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Is firm-generated content a lost cause?

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  • Santiago, Joanna
  • Borges-Tiago, Maria Teresa
  • Tiago, Flávio

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought lockdowns upon consumers and firms alike, and social media became the vehicle by which brands attract more customers into their sales funnels. Accordingly, firm-generated content (FGC) has become a popular tool, allowing brands to use various content types to show consumers sharable, informative, and comment-worthy information. From the customer's perspective, this content type competes with, and complements, user-generated content (UGC). As current research focuses mainly on UGC, several questions regarding the social media marketing role of FGC, remain unanswered. Hence, this study aims to explain how FGC influences customer purchase intention, using online survey data. We use partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the data and determine users' attitudes toward FGC. The findings suggest that FGC negatively influences purchase intention and has little effect on brand equity and attitude. These results challenge marketers to rethink their online marketing strategies.

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  • Santiago, Joanna & Borges-Tiago, Maria Teresa & Tiago, Flávio, 2022. "Is firm-generated content a lost cause?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 945-953.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:139:y:2022:i:c:p:945-953
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.10.022
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Teresa Borges-Tiago, Maria & Santiago, Joanna & Tiago, Flavio, 2023. "Mega or macro social media influencers: Who endorses brands better?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

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