It pays off to be authentic: An examination of direct versus indirect brand mentions on social media

摘要

Brand mentions on social media platforms are prevalent phenomena today as consumers increasingly share their daily consumptions and experiences online. However, how brand mentions on social media impact evaluations of social media posters or the brands involved remain largely unknown. The current research identifies a novel distinction between two types of brand mentions-direct versus indirect-and explores their influence on audiences' evaluation of the poster as well as the focal brands. Four experiments demonstrate that direct brand mentions lead to significantly more favorable evaluations of both posters and brands compared with indirect brand mentions and this relationship is mediated by perceived authenticity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these effects are moderated by fie strength of the social network. The current work makes theoretical contributions to literatures in interpersonal communication, social influence, and social media marketing, and offers practical implications in understanding and managing brand-related social discourse on social media platforms.