Creative Strategies in Social Media Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Branded Social Content and Consumer Engagement

This research paper analyzes the creative strategies used by top brands in social media marketing and their relation to consumer engagement. The study confirms the importance of frequent updates and incentives for participation and identifies several creative strategies associated with customer engagement, specifically experiential, image, and exclusivity messages. The paper also discusses the challenges faced by brand marketers in developing effective social media content.

Creative Strategies in Social Media
Marketing: An Exploratory Study of
Branded Social Content and Consumer
Engagement
Christy Ashley and Tracy Tuten
East Carolina University
ABSTRACT
This study employed a content analysis of the creative strategies present in the social media content
shared by a sample of top brands. The results reveal which social media channels are being used,
which creative strategies/appeals are being used, and how these channels and strategies relate to
consumer engagement in branded social media. Past research has suggested that brands should
focus on maintaining a social presence across social channels with content that is fresh and frequent
and includes incentives for consumer participation (Ling et al., 2004). This study confirmed the
importance of frequent updates and incentives for participation. In addition, several creative
strategies were associated with customer engagement, specifically experiential, image, and
exclusivity messages. Despite the value of these creative approaches, most branded social content
can be categorized as functional.©2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Social media, which include online channels for sharing
and participating in a variety of activities,represent
an increasingly important way for brands to commu-
nicate with attractive audience segments (Murdough,
2009).Marketers are expected to increase socialme-
dia advertising spending to $5 billion in 2014, up from
$4.1 billion in 2013, according to eMarketer (2013). In
a relatively short period of time,marketers have em-
braced social media marketing for a variety of market-
ing objectives including branding,research,customer
relationship management,service,and sales promo-
tions. Of these, most marketers value social media most
for branding (eMarketer, 2013). According to the 2013
Social Media Industry Report (Stelzner, 2013), 86% of
marketers believe social media channels are important
components of their marketing initiatives.
Branded social campaigns provide additional touch-
points to encourage ongoing interaction between the
consumer and the brand story throughoutthe day,
which can deepen consumer–brand relationships, help
marketers uncover common themes in consumer feed-
back, and persuade consumers to engage with online
content (Murdough, 2009). Thoughts, feelings, percep-
tions, images, and experiences from these touchpoints
form a set of associations with the brand in consumer
memory (Keller, 2009). Marketers have several options
within the social media landscape for branding includ-
ing placing paid display advertising,participating in
social networks as a brand persona, developing branded
engagement opportunities for customer participation
within social networks, and publishing branded content
(known as content marketing or social publishing) in
social channels (Tuten & Solomon, 2013). Brands may
utilize social media marketing as an integrated com-
ponent in a marketing communications campaign,as
an ongoing corporate communications channel, and/or
as a series of microcampaigns specifically designed for
digital exposure.
For instance, the highly acclaimed Proctor and Gam-
ble “Thank You Mom” campaign is an example of an in-
tegrated approach (Berkowitz, 2012). Consumers were
asked to contribute stories (i.e., user-generated content)
on the role of mothers in nurturing child athletes. These
stories were sought out and then shared in social chan-
nels, but ultimately also became the basis for a series
of commercials that aired in broadcast as well as online
(Berkowitz,2012).Dell has been widely acclaimed as
a leader in the use of social media for ongoing corpo-
rate communications and customer relationship man-
agement (Quintos,2013).Its social media presence is
characterized by continuity and a focus on business-
to-consumer dialogue. The timing and dialogue are im-
portant because consumers utilize social media to build
social capital and contribute to their psychological well-
being, since social media provides a communication
route for meeting a social need. Lastly, companies such
Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 32(1): 15–27 (January 2015)
View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mar
©2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20761
15

as Guinness have had success with microcampaigns
with short-term marketing objectives.An example is
the Guinness Shamrock app launched in Facebook to
drive attendance at St. Patrick Day Festivals sponsored
by Guinness.
Though social media are now a mainstay in the
portfolio of communication channels marketers utilize,
little is known about how to approach the creative
message aspects ofbranded socialcontent in a way
that maximizes psychological engagement. Psychologi-
cal engagement is dependent on consumer needs, mo-
tives, and goals. Customers define the rules of brand en-
gagement and can insulate themselves (Keller, 2009).
Psychologicalengagement is important because con-
sumers are not passive recipients of information; they
are participants (Schmitt, 2012).
To date, most guidance has been prescriptive with a
focus on industry case studies (e.g., Furlow, 2011). Aca-
demic literature, discussed later in this paper, has fo-
cused heavily on the content prevalent in branded social
content (e.g., Cho & Huh, 2010; Parsons, 2013) and on
the motives and characteristics of consumer participa-
tion in social channels (Hutton & Fosdick, 2011; Kunz
& Hackworth, 2011; Wattanasupachoke, 2011). Brand
managers are left with advice on presence, frequency,
dialogue, and freshness: which channels to be present
in, how often to post, the importance of dialogue, and
the need for fresh content.
Industry publications tout the need for branded so-
cial content to be interactive and experiential (Stelzner,
2013), but Hutton and Fosdick (2011) found that the top
three social activities online are passive in nature, sim-
ply involving content consumption. Perhaps the hesita-
tion to design interactive social content is due to con-
cerns that interactivity could be too taxing, increasing
the cognitive burden of processing a brand’s message in
an environment where the consumer is trying to protect
cognitive resources. From a figure-ground perspective,
the interaction or conversation tends to be in the fore-
ground, while the brand content that prompts conver-
sation remains in the background (Pask, 1976), which
may result in different processing of brand messages in
a social media environment.
In addition to the interactive aspect, social me-
dia has an interpersonal aspect, so normative and in-
formationalinfluences may work for,or against, the
brand, depending on consumer engagement (Mangold
& Faulds, 2009).Consumers strategically choose the
brands they will discuss in online communications to
construct positive self-images (Schau & Gilly,2003).
Brand marketers care about these brand choices be-
cause identity theory suggests that a brand commit-
ment connectsan individual to stable set of self-
meanings, which produces consistent lines of activities,
such as purchase behavior (Burke & Reitzes,1991).
Self-expansion theory suggests consumers communi-
cate with and about brands due to overlapping iden-
tities and parasocial relationships with the brands.
Brands can suffer if consumers feelthe relationship
is one-sided or the brand does something that is not
consistent with the consumer’s identity (Huang &
Mitchell, 2014). Information about relationship brands
is processed at a higher levelof abstraction and re-
lationship brands that violate norms are prone to
greater punishment from consumers (Schmitt,2012).
How should brands design socialmedia messages to
consider the effects of consumer identity and social cog-
nition on consumer responses?
Unfortunately, although marketers receive advice
regarding the execution of message delivery in social
media, they receive little guidance on how different
message strategies will affect processing, engagement,
and, ultimately, important brand outcomes such as
brand equity and loyalty. Can the creative message
strategies utilized in advertising translate to branded
social content? Existing literature suggests activity on
social networks must be user-centered vs. message cen-
tered,so how can a brand effectively get its message
across to the consumer while gratifying the consumer’s
needs (Chi, 2011)? Marketers will benefit from under-
standing whether the creative appeals common in tra-
ditional advertising campaigns apply to branding in so-
cial media and, if so, what message strategies are most
effective in achieving consumer engagement.
To begin to address this gap in the literature,an
exploratory study of the use of creative strategies in
brand-sponsored socialmedia efforts was conducted.
Using a sample of global brands ranked in brand eq-
uity and brands recognized for excellence in social me-
dia engagement, branded social content was analyzed
in order to answer the following questions:
r Which social media channels are being used by top
brands that have been recognized for their social
media efforts?
r Which types of message appeals are they using in
their social media efforts?
r How do the tools, strategies,and appeals each
company is using relate to customer engagement
with social media?
The manuscript aims to answer each of these ques-
tions. Doing so, it contributes to the literature on cre-
ative strategies by exploring relationships between the
use of different types of message appeals and consumer
engagement in the context of social media. The rest of
the paper is structured to include a review of relevant
literature, methods,and findings. Finally, the paper
concludes with directions for future research.
Branding with Social Media
Social media may serve as a channel for many market-
ing activities including customer relationship manage-
ment, customer service,buyer research,lead genera-
tion, sales promotion delivery channel, paid advertising
channel, and branding. Regardless of the goal, informa-
tion about the brand must be relevant to the consumer
if you want the consumer to engage with a brand in
self-relevant ways (Schmitt, 2012). As noted, marketers
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categorize social media as a branding channel first and
foremost (eMarketer,2013).As such, branded social
media activities can be used to increase brand aware-
ness and brand liking, promote customer engagement
and loyalty,inspire consumer word-of-mouth commu-
nication about the brand, and potentially drive traffic
to brand locations on and offline.These branded so-
cial activities rely on social networks and may involve
activities such as ongoing business-to-consumer dia-
logue,socially published branded content (e.g.,white
papers), engagement experiences (e.g., Office Max’s Elf
Yourself), and the social presence and participation of
a brand persona (e.g., Travelocity’s Traveling Gnome).
The 2013 Social Media Industry Report noted that
marketers may seek increased opportunities to ex-
pose target audiences to the brand message, increased
traffic to brand Web sites,improved search rankings,
and more loyalty among customers (Stelzner,2013).
Customer engagement is another common objective; a
study in 2012 found that 78% of marketers report using
social media to enhance customer engagement.Cus-
tomer engagement is behavior-based,extends beyond
purchase, and has a brand or firm focus (Doorn et al.,
2010).Customers may engage along five characteris-
tics including valence (value),form (type of resources
utilized), scope (temporal and geographic), impact, and
customer goals for engagement. (For a thorough review
of the concept of customer engagement,the reader is
encouraged to see Doorn et al., 2010.)
Marketers must define their own customer engage-
ment behaviors (CEBs). In social media, engaged con-
sumers participate and share.Participation may be
passive involving simply consuming the socialcon-
tent or active including such behaviors as submitting
consumer-generated stories (Hutton & Fosdick, 2011).
Social media outlets provide a context for new kinds
of identity performance,and brands are a part of the
performance (Merchant,2006).Thus, consumers may
share their own opinions and/or share the branded con-
tent with their network.Consumer response to social
media is typically measured by noting whether the con-
sumer links, bookmarks,blogs, refers others,clicks,
friends, connects,subscribes,submits an inquiry or
idea, and/or buys the brand (Falls, 2010).
Among these consumer behaviors, those that result
in a brand mention shared to the person’s network,
called influence impressions,are among the most de-
sirable (Li & Bernoff, 2008). Influence impressions are
simply word-of-mouth communication, a form of earned
media,shared via social channels.The earned media
in the form of word-of-mouth communication that can
accrue to brands using social media marketing repre-
sent a valuable outcome for brands.The average net-
work size among socialusers, the ease of spreading
information within and across social networks, and the
credibility associated with information shared peer-to-
peer contribute to the perceived value of social word-of-
mouth communication (Kerr,Mortimer, Dickinson,&
Waller, 2012;Porter & Golan, 2006;Trusov, Bucklin,
& Pauwels, 2009). Branded social content can be used
like advertising to influence consumer brand attitudes
and also provides consumers with content to share with
their own networks. In other words, good content may
trigger the audience to engage.
Developing Effective Creative Social
Content
Brands may be floundering in digital space because the
number and lack of familiarity of each of these options
make it challenging to develop creative that would be
effective in social media environments (Sheehan & Mor-
rison, 2009; Wilson, Guinan, Parise, & Weinberg, 2011).
From their analysis of strategies across 1100 compa-
nies and interviews with 70 executives who managed
social media,Wilson and his colleagues (2011) identi-
fied a trend where some social media efforts become an
experimentalfree-for-allthat rarely result in the de-
sired outcome. Yet, research such as that from Martin
and Todorov (2010) suggested brand marketers think
about developing socialmedia based engagement op-
portunities that keep customers connected to a brand
story throughout the day.Developing branded social
content that accomplishes these objectives can be diffi-
cult. Sheehan and Morrison (2009) identified four cre-
ativity challenges that brand marketers face:(1) the
challenge to effectively use social media,(2) the chal-
lenge to grow marketers with creative vision,(3) the
challenge to involve consumers in telling their own sto-
ries, and (4) the challenge to reinvent the mass media
model.They described engagement as a consumer re-
lationship that recognizes that people are inherently
social and look to create and maintain relations not
only with other people, but also with brands. So, mes-
sage strategies may not only aim to selectively combine
information that was previously considered unrelated,
but also help make innovative connections and rela-
tionship between individuals.When brand marketers
adopt an engagement perspective, the brand’s messag-
ing shifts from a transactional perspective to an inter-
actional perspective where the brand becomes a part
of the consumer’s own identity.Sheehan and Morri-
son (2009) point to the need for creativity in the de-
velopment ofbrand messages that can be effectively
delivered in social as well as traditional media while
encouraging consumer engagement in order to produce
desired brand outcomes.
In 2009, Altimeter Group, a leading consultancy
in digital media,and Wetpaint,a social content host-
ing company, sought to address this gap with a study
entitled Engagementdb:Ranking the Top 100 Brands
(2009).Using the most valuable brands listed in the
Business Week/Interbrand Best Global Brands report
on global brand equity, the Engagementdb study found
that branded socialactivity was positively correlated
with financial performance. Its measure of engagement
scored brands on marketer activities, specifically pub-
lishing content, building a network of friends, convers-
ing within networks, and updating brand profiles across
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multiple social media channels including socialnet-
works, blogs, branded communities, and social publish-
ing sites (e.g., YouTube).
Brands were categorized into one of four cate-
gories based on the number ofsocial channels used
and engagementscores. The scope of social media
channels was limited to blogs, branded social net-
works/communities, content distribution to other sites
(e.g., ShareThis), discussion forums,external social
network presence (e.g., Facebook), photo sites (e.g., In-
stagram), innovation hubs, ratings and reviews, Twit-
ter, and YouTube. Executive involvementwas also
counted as participation in a channel. Engagement was
captured using 40 attributes that counted not only par-
ticipation in these channels but also how the brands
participated.
Companies generally received full credit for engage-
ment if corporate resources were allocated to manag-
ing an ongoing presence and the brand actively par-
ticipated with the channel. Companies received partial
credit if consumers or affiliates developed or managed
the channels. A quantitative score was assigned to each
brand based on the breadth and depth of its investment
in social media channels, and the brands were catego-
rized in four quadrants: mavens (many channels, high
engagement);butterflies (many channels,low engage-
ment); selectives (fewer channels,high engagement);
and wallflowers (fewer channels, low engagement).
Mavens, the most engaged brands, were very active
in more than seven social media channels as part of a
robust strategy that included a dedicated team focused
on social media and makes social media a core part of
the market strategy. Butterflies used seven or more so-
cial media channels but lacked engagement,possibly
due to a lack of resources for ongoing brand participa-
tion across social channels. Selectives used six or fewer
channels but engaged customers deeply in those chan-
nels. Wallflowers used six or fewer channels and were
not active on those channels, earning below-average en-
gagement scores.The final report ranked the top 100
brands based on their engagement scores and showed
evidence that social engagement scores correlated with
financial performance.
The Engagementdb report is valuable in providing
a lens through which to consider the relevance of so-
cial media marketing for brand management,partic-
ularly as it relates to financial measures ofsuccess.
However,as developed,the results of the report are
limited. First, the Engagementdb reportdid not as-
sess the relationship between brand social engagement
and brand equity valuations.Second,because the re-
port viewed engagementfrom the brand marketer’s
perspective instead of capturing and valuing the con-
sumer activities that result from that engagement,it
is not clear whether socially active brands were suc-
cessfully generating brand benefits including increased
awareness, liking, word-of-mouth communication, and
loyalty. Third, the report did not investigate the nature
of the brand messages. The report suggests that high
levels of brand activity across several social channels
correlated with financial performance but provided no
insight into the creative strategies that may enhance
engagement or other desired brand outcomes.
The Engagementdb report is certainly not the only
report that seeks to provide prescriptive guidance for
brand marketers, but it is representative of the preva-
lence of information focused on brand presence and
activity over content characteristics including creative
strategy.This study seeks to address this gap.There
is some value to communicating with target audiences
in social spaces. How best can brands create engaging
branded social messages?
Creative Strategies for Branded Content
Creative strategies are the executional factors and mes-
sage strategies used to bridge the gap between what the
marketer wants to say and what the consumer needs to
hear. Creative strategy encompasses both message con-
tent and execution and includes the notion of designing
communications in a way that increases the likelihood
it can produce the desired effects in the target audience
(Laskey,Day, & Crask, 1989).Brand marketers have
a high level of interest in creative strategies because of
their importance to advertising results. Creative strate-
gies can enhance the receiver’s motivation, opportunity,
and/or ability to process information from an ad (MacIn-
nis, Moorman, & Jaworski, 1991). Identifying creative
strategies aids practitioners in identifying options and
comparing their effectiveness.
Consequently, researchers have proposed typologies
of message strategies (e.g., Frazer, 1983; Laskey, Day,
& Crask, 1989) and executional factors (Johar & Sirgy,
1991).A plethora of studies have evaluated the psy-
chological and brand outcomes associated with various
creative appeals (Schmitt, 2012). A thorough review of
the vast literature on creative strategies is beyond the
scope of this paper; but a basic description of creative
message strategies in branded communications is in-
troduced as a foundation. Content analyses of commu-
nications have also considered source effects in addition
to message content; at this point, source effects will be
considered in later work (Ang & Low, 2000).
At the simplest level, creative strategies can be
distinguished as primarily emotional/transformational
or primarily functional/informational (Aaker & Norris,
1982).Beyond distinguishing the emphasis on ratio-
nal information vs. emotion, creative strategies can fo-
cus on benefits that are unique to the brand (unique
selling proposition),superior for the brand (preemp-
tive, comparative),or undifferentiated in the product
class (generic). They can focus on matching the brand
to consumer aspirations (image),insights and expe-
riences (resonance,experiential),and feelings (emo-
tional including love, sexual desire, fear, guilt, and
joy/humor). Functional messages are thought to be pro-
cessed rationally while transformational messages ap-
peal to the psychological characteristics of the target
audience (Laskey,Day, & Crask, 1989).Beyond this
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basic categorization found in the literature, researchers
have sought to identify under what circumstances cer-
tain strategies may be more effective than others.
For example, Johar and Sirgy (1991) suggested im-
age appeals are more effective when the product being
promoted is value-expressive for the target consumer,
while functional appeals are more effective when the
product is utilitarian. Several studies, relying upon
theoretical models including the elaboration likelihood
model have highlighted the wisdom of matching func-
tional messages to high-involvement consumers and
transformational messagesto low-involvement con-
sumers (Areni,2003).Involvement is a person’s per-
ceived relevance ofthe object in question based on
inherent needs,values, and interests (Zaichkowsky,
1985, p. 342).
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) explained that in-
volvement encompasses both cognitive engagement as
well as orientation reaction in their explanation of con-
sumer consumption patterns.Cognitive engagement
is associated with logical, problem-oriented situations
while orientation reaction is primarily emotional. This
distinction in involvement types aligns with the ba-
sic categorization ofcreative messages as functional
or transformational. Further, this relationship between
involvement and creative approach has been found on-
line. McMillan, Hwang, and Lee (2003) compared Web
sites based on their use of informational vs. trans-
formational creative strategies and the availability of
features. They noted that information-based strategies
may be best for high-involvementcustomers,while
varying sizes and animation are more effective with
low-involvementconsumers.This is also consistent
with selective attention theory,which suggests con-
sumers limit the expenditure ofcognitive resources,
including attention, according to their needs.
Using use and gratification theory (Katz, 1959),
Jahn and Kunz (2012) studied consumer participation
in brand profile pages on Facebook and found that func-
tional and hedonic contents were drivers of participa-
tion. Uses and gratification theory takes a functionalist
perspective on mass media communication processing
and explains that people’s needs for communications
are oriented to content,relationships,and self (Luo,
2002).Content refers to the information delivered by
the media;content can be either functionalor hedo-
nic. In the study of participation in brand profile pages,
content drove fan page usage. Relationship-orientation
refers to the fulfillment of social interaction provided by
the media. Self-orientation refers to the specific needs
of the individual in question (Jahn & Kunz, 2012). The
most important and robust motivators tend to be enter-
tainment (need for escapism,hedonism,aesthetic en-
joyment, emotion); informativeness (need for resources
and helpful information); and irritation (a demotivator,
so consumers need to avoid distractions,anxiety,and
things that dilute human experiences) (Luo, 2002).
Peluchette and Karl (2009) found that Facebook
users use their profiles and postings to consciously
portray images about themselves.Sinha, Ahuja, and
Medury (2011) found that when consumer’s knowledge
about a brand increases (through social media) so does
the emotionalattachment to the brand regardless of
whether content of the brand’s social communications
was functional or emotional in nature. In a content
analysis of viral ads online, Golan and Zaidner (2008)
used Taylor’s six-segment message strategy wheelto
categorize the creative strategies used in the ads and
found that most ads were based on humor and sexual-
ity.
In terms of engagement experiences, brands may in-
vite consumers to experience branded content,called
branded entertainment,in the context of social net-
works, a virtual world or social game. Using play the-
ory as a conceptual basis,Zhang (2010) conducted an
exploratory content analysis of branded entertainment
content features in Facebook.He found that 70% of
brands utilized branded entertainmenton Facebook
and that traditional play themes found in entertain-
ment were present in branded entertainment on Face-
book.
Some research suggeststhat branded entertain-
ment, particularly advergames and other opt-in inter-
active experiences, provide uninterrupted sensory im-
mersion that can benefit the brand by extending the
time the consumer spends with the brand message
(Nelson, Keum, & Yaros, 2004). Dahl, Eagle, and Baez
(2009) described advergames as electronic games with
embedded commercialmessages that aim to form an
emotional connection between the game and brand fea-
tured within it. Achievements in advergames,often
represented by trophies or badges, can provide affirma-
tion, group identification, and help shape user activities
(Antin & Churchill, 2011).
In addition, because the consumer opts in for the en-
tertainment value of the game, they are often more will-
ing to tolerate the advertising content than they would
be with an uninvited pop-up ad, as found by Dahl, Ea-
gle, and Baez (2009). If the consumer is caught up in the
flow of the game, his/her positive response to the game
can have a halo effect on the advertiser and help provide
a frame for the message (Wang & Calder, 2009). Mabry
and Porter (2010) studied the effectiveness of a promo-
tional contest in MySpace compared to a branded Web
site at driving intent to purchase. They found that the
brand Web site was more effective than the social pro-
motion but noted that the results suggested a greater
intent to purchase would have been achieved by a cam-
paign that used both a social promotion and a branded
Web site.
Naylor, Lamberton, and West (2012) identified how
mere virtual presence and the characteristics of brand
supporters on social networks could affect evaluations
of unfamiliar brands.Their research lends support to
the use of brand personas to meet objectives for improv-
ing consumer brand awareness and brand evaluations.
Cho and Huh (2010) analyzed the content of corporate
blogs and found that corporate blogs sought to estab-
lish content that was easy to use, frequent, social, and
linked to other relevant content.
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Psychology and MarketingDOI: 10.1002/mar

Chandy, Tellis, MacInnis, and Thaivanich (2001)
proposed that ad cues can have different effects on con-
sumer behavior depending on whether the market is
new or old. Their study found an improved effective-
ness of comparative strategies in new markets over old
markets while emotional messages performed better in
old markets rather than new ones. Many factors includ-
ing target audience characteristics, creative execution,
market characteristics, and environmental trends can
influence the effectiveness ofspecific creative strate-
gies.
Stewart and Koslow (1989) noted that no single exe-
cutional factor accounted for more than a small percent-
age of variance in the measures of all of the desirable
outcomes for advertisements. Having a brand differen-
tiating message influenced persuasion and recall,but
it did not affect comprehension. It takes a creative com-
bination of many elements to turn advertising into a
persuasive art form. It may also take a creative combi-
nation of many types of media. Social media can prime
a consumer’s interest for an advertising message in an-
other medium, or vice versa. Having multiple sources
of the same message can also improve message credibil-
ity and confidence in the advertised product (Voorveld,
Niejens, & Smit, 2010). What combination of these el-
ements are advertisers using online? While Stewart
and Koslow (1989) reminded marketers that there is no
magic formula for establishing creative message strat-
egy, there is value in understanding the options and
how those options may influence consumer engagement
and other attitudes.
METHODS
To address the research questions, the study utilized a
content analysis to gain information on the content of
social media branding efforts. This method has proven
useful in the past for understanding the contentof
print ads, television commercials,product placement,
outdoor advertising, and Web sites (e.g., Calcott & Lee,
1994; Dahl, Eagle, & Baez, 2009; McQuarrie & Phillips,
2008; Turley & Kelley, 1997). Although content analy-
sis does not capture the effectiveness of creative strate-
gies across different media, it is useful to identify the so-
cial media channels and strategies used by top brands.
Sample
As the objective of the study was to examine social
media usage by top brands recognized for their social
media efforts,a sample of content from select brands
on the top 100 brands in brand equity list identified
in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands valuation study
was used. From this list of 100 brands,brands rec-
ognized for socialmedia excellence by either the En-
gagementdb report described earlier (2009) or the For-
rester Groundswell Awards (Forrester, 2009) were se-
lected. Eighteen brands in the Best Global Brands
study were identified as mavens in the Engagementdb
report (2009).Ten brands were recognized as final-
ists or winners in the Forrester Groundswell Awards
(Forrester, 2009) for their social media efforts. The 10
brands recognized by Forrester were also part of the
Engagementdb report and included three mavens from
the original list, five butterflies,two selective brands,
and three wallflowers. The sample used in the content
analysis included social media content associated with
28 brands.
The social media content for each brand was cap-
tured on one day between June 2010 and August
2010. The content captured included one week of Face-
book/MySpace posts,one week of tweets,one week of
content from blogs and forums, and all video and photo
content. Because social media is voraciously dynamic,
the one week of content from Twitter, Facebook, MyS-
pace, forums, and blogs was captured using screenshots
so a static sample would be available for coding by
two independent judges.The final sample ofcontent
included 446 pages of Facebook content,329 pages of
Twitter content from 97 Twitter names,and content
from 21 photosharing accounts,49 blogs,17 forums,
content from four MySpace pages,28 microsites,27
games,39 video channels,which yielded 1350 8 ½ ×
11 sized pages of content.
Code Sheet Development
Beginning with the list of execution and message ap-
peal strategies from the existing literature, one of the
authors reviewed the socialmedia efforts ofthe top
brands (using site reviews,mashups,popular press,
and white papers) to identify the use of different cre-
ative strategies in the social media environment.The
creative strategies that were observed related to the
existing literature regarding message strategies (e.g.,
Calcott & Lee, 1994; Heiser, Sierra, & Torres 2008; Jo-
har & Sirgy, 1991; Laskey, Day, & Crask, 1989; Meyers-
Levy & Malaviya, 1999; Thorson & Rodgers, 2006),
sales promotions (Mabry & Porter,2010;Mulhern &
Leone,2000;Shi, Cheung,& Prendergast,2005),and
user-generated content (Bian,Liu, Agichtein & Zha,
2008; Mishne & Glance, 2006). The identified message
strategies,sales promotions,and user-generated con-
tent uses were used to code the content in the subse-
quent content analysis.
A code sheet was developed for use in recording the
creative message strategies used in the branded con-
tent and the social media channels used to distribute
content and interact with consumers.Table 1 identi-
fies the creative strategies measured in the content
analysis and the definitions used to identify the pres-
ence or absence ofthe creative strategy.Social me-
dia channels were also identified on the code sheet,
including blog; microblog (e.g.,Twitter); social net-
work (e.g., Facebook,MySpace);microsite (at a sep-
arate Web address with instructions to forward to a
friend); video sharing (e.g., on YouTube, Facebook, own
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Table 1. Creative Strategies.
Message Strategies
Integrated content If they are leveraging a traditional media campaign, this will be one.
If it is unique content for the social media, this is zero.
Interactivity In terms of the overall campaign, judge its overall level of “interactivity”—the
extent to which consumers can participate and engage and be active with
the campaign?
1 = very little, 2 = somewhat, 3 = moderate, 4 = very, 5 = extremely interactive.
Functional appeal Utility or functionality of the product/service.
Emotional appeal Psychological/social needs—how it will make them feel.
Experiential appeal How they will experience sight, sound, taste, touch, smells.
Unique selling proposition How product/service is different from others.
Comparative Do they compare their products to a competitor(s)? If so, is it direct comparison
(e.g., Tylenol vs. Excedrin) or indirect (us vs. the leading pain reliever)—1 =
direct, 2 = indirect, 0 = neither.
Resonance An echoing between the image and words (e.g., buried treasure).
User image Examples: “you deserve it” “you’re worth it.”
Social cause Examples: Avon aligning with breast cancer awareness, Kodak Cares aligning
with Kodak with environmental efforts.
Exclusivity Invitation only—only some people qualify—limited time—limited quantity
Animation Motion; often from a cartoon or graphic image.
Spokescharacter/spokesperson Does the same individual/character show up in the campaign? Is it a celebrity? A
typical person? A spokescharacter (e.g., Tony the Tiger)?
Sales Promotions
Discounts or price offs Do they offer deals or discounts in exchange for something (e.g., signing
up/participation)?
Contest Do they provide consumers with the ability to enter a contest or sweepstakes?
User-Generated Content
Invitation to submit content This can be comments, captions, videos, pictures. If yes, via video? Photos? Story?
Answers? Captions? Other?
Incentives to submit content If yes, is the sharing part of a contest? Do they get a reward or some kind of
recognition?
Ability to rank/vote on content
from others
Do other people get to help select the content choice or comment on content
generated by other users?
Ability to interact with or
comment on content
This refers to any aspect of the campaign—can they post on Facebook, give
feedback on forums, etc.?
site); photo sharing (e.g., Flickr, Shutterfly, Facebook,
own site); audio sharing (e.g.,podcasts);social book-
marking service or sharing application (e.g.,Google,
StumbleUpon);mobile apps (e.g.,downloadable apps
for iPhone/Droid); virtual world (e.g., Second Life);
social games (multiplayer advergames);wiki (user-
generated content organized around a topic or defini-
tion that is different from a question/answer forum be-
cause users can update information);and discussion
forums.
Coder Training and Reliability
Two coders were trained to analyze the content col-
lected from the 28 brands. Each coder received a coding
worksheet and examples of each specified categories.
Each coder sat with one of the authors, who explained
the coding worksheet, went through the specified cate-
gories, and walked through the coding for a brand that
was not included in the finalcollection of 28 brands.
Then each coder coded one brand of the 28 brands on
his own and the results were compared.Ambiguities
were addressed via discussion.
Both coders coded all of the content. Intercoder relia-
bility was calculated based on percentage of agreement.
Intercoder reliability was 88.17%, with 98.2% reliabil-
ity for the ratings on the presence or absence of each
type of social media and 88% reliability for the coding of
creative strategies. Coding discrepancies were resolved
by one of the authors.
CREATIVE STRATEGIES IN SOCIAL MEDIA 21
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Table 2. Social Media Channel Usage.
Channel
Number of Brands
(out of 28)
Percentage of
28 Brands (%)
Microblog 27 96.43
Social networking 27 96.43
Microsite 27 96.43
Video sharing 26 92.86
Discussion forums 24 85.71
Social bookmarking 20 71.43
Photo sharing 18 64.29
Mobile apps 11 39.29
Audio sharing 10 35.71
Wikis 8 28.57
Social games 5 17.86
Virtual world 4 14.29
RESULTS
Top Brands’ Social Media Channel Usage
In the second stage of the analysis, the first aspect
each coder reviewed was the presence or absence of
social media channeluse. Coders identified whether
each brand had at least one blog,microblog,external
social network, microsite, video sharing, photo sharing,
audio sharing,social bookmarking,mobile apps,vir-
tual worlds, social games, wikis, and discussion forums.
Table 2 ranks each of these channels from most fre-
quently used to least frequently used,and shows the
numbers and percentage of the 28 brands that utilized
each channel.
As shown in Table 2, the most commonly used chan-
nels were social networks (27/28),microblogs (27/28),
and microsites, followed by blogs (26/28) and video shar-
ing (26/28).The favored social network was Facebook
(27/28).The least frequently used channels were vir-
tual worlds (4/28), social games (5/28), and wikis (8/28).
It should be noted that in some cases,virtual worlds
and wikis may be utilized for internal communications
and would not be observed in external branding efforts.
The coders were also asked to observe the number of
Twitter followers, tweets, and Facebook fans, where ap-
plicable. The number of followers, tweets, and fans was
averaged across the 28 brands (where brands without
accounts received an input of zero). On average, the 28
brands had 207,070 followers, 4872 tweets in the past
week, and 1.802+ million Facebook fans.
Top Brands’ Social Creative Strategies
Next, coders were asked to categorize the creative
strategies used for each brand.Coders were asked to
identify whether the campaign was integrated with of-
fline efforts,to rate the interactivity,and to observe
whether or not the social media channels included func-
tional appeals, emotional appeals, experiential appeals,
a unique selling proposition, comparativeappeals,
Table 3. Message Strategy Usage.
Strategy
Number of Brands
(out of 28)
Percentage of
28 Brands (%)
Functional appeal 25 89.29
Resonance 19 67.86
Experiential appeal 16 57.14
Emotional appeal 12 42.86
Unique selling
proposition
11 39.29
Social cause 9 32.14
Exclusivity 8 28.57
Animation 8 28.57
Comparative appeal 7 25.00
Direct comparison 3 10.71
Indirect comparison 4 14.29
Spokespeople 7 25.00
Typical people 2 7.14
Celebrities 5 17.86
Spokescharacter 1 3.57
resonance,exclusivity appeals,social causes,anima-
tion, and spokespeople or spokescharacters. They were
also asked to observe whether and how user-generated
content and sales promotions were used.
While 18 of 28 of the brands developed unique con-
tent for their social media channels, the remaining 10
brands leveraged their existing campaigns on the so-
cial media channels.Most of the brands (27/28) were
given interactivity ratings that were greater than one,
with an average interactivity rating of 3.34 (SD = 0.76)
across the 28 brands. The frequency of each type of re-
maining message strategy is listed in Table 3, sorted by
frequency of use across the 28 brands. The most com-
monly used appeals were functional appeals (25/28) and
resonance (19/28),while the least commonly used ap-
peals were comparative (7/28) and spokespeople (7/28).
Only one brand used a spokescharacter.
For user generated content,26/28 brands invited
users to share content, and 14 of the brands gave con-
sumers and incentive for sharing. In the sales promo-
tion category,contests were used by twice as many
brands (14) as discounts (7).Finally, 10 of 28 brands
gave consumers the opportunity to vote or provide feed-
back about the content of others.
Creative Strategies and Social Media
Engagement
In addition to providing information about the fre-
quency of channel and creative strategy usage,the
study explored how the channel and creative strategy
usage related to social media engagement.Therefore,
the correlations between the coded metrics and the met-
rics for social popularity (number of Twitter followers
and Facebook fans), social influence (in this case, using
Klout score from www.klout.com as the measure), and
the Engagement Score (from Engagementdb) were an-
alyzed.The significant correlations are shown in bold
in Table 4.
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Table 4. Correlations between Channel and Creative Strategy Use and Social Media Engagement Metrics.
Number of
people
following
Facebook
Fans Klout Score Followers
Engagement
Score
Tweets r = 0.372
0.050
n.s. r = 0.387
0.042
r = 0.398
0.036
n.s.
Number of channels n.s. n.s. n.s. r = 0.478
0.01
r = 0.485
< .001
Resonance r = 0.387
0.042
n.s. r = 0.437
0.02
n.s. n.s.
Animation n.s. n.s. r = .547
0.003
n.s. n.s.
User image appeal n.s. r = 0.406
0.032
n.s. n.s. n.s.
Exclusivity appeals n.s. r = 0.449
0.016
n.s. n.s. n.s.
Functional appeals n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s.
Experiential appeals n.s. n.s. r = 0.449
0.017
n.s. r = 0.479
0.01
Emotional appeals n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s. r = –0.448
0.017
Social cause n.s. n.s. r = 0.393
0.039
n.s. n.s.
Incentive to share content r = 0.425
0.024
r = 0.453
0.016
r = 0.544
0.003
n.s. r = 0.378
0.048
Brands that issued the most tweets in the one week
period also had the highest number of people follow-
ing them, the highest number of followers, and the
highest Klout scores on Twitter. Further, brands that
used the most social media channels had more followers
and higher engagement scores. The higher engagement
score is not surprising since engagement scores factored
in the number of social media channels used. However,
the pattern indicates there may be a relationship be-
tween the frequency and modality of outreach efforts
and consumer willingness to engage as a microblog fol-
lower.
The use of user-image appeals and exclusivity ap-
peals had significant correlations with the number of
Facebook fans,while resonance,animation,experien-
tial appeals,and connections with socialcauses had
significant correlations with a brand’s Klout score. Al-
though experiential appeals also had a significant pos-
itive relationship with the brand’s engagement score,
the relationship between emotionalappeals and the
brand’s engagement score was negative. This may sug-
gest some of the brands with high engagement scores do
not use emotional appeals. In terms of user-generated
content,brands that offered an incentive for partici-
pation had more consumers following them on Twitter
and fans,as well as higher Klout scores and Engage-
ment Scores.
DISCUSSION
This study sought to address three key questions. First,
which social media tools are being used by top brands
that have been recognized for their social media efforts?
Second, which types of message appeals are they using
in their social media efforts? Third,how do the tools,
strategies, and appeals each company is using relate to
customer engagement with social media?
The brands featured in this study focused on some
social media channels more so than others. Microblogs
(e.g., Twitter), social networks (e.g., Facebook), and so-
cialized microsites (e.g., Doritos Crash the Superbowl)
were the most utilized tools followed closely by video
sharing (e.g.,YouTube posts) and discussion forums.
Other forms such as social bookmarks,photosharing,
mobile applications, and social games were less used.
Given that these are brands recognized for engage-
ment, what does this tell us about social media market-
ing channels? When developing marketing communica-
tions plans, brands go where the consumers are—both
in terms of message strategy and media planning.In
the case of social media, brands may gravitate toward
microblogs, social networks, microsites, and video shar-
ing sites because consumer reach is higher for those
channels than for others.This is a logical rationale
for the finding. However, it also suggests that clutter,
and psychological interference, may already be present
among social media channels just as it is in other mar-
keting communications media (Rumbo, 2002). Another
possible explanation is the ease of use of the channel
and/or ability to repurpose existing brand assets in the
channel. For instance, microblogs require attention but
the autoposting of short bursts of text is a relatively
easy way for brands to be involved in social media. So-
cial networks,likewise, are likely to have a high per-
ceived ease of use. However, the development of games,
CREATIVE STRATEGIES IN SOCIAL MEDIA 23
Psychology and MarketingDOI: 10.1002/mar

mobile apps,and podcasts may be beyond a brand’s
standard development of branded content. Another ex-
planation is that marketers do not want to develop con-
tent that imposes a high cognitive burden on the con-
sumer.
To what extent are brands using accepted creative
message strategies in their socialmedia communica-
tions? The findings suggest that functional appeals are
the most commonly used appealin social media,fol-
lowed by resonance and experiential appeals. Because
of the experiential,participatory nature of social me-
dia, it is somewhat surprising that functional and res-
onance appeals were used by more brands than the
experiential appeal. One possible explanation is brand
marketers do not want alienate consumers, especially
consumers who feel they are in relationships with the
brand. So, brand marketers may stick with message
strategies that will be processed at a high level of ab-
straction by the consumers (Schmitt, 2012).
Interestingly, the results suggest that brands are us-
ing multiple appeals as they share content with target
audiences in social media.While an advertising cam-
paign may emphasize a brand’s unique selling propo-
sition consistently throughout the campaign,when it
comes to social media, these brands appear to be utiliz-
ing a variety of messages strategies. Typically, brands
are encouraged to speak with one integrated voice in a
manner consistent with its positioning statement. Fu-
ture research may investigate whether a portfolio of
message appeals can stay consistent with a single posi-
tioning statement and if not, what is the impact on the
brand’s equity and image?
Social media is dependent upon content from jour-
nalistic sources,brands,and users.This is evident in
the high number of brands that issued calls for action
to users to share content and those that also incen-
tivized consumers to submit content. Brands are often
times warned that consumers “friend” or follow brands
in order to qualify for discounts and coupons. However,
this study found that the top brands are relying more
heavily on contests than on discounts.It is possible
that underperforming brands are more prevalent users
of discounts in social media channels. Marketers that
use contests should recognize that goals, such as earn-
ing enough points for a contest entry,are most effec-
tive when they are attainable and challenging (Antin
& Churchill, 2011).
Are social media channels and message appeals af-
fecting aspects of performance for the brands? Common
metrics cited for social media marketing campaigns in-
clude number of Facebook fans, number of Twitter fol-
lowers, and Klout scores.The channels and appeals
used are related to some aspects of performance.Us-
ing a large number of channels was related only to a
brand’s engagement score. This is not surprising given
that channel breadth was a consideration in the devel-
opment of the score.
It is interesting to note that there were only three
message appeals related to performance on Facebook:
image appeal, exclusivity appeal, and incentives. Could
Facebook have a culture focused on image and exclu-
sivity that fits well with a brand’s use of these appeals?
In terms of Klout scores, a measure of overall influence
in social media, resonance, animation, experiential ap-
peals, social causes, and incentives were all related to
performance.This may be related to the interactivity
associated with socialmedia campaigns.Consumers
participate in the campaigns as active members—is
participation more likely or easier when campaigns are
based on these appeals? Finally,an interesting point
is to note that functional appeals,the appeal used by
the most brands across their socialmedia channels,
were not related to any of the measures of social media
performance used in the study. Use and gratifications
theory suggests socialmedia participants are likely
to desire entertainment and informativeness, but per-
haps entertainment is a stronger motivator of engage-
ment with top brands than informativeness (Luo, 2002).
Brands may need to focus on other types of messages
in social media if they wish to see better performance.
Limitations and Suggestions for Future
Research
The review of what the top brand marketers are do-
ing in social media reflects their understanding of how
consumers perceive and make judgments about brands
(Schmitt, 2012). As such, this study sheds light on the
creative aspects of developing social media marketing
communication messages and on the effect of these cre-
ative considerations on a few key social media perfor-
mance measures. Different levels of consumer engage-
ment in social media channels and messages depend
on consumer needs,motives,goals,and consumer in-
terpersonal relationships with brands. Therefore, there
are many opportunities for future research in the con-
text of social media. One limitation of the current study
the reliance on two lists that identified the brands per-
forming the best in social media channels—the mavens
in the Engagementdb report and the list of winners in
Forrester’s Groundswell Awards program.Thousands
of brands are using social media to communicate with
customers and this study does not incorporate most of
them or even a representative sample of them. Future
research may include a content analysis of a random
sample of branded social media efforts.
Further, social media content expands exponentially
each day and to manage the sheer volume of data
(tweets, Facebook updates, comments, and so on), data
collection was limited to content produced during a spe-
cific time frame.“Freeze frames” were taken of these
periods of time. The brands studied may have behaved
differently in social media channels prior to and since
the data collection period.A second data collection at
a different time point would be beneficial to learn how
strategies changed over time.
Klout scores are not universally accepted,so an
alternative metric could have been used in the
analysis. Finally, there are aspects not addressed,
including whether the brands’social media message
24 ASHLEY AND TUTEN
Psychology and MarketingDOI: 10.1002/mar

strategies were consistent with other marketing com-
munication messages,other forms of performance,
and consumer attitudes toward the message appeals.
Studying social content using the elaboration likeli-
hood model following Areni’s (2003) approach or uses
and gratification theory may help to reveal why some
creative strategies are more effective than others. Re-
searching how branded socialcontent influences the
formation of brand schemas (McDaniel,1999)would
have valuable implications for social media marketers.
Another option is to study the components of creativity
(novelty, meaningfulness, and emotion) present within
social content rather than types of creative appeals
(Ang & Low, 2000). These represent future streams of
research.
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Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to: Tracy
Tuten, Marketing & Supply Chain Management, College of
Business, East Carolina University, Mail Stop 503, Greenville,
NC 27858 ([e-mail]).
CREATIVE STRATEGIES IN SOCIAL MEDIA 27
Psychology and MarketingDOI: 10.1002/mar