Social media in politics: how to drive engagement and strengthen relationships

ABSTRACT

Marketing researchers have devoted considerable attention to marketer-generated content (MGC), social media engagement behaviour (SMEB) and online relationships. Prior studies, however, do not integrate these critical elements of social media marketing. Our study, which is underpinned in the Elaboration-Likelihood Model, offers evidence that MGC leads to SMEB, which has a positive impact on relationship quality. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study, which comprises a content analysis of the official Facebook pages of American political parties and semi-structured interviews with voters who engage with political MGC, reveals that peripheral cues are the primary drivers of SMEB. Based on the quantitative and qualitative evidence, we demonstrate that shares are a higher-involvement activity than likes. We recommend that political marketers should rely on distinct sets of MGC cues to elicit shares and likes.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• political marketing
• SMEB
• relationship marketing
• Elaboration-Likelihood model
• marketer-generated content

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aman Abid

Aman Abid is an Assistant Professor at Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. His research focuses on social media and political relationship marketing. His work has appeared in reputed marketing journals like Journal of Strategic Marketing, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, and Australasian Marketing Journal.

Paul Harrigan

Paul Harrigan is an Associate Professor of Marketing at The University of Western Australia. Paul’s research in social media marketing has been published in over 30 international journal articles and presented at over 30 international conferences. His work has appeared in leading journals like International Journal of Information Management, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Tourism Management, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Strategic Marketing, and Marketing Intelligence and Planning, among others.

Shasha Wang

Shasha Wang is a lecturer of advertising at the QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia. She is an active researcher in the areas of consumer psychology, consumer behaviour, advertising, promotion, and branding. She has published articles in Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Australasian Marketing Journal, Tourism Analysis, Higher Education, and Tourism Review.

Sanjit K. Roy

Sanjit K. Roy is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Fellow at Centre for Business Data Analytics at UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia. He is also an Honorary Fellow at the Australia-India Institute @UWA chapter. He is a certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator. He is an Associate Editor at European Journal of Marketing and on the editorial boards of International Journal of Information Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Strategic Marketing, and Journal of Service Theory & Practice. His research interests include Customer Experience Management, Impact of New Technologies (i.e., AI, robots etc.) on Services, and Transformative Service Research. He has published in Industrial Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Information Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Information Systems Frontiers, Internet Research, and Journal of Services Marketing, among others.

Tauel Harper

Tauel Harper is a lecturer at the Department of Media and Communication, The University of Western Australia. Prior to joining UWA, Tauel was associated with Liverpool, Murdoch, and Curtin universities. Tauel’s broad research area is critical theory and public communication, and his research includes work on communication technology, education, democracy, and theories of play. Tauel has published two books Democracy in the Age of New Media and Media After Deleuze, and he is a frequent contributor to The Conversation. Additionally, his work has featured in academic journals like New Media and Society, Australian Journal of Political Science, and Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, among others.