Social media marketing: literature review and future research directions

In a decade's time, the social media has not only brought about drastic changes in the mode of communication but has also become an important marketing tool, making it an area of eminent interest for the academicians as well as the industrialists. This study provides a taxonomic classification of the social media research articles published in the marketing journals listed on the website of the Academy of Marketing Science, from 2004 to March 2015. In addition to it a framework depicting various antecedents, mediators, moderators and consequences has been developed. This is presumably the first exhaustive review of the literature on the social media for the period 2004-March 2015, comprising both classification of the literature and various constructs adopted in the social media research. It contributes to the existing body of literature by providing more comprehensive knowledge of the trends in, and the cause-and-effect relationship between the constructs used in the social media research.