SMM1 - Introduction (keyterms, mp + scenario questions)

Social media

Internet applications for social interaction where users can add content to share, inform, and create

Social media marketing (Van Noort & Antheunis, 2011)

All marketing communications, initiated by a marketer or organization, to influence a target audience, by creating a process of sharing, carried out by users of a social medium

The five characteristics of SMM (Van Noort & Antheunis, 2011)

1. All marketing communications 2. Initiated by a marketer or organization 3. To influence a target audience 4. By creating a sharing process 5. By users of a social medium

Goals of social media marketing

Build brand loyalty, increase brand awareness, improve brand recognition, strengthen brand recall

User Generated Content (UGC)

Content spontaneously created and shared online by consumers about products, services, or brands — not produced or paid for by the brand

eWOM

Electronic word-of-mouth; the rapid online circulation of consumer opinions, complaints, or recommendations about brands, visible to their digital network

WOM

Word-of-mouth; offline interpersonal sharing of opinions and recommendations between consumers

Why UGC is powerful

Consumers trust other consumers more than they trust brands; UGC carries credibility that paid advertising cannot replicate

Creators

Active producers of original content on social media platforms

Critics

Dissatisfied users who respond negatively to existing brand content

Collectors/Consumers

Users who gather and organize brand-related content without necessarily creating new material

Lurkers

Passive subcategory of collectors who never post or comment but are significantly influenced by what they see; invisible in analytics but large in number

Trendjacking

Inserting a brand into an already-viral conversation or trend to borrow its existing momentum

Real-time marketing

Marketing that reacts immediately to current events or trending topics to generate organic reach

Social media firestorm

An abrupt, massive buildup of negative eWOM and consumer outrage against an organization that spreads virally through social channels

Mass media

One-to-many broadcast channels (TV, radio, newspaper) with no interaction between sender and audience

Personal media

One-to-one communication channels (email, phone, chat) with interaction possible but on a small scale

Why social media is unique vs mass and personal media

It combines both simultaneously — one post can reach millions like mass media AND enable direct one-to-one replies like personal media

Users → Medium → Effects

The basic model for social media impact; the medium shapes user behavior, which produces downstream effects on perception and purchase

Push communication

Top-down, brand-initiated communication sent outward to a passive audience; also called top-down communication

Pull communication

Communication that attracts consumers through valuable content and high interaction; consumer initiates or engages actively

Active brand presence on social media (3 forms)

1. Paid ads and banners 2. Social campaigns 3. Company pages

Paid ads and banners

Targeted advertising placed by brands on social platforms; closest to traditional marketing; risk of advertising avoidance and privacy concerns

Social campaigns

Deliberately designed marketing efforts built for engagement, sharing, and conversation on social media

Company pages

Permanent brand hubs on social platforms for long-term relationship building and consistent audience engagement

Advertising avoidance

The tendency of users to actively ignore or block commercial advertising triggered by excessive or intrusive ads

Ryanair strategy — why it works (5 elements)

1. Inexpensive and scalable 2. Trendjacking 3. Self-deprecation (using flaws as content) 4. Narrative shifting on negative comments 5. Chaotic lo-fi sarcastic tone that mimics authentic creator content

Self-deprecation as a strategy

Owning and joking about a brand's own flaws before critics can use them; disarms negativity and signals confidence

Authenticity in social media marketing

Content that looks and feels genuine rather than corporate; bypasses consumer distrust of polished advertising and performs better on social platforms

Meaningfulness (Borges-Tiago et al., 2019)

The degree to which an individual considers a specific piece of content as valuable, relevant, and personally important; the starting point of the viral sharing model

Arousal (Borges-Tiago et al., 2019)

The psychological and physiological state of activation triggered by emotional content; high arousal content motivates further sharing

Emotion tone (Borges-Tiago et al., 2019)

The emotional quality of content as experienced by the consumer; shaped by meaningfulness

Social pressure (Borges-Tiago et al., 2019)

The influence of online peers on sharing behavior; strongest among heavy users

Attitude vs. sharing behavior (Borges-Tiago et al., 2019)

A positive attitude toward content does NOT automatically lead to sharing; people engage passively far more readily than they forward content to their own network

Heavy users

Very active social media users with large networks; sharing behavior strongly driven by social pressure from their network

Social-driven users

Users who use social media primarily for communication and socialization; share personal information freely

Research-driven users

Users who employ social media utilitarianly as an information tool; smallest networks; paradoxically most likely to share viral content because they only share when content passes their higher quality threshold

Causal chain for viral sharing

Meaningfulness triggers emotion tone and arousal, which build positive attitude; social pressure drives participation intention; but attitude and intention do not guarantee actual sharing behavior

SMM strategy definition (Li et al., 2021)

A deliberate and integrated pattern of actions by which an organization transforms social connectedness and social interactions into strategic resources to achieve marketing objectives

Drivers (Li et al., 2021)

First component of SMM strategy: the firm's strategic marketing objectives AND consumers' motivations to use social media — both must be understood

Inputs (Li et al., 2021)

Second component: firm's engagement initiatives plus customers' actual social media behaviors

Throughputs (Li et al., 2021)

Third component: the system of social connectedness and social interaction through which value is exchanged between firm and consumers

Outputs (Li et al., 2021)

Fourth component: the resulting degree and intensity of customer engagement

Social Commerce Strategy

One-way interaction; goal is to promote and sell; generates very low, reactive, transactional engagement

Social Content Strategy

Firm-initiated two-way interaction; goal is to connect and collaborate; builds loyalty and WOM through educational or engaging content

Social Monitoring Strategy

Customer-initiated two-way interaction; goal is to listen and learn; uses consumer data to respond to complaints and optimize experience

Social CRM Strategy

Collaborative interaction; goal is to empower and engage; integrates social data with internal CRM systems; highest strategic maturity; enables value co-creation

Order of strategies by engagement level

Social Commerce (lowest) → Social Content → Social Monitoring → Social CRM (highest)

Why firms stay at Social Commerce level

Not by choice but because moving up requires genuine organizational transformation in culture, technology, and data management

Customer engagement

The intensity, passion, and commitment with which an individual autonomously participates in and feels a lasting connection with a specific brand

Social connectedness

The quantity, strength, and reach of social ties a consumer or firm holds within a dynamic digital network

Value co-creation

The collaborative process in which consumers contribute creativity and knowledge to jointly improve products and processes with the organization

Li et al. 2023 — research scope

Systematic review of 418 empirical SMM articles published between 2009 and 2021

Atheoretic

Not based on a specific theory or framework; focused on facts and observations without a scientific explanatory structure; 52.6% of SMM studies are atheoretic

Li et al. 2023 — methodological finding

77.6% of studies use quantitative cross-sectional research; mostly B2C; mostly North American; data from surveys or social media platforms

Value creation perspective

Value is never created unilaterally by a firm; it always emerges through exchange and interaction with the customer

Transactional value

Immediate financial benefits from using social media as a direct sales and promotion platform (Stream 1)

Media value

Reach, brand awareness, trust, and reputation built through strategic communication on social networks (Stream 2)

Informational value

Insights into customer needs and market developments obtained by monitoring and analyzing online data streams (Stream 3)

Relational value

Long-term returns from personalized, interactive relationships between a brand and its digitally connected consumers (Stream 4)

Strategic value

Competitive advantage gained by integrating social media with core strategic functions and organizational culture (Stream 5)

Stream 2 key shift

Firm communication moved from one-to-many broadcasting to one-to-one dialogue; simultaneously consumer communication gained mass reach

Social listening

Proactive practice of monitoring online conversations to detect trends, risks, or opportunities before they escalate; example: identifying a potential PR crisis before it goes viral

Social monitoring

Reactive practice of tracking brand mentions and responding to consumer feedback after it occurs; example: webcare responding to complaints

Difference between social listening and social monitoring

Listening is proactive and preventive; monitoring is reactive and responsive

GEO (Search Everywhere Optimization)

Optimizing content for generative AI search engines where users search using full conversational sentences rather than keywords

What is the most important difference between traditional marketing and social media marketing?

In SMM the consumer has much more input; the consumer becomes part of the distribution channel through the sharing process

Statement 1: Push communication is bottom-up communication. Statement 2: There is a lot of interaction between company and consumer in pull communication. Which statement(s) is/are correct?

Statement 1 is incorrect (push is top-down, not bottom-up); statement 2 is correct (pull involves high interaction)

Explain social monitoring and social listening and give an example of each

Social monitoring is reactive: tracking specific mentions or brand names after they occur; example is webcare. Social listening is proactive: scanning for broader trends and risks before they escalate; example is identifying a potential PR crisis early

Name and describe the four steps of the DATA approach

Define: the outcomes you want to achieve with the campaign. Assess: evaluate the costs and potential value of the campaign. Track: track the actual results and link them to the campaign. Adjust: use those results to optimize future campaign performance

A fashion brand notices consumers are posting complaints about a product defect and responds individually to each complaint on Instagram. Is this social listening or social monitoring?

Social monitoring — it is reactive, responding to specific mentions after they occur rather than proactively scanning for emerging risks

A sportswear brand monitors TikTok weekly to detect negative sentiment trends before they become a crisis. Is this social listening or social monitoring?

Social listening — it is proactive, scanning for broader patterns and risks before they escalate into a firestorm

A brand sells products directly through Instagram Stories with a swipe-up purchase link and no engagement strategy beyond that. Which SMM strategy type is this and what is its main limitation?

Social Commerce Strategy; it generates very low, purely transactional engagement and builds no long-term loyalty or brand relationship

A telecom company integrates customer complaints from Twitter directly into its CRM system and uses this data to co-develop new service features with engaged customers. Which strategy type is this?

Social CRM Strategy — it is the most mature level, combining collaborative interaction with CRM integration and value co-creation

You work at an electric car manufacturer and launch an interactive social media campaign to boost sales. Formulate a SMART objective for this campaign

We will increase electric car sales leads generated through our Instagram campaign by 20% within 3 months (by [specific date]), measured by the number of test drive bookings made through the campaign link

A food brand wants to go viral on TikTok. Based on Borges-Tiago et al. 2019, what is the most important content characteristic to achieve this and why?

Meaningfulness — content that feels personally relevant triggers emotion and arousal, which build positive attitude; without meaningfulness the causal chain toward sharing behavior never starts

A brand creates a highly produced, beautiful campaign video. It gets many likes but almost no shares. How does Borges-Tiago et al. 2019 explain this?

Attitude toward content does not automatically produce sharing behavior; people are far more willing to passively engage (like, watch) than to actively forward content, because sharing requires feeling the content is worth endorsing publicly

Which user type should a marketer primarily target to maximize viral spread according to Borges-Tiago et al. 2019 and why?

Research-driven users — despite having the smallest networks they were paradoxically most likely to promote viral content; their shares are credible because they only share when content genuinely passes their quality threshold

A brand posts a humorous response to a negative TikTok comment about its product, turning the criticism into a joke. Which Ryanair strategy element does this represent?

Narrative shifting — reframing negative comments through humor rather than defensiveness, so the negative content becomes part of the brand's personality instead of an attack on it

What does it mean that 52.6% of SMM research is atheoretic and why is this a problem?

It means studies collect data and report findings without grounding them in any established theory; this is a problem because findings are hard to generalize, compare, or build upon — the field accumulates isolated facts without a coherent explanatory structure