Say what? How the interplay of tweet readability and brand hedonism affects consumer engagement

• Published in: Journal of business research Vol. 100; pp. 150 - 164
• Main Authors: Davis, Scott W., Horváth, Csilla, Gretry, Anaïs, Belei, Nina
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.07.2019; Elsevier
• Subjects: Brands; Business & economic sciences; Communication; Consumers; Hedonic; Marketing; Sciences économiques & de gestion; Social media; Utilitarian; Brands; Utilitarian; Social media; Consumers; Communication; Hedonic
• ISSN: 0148-2963; 1873-7978; 1873-7978
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.01.071

Despite the influence of social media marketing, little is known about how branded messaging characteristics affect consumer engagement. We fill in this gap by assessing how readability interacts with brand hedonism to affect consumer engagement with brands based on our analysis of branded tweets for 96 of the most valuable brands according to Forbes Media. Drawing on processing fluency, we challenge the paradigm that reading ease enhances consumer responses universally. The effect of a tweet's readability is instead sensitive to a brand's perceived hedonistic nature, the degree to which it offers fun and enjoyable benefits. For less hedonic brands, tweets perceived as easy to read tend to result in greater engagement, and for more hedonic brands, tweets perceived as difficult to read tend to result in greater engagement. These findings offer insights for brand communication and social media strategy. •Lower readability of social media messages generally reduces consumer engagement (shares and likes).•For brands that are perceived to be hedonic (fun and enjoyable), readability is less desirable.•The use of social media specific features, hashtags and at-mentions, tend to increase consumer engagement.