at least six months ago, exhibit high margins, and are unlikely to churn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how word-of-mouth marketing campaign participants select communication partners, content and channel. Rules Theory, which we adopt from the interpersonal communication literature, indicates that socially constructed contextual rules explain participants’ choices. Our analysis suggests that campaign participants are sensitive to the socially constructed contexts within which interaction takes place and adjust their communication choices accordingly. We identify four contexts that account for variance in participants’ choices: episode, relationship, life-script and family narrative. We show that specific communication choices may be obligated, legitimated or prohibited dependent on the activated context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study is to identify the factors affecting the credibility of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) stimulation through Social Networking Sites (SNSs) through an empirical model providing both theoretical understandings and practical implications. The proposed framework explicates the consumer’s use of SNSs as a tool for information sharing and its effect on brand image and online purchase intentions. The consumer survey was done through a structured questionnaire developed in accordance with the literature. Data was collected from 256 respondents, using both offline and online modes from 4 different cities of India. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to estimate the proposed model and determine the antecedents of consumer eWOM credibility and in turn its effect on brand image leading to consumer purchase intentions. The results show SNS activities play a significant role in creating eWOM credibility, which leads to shaping the brand image and purchase intentions. The findings would help companies to create a positive brand image to enhance their purchase intentions through eWOM aroused via SNSs.

Dijitalleşme ve internetin artan kullanımı nedeniyle, giderek daha fazla insan birbirleriyle iletişim kurmak için sosyal medyayı kullanmaktadır. Günümüzde 3,6 milyardan fazla kişi tarafından kullanılan sosyal medyanın popülerliği, işletmeleri ürün ve hizmetlerini tanıtmak için bu platformlarda etkili fikir liderleriyle iş birliğine yöneltmektedir. Influencer pazarlama, bir markanın mesajını daha büyük kitlelere ulaştırmak için belirli bir hedef kitle üzerinde etkisi olan bireyleri kullanmaya odaklanan bir pazarlama türüdür. İşletmeler, bilgileri, konumları ve ilişkileri nedeniyle başkalarının satın alma kararını etkileyebilen kişiler olan influencer’lar ile ürün yerleştirme, marka onayları ve içerik oluşturma için çalışabilmektedir. Influencer pazarlama işletmelere, yüksek yatırım getirisi, marka farkındalığı ve satışları arttırma, potansiyel müşterileri elde etme, ürün ve hizmetlerini daha geniş kitlelere duyurabilme ve sosyal medya katılımını arttırma gibi önemli avantajlar sunabilmektedir. Influencer pazarlama, dünya çapında işletmelerin gün geçtikçe daha fazla ilgisini çekmekte ve influencer pazarlama stratejisini pazarlama seçeneklerinin önemli bir parçası olarak görmelerine neden olmaktadır. Bu çalışma, influencer pazarlama ile ilgili geniş bir kavramsal çerçeve oluşturmaya odaklanmaktadır. Ayrıca çalışma, influencer pazarlama stratejilerinden de bahsederek ilgili kararları alırken işletme yöneticilerine ve pazarlamacılara yardımcı olmayı amaçlamaktadır.

The aim of this study is to identify the factors affecting the credibility of electronic word-of- mouth (eWOM) stimulation through Social Networking Sites (SNSs) through an empirical model providing both theoretical understandings and practical implications. The proposed framework explicates the consumer's use of SNSs as a tool for information sharing and its effect on brand image and online purchase intentions. The consumer survey was done through a structured questionnaire developed in accordance with the literature. Data was collected from 256 respondents, using both offline and online modes from 4 different cities of India. Structural Equation Modeling was employed to estimate the proposed model and determine the antecedents of consumer eWOM credibility and in turn its effect on brand image leading to consumer purchase intentions. The results show SNS activities play a significant role in creating eWO Mcredibility, which leads to shaping the brand image and purchase intentions. The findings would help companies to create a positive brand image to enhance their purchase intentions through eWOM aroused via SNSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overlapping effect originates from an extension of Mendel’s law in genetics, where one of the interactions between non-alleles is called additive effect. It is more applied in studies on overlapping brand niches in marketing today, with relatively few researches on continuous customer value creation characterised by user adhesion and need matching. Based on the need matching and user adhesion that are features of the mobile Internet era, this article proposes a model for continuous customer value creation based on overlapping marketing. According to grounded theory, this article extracts three types of factors—demand effect, user effect, and overlapping marketing—that affect continuous customer value creation in the smart terminal business. From the perspective of service perception, this research explores how overlapping marketing affects product requirement matching and user adhesion based on a survey of 491 participants, and validates the theoretical model and hypotheses. It is found that overlapping marketing can effectively enhance need matching, improve user adhesion and increase customer value. This research not only addresses the confusion regarding need matching and user adhesion in the communications market, but also reveals how the smart terminal business affects continuous customer value creation in the era of the mobile Internet through overlapping marketing, combined with need matching and user adhesion.

The overlapping effect originates from an extension of Mendel's law in genetics, where one of the interactions between non-alleles is called additive effect. It is more applied in studies on overlapping brand niches in marketing today, with relatively few researches on continuous customer value creation characterised by user adhesion and need matching. Based on the need matching and user adhesion that are features of the mobile Internet era, this article proposes a model for continuous customer value creation based on overlapping marketing. According to grounded theory, this article extracts three types of factors—demand effect, user effect, and overlapping marketing—that affect continuous customer value creation in the smart terminal business. From the perspective of service perception, this research explores how overlapping marketing affects product requirement matching and user adhesion based on a survey of 491 participants, and validates the theoretical model and hypotheses. It is found that overlapping marketing can effectively enhance need matching, improve user adhesion and increase customer value. This research not only addresses the confusion regarding need matching and user adhesion in the communications market, but also reveals how the smart terminal business affects continuous customer value creation in the era of the mobile Internet through overlapping marketing, combined with need matching and user adhesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the popularity of social media, firms are prone to relying on the existing customers' social contacts to acquire new customers. Referral reward programs (RRPs) have become one of the most effective methods. We highlight social motives for customer referrals and assume that the customer can obtain both firm-offered rewards and psychological intangible rewards named social value from his successful referral. Then we explore the impact of social value on firms' optimal referral reward structure by comparing the equilibriums of two nested Stackelberg games among a firm, a sender (existing customer), and a receiver (new customer). One of the games ignores the sender's social value, while the other one considers the impact of the sender's social value. Firstly, we give the applicable conditions for using RRPs, and show that the sender's social value helps the firm avoid excessive rewards by sharing the rewards burden. We also find that the firm's optimal reward structure shifts away from rewarding the sender toward rewarding the receiver or forsaking the reward programs when the firm takes the sender's social value into account. Considering the conditions under which the firm should use reward programs, the optimal reward structure is closely related to the tie-strength between the two customers. Concretely, when the tie-strength is weak, the firm tends to reward the sender more; conversely, the firm tends to reward the receiver more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors study the effect of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing on member growth at an Internet social networking site and compare it with traditional marketing vehicles. Because social network sites record the electronic invitations from existing members, outbound WOM can be precisely tracked. Along with traditional marketing, WOM can then be linked to the number of new members subsequently joining the site (sign-ups). Because of the endogeneity among WOM, new sign-ups, and traditional marketing activity, the authors employ a vector autoregressive (VAR) modeling approach. Estimates from the VAR model show that WOM referrals have substantially longer carryover effects than traditional marketing actions and produce substantially higher response elasticities. Based on revenue from advertising impressions served to a new member, the monetary value of a WOM referral can be calculated; this yields an upper-bound estimate for the financial incentives the firm might offer to stimulate WOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information availability has increased consumers' informedness, the degree to which they know what is available in the marketplace, with precisely which attributes and at precisely what price. This informedness has altered the demand side of market behavior: customers now discount more heavily when comparable products are available from competitors and when products do not meet their wants, needs, cravings, and longings, but they no longer discount as heavily when purchasing unfamiliar products. Changes in the demand side are producing comparable changes in the supply side: firms earn less than their expectations when competing in traditional mass-market fat spots, while earning far more than previously when entering newly created resonance marketing sweet spots. We trace the impact of hyperdifferentiation and resonance marketing on strategy, with a clear progression from a limited number of fat spots, through reliance on line extensions, and ultimately to fully differentiated market sweet spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the discount pricing in word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. First, a dynamic model capturing WOM spreading processes is suggested. Second, the problem of finding an optimal discount strategy boils down to an optimal control problem. Third, the existence of an optimal control for the control problem is proved, and an optimality system for finding an optimal control is presented. Thereby, the dynamic discount strategy associated with the optimal control is recommended. Some examples of the optimal control are given. Finally, the influence of different factors on the optimal expected net profit is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As compared to the traditional advertising, word-of-mouth (WOM) communications have striking advantages such as significantly lower cost and much faster propagation, and this is especially the case with the popularity of online social networks. This paper focuses on the modeling and analysis of the WOM marketing. A dynamic model, known as the SIPNS model, capturing the WOM marketing processes with both positive and negative comments is established. On this basis, a measure of the overall profit of a WOM marketing campaign is proposed. The SIPNS model is shown to admit a unique equilibrium, and the equilibrium is determined. The impact of different factors on the equilibrium of the SIPNS model is illuminated through theoretical analysis. Extensive experimental results suggest that the equilibrium is much likely to be globally attracting. Finally, the influence of different factors on the expected overall profit of a WOM marketing campaign is ascertained both theoretically and experimentally. Thereby, some promotion strategies are recommended. To our knowledge, this is the first time the WOM marketing is treated in this way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undermining the effectiveness of traditional marketing communication tools leads companies to seek alternative ways to reach customers. Increasingly, consumers appear to lack confidence in advertising content; therefore there is less reliability in the advertising message. When looking for the best available deals in the market, the consumer is interested in other consumers' opinions and their experiences formulated in the process of word-of-mouth communication. The tendency to follow recommendations may depend on demographic and socio-economic characteristics, and above all on the level of satisfaction with the product or service. The involvement of the consumer is defined as the part of the product that people attribute to it, based on their internal needs, values and interests. Currently there is a wave of discussion about the significant value of acustomer's involvement from the point of view of an organization. The involved consumer is usually more motivated to pay attention to information about the product; however, the question arises whether the involvement in a given product category affects the proclivity to recommendations. The purpose of this article is to answer the above-mentioned research question based on the analysis of 15 product categories using the results of the CAWI survey, including a representative group of 1000 Poles aged 15-50. Involvement is understood as the degree of consumer interest in a particular product category when making a purchasing decision. For the measurement of the consumer involvement modified PDI scale (Purchase Decision Involvement, Mittal 1989/1995) in the context of 15 different product categories (starting from pure product, through hybrids, to pure service) will be used. Mittal's scale will be modified by adding two additional questions to measure knowledge of the product category and tendency to use other people's opinions (experts or peers). The project was funded by the National Science Centre on the basis of the decision DEC-2012/07/D/HS4/01761. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the dilemma that is based on a decision to disclose or not to disclose social shopping rewards (SSRs), in an effort to enhance the effectiveness of social shopping. To protect consumers and guide marketers, emergent forms of online commerce on social media platforms warrant closer examination. One such form is social shopping, which combines social media and online shopping. To motivate word of mouth (WOM) through social signs of approval or endorsement of brands, marketers have typically relied on social shopping rewards (SSRs). It is not typical, however, for the reason behind the social endorsement to be disclosed, leaving the branded message open to multiple interpretations. Design/methodology/approach – The dilemma of SSR disclosures is presented in a marketing and public policy analysis, drawing from findings from the WOM literature on disclosure, incentives, source credibility and on social media Disclosure Guidelines by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). Based on this analysis and on an extension of the Dual Credibility Model, a conceptual model is proposed that shows how disclosure works through source credibility to produce positive social shopping outcomes. Findings – In addition to the conceptual model, recommendations are made for marketing research, practice and public policy. Of significance are proposed SSR Disclosure Guidelines that extend FTC and WOMMA guidelines for best practices in disclosures in social media. Originality/value – This paper represents pioneering research on the disclosure of SSRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketing-stimulated word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing has been poorly understood in health care, leading to it being underappreciated and underutilized by marketers. A study of new patients to a new runner's clinic was conducted to understand how they chose the program. The importance of marketing-stimulated WOM, both individual and organizational, is documented. Marketing-stimulated WOM is an often overlooked and rarely measured channel for increasing the impact of marketing programs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Patients have to wait in waiting rooms prior to seeing the physician. But there are few studies that demonstrate what they are actually doing in the waiting room. This exploratory study was designed to investigate the types of discussions that patients in the waiting room typically engage in with other patients and how the conversations affected their opinion on general reputation of the clinic, injections/blocks as treatment procedures, waiting time, time spent with the caregiver, overall patient satisfaction, and the pain medication usage policy. The study demonstrates that patient interaction in the waiting room has a positive effect on patient opinion of the pain clinic and the caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]