Brand Citationality

Brand citations—online mentions, tags, or hashtags identifying and referring to the brand— have become the ultimate success metric in the social media marketing era. However, until today, very few studies have examined in detail how specific kinds of brand citations are made and by whom, and with what associated value outcomes. Importantly, there is a void of research that studies in-depth the increasingly visual nature of brand citations, that is, when the brand citations are made in increasingly visually rather textually. Drawing on large-scale visual content analysis and interviews on brand citations associated with an iconic lifestyle brand in Instagram, we investigate brand citation practices by different stakeholders including consumers, brand influencers, and employees. Our findings identify and unpack four dominant brand citation practices and how they shape distinct value outcomes. This research advances understanding on the nature of brand citation practices and how it matters for consumers, influencers, and brands. We discuss the implications of our theorization understanding brand citationality and proposing analysis of citation practices as an alternative diagnostic tool for brands.