Do We Believe What We Read? Effects of User-Generated Social Media Content on Consumers' Brand Liking

Abstract

Social media is a relatively new form of marketing for companies, and its use continues to increase among consumers and companies. Past research has found that businesses use social media marketing primarily to increase brand awareness and communicate their brand online (Structuring a social media team, 2012). However, this existing research does not acknowledge the content on social media posted by users about their experiences with the brand. Companies need to understand how this user-generated content about their brand influences consumers’ attitudes towards the brand. The present research examines the effect of consumers viewing negative social media content on consumer brand liking, and it addresses how social media usage frequency influences consumers’ brand liking after viewing user-generated content. This study uses a survey scenario to present social media content and collects information about brand liking and social media usage. The regression analysis supported that viewing negative user-generated social media content decreases consumer liking for the brand, but it did not support that the degree of influence of the content varied by the participant’s extent of social media usage.