Cutting through Content Clutter: How Speech and Image Acts Drive Consumer Sharing of Social Media Brand Messages

TLDR

Consumer-to-consumer brand message sharing is pivotal for social media marketing, yet it remains unclear what, how, and when brand messages stand out and prompt sharing. This study aims to assess how brands’ message intentions—assertive, expressive, or directive—affect consumer sharing by extending speech act theory. Using text mining on over two years of Facebook posts and Twitter tweets from well-known consumer brands, the authors empirically evaluate the impact of distinct message intentions on sharing behavior. The analysis shows that rhetorical styles such as alliteration and repetition, cross‑message compositions, and the inclusion of visuals significantly increase consumer message sharing, offering guidance for content managers.

Abstract

Consumer-to-consumer brand message sharing is pivotal for effective social media marketing. Even as companies join social media conversations and generate millions of brand messages, it remains unclear what, how, and when brand messages stand out and prompt sharing by consumers. With a conceptual extension of speech act theory, this study offers a granular assessment of brands’ message intentions (i.e., assertive, expressive, or directive) and the effects on consumer sharing. A text mining study of more than two years of Facebook posts and Twitter tweets by well-known consumer brands empirically demonstrates the impacts of distinct message intentions on consumers’ message sharing. Specifically, the use of rhetorical styles (alliteration and repetitions) and cross-message compositions enhance consumer message sharing. As a further extension, an image-based study demonstrates that the presence of visuals, or so-called image acts, increases the ability to account for message sharing. The findings explicate brand message sharing by consumers and thus offer guidance to content managers for developing more effective conversational strategies in social media marketing.