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Social media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you – Matt Goulart.
With nearly 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, or roughly 45% of the global population, social media has proven its ability to reach individuals in almost every marketing segment imaginable (Kemp, 2019; Hanna et al., 2011). Naturally, the growth of social media has drawn the attention of marketing practitioners, who seek to promote and enhance their brands via social media’s power to aim specific brand content at precise consumer targets (Economist, 2015). According to Pew Research (2018), nearly 70% of US adults use at least one social media platform, and over 50% of users visit social media sites daily (Smith and Anderson, 2018). Spending on social media and online advertising is expected to grow by 18.7% through 2022, compared to a mere 1.3% growth for television and, relatively flat projections for radio advertising and an almost 27% drop in print advertising (Pricewaterhouse Coopers, 2018).
However, even with the manifest growth of social media advertising, only 49% of surveyed Facebook advertisers believe that their efforts are effective (Stelzner, 2018). Some may be tempted to simply dismiss social media advertising as ineffective, particularly in light of Gallop Poll findings (Elder, 2014) describing social media as overhyped. The problem may actually stem from a lack of a clear understanding of what social media are, the various forms of social media and how value is best created on social media networks (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Internet-based technologies, such as social media Platforms, naturally lend themselves to enhanced opportunities for value co-creation and enhanced engagement opportunities to take place by allowing customers and firms to interact with one another in a real-time setting (Dessart, 2017; Yang et al., 2016; Balaji and Roy, 2017). Although social media in general offers a channel to facilitate co-creative experiences, current research lacks an understanding of how co-creation may differ on each distinct Platform and which Platforms consumers gravitate toward when looking to interact with a brand.
Furthermore, the current social media landscape is full of rich and diverse Platforms that differ in not only size, but also functionality (Kietzmann et al., 2011). In practice, however, social media...