Marketing on Instagram

Abstract

Purpose Social network sites are becoming more visual-centric. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of visual social network sites as a marketing platform. Design/methodology/approach This paper comprises two experiments. The first experiment sought to examine the effect of social influence; while the second experiment examined the effect of image quality on the perception of quality and purchase intention. Findings The first experiment showed that social influence did not affect perceived quality or purchase intention. In the second experiment, a one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) adjusting for sport involvement showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Respondents in the experimental group reported higher levels of perceived quality (adjusted M=3.68) and purchase intention (adjusted M=3.23) when compared to the control group’s perceived quality (adjusted M=3.12) and purchase intention (adjusted M=2.17). Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this study is that it only examined the effects through a single social network site, i.e. Instagram. As there are other visual-centric social network sites, such as Tumblr and Pinterest, which operate slightly different from Instagram, it remains to be established how such effects vary across these social network sites. Practical implications The results suggest that social influence on Instagram is limited and marketers should invest in images of high quality when marketing on visual social network sites. Originality/value While there are many studies examining the effectiveness of marketing on social network sites, these studies have primarily focussed on earlier social network sites, such as Facebook. Newer social network sites that are more visual-centric, such as Instagram, are different from earlier social network sites and studied to a lesser extent. This study adds insights on the marketing effectiveness of visual-centric social network sites and deepens the understanding on marketing in general on social media.

Assessing the Appeal of Instagram Electronic Cigarette Refill Liquid Promotions and Warnings Among Young Adults: Mixed Methods Focus Group Study

“…FDA-mandated warning statements on images do appear to have a promising effect on reducing the appeal of posts. Attractive and platform normative visuals play an essential role to establishing marketing appeal on Instagram [13,14], and it appears that large warnings may disrupt the positive effects of an otherwise good visual. This impact is distinct from the actual risk messaging of the warning, which had a more limited negative effect that was largely limited to nonsmokers.…”

“…Exposure to cartoons on e-liquid bottles has also been shown to be associated with a susceptibility to use e-cigarettes [12]. Studies of Instagram promotion from other fields suggest that high quality images and avoiding resemblances to traditional advertising are key to establishing appeal and authenticity [13,14]. There is also limited evidence on the ways in which FDA-mandated nicotine warnings might alter the appeal of posts.…”

The Effect of Using Instagram Influencers in Building Conseva’s Brand Awareness

“…Due to the image quality, it could be the reason influencers C received positive comments about the totebag compared to influencers B who did not get any comments on Conseva's products. The same idea was expressed by Teo et al (2019) that visual-centric social networking sites, such as Instagram, require good quality photos to influence consumers' perceptions of the quality of products being promoted. In addition to the photo quality factor, since influencer C followers are somewhat smaller than the other two influencers, the possibility to engage with followers will be higher, which can be seen from the fact that influencer C replied to almost all comments on her post.…”

Pengaruh Iklan Di Media Sosial Instagram Terhadap Minat Beli Masyarakat Pada E-Commerce

“…Beberapa studi terdahulu tentang hubungan Instagram dan intensi penjualan telah dilakukan oleh beberapa peneliti. Beberapa faktor yang berpengaruh teridentifikasi pada hasil studi tersebut, seperti pentingnya pesan, grup sosial, dan kemudahan penggunaan (Amornpashara, Rompho, & Phadoongsitthi, 2015), persepsi resiko (Gunawan & Huarng, 2015), iklan berbayar (Evans, Pua, Lim, & Jun, 2017), kepercayaan konsumen (Astuti & Putri, 2018), visualisasi pada Instagram (Valentini, Romenti, Murtarelli, Pizzetti, 2018;Teo, Leng, & Phua, 2019), kredibilitas influencer (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020), persepsi terhadap sosial media (Copeland & Zhao, 2020), aktivitas pada media sosial (Aji, Nadhila, & Sanny, 2020). Namun, sejauh ini belum ada penelitian yang meneliti secara khusus tentang fitur dan konten pada Instagram yang berasal dari studi eksploratori yang melibatkan pengguna Instagram terhadap minat membeli melalui e-commerce.…”