In this paper we report research results investigating microblogging as a form of electronic word-of-mouth for sharing consumer opinions concerning brands. We analyzed more than 150,000 microblog postings containing branding comments, sentiments, and opinions. We investigated the overall structure of these microblog postings, the types of expressions, and the movement in positive or negative sentiment. We compared automated methods of classifying sentiment in these microblogs with manual coding. Using a case study approach, we analyzed the range, frequency, timing, and content of tweets in a corporate account. Our research findings show that 19% of microblogs contain mention of a brand. Of the branding microblogs, nearly 20% contained some expression of brand sentiments. Of these, more than 50% were positive and 33% were critical of the company or product. Our comparison of automated and manual coding showed no significant differences between the two approaches. In analyzing microblogs for structure and composition, the linguistic structure of tweets approximate the linguistic patterns of natural language expressions. We find that microblogging is an online tool for customer word of mouth communications and discuss the implications for corporations using microblogging as part of their overall marketing strategy.

Teenagers and young adults form an economically critical demographic group and are confronted with an array of internet social networking services just as they are forming online information seeking and sharing habits. Using a survey of 34,514 respondents from myYearbook.com, the research reported in this paper is an inferential analysis of information seeking and sharing behaviours in the ecommerce domain on four social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, myYearbook and Twitter). Using k-means clustering analysis, we find clusters within this demographic based on levels of being connected on and being engaged with social networking services. Research results show that the majority of this demographic have accounts on multiple social networking sites, with more than 40% having profiles on three social networking sites and an additional 20% having four social networking accounts. We also investigate the motivations for using different social media sites, showing that the reasons for engaging differ among sites. Companies and organizations interested in marketing to this demographic cannot cluster social networking users for more personalized targeting of advertisements and other information.

In this paper, we report research results investigating micro-blogging as a form of online word of mouth branding. We analyzed 149,472 micro-blog postings containing branding comments, sentiments, and opinions. We investigated the overall structure of these micro-blog postings, types of expressions, and sentiment fluctuations. Of the branding micro-blogs, nearly 20 percent contained some expressions of branding sentiments. Of these tweets with sentiments, more than 50 percent were positive and 33 percent critical of the company or product. We discuss the implications for organizations in using micro-blogging as part of their overall marketing strategy and branding campaigns.

ABSTRACT:In this paper, we analyze the relationship between performance and use of brand terms in the key phrases that link advertisements to searcher queries. We use data that consist of more than 2.5 million daily records from a key word advertising campaign of a major U.S. retailer. The campaign spanned nearly four years, involved approximately $8 million in advertising cost, and generated more than $23 million in sales. We categorize key phrases and advertisements as either brand focused or non-brand focused. Using analysis of variance in a 2 × 2 design, we analyze use of branded terms on the critical key word advertising metrics of number of clicks, cost per click, sales revenue generated, number of orders, number of items ordered, and return on advertising cost, as well as number of impressions triggered by these key phrases. Therefore, we investigate a significant spectrum of user actions and consumer behaviors in a sponsored search campaign. Our findings show that there is a significant advantage to matching branding terms in key phrases and advertisements relative to any other combination of key phrase or advertisement for all the metrics examined. A combination of a branded phrase and a branded advertisement generated 15 times more sales revenue than any other combination of phrase and advertisement. Therefore, a focus by key word advertisers on branded terms for search engine ads could be quite beneficial for both the effectiveness and efficiency of key word advertising. The implication for online advertising and key word search in the e-commerce domain, especially for large retailers, is that brand mentions in both key phrase and advertisements correlate with higher conversions.KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: Branding, brands, key word advertising, online advertising, pay per click, search engine marketing, sponsored search.Approximately half of all purchases in the business-to-consumer e-commerce category are preceded by a Web search [39], indicating the importance that search engines play in online shopping and sales. In this e-commerce environment [71], online advertising on search engines has blossomed. The most popular form of online marketing is key word advertising (also referred to as sponsored search, pay per click [PPC], and search engine advertising) [61]. Therefore, search engine advertising is becoming increasingly important, with some companies spending large amounts of money so that potential customers using search engines can see their ads.Sponsored search, emerging in 1998 [16], has rapidly become the central business model of the major search engines, of which the PPC model is the most prevalent [45]. Financed by advertising revenue, sponsored search has

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