Social Media Advertising: Consumer Responses to Promoted Tweets Send by Brands and Political Parties

• In Event: Best of Information Systems

Abstract

Twitter has become an important platform for advertising for both brand and political parties. This study aims to understand how consumers respond to social media advertising (SMA) such as promoted tweets. By conducting two experiments, we seek to answer two questions: what are consumers’ responses to promoted tweets send by brands and political parties, and what role does persuasion knowledge play in processing this advertising format? Study 1 showed that consumers rarely notice the label denoting the fact that a tweet is promoted. When they did, promoted tweets increased the recognition of advertising and this lowered the perceived trustworthiness of the sender. Study 2 demonstrated that these effects are contingent on its source. Only when send by a political party, the recognition of a tweet being advertising reduces the likelihood consumers engage in eWOM, increases skepticism and negatively affects source trustworthiness and attitudes. These findings suggest that advertisers should be cautious in the use of social media advertising such as promoted tweets, as they are not beneficial for all advertisers.

Authors

• Sophie Carolien Boerman, ASCoR / University of Amsterdam

• Sanne Kruikemeier, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School of Communication Research ASCoR