Beyond Broadcasting: The Strategic Power of Personalized Brand Responses on Social Media

Abstract

In today’s social media environment, brands face challenges in crafting content that resonates with users who are quick to spot or evade marketing attempts. Drawing on persuasion knowledge model, this dissertation investigates how consumers react to distinct forms of firm-generated content (FGC) under varying conditions. First, it distinguishes between firm-to-many (FTM) communications, which are broad, planned messages typical of traditional FGC, and firm-to-one (FTO) communications, personalized yet publicly visible replies directed to individual consumers. Building on a dataset of 127,616 tweets from major financial institutions, the initial empirical study (Paper 1) shows that FTO communications drive unique engagement benefits through genuineness, which is captured by authenticity, spontaneity, and approachability. Paper 1 introduces and validate “genuineness” as a mediating factor, revealing that (i) FTO messages exhibit higher perceived genuineness than FTM messages, (ii) genuineness significantly mediates engagement with FTO posts, and (iii) content type moderates the relative impact of FTO and FTM strategies. In particular, informational content (e.g., product announcements, marketing details) that often feels intrusive in mass broadcasts can be well-received as part of personalized FTO interactions, whereas emotional content, normally effective in broad FGC, loses traction in FTO replies. Extending these insights, a second empirical study (Paper 2) spotlights the Initial Dyadic Exchange (IDE) within FTO between user and brand, revealing that (i) replies aligned with the user’s post type, especially offering a call to action for a question, significantly boost engagement, whereas mere apologies to complaints do not boost engagement, (ii) quick responses generally amplify these effects, with slower replies risking lower engagement, and (iii) response timing interacts with user post type: both complaints and praise show greater sensitivity to delays, engagement drops when brands respond slowly, while question-based posts appear more tolerant of delayed responses. Overall, these findings deepen our knowledge of digital engagement, persuasion knowledge, and co-creation logic, while offering managers practical guidance for implementing more authentic, agile, and user-focused communication strategies in a social media sphere saturated by user-driven content.