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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]

Extended AbstractAbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of hotel features performance on electronic oral marketing behaviors (studied in Kish Island hotels). The present research is applicable in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of nature and method of data collection; and is specifically based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the study is all customers of Kish Island hotels, which are 54 hotels and apartment hotels in the first six months of 2020. According to surveys, about 200 people have stayed in these hotels in the last 6 months, and based on the available community and Cochran's formula, 322 people have been selected by cluster sampling method as a sample. Two questionnaires were used as collection tools in the present study, including the Hotel Reputation Performance Questionnaire from Khan et al.'s (2017) questionnaire and word-of-mouth e-marketing questionnaire from the standard word-of-mouth advertising questionnaire of Bamboer et al. (2011). Findings showed that the performance of hotel features has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. Hotel environment and facilities have a significant impact on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. The competence of hotel staff has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. The hotel-to-guest experience has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing practices. Hotel location has a significant effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors.IntroductionMarketing executives aknowledg that not only does selling products and services create value for customers, but also customer experience is an important factor in creating value. Due to the numerous challenges and interactions at the contact points, creating a memorable brand experience is important especially in the service sector. Hotels that provide a high level of quality and value in the points of contact with guests provide a good model for creating experience in service activities. They can also, by providing a complete package of services, arouse the excitement of guests to create permanent experiences and stimulate their five senses (Wiedmann et al, 2017). Guests, while choosing their accommodation hotels, pay attention to the brand of them. Having strong and well-known brands facilitates the decision-making process for hotel choosing. People today pay less attention to commercial advertising and more to what others think about the products and services we offer them. Informal communication related to products and services has a strong effect on consumer behavior, which is often greater than the messages received through advertising. These impersonal relationships are known as mouth-to-mouth, and are traditionally and in a face to face method shared between acquaintances (Izadi et al, 2019). It often seems that the increase in sales of a product or service is only due to the successful advertising of companies, but in fact the main motivation of sales is people's talking to each other about the company and its products (Khademi & Murzaei, 2020). According to the above, the main issue of the research is the effect of hotel characteristics on the word-of-mouth marketing behaviors (studied in Kish Island hotels).Theoretical literatureToday, having a powerful brand is one of the priorities of many organizations, especially service organizations. Users are looking for redundant information to reduce the uncertainty and complexity of decision-making to reuse. Therefore, electronic word-of-mouth marketing has become the main source of information, and since the hotel industry is one of the main pillars of the tourism industry and its development directly affects the growth and development of the tourism industry, it should receive the necessary attention (Konjkav Monfared & Hoseini, 2020).Noruzi et al, (2020) investigated in their study entitled the study of the mediating role of word-of-mouth electronic advertising in the relationship between the dimensions of empirical marketing and consumer buying intention (Case study: mobile Internet market). The results showed that word-of-mouth electronic advertising also had a positive and significant effect on consumer's purchase intention. The direct effect of empirical marketing as well as its indirect effect through the mediation of electronic word-of-mouth advertising on the consumer's purchase intention has also been confirmed. Khademi & Mirzaei, (2020) investigated the effect of service quality on word-of-mouth marketing with the mediating role of customer loyalty (Case study: Tejarat Bank branches in North Khorasan province). Findings showed that service quality has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing. Also, customer loyalty has a positive and significant effect on word-of-mouth marketing and that the quality of services indirectly affects word-of-mouth marketing through customer loyalty.MethodologyThe present research is an applicable research in terms of purpose, and a descriptive-survey research in terms of the method used. The statistical population of the study is all customers of Kish Island hotels, in 54 hotels and apartment hotels in the first six months of 2020. According to surveys, about 200 people have stayed in these hotels in the last 6 months, and based on the available community and Cochran's formula, 322 people have been selected as a sample and by cluster sampling method. The questionnaire of Khan et al (2017) was used to collect data on hotel reputation performance variable, and the standard word-of-mouth e-advertising questionnaire (Bamboer et al, 2011) were used to collect data on word-of-mouth e-marketing variable, which was used in the research (Moradi, 2014).Discussion and ResultsStructural equation modeling method with the help of SPSS software was used to test the research hypothesis, and inferential statistics was used to test the hypotheses. Then regression was used to test the hypotheses with pls software, which was confirmatory and content factor analysis as well as the effect of factors, and the results showed that the performance index of hotel features with a coefficient of 0.39 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.30, it can be said that the performance of hotel features has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. The GoF criterion was also used to evaluate the overall fit of the model and the measurement for the structural model. Results of average shared values ​​and average values ​​of R Squares show that: GOF value is equal to 0.66, which indicates a strong fit model. Hotel environment and facilities index with a coefficient of 0.27 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 4.83, it can be said that the hotel environment and facilities have a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. The competency index of hotel staff with a coefficient of 0.44 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.23, it can be said that the competence of hotel staff has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. Hotel-to-guest experience index with a coefficient of 0.21 has a significant effect on electronic word-of-mouth marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.77, it can be said that the guest-to-guest hotel experience has a significant effect on electronic word-of-mouth marketing behaviors. Hotel location index with a coefficient of 0.17 has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors. At the confidence level of 0.95 and considering the t-value which is equal to 2.18, it can be said that the location of the hotel has a significant effect on word-of-mouth electronic marketing behaviors.ConclusionThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hotel characteristics performance on electronic word-of-mouth marketing behaviors (case study of Kish Island hotels). The results of this study are consistent with the results of Noruzi et al (2020) and Konjkav & Hoseini (2020); the results of these researches showed that tourist loyalty also affects brand reputation. Findings of Rahpeyma & Sasanpour (2019) showed that physical components, reliability, guarantee, responsiveness and empathy have a significant effect on e-mail marketing behaviors. Also, the results of this research are consistent with the results of Tang & Yen (2019), who investigated the word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors in a study entitled The Impact of Hotel Features (Reputation) Performance. The results show that "hotel feature performance, previous word-of-mouth e-marketing experience, and platform convenience" are the drivers of word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors. Demographic and location preferences do not influence word-of-mouth e-marketing practices. Economic incentives also have no effect on word-of-mouth e-marketing behaviors, which suggests that a good experience cannot be bought. The performance of key features leads to the improvement of word-of-mouth e-marketing activities, but the performance of facilitative features only contributes to the praise of electronic word-of-mouth marketing. (Rah Peyma & Sasan Por, 2019) Research findings showed that physical components, reliability, guarantee, responsiveness and empathy have a significant effect on word-of-mouth e marketing behaviors. According to the present research, hotel managers are suggested to try to make the customers' living environment a memorable and pleasant atmosphere; because a memorable environment can be important for the customers who are going to come to this hotel; and the opinions of previous customers can also be effective in attracting new customers. The managers should try to provide a relaxing environment for customers. The appearance of the hotel staff plays an influential role in attracting new customers; Therefore, the appearance of the staff and the competence of them in different departments is very important, which managers must pay attention to.

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.

This case deals with a long selling brand of popsicles “Garigari-kun” that has been produced by Akagi Nyugyo since 1981. It focuses specifically on the marketing effort since 2004, using a fictional elementary school student character “Garigari-kun,” which helped boost its sales from 100 million to 400 million units annually. Fumio Hagiwara, the current acting director of Akagi Nyugyo’s development division, was in charge of the “Garigari-kun” marketing strategies for many years. He joined the company in 1995, first worked in sales, moved to the sales planning division, and then established the sales management division in 2004. He also created a specialized “Garigari-kun Production” division to promote the character in 2006, and finally established the marketing division in 2013. These reforms enabled the company to promote the brand effectively both online and offline, and “Garigari-kun” became a popular topic of conversation among customers. The case is based on an interview with Hagiwara in 2018 and his public lecture in 2020.

To address the problem of large network size and the difficulty of obtaining accurate information, the local average field was used to describe the large-scale customer network. Then an optimization model was developed to determine the proportion of seed consumers with the consideration of word-of-mouth (WOM) diffusion. The existence of the optimal solution was proved. The effects of customer connectivity, diffusion probability, marketing cost, and seed customer's purchase intention were analyzed by simulation on the decision of WOM marketing and market outcomes. The study shows that firms need to control the extent of WOM marketing when the probability of its influence is extremely high and low because over-marketing can bring more market share but can also damage profitability. In social e-commerce, "sold at a loss" only works when WOM propagates efficiently within the consumers networks. There is an intrinsic match between marketing products and the consumers networks with specific property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]