Journal of Promotion Management

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Ten Years of ‘Social Media Marketing’ Research

in the Journal of Promotion Management:
Research Synthesis, Emerging Themes, and New
Directions

Anshu Saxena Arora & Saidat Abidemi Sanni

To cite this article: Anshu Saxena Arora & Saidat Abidemi Sanni (2018): Ten Years of ‘Social
Media Marketing’ Research in the Journal of Promotion Management: Research Synthesis, Emerging
Themes, and New Directions, Journal of Promotion Management, DOI:
10.1080/10496491.2018.1448322

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JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT
2018, VOL. 0, NO. 0, 1–24
https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2018.1448322

Ten Years of ‘Social Media Marketing’ Research

in the Journal of Promotion Management: Research Synthesis,
Emerging Themes, and New Directions
Anshu Saxena Arora, Associate Professor – Marketing and Saidat Abidemi Sanni
Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Sports, and Hospitality Management,
Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The study synthesizes research in emerging social media marketing social media marketing,
domains by analyzing published articles on social media marketing social media, social
in the Journal of Promotion Management published since 2007. We networking sites, Journal
utilized interpretation and synthesis based assessment for examining of Promotion Management,
emerging themes, future
the usage of social media marketing concepts with a focus on research directions
social media, social
networking sites’ utilization by firms, social media metrics and social
media measurement, consumer decision making,
consumer perceptions, and utilizing social media marketing across
countries and cultures. We found a fair balance of application of
social media variables across studies, even though most of these studies
were quantitative. After studying the gaps presented in social media
based studies of recently published articles, we present emerging
social media marketing themes, new research foci and directions, and
tried to build on research implications for both theory and practice.

Introduction
Emerging digital media technologies, particularly the Internet, social networking
sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat), blogs and microblogs (e.g., Twitter),
content community sites (e.g., YouTube, Flickr), collaborative social media sites
(e.g., Wikipedia), virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life) and all of digital, social
media, and mobile (DSMM) platforms (based on Web 2.0 principles) have
changed market and business dynamics by creating a shift in the firms’
competitive posi- tions (Porter, 2001) and increasing consumer power. Social
media has changed the rules of the game for marketers struggling to understand
online consumer behavior on social networks and trying to maneuver business
strategy for survival in inter- connected computer mediated social environments
(CMSEs) (Yadav, De Valck,

CONTACT Anshu Saxena Arora, Associate Professor – Marketing [email protected]; Saidat Abidemi Sanni
[email protected] Wilkes University, Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, 84 West South
Street ,Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766.
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
2 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

Hennig-Thurau, Hoffman, & Spann, 2013), as well as, for consumers through
power of information at their fingertips and providing numerous ways of buying
goods and services with ample (and often, endless) buying and consumption
choices, behaviors, and decision making patterns (Albors, Ramos, & Hervas,
2008; Shen & Bissell, 2013). Growing usage of social media across cultures and
countries have seen an exponential rise in online communication levels
worldwide (Arli 2017; Arli & Dietrich, 2017), which ranges from consumer-to-
consumer interac- tions, consumer-to-firm interactions, firm-to-consumer
interactions, and firm-to- firm interactions in CMSEs (Yadav & Pavlou, 2014).
Social media is defined as “a group of Internet based applications that build on
the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the
crea- tion and exchange of user-generated content” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010,
p.61). In addition to enormous user generated content (UGC) created during
consumer-to- consumer and consumer-to-firm interactions in CMSEs, firms try to
engage with their consumers through firm generated content (FGC) underlining
firm-to-con- sumer and firm-to-firm interactions in social media. Consumers tend
to value UGC more than FGC, and they consider information on social media
more reliable than the one relayed directly by firms (Constantinides, Alarcόn del
Amo, & Lor- enzo Romero, 2010). Amidst this explosive growth of social media
technologies, firms are looking at ways to leverage UGC and generate subsequent
value by creat- ing reliable FGC for consumer engagement in social media. There
is a growing evi- dence of how social media can be used for building and
managing brands, improving and sustaining brand loyalty, and customer
relationship management, thereby providing benefits to companies worldwide
(Alhabash, McAlister, Quil- liam, Richards, & Lou, 2015; Alves, Fernandes, &
Raposo, 2016; Luo & Zhang, 2013; Kumar, Bhaskaran, Mirchandani, & Shah,
2013; Tang, Ni, Xiong, & Zhu, 2015; Qazi, Raj, Tahir, Cambria, & Syed, 2014;
Kozinets, De Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilne, 2010); yet many companies still doubt
the potential of social media in mar- keting and selling products (Yadav, De
Valck, Hennig-Thurau, Hoffman, & Spann, 2013), and many companies have not
fully embraced social media into their mar- keting / branding / selling strategies
(Alves, Fernandes, & Raposo, 2016).
With the emerging potential of social media marketing for companies world-
wide and prevalent gaps in social media research with an eye on both consumers
and firms, the purpose of this article is three-fold. First, we investigate all articles
in the Journal of Promotion Management since 2007 outlining ‘social media mar-
keting’ as research area where social media strategies have been studied and
applied. Second, we try to find out emerging themes and new directions from the
social media marketing research in the Journal of Promotion Management.
Finally, we present implications for the research foci in terms of current research,
future directions, and important research questions pertaining to each emerging
research focus. We hope to add value to both management theory and practice
through our research synthesis in social media marketing domain. Our hope is to
enable future researchers, marketers and policy makers to focus on emerging
research themes
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 3

through our research synthesis for new directions in social media domain, and
subsequently strengthen social media marketing strategies.

Methodology
Conducting the evidence-based research interpretation and assessment
Following the methodology suggested by Petticrew and Roberts (2006),
(Tranfield, Denyer, & Smart, 2003), and (Alves, Fernandes, & Raposo, 2016), we
conducted the research synthesis in the domain of social media marketing with
emphasis on interpretation and synthesis based assessment by combining
evidence based mana- gerial practices as suggested by researchers (Tranfield,
Denyer, & Smart, 2003; Macpherson & Holt, 2007; Alves, Fernandes, & Raposo,
2016; Thorpe, Holt, Mac- Pherson, & Pittaway, 2005). While there may be many
proceedings, newspaper reports, and magazines that carry out research in social
media, researchers have validated journal articles over other periodicals and
publications (Podsakoff, MacKenie, Bachrach, & Podsakoff, 2005).
Utilizing a step-by-step process as used in any meta-analysis (Sierra, Hyman,
& Heiser, 2012), we conducted our evidence and interpretation based research
syn- thesis in three phases. In the first phase, we performed a keyword search and
looked at the articles published in the Journal of Promotion Management (JPM)
since 2007 with titles, abstracts, and keywords containing words “social media
marketing”. We found around 129 articles published in JPM with words –
“social”, “media”, and “marketing” – integrated in either the title, abstract,
keywords, and/ or the main body of the articles. In the second phase, we
investigated thoroughly with content analysis procedure and realized that some
articles have all three words – “social”, “media”, and “marketing” – but the
words were not connected together as “social media marketing”. This phase
weeded out many articles result- ing in 71 JPM articles. We further investigated
these 71 articles and tried finding out details on social media marketing in each of
these articles. Our systematic and synthesized search resulted in 41 relevant
articles on social media marketing pub- lished (since 2007) in JPM. Out of these
41 articles, 26 were quantitative and 15 were qualitative. In our analysis of these
articles, we found that JPM studies on social media marketing measure an array
of variables like marketing, culture, con- sumer engagement, consumer
intentions, consumer behavior, viral advertising, public relations, para social
theory, social media networking sites, Website promo- tions, consumer generated
marketing, online shopper reviews, electronic Word-of- Mouth (eWOM), product
reviews, corporate social responsibility (CSR) in social media, etc. Figure 1
presents a representation of top 100 words used in JPM articles on social media.
Finally, we conducted a thorough investigation and interpretation using in-
depth content analysis and thereby summarized our data in categories of
emerging research themes in the field of social media marketing, current
research, variables and theories used, and main conclusions. Table 1 presents our
research synthesis –
4 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

Figure 1. A representation of most used words in the articles analyzed from the Journal of Promo-
tion Management (10 year period – 2007 until 2017).
ten years of social media marketing research – published in JPM from 2007 (until
present) highlighting the numbers of articles with relevant keywords, whereby
‘social media marketing’ as a ‘domain’ or ‘research focus’ or ‘research theme’
was highlighted. Since social media marketing is an emerging area of research
with research happening in all directions and dimensions, we didn’t find any
consistent variables under study for social media marketing research in JPM
articles. Table 1 highlights number of relevant social media marketing articles
published in JPM in a decade along with keywords / concepts / variables used in
these studies and the study types (i.e., qualitative / quantitative methods utilized).

Emerging research foci and directions

Upon completion of third phase, we were able to group articles on the basis of
sim- ilarity of words used with reference to social media marketing, resulting in
cluster analysis of articles published in JPM spanning over a decade. We found
three clus- ters emerging through cluster analysis. The first cluster became our
first research focus – Firm Interactions in Social Media. The second cluster was
related to con- sumer interactions and we defined it as Consumer Interactions in
Social Media. The third cluster that emerged as a part of this process was ‘broad’
covering inter- national perspectives across countries and cultures with respect to
social media usage and marketing. We called this research focus as Cultural and
International Perspectives in Social Media. In terms of types of analyses utilized
across these clusters, we found most of these articles were quantitative in nature
utilizing linear and multiple regressions along with structural equation modeling.
Quantitative studies were more prevalent in articles incorporating cultural and
international perspectives with studies conducted in Australia, India, Korea, and
the United States. In the next section, we focus on research foci, research
implications, and future directions. Table 2 presents our research synthesis in
terms of emerging
Table 1. Numbers of articles with relevant keywords on ‘social media marketing’ as a ‘domain’ or ‘research focus’ or ‘research theme’ (Research Synthesis in JPM since
2007).
Study Type

Year Number of Articles with the Number of Relevant Articles with Relevant Keywords Used in Articles on “Social
word “social media” mentioned Details on “Social Media Marketing” Media Marketing” Quantitative Qualitative

2017 23 13 Social Media, Brand, Online, Consumer, Online 8 5

Reviews, Social media marketing, Facebook,
Twitter, Corporate, CSR, social networks
2016 14 5 Social networking sites, Social media, Consumer 3 2
intentions, Relations, Digital media, Para
social theory, Corporate, Consumer
2015 10 5 Social media, Consumer behavior, Engagement, 3 2
Authenticity, Credibility, Public relations
2014 9 6 Social media, Index, Culture, Facebook, Twitter, 5 1
LinkedIn, Corporate, Company, User
generated content

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2013 6 6 Advertising, Ethics, Cross-cultural, Viral, 4 2
Branding, Marketing, Brand Attitude
2012 6 3 Marketing public relations, Social 0 3
media, Promotion, Consumer generated
marketing
2011 1 1 Consumer recommendations, Online shopper 1 0
reviews, Online word-of-mouth, Perceived
credibility, Product reviews, Website
promotion
2010 2 2 Culture, Internet, GenY, iYGeneration, Media 2 0
meshing, Multi-tasking, Virtual social
networks
Total 71 articles 41 (relevant articles with keywords related to social media marketing) 26 15

5
 6
Table 2. Overview of Research Foci, Variable Used, Theories Utilized, Main Findings & Conclusions, and Relevant Studies (Research Synthesis in JPM since 2007).
Variables Used - Independent Variables
(IVs), Dependent Variables (DVs),

A. S. ARORA AND S. A. SANNI

Research Focus Moderating and Other Variables Theories Utilized Main Conclusions Relevant Studies

RESEARCH FOCUS 1: – Number of “likes,” “comments,” – Theories in social presence, media – The effect of promotion in the Papasolomou and Melanthiou (2012);
and “shares" on Facebook richness, self-presentation, and self- marketing concept of a firm can
disclosure. be boosted by Marketing Public
Relations (MPR)
FIRM RELATED INTERACTIONS IN – Legitimate dialogue, ease of – Para social interaction theory – With social media, MPR can be used Shen and Bissell (2013);
SOCIAL MEDIA interface, conservation of visitors, to enhance customer-firm
generation of return visits and relationships.
useful information on Social media
sites
● Social Media and Social Networking – Time of the posting on – Diffusion of Innovation theory – MPR can be employed in enhancing Belch and Belch (2013);
firm’s
Sites’ utilization by Firms Facebook or Twitter page and time the use of traditional marketing and
of response promotion tools.
● Social Media Metrics and – Account adoption, stakeholder – Source credibility and warranting – Understanding of brand’s value (Waters, Ghosh, Griggs, & Searson,
Measurement willingness to engage, and social theory proposition is crucial to 2014);
media best practices marketers’ success.
– Market size and the number of – Public relations theory – Two-way communication between Becker and Nobre (2014);
television households, amount of consumers and firms on social
pinning and repining, and number media and blogging sites increases
of followers market development, brand loyalty,
and firm value.
– Independent Variables (IVs): Blogger – Analytic Hierarchy Process – The speed of response and message Melanthiou (2014);
credibility and expertise content by firms on social network
sites is related to the firm’s size.
– Dependent Variables (DVs): Brand – Increased firm value, positive Distaso, McCorkindale, and Agugliaro
attitude, purchase intentions, Firm reviews, and support intentions (2015);
product Improvement from consumers and stakeholders is
related to the message interactivity,
genuineness, and friendliness of the
firm’s social media platforms.
– More variables - Primary social – Informed and efficient company Ferguson and Greer (2015);
network used, number of friends or strategic plans in relation with the
followers, amount of time they developing trends in social media
 spent reading and viewing
can be developed using the social
information on these online
media index.
platforms in an average day
– Control Variables (CVs): age of the
– The social media index can be Hayes and Carr (2015);
firms in years employed in company comparison
and benchmarking, especially in the
IT industry.
– Dummy Variables: Social Networks
and Web 2.0 usage, mobile – A key content in marketing Pressrove and Pardun (2016);
application usage, firm’s CRM communications is creativity and
would always be vital.
strategies or ethics approach
– Four social media indicators of a
company Fiore, Vrontis, Silvestri, and
– Economic indicators (Revenue, Cont`o (2016);
operating expenses, net income, Loureiro and Gomes (2016);
earnings per share, and assets)
– Social indicators (Number of hours of
customer engagement on social Angelini, Ferretti, Ferrante, and
media networking sites, number of Graziani (2017);
“likes” and comments on SNS, total
charitable contributions, employee
turnover rate)

JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT

– Technological indicators (CRM, other
tech, widgets) Lou and Alhabash (2017);
– Ethical Indicators (Regulations,
protection, violations) Cruz-Ros (2017);

Go and Bortree (2017)

RESEARCH FOCUS 2: – Consumer rating of media Arora, Arora, and Palvia (2014)
advertising (out-of-home, print, – Media uses and gratification theory – Innovative and ethical online Luck and Mathews (2010);
television, and internet) advertising approaches are crucial
in fostering positive relationships
with millennials.
(Continued on next page)

7
Table 2. (Continued )

8
Variables Used - Independent Variables
(IVs), Dependent Variables (DVs),

A. S. ARORA AND S. A. SANNI

Research Focus
Moderating and Other Variables Theories Utilized Main Conclusions Relevant Studies

CONSUMER RELATED – IVs: Blogger credibility and expertise – Source credibility and warranting – The advent of digital technologies Tanyel, Stuart, and Griffin (2013);
INTERACTIONS IN SOCIAL MEDIA theory drives and influences product
quality development decisions by
the firm.
● Consumer Decision Making – DVs: Firm product improvement, – Public relations theory – Company’s history could be Pant, Hsieh, Lee, and Shen (2014);
brand attitudes, and purchase negatively related to its product
intentions improvement decisions.
● Consumer Perceptions and Impact – CV: age of the firms in years – Communication theory – Understanding consumer needs and Hayes and Carr (2015);
on Firm’s Decision Making interactions through digital
strategies can enhance product
improvement.
– Demographics of the participants – Theory of buyer behavior – Consumer and stakeholders’ level of Schramm and Knoll (2015);
(Gender, age, ethnic background, social interaction and time spent
marital status, major, academic online influences their perceptions,
class membership, enrollment, attitudes to brands, and purchase
housing, and employment status) intention.
– Dummy Variables: Social Networks – The Elaboration Likelihood Model – Awareness on how millennials use Fiore, Vrontis, Silvestri, and
and Web 2.0 usage, mobile (ELM) theory social media, what platforms they Cont`o (2016);
application usage, and firm’s CRM use and when they use it, is
strategies or ethics approach essential in targeting and
communicating with them.
– Dialogic theory of public relations – There exists a positive significant Pressrove and Pardun (2016);
relationship between the firm’s
social media marketing strategies,
consumer interactions, and their
purchase intentions.
– Consumer Behavior – Negative social media message Loureiro and Gomes (2016);
contents are more likely to gather
negative word-of-mouth.
– Consumer and stakeholders’ level of Gautam and Sharma (2017);
social interaction and time spent
online influences their perceptions,
attitudes and purchase intention.
 Arli and Dietrich (2017);
Angelini, Ferretti, Ferrante, and
Graziani (2017);
Lou and Alhabash (2017);
Arli (2017);
Tesfom, Birch, and Culver (2017);
Arteaga S´anchez, L´opez, Garc´ıa
Ordaz, S´anchez-Franco, &
Yousafzai (2017);
Lee and Ahn (2017);
Calderon-Monge (2017);
Chakraborty and Bhat (2017);
Dodoo (2017)
RESEARCH FOCUS 3: IVs: Hofstede’s original cultural – Theory of cultural values -The type of social networking sites Baack, Singh, and Baack (2013);
dimensions (power distance, and functionalities influence the
individualism, masculinity, and differences in time spent on
uncertainty avoidance; and three of SNS across cultures.
Schwartz’s cultural domains
(mastery, intellectual autonomy,
and egalitarianism)
CULTURAL AND INTERNATIONAL DVs: Average amount of time spent – Hofstede Cultural Dimensions – Cultural differences remains an Shneor and Efrat (2014);
PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL MEDIA (ATS) on specific SNSs by country element that impacts the use social

JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT

Control variables: median age in media platforms, specifically the
population and national level of e- type of platform, friendly or
readiness professional.
● Influence of National Culture on – Schwartz Cultural Dimensions – Information seeking as a motivation Melanthiou (2014);
Social Media for using SNS is similar across the
different cultures.
● Cross-Cultural Social Media – Cultural differences should be taken Loureiro and Gomes (2016);
Motivations into consideration in SNS marketing
strategies.
Park and McMillan (2017)

9
1 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

research foci, theories and variables used in the context of social media
marketing, main conclusions, and relevant studies published in the Journal of
Promotion Management in a Decade.

Research focus 1: Firm related interactions in social media

This domain of firm interactions in social media includes firm’s strategies and
plans towards the utilization of social media and social networking sites.
Research efforts in this area have been focused on: (1) social media and social
networking sites’ utilization by firms, and (2) social media metrics and
measurement for companies worldwide. Firm related interactions in social media
include firm-to- consumer and firm-to-firm interactions, benefitting both firms
and consumers.

Current research

Social media and social networking sites’ utilization by firms

Over the years, the use of social media and social networking sites (SNS) has
increased exponentially and has resulted in social media advertising as a strategy
for firms to increase prominence, sales, value, and communication with consum-
ers. Hence, social media has become a key component in marketing, advertising,
and communications (Distaso, McCorkindale, & Agugliaro, 2015; Ferguson &
Greer, 2015). However, firms have been faced with multiple challenges of how to
utilize these networking sites for sales and customer reach. Hence, research
related to social media and SNS utilization have focused on examining the effect
of social media on public relations and marketing practices (Papasolomou &
Melanthiou, 2012), the use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, etc. by companies for increased brand loyalty, awareness, creativity in
marketing commu- nications, and consumer engagement (Belch & Belch, 2013;
Distaso, McCorkin- dale, & Agugliaro, 2015; Ferguson & Greer, 2015; Shen &
Bissell, 2013; Waters, Ghosh, Griggs, & Searson, 2014), and the effect of social
media or networking sites’ management on the online reputation of the companies
(Becker & Nobre, 2014) globally.
Studies have also investigated communications and interactions on blogs.
Blogs are viewed as a two-way communication platform between firms and
customers. In recent times, corporate blogs have been used as one-way com-
munication, in which the firm provides information to consumers, but doesn’t
provide the functionality needed for consumer feedback or firm level interac-
tions. Studies have employed public relations and source credibility, along
with warranting theories for investigating the effect of one-way communica-
tion on bloggers’ credibility, firm-consumer relationship, and brand stories
(Waters, Ghosh, Griggs, & Searson, 2014; Hayes & Carr, 2015). Several varia-
bles and moderating factors have been considered in the investigation of firms’
online presence, communication, and social media optimization strategies. The
variables include number of active followers on social platforms, the firm’s
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION 1
active response to communication on the sites, amount of time spent by view-
ers on the firm’s site, market and industry size, and brand attitudes. Other
characteristics considered are the social platform functionality and improve-
ment, as well as, the firm’s ethical approaches.
The opportunities of marketing public relations (MPR) have been increased by
social media. MPR activities can be directed towards creating stronger bonds,
dia- logue, and connections between people on social media, enhancing
consumer-firm relationships, marketing and promotion concepts, and increased
brand and product awareness (Papasolomou & Melanthiou, 2012). Content analysis
evaluation of active blogs of 125 American companies on the Fortune 500 list has
indicated that two- way communication between consumers and firms on
blogging sites increases mar- ket development, brand loyalty, and firm value
(Waters, Ghosh, Griggs, & Searson, 2014). Hayes and Carr (2015) emphasized
the importance of bloggers’ and market- ers’ understanding of the brand value
proposition for increased credibility on account of increased social interaction
and awareness in consumers and stakehold- ers. In similar vein, Go and Bortree
(2017) investigated the relationship between message interactivity, CSR
communication, modality interactivity, and social media credibility of the
organization. Their study found that CSR communications, promo- tions and
interactive content on social media platforms lead to greater organizational
credibility. As a result, the organization is perceived as being open and genuine
in their social media messaging. Pressrove and Pardun (2016) further stressed
that firms should create friendly and parasocial relationships with their
stakeholders (including customers) on social media and SNS because this could
result in increased support intentions from the stakeholders. Hence, it is crucial
that the firms, market- ers, and bloggers display credibility, expertise, and
enhanced message interactivity for increased social media optimization for better
brand loyalty, consumer loyalty, positive reviews, and overall firm reputation and
value over time. Creating a friendly and genuine social media content and
experience for stakeholders and consumers is also vital for an organization’s
success in social media.

Social media metrics and measurement

Research in social media metrics and measurement have examined four dimensions
of social media evaluation. The dimensions are technological, social, economic, and
ethi- cal. Arora, Arora, and Palvia (2014) developed a mathematical model for
obtaining the ‘social media composite index number’ using analytic hierarchy
process for a firm’s social media index valuation, thus providing an insight into the
firm’s social media per- formance in relation to social media trends; and utilizing
the composite number to serve as an ‘industry benchmark’ for comparing the
firm’s commitment to social media with respect to (industry) competition. It has
been shown that firm’s speed and content of response on social media is related to
the firm’s size. Large firms tend to respond faster to comments and questions from
consumers and with more details than smaller firms on social media. This indicates
that more efforts is needed in monitoring, engag- ing, and leveraging social media
(Becker & Nobre, 2014).
 1 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

Table 3. Future Research Questions in Research Focus 1 – Firm Related Interactions in Social Media.
Research
Questions Relevant Studies Implications

RQ 1 What factors influence firm’s

Becker and Nobre (2014); Belch With increasing growth of social
online presence, social media and Belch (2013); Distaso, commerce, firms need to re-
marketing strategies, and McCorkindale, and evaluate and upgrade their
social media optimization? Agugliaro (2015); Ferguson traditional promotion and
& Greer (2015); Shen and marketing strategies to
Bissell (2013); Waters, incorporate the social media
Ghosh, Griggs, and Searson promotion mix so as to exploit
(2014) the power of social commerce.
RQ 2 Is two-way communication on Papasolomou and Melanthiou Efficient use of social media
social platforms more (2012); Waters, Ghosh, promotion mix would enhance
advantageous to the firm Griggs, and Searson (2014); the creation of brand stories by
than one-way Hayes and Carr (2015); firms (through FGC) and
communication? Pressrove & Pardun (2016) consumers (through UGC). This
will promote effective two-way
communications between firms
and consumers, positive online
reviews, and brand loyalty.
RQ 3 What are the crucial dimensions Arora, Arora, and Palvia (2014) Innovation, creativity, and targeted
in measuring a firm’s social promotion strategies by firms
media performance? would boost their social media
performance across different
social media platforms.
RQ 4 Does the significance of research Arora, Arora, and Palvia. (2014) Resourceful organizational structure
dimensions vary across and internal control is required
different industries and for optimal social media
countries? presence, initiatives, and
promotions.
RQ 5 Is there a (significant) Becker and Nobre (2014)
relationship between the firm
size and its online (social
media related) presence and
activity?

Based on our discussions in the first research focus area of firm related
interactions in social media, we propose the following research questions, as
shown in Table 3 – highlighting questions, relevant studies, and implications.

Research focus 2: Consumer related interactions in social media

The consumer related research in social media encompasses consumer behavior,
consumer perceptions, and decision making processes utilized by consumers in
the context of social media platforms used by firms, social media marketing strat-
egies, and SNS advertising and communication with consumers. Consumer
related interactions in social media include consumer-to-consumer and con-
sumer-to-firm interactions, benefitting both consumers and firms.

Current research
Consumer decision making
The increased growth of social media has increased the power of consumers by
pro- viding them the ability of interacting with products and brands through social
media
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION 1
platforms and online social networks, resulting in user generated content (UGC).
UGC involves consumer online reviews, ratings, comments, feedback, as well as,
interactions with the firm and other consumers. Consumers’ feedback could be
nega- tive or positive. Negative reviews impact the firm more negatively than
positive reviews. Hence, companies are continuously striving to develop strategies
that lead to satisfactory products, consumer satisfaction, positive reviews, and
consumer loyalty (Ott, Vafeiadis, Kumble, & Waddell, 2016). Studies have shown
that effective commu- nication between firms and consumers on social media,
influences consumers’ per- ceptions about the company’s reputation. Gautam and
Sharma (2017) utilized structural equation modeling of consumers’ purchase
intentions in luxury fashion brands to demonstrate that effective firm-consumer
relationship (as a component of social media marketing) positively impacts
consumers’ purchase intentions.
Consumers do not only interact with businesses on social media but, also with
a range of other consumers. Consumers interact with one another on social media
plat- forms using social media technologies. They share experiences with other
consumers, which can be both positive and negative experiences resulting from the
use of a product or service. Hence, research has focused on the study of consumer
behavior, decision making processes, attitudes and perceptions, and social media
usage across different ages (Luck &Mathews, 2010; Ott, Vafeiadis, Kumble, &
Waddell, 2016; Arli & Dietrich, 2017). Studies on effects of social media marketing
activities of firms revealed that nega- tive reviews and word-of-mouth have the
potential of harming the firm’s reputation. Negative customer attitudes can cause
harm to marketing, advertising, and ethical activ- ities of the firm (Arli & Dietrich,
2017; Tanyel, Stuart, & Griffin, 2013).
Consumer behavior studies have also classified consumers based on their ages and
level of social interactions and connections. For example, the younger generation (i.e.
millennials) generally engage in many social media platforms for information access,
connection, and socialization. It has, hence, become a challenge for marketing
pro- fessionals to understand the behavior and social media usage of the younger
genera- tion, for the purpose of communicating with them. Luck and Mathews
(2010) studied the behavior of the youths in Australia. They recommended that
this market can be targeted by firms by gaining insights on the media platforms
mostly preferred by the youths, and when and how they use these online social
networks. Tanyel, Stu- art, and Griffin (2013) further stressed this by conducting
a comparative study on how millennials engage with digital media compared to
traditional media. It was observed that firms can forge positive relationships with
millennials through more innovative and ethical social media based advertising
strategies.

Consumer perceptions and impact on firm’s decision making

The significance of consumer-firm interactions has fostered product and service
improvement. Fiore, Vrontis, Silvestri, and Cont`o (2016) conducted an
exploratory survey and found that the advent of digital technologies have led to
increased product quality development decisions. Most especially, the
understanding of con- sumer needs and interactions through SNS enhances
product improvement.
 1 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

Today, consumers have a lot of information sources on the internet. It has been
observed that the time they spend ‘online’ influences their perceptions, attitudes,
and purchase intentions. Hence, it is crucial that the firm, marketers, and bloggers
show credibility and expertise. Pressrove and Pardun (2016) studied the effect of
nonprofit stakeholders’ social interactions, time spent online, and support inten-
tions for nonprofits. They observed that the more time stakeholders spend on
social media, their behavioral intentions towards supporting the organizations
decreases. Likewise, higher online social connections result in lower support
inten- tions. Hence, it is recommended that firms create friendly, interactive, and
paraso- cial relationships with their stakeholders and consumers on social media
and other networking sites.
Based on our discussions in the second research focus area of consumer
related interactions in social media, we propose the following research questions,
as shown in Table 4 – highlighting questions, relevant studies, and implications.

Table 4. Future Research Questions in Research Focus 2 – Consumer Related Interactions in Social
Media.
Research
Questions Relevant Studies Implications

RQ 1 How can negative (versus positive) Luck and Mathews (2010); Adverse effects of consumer
online consumer reviews be used Ott, Vafeiadis, Kumble, & negative consumer reviews could
as a ‘tool’ for increasing brand Waddell (2016); Arli and be mitigated by effective social
loyalty, consumer loyalty, and Dietrich (2017) media promotion strategies
improving firm value? along with prompt and sensitive
firm responses to consumers on
social media platforms.
RQ 2 Are negative (versus positive) online
reviews on social media
platforms always damaging
(versus worthwhile)?
RQ 3 Are consumer-to-consumer Tanyel, Stuart, and Griffin User Generated Contents (UGC) on
interactions on blogs and social (2013) blogs and discussion forums give
media networking sites crucial in consumers insights into other
filtering out dishonest ‘brand consumers’ experiences and
stories’ (as well as any ‘false’ or perceptions (of a product or
‘unethical’ firm generated or service).
firm sponsored content) created
by the firms?
RQ 4 Positive versus Negative online Ott, Vafeiadis, Kumble, Genuine and honest firm generated
consumer reviews – Which of & Waddell (2016) / sponsored content promotes
these are more frequent on positive reviews. Hence, firms
social media, and what factors should be ethically cautious and
influence consumers to post responsive to consumer reactions
online reviews (whether positive shared on social media.
or negative)?
RQ 5 Does forming friendly connections Pressrove & Pardun (2016) Social media based communications
with stakeholders and consumers play a vital role in the
on social media increase positive optimization of social commerce
reviews and support intentions for improved stakeholder-firm
from the stakeholders and relationships. This influences
consumers? stakeholder intentions positively.
Yadav, De Valck, Hennig-
Thurau, Hoffman, and
Spann (2013)
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION 1
Research focus 3: Cultural and international perspectives in social media
Extant research has pointed out that social media and social networking sites
(SNS)’ usage has been driven by cultural differences (Vasalou, Joinson, & Courvoi-
sie, 2010; Dwyer, Hiltz, & Passerini, 2007; Westlund, 2010; Laroche, Habibi,
Richard, & Sankaranarayanan, 2012; Wang, Yu, & Wei, 2012). It has been sug-
gested that culture is a key influence in people’s motivation of using social media
and engaging in virtual communities. The increasing use of social media and
SNS has made it essential that multinational companies take into account cultural
char- acteristics of consumers in their social media marketing strategies (Shneor
& Efrat, 2014). Hence, the domain of cultural and international perspectives in
social media and SNS can be categorized into two main areas: (1) influence of
national culture on social media, and (2) cross-cultural social media motivations.

Current research

Influence of National Culture on Social Media

In the field of marketing and consumer behavior, cross-cultural studies have been
carried out based on Hofstede’s (1984, 2003) cultural dimensions and the cultural
framework proposed by Schwartz (1994, 1999,& 2007). Hofstede (1984, 2003) cat-
egorized cultures into dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, indi-
vidualism/collectivism, and masculinity/femininity. Power distance is defined as
the extent to which a society and its people tolerate unequal distribution of power
or hierarchy. Uncertainty avoidance describes the degree to which a society toler-
ates uncertain conditions. Individualistic societies are societies where people
iden- tify more as individuals than as a group. In such societies, people care more
about themselves and their close relations, as opposed to collectivistic societies,
where individuals act based on their loyalty to a group and the group’s interest.
Finally, masculinity describes a society where citizens are very assertive and
achievement driven. In contrast, a feminine society focuses on nurturing people’s
quality of life; while a masculine society is driven by power and achievement. Seven
cultural com- ponents were proposed by (Schwartz 1994; 1999; 2007). They
include mastery, intellectual autonomy, egalitarianism, harmony, conservatism,
hierarchy, and affective autonomy. Mastery promotes the act of being successful
and competitive. A society that encourages autonomy inspires people to express
their unique intel- lectual abilities, ideas, emotions, and feelings. A harmonious
society fosters peace and order while avoiding self-assertion or acts that disrupt
peace in the society. In essence, conservatism is encouraged by avoiding
behaviors that could disrupt the status-quo. Hierarchy, which is similar to power
distance as proposed by Hofstede (1984, 2003), is the reception of external
control while the roles and resources are allocated internally. Lastly,
egalitarianism describes a society where moral equality and deliberate
collaborations are encouraged and accepted.
Shneor and Efrat (2014) incorporated these cultural dimensions in studying the
impact of the national culture of developed economies on average time spent on
 1 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

social media and SNS between 2010 and 2011. The study considered the average
amount of time spent on SNS in different countries, median age of the
population, and the national level of exposure to internet and social media (e-
readiness). Shneor and Efrat’s (2014) study concluded that culture is a key
component that drives the use of social media, and firms should consider cultural
differences and influences while formulating and implementing their own social
media marketing strategies. However, the extent to which ‘culture’ influences
time spent by individ- uals on social media sites can be strengthened or weakened
by the relationship ori- entation of SNS. For rich media SNS, egalitarianism has a
positive influence on the time spent on social media; whereas, time spent on
friendship-oriented sites are positively impacted by individualism and
masculinity. Intellectual autonomy and uncertainty avoidance positively influence
professional-oriented sites (Shneor & Efrat, 2014).

Cross-Cultural social media motivations

Researchers have tried to navigate the question of ‘why people engage in virtual
communities’ in order to better understand cross-cultural differences in online
communities. Park and McMillan (2017) investigated the motivation of internet
usage across cultures. Why do people join online brand communities? What are
the cross-cultural differences in social media motivations? Park and McMillan’s
(2017) cross-cultural study focused on members of the South Korean Automobile
Online Brand Communities (KAOBC) and the American Online Brand Commu-
nities (AAOBC). It was found that both groups had similar motivational levels.
That is, across cultures, people are highly motivated to join online communities
because they seek information. The study revealed that KAOBC social network is
stronger and more motivated by business and communications, as compared to
AAOBC network. We observed a significant rise on cross-cultural and country-
based consumer acceptance studies dealing with social and/or mobile media
usage (e.g., Dix, Phau, Jamieson, & Shimul, 2017; Arli & Dietrich, 2017); yet
there are limited studies available in cross-cultural and international arena of
social media usage, participation, influence, involvement, engagement, and
motivations.
Based on our discussions in the third research focus area of cultural and
interna- tional perspectives in social media, we propose the following research
questions, as shown in Table 5 – highlighting questions, relevant studies, and
implications.

Discussions – Toward a new communications paradigm

Our ten-year research synthesis in the field of social media marketing yielded
three research themes: firm related interactions in social media, consumer related
inter- actions in social media, and cultural and international perspectives in social
media. We strongly feel, much progress has been made given the fact that there
has been an exponential increase in social media related articles over the past few
years; yet there are existent gaps that need to be addressed by future researchers.
On the basis
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION 1
Table 5. Future Research Questions in Research Focus 3 – Cultural and International Perspectives in
Social Media.
Research
Questions Relevant Studies Implications

RQ 1 Does culture impact social media and Shnoer and Efrat With globalization, cultural and
SNS engagement in developing and (2014); Park and international perspectives along
under-developed economies? McMillan (2017) with consumer differences have
emerged as very significant
moderators in social media
promotion management. For global
brand promotion on social media
platforms, firms should take this
moderating factor into
consideration.
RQ 2 Should the national cultural differences Shnoer and Efrat
be used in country comparisons with (2014)
respect to social media usage,
engagement, and motivations?
Should one consider ‘individual and
group level cultural differences’
across nations while studying the
impact of social media?
RQ 3 What are research and managerial Shnoer and Efrat Cultural awareness and knowledge
implications of cross-cultural (2014); Park and could give firms a competitive edge
consumer interactions, policies, McMillan (2017) in global marketing, and reputation
infrastructures, and perceptions? through social networking sites.
RQ 4 With increase in social media Park and McMillan
engagement, what is the strongest (2017)
motivation for social media use and
participation across cultures?
Are information seeking, brand and
products’ interaction, and
socialization important factors to
consider while studying social media
marketing across countries and
cultures? How can firms leverage
these factors?
RQ6 Which economies are most ‘active’ in Shnoer and Efrat With an exponential increase in social
social media usage and (2014); Park and media worldwide, consumers across
engagement? What are the McMillan (2017) different countries and cultures have
significant contributing factors? started interacting with brands and
firms on a regular basis. This
provides an opportunity for firms to
convert this population to loyal
customers through efficient use of
social media promotion mix.
Are businesses operating in (heavily
consumer engaged) social media
prevalent societies effectively
optimizing social media utilization
for developing their global
(customized and targeted) social
media strategies?

of existent research in the field of social media marketing, we provide our new
social media based communications paradigm, as given in Figure 2.
We have identified three research themes in this article, of which two are
related to firm related interactions in social media, and consumer related
interactions in social media. These interactions result in brand stories which can
be both con- sumer and firm generated (Gensler, V€olckner, Liu-Thompkins, &
Wiertz, 2013).
 1 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

Figure 2. Emergence of New Social Media Based Communications Paradigm.

Firms pay a close attention to consumer generated brand stories (or UGC) and
often merge them with their own firm generated brand stories (or FGC),
especially if these brand stories are positive and can improve / build company
image in the minds of consumers for overall organizational success. Most of the
time, these brand stories are promoted through traditional promotion mix
channels (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Today companies use a mix of traditional
and social media promotional strategies, thereby harnessing the power of social
media and social networking in order to facilitate consumer-to-consumer,
consumer-to-firm, firm- to-consumer, and firm-to-firm interactions. Our new
social media based communications paradigm (see Figure 2) gives power to
consumers and marketing managers by recognizing these consumer-to-consumer,
consumer-to-firm, firm- to-consumer, and firm-to-firm interactions. Researchers
have pointed that consumers trust social media to be more trustworthy (as a
source of information) concerning products and services as compared to
traditional promotion mix used by organizations, such as advertising, publicity,
sales promotions, direct marketing, public relations, etc. (Foux, 2006). Social
media promotion mix can be illustrated through blogs, electronic-Word-of-Mouth
(eWoM), Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat,
Instagram, Pinterest, etc.), online reviews about products and services on various
social media sites, Video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube, Vine, etc.), and discussion
forums supported by social media technologies. This leads to an emergence of
social commerce1 (Yadav, De Valck, Hennig-Thurau, Hoffman, & Spann, 2013).
The antecedents of firm-related and consumer-related interactions in social media
result in an organizational impact (outcome / consequence) through improved
promotional mix supported by social media, and moderated by Cultural and
International perspectives, which is our
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION 1
research theme 3 (see figure 2). Managers should subtly use the global and
cultural power of social media as a part of their promotional strategy to create a
global organization impact and reach out to consumers around the world directly
through open communication channels supported by social media technologies;
thus facilitating stronger, powerful, and impactful consumer-to-consumer, con-
sumer-to-firm, firm-to-consumer, and firm-to-firm interactions.
In general, there is an existing limitation on providing research questions and
future directions in social media marketing field. We tried to provide future
directions through research questions (RQs) in each emerging research focus in this
article. How- ever, there is a need to develop an impactful program in social media
marketing. While firm-related, consumer-related, cross-cultural and international
issues in social media marketing domain have been discussed in the literature,
there is a growing need of examining the following questions in the realm of social
media marketing:

a) How can firms benefit from the domain of social media marketing through
the emerging field of ‘social commerce’ and social commerce optimization
(Yadav, De Valck, Hennig-Thurau, Hoffman, & Spann, 2013);

b) How can marketers leverage the potential of ‘social capacitance’2 by

utilizing social media’s influence on organizational absorptive capacity
within organi- zations through internal social media networks, and across
organizations with partners, collaborating firms, and consumers through
external social networks (Arora & Sivakumar, 2017); and

c) How can consumers and firms use social capacitance and social commerce
to tie into the emerging research areas of digital, social media, and mobile
(DSMM) marketing research (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016), Internet of
Things (IoT) research (Hoffman & Novak, 2016), and digital (social and
mobile) marketing policy perspectives.
The field of social media marketing research is growing with valuable research
being conducted in both developed and developing economies. However, the field
of social media marketing ‘'policy’ is conspicuous in its absence as academic
researchers have not contributed enough to government and public forums (e.g.,
U.S. Senate Subcom- mittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet;
U.S. House of Representa- tives’ Subcommittee on Communications and
Technology) (Yadav & Pavlou, 2014). We strive for a future where social media
marketing researchers, managers and policy makers will collectively engage and
work together for advancing the next generation of scholarship in this significant
marketing domain.

Conclusion
In this article, we presented emerging research foci in social media marketing
domain by organization, synthesis, review, and critique of existing social media
 2 A. S. ARORA AND S. A.

marketing literature in the Journal of Promotion Management in a decade.

Through our proposed social media based communications paradigm (Figure 2),
we have tried to highlight the research focus themes based on the past, current,
and emerging trends in the field of social media marketing. Also integrated is the
traditional promotional mix along with social media promotional mix leading to
social commerce, and further resulting in organizational success. The re-
evaluation and upgrade of the firm’s traditional promotion mix to social media
based commu- nications paradigm framework incorporates the use of social
media blogs, discus- sion forums, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), consumer
online reviews, functional social media networks with video sharing capabilities,
and open chan- nels of communications between firms and consumers resulting
in firm-to-con- sumer, consumer-to-consumer, consumer-to-firm, and firm-to-
firm interactions in social media. The creation of brand stories (through FGC and
UGC) provides marketing practitioners, researchers, and firms with information
and insights on the critical factors and strategies required in strengthening social
media marketing. However, cultural and international perspectives is a crucial
moderating factor that should be placed into consideration for effectively
optimizing social media based promotions, social media marketing, social
commerce, and social capaci- tance for increased (global) brand loyalty and firm
value.

Notes
1. Social commerce is defined as “exchange-related activities that occur in, or are influenced
by, an individual’s social network in computer-mediated social environments, where the
activities correspond to the need recognition, pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase
stages of a focal exchange” (Yadav et al., 213, p. 312).
2. Social capacitance is defined as “knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation, and
knowledge exchange–related activities in CMSEs. It is a dynamic and developmental
orga- nizational-level construct that enables customers, employees, companies, clients,
partners, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and other organizations to view,
create, share, and use knowledge repositories and databases stored in virtual communities
and net- works” (Arora & Sivakumar, 2017).

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