The characteristics and business impact of children’s electronic word of mouth in marketing communications

Bao, Tong; Chang, Tung‐lung Steven; Kim, Alex Jiyoung; Moon, Sue

doi:10.1080/02650487.2018.1559558

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The widespread and intensive use of social media network sites has led to consumers being both recipients and creators of this "electronic word of mouth" (eWOM; Bao et al, 2019). Indeed, some of them are so successful that they regularly reach and influence a significant number of followers (Arora et al, 2019).…”

Section: Influencer Marketingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

Rohde

Mau

2021

EJM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose This study aims to examine the ability of the social influence heuristics framework to capture skillful and creative social media influencer (SMI) marketing in long-form video content on YouTube for influencer-owned brands and products. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical lens was a framework of seven evidence-based social influence heuristics (reciprocity, social proof, consistency, scarcity, liking, authority and unity). For the methodological lens, a qualitative case study approach was applied to a purposeful sample of 6 SMIs and 15 videos on YouTube. Findings The evidence shows that self-promotional influencer marketing in long-form video content is relatable to all seven heuristics and shows signs of high elaboration, innovativeness and skillfulness. Research limitations/implications The study reveals that a heuristic-based account of self-promotional influencer marketing in long-form video content can greatly contribute to the understanding of how various well-established marketing concepts (e.g. source attractivity) might be expressed in real-world communications and behaviors. Based on this improved, in-depth understanding, current research efforts, such as experimental studies using one video with a more or less arbitrary influencer and pre-post measure, are advised to explore research questions via designs that account for the observed subtle and complex nature of real-world influencer marketing in long-form video content. Practical implications This structured account of skillful and creative marketing can be used as educational and instructive material for influencer marketing practitioners to enhance their creativity, for consumers to increase their marketing literacy and for policymakers to rethink policies for influencer marketing. Originality/value Prior research has created a body of knowledge on influencer marketing. However, a conceptual disconnect has hampered the advancement of the field. The social influence heuristics framework is a highly functional conceptual bridge that links the qualitative and quantitative evidence and will advance the understanding of influencer marketing more effectively.

show abstract

Section: Influencer Marketingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

Rohde

Mau

2021

EJM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Children today are audiences and creators of media. Children can easily generate electronic word of mouth (eWOM) themselves, which increases the brand’s visibility and awareness and has been shown to positively affect children’s products’ sales (Bao et al, 2019). For instance, children are able to share online reviews (e.g., Amazon enables children under 13 to upload their own reviews which are marked as “A kid’s review”), engage with brands on social media (e.g., despite the age-limit of 13 years, children can easily create a Facebook or Instagram account with false information), and create and share their own videos, including showing their ownership of and experiences with products (e.g., YouTube Kids allow children under 13 to create an own account).…”

Section: Social Media Influencers As a New Source In Advertising Targmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Target Children? A Review and Direction for Future Research

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children nowadays spend many hours online watching YouTube videos in which their favorite vloggers are playing games, unboxing toys, reviewing products, making jokes or just going about their daily activities. These vloggers regularly post attractive and entertaining content in the hope of building a large follower base. Although many of these vloggers are adults, the number of child vloggers is flourishing. The famous child vlogger Ryan of Ryan’s World, for instance, has more than 19 million viewers and he is (at age seven) a social media influencer. The popularity of these vloggers incited advertisers to include them as a new marketing communication tool, also referred to as influencer marketing, in their marketing strategy. Accordingly, many influential vloggers now receive free products from brands in return for a mention in one of their videos and their other social media (e.g., TikTok or Instagram) and some are even paid to create a sponsored post or video and distribute it to their followers. This sponsored content appears to be highly influential and may affect young children’s brand preferences. Given the limited advertising literacy skills (i.e., knowledge of advertising and skills to critically reflect on this advertising) of children under age 12, they are a vulnerable target group when it comes to persuasion. Therefore, caution is needed when implementing this marketing tactic to target them. However, research on how influencer marketing affects young children (under 12) is scarce and it is unclear how these young children can be empowered to critically cope with this fairly new form of persuasion. This paper therefore aims to shed light on why and how social media influencers have persuasive power over their young followers. The paper starts with providing insights into how and why social media influencers became a new source in advertising. We then discuss the few studies that have been conducted on influencer marketing among young children (under 12), based on a systematic literature review, and take these findings to formulate societal and policy implications and develop a future research agenda.

show abstract

“…There are also studies examining children's vulnerability in specific domains and discussing the ethical issues related to them. Examples include advertising and promotion (Pechmann et al, 2005; Rowthorn, 2019), sales promotion campaigns such as giveaway collectible sets (Thyne et al, 2019), eWOM (Bao et al, 2019), advergames (Redondo, 2012), new marketing tactics (Freeman & Shapiro, 2014) and sharenting (Fox & Hoy, 2019).…”

Section: Key Research Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children in marketing: A review, synthesis and research agenda

Sığırcı¹,

Gegez²,

Aytimur

et al. 2022

Int J Consumer Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children have received much research attention in many different academic disciplines within social sciences, including marketing. The main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the marketing literature to investigate the historical evolution of the studies on “children” and shed light on possible gaps which could serve as new research areas for future studies. To the authors' best knowledge, there have been a few attempts on the topic, mostly with a narrow focus on only some aspects of this important concept. The significance of this current research is that it reviews 423 articles from marketing‐related journals and evaluates the development of thought on “children” from every marketing‐based perspective that once has been a subject of scholarly attention. In this study, we examined leading articles, authors and institutions, methodologies used, countries data collected from, and the age of the sample. In addition, an auto‐correlation map is created to identify all the research domains in marketing literature related to children. Our correlation matrix indicates that major subareas in children and marketing literature are children's consumer socialization and role in family decision‐making, materialism, vulnerability and ethics, food, brands, and advertising. Findings revealed that while marketing scholars have shown great attention to children during the last two decades and a wide array of articles have been frequently published on the eight sub‐areas mentioned, marketing literature is still underdeveloped on three aspects: sustainability, technology and digitalization, and cross‐cultural differences.

show abstract

The characteristics and business impact of children’s electronic word of mouth in marketing communications

Cited by 12 publications

References 66 publications

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

“It’s selling like hotcakes”: deconstructing social media influencer marketing in long-form video content on youtube via social influence heuristics

What Is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Target Children? A Review and Direction for Future Research

Children in marketing: A review, synthesis and research agenda

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About