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‘Riding out the pandemic’: The role of brand message appeals on social media in shaping consumer responses

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  • Kaushik, Kapil
  • Mishra, Abhishek
  • Cyr, Dianne

Abstract

Social media is a powerful medium for brands to engage with their consumers, especially during a public health crisis (PHC) when consumers are under duress. However, the impact of social media brand messages on consumer responses during a PHC is under-researched. Accordingly, this paper examines the brand message appeals that enhance online consumer response during a recent PHC in form of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four message appeals – emotional, rational, moral, and no-crisis – are proposed. The online consumer response to the messages with those appeals is measured by likes and shares. The variation of the effect across brands that sell essential and non-essential products/services are also examined. Following an exploratory study that examines 100 brand tweets to confirm the presence of the proposed message appeals, a total of 26,362 brand tweets on Twitter are collected and empirically analysed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaushik, Kapil & Mishra, Abhishek & Cyr, Dianne, 2023. "‘Riding out the pandemic’: The role of brand message appeals on social media in shaping consumer responses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:155:y:2023:i:pa:s0148296322009146
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113449
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