Do experiential posts increase consumer engagement on instagram?

: exploring the effect of vividness and emotional appeal on experiential posts’ consumer engagement

Abstract

From beauty, to automotive, to technology and fashion industries we have been witnessed an increasingly adoption of strategies anchored on Experiential Marketing along with lifestyle branding on Social Media. Hence, the aim of this research is to analyze whether experiential posts increase consumer brand engagement on Instagram, when comparing to more functional posts, and study the effect of characteristics vividness and emotional appeal on experiential posts’ consumer engagement. In order to achieve this purpose, 120 brand posts, half experiential and half functional, characterized based on a relevant study, were collected from 15 Instagram brands’ pages and respectively number of likes, comments and followers were compiled in order to calculate consumer engagement. Additionally, both characteristics of interest were identified at an individual experiential post level. Notwithstanding, results encourage us to accept that functional posts lead to higher levels of consumer engagement on Instagram than experiential posts. Though, a low level of vividness (i.e. images) and the presence of high emotional appeal on experiential posts will lead to higher consumer engagement. All in all, this study provides valuable insights regarding Social Media and consumer engagement which can help marketers build their Instagram strategies more cautiously.

Date of Award	14 Oct 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ana Rita Boino Godinho Alves Farias (Supervisor)