Brand engagement on social media: will firms’ social media efforts influence search engine advertising effectiveness?

Although firms leverage social media platforms such as Facebook to engage with customers, they often treat social media elements and other online marketing activities such as search engine advertising as stand-alone, rather than part of an integrated online activities system. Hence, it is important to systematically understand how specific elements of social media, signifying and representing behavioural manifestations of brand engagement, relate to other online activities. We study how three types of brand engagement on social media – affiliation, conversation and responsiveness – influence search engine advertising effectiveness, including click-through rate and conversion rate. Specifically, we find that affiliation, conversation and responsiveness increase click-through rate and conversion rate. Moreover, brand engagement on social media strengthens the relationships between advertisement rank and search engine advertising effectiveness.