Comparing Personalization Strategies in Social Network Advertising: The Role of Impression Motivation in Persuasion Outcomes

Abstract

Personalization is an essential tactic for enhancing social networking advertising (SNA) effectiveness. Brands leverage consumer data using artificial intelligence (AI) to pinpoint target audiences based on distinct behavioral and psychographic traits. This study examines the comparative effectiveness of behavioral and psychographic personalization, with a focus on impression motivation as a key moderator. Results from an online experiment involving 455 Facebook users showed that behavioral personalization significantly increased consumer digital engagement intentions, while psychographic personalization influenced consumers’ attitudes toward SNA and the advertised brands, contingent on the social desirability of the psychographic factors involved. Impression motivation proved to be a crucial factor in determining the success of psychographic personalization. These findings provide valuable insights into SNA personalization and offer practitioners empirical guidance to develop optimal SNA personalization strategies.

Keywords:

• Behavioral targeting
• consumer digital engagement
• impression motivation
• intelligent advertising
• personalization strategies

Acknowledgment

This study has University of Missouri Human Research Ethics Committee approval (Ref No: 2091916 MU).

Additional information

Funding

Funding is provided by the Maxine Wilson Gregory Chair which is held by the third author.

Notes on contributors

Weilu Zhang

Weilu Zhang (Ph.D., University of Missouri at Columbia) is Assistant Professor of Integrated Strategic Communication, College of Communication and Information, University of Kentucky.

Ting-Hao Tsou

Ting-Hao Tsou (Ph.D., University of Missouri at Columbia) is Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication, West Texas A&M University.

Shelly Rodgers

Shelly Rodgers (Ph.D., University of Missouri at Columbia) is the Maxine Wilson Gregory Chair and Professor of Strategic Communication, School of Journalism, University of Missouri.

Justin F. Willett

Justin F. Willett (M.H.A., University of Missouri at Columbia) is a doctoral student, School of Journalism, University of Missouri.