Like it or not: The Fortune 500's Facebook strategies to generate users' electronic word-of-mouth

This study examines the effects of companies' social media communication strategies on users' electronic word-of-mouth behavior through a content analysis. The sample includes more than 15,000 posts from Fortune 500 companies' Facebook accounts in a five-year time frame. Three communication strategies are examined, including appeal, vividness, and interactivity. Results confirm the main effects of vividness and emotional appeals. However, interactivity does not help generate more eWOM behavior. Proposed interactions between vividness and appeal type, as well as between vividness and interactivity, are significant. Emotional appeals amplify the beneficial effects of vividness, whereas interactivity dampens the potency of vividness. This study examines the Facebook use of Fortune 500 within a 5-year time frame.Three communication strategies (appeal, vividness, interactivity) are investigated.Increasing vividness or using emotional appeals helps generate more eWOM behavior.Emotional appeals amplify the beneficial effect of vividness.Interactivity dampens the potency of vividness.

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