Using social media posts as resources for engaging in value co-creation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organizations create focal engagement objects through posts to their social media community members and how the members engage with these posts in ways that potentially co-create value. Of additional interest is the use of platform, tone and language to determine how they potentially influence value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach The research method is netnography. Two Australian-based cause organizations were selected for the study, and posts were collected from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube platforms used by the communities, as well as likes, clicks, shares and retweets. Data was examined using content and thematic analyses. Findings Findings for the characteristics of the posts indicate how platforms need to be member-centric and that post tone and language can be used for engaging members effectively. Three consumer engagement objects were thematically derived from the posts: events, donations and fundraising, and social justice that includes shout-outs and thunderclaps. In turn, consumer responses evidenced engagement sub-processes of co-developing, acknowledging, rewarding, sharing, advocating, adding momentum and learning. The likes, clicks, shares and retweets assisted in determining the amount of community interactions with posts in the cause brands’ communities. Research limitations/implications This research is limited to the extent it involved two cases. As with any cross-sectional research, the findings are snapshots of interactions on the two sites over the two-week data collection periods. Theoretical implications provide a deeper insights into value co-creation by empirically examining how organizations and their supporters employ and use post resources to co-create value collectively, and how the characteristics of the posts and behavioral interactions potentially facilitates this. Practical implications Managerially, this investigation will assist both commercial brand and cause brand organizations to plan and adapt their social media strategies to enhance supporters’ engagement with posts in this digital environment. Social implications The social implications of this study are that it provides an understanding of how cause organizations can harness online communities for value co-creation to generate social good. Originality/value The study is both original and adds value to the research community. The findings presented provide an insightful conceptual framework to guide future research into this important area of consumer engagement with resources in social media communities leading to potential co-creation of value.

Mining brand value propositions on Twitter: exploring the link between marketer-generated content and eWOM outcomes

“…For example, the work of Skålén et al (2015) examined the collaborative e-channel of Alfa Romeo and identified how interacting, identity and organising practices influence value co-creation (Skålén et al 2015). Notably, this work is one in a series of works that approach co-creation using the qualitative method of netnography (Sindhwani and Ahuja 2014;Sorensen et al 2017;Fujita et al 2019). In a similar manner, several works have also conducted an analysis of brand engagement data using interviews and surveys of customers (Kao et al 2016;Choi et al 2016a, b;Zhang et al 2020;Cheung et al 2021); however, the scalability of these techniques has been highlighted as a limitation (Bharti et al 2014).…”

Organizational Generativity, Social Media and the Co-creation of Nonprofit Services: A Sociomateriality Perspective

“…It has enabled nonprofits to mobilize and integrate material resources such as donations and social resources such as networks and emotional support, thereby supporting the co-creation of nonprofit services. Besides, tangible or material donations, social media posts, comments, and feedback are key resources for service co-creation in nonprofits [6].…”

“…Social media also allows nonprofits to engage with the public in mobilizing and combining material and nonmaterial resources to provide nonprofit services [5], a practice technically known as service co-creation. Social media functionality, such as posts and comments are resources for engaging in value co-creation in nonprofits [6]. However, very few studies have considered nonprofit interaction with the public on social media as a service co-creation practice and the outcome of social media interactions [7].…”

The Dynamics of Social Media and Value Co-Creation

“…It can be inferred that customer engagement with organisations can guide the process of value co-creation with the help of experiences and 'engagement objects' as they are called by Brodie et al (2013, p. 109). The satisfaction levels of consumers and their loyalty are affected by customer engagement since customers are allowed to customise the subject matter of their experience (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) Interactions among the members with posts generate both value-in-use and value-in-context for society as a whole and also serve as the basis for further resources for participants' interactions, creating continuing opportunities for value creation and value co-creation (Sorensen et al, 2016). There is a difference between the terms value creation and value cocreation.…”