Post popularity and reactions in retail brand pages on Facebook

Purpose Social networking sites and Facebook have grown to become an important channel of interactive marketing communication with consumers for retail. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways posts characteristics and reactions affect post popularity and engagement in retail brands Facebook pages. Design/methodology/approach In total, 18 retail brand pages out of the 120 most popular brand pages on Facebook in Greece are examined for a three months’ period (April–June 2016). In all, 2,627 posts are analyzed with the use of OLS regressions in order to identify the characteristics of posts that increase consumers’ engagement, including the newly introduced reaction feature. Findings The results suggest that richness of content (images and videos) and message length increase the engagement levels and the popularity of posts. Reactions have a positive effect on engagement, and negative reactions stronger than positive reactions, except in sharing. On the other hand, posting time does not seem to have a statistically significant impact on the engagement and popularity of a post. Research limitations/implications The study was conducted during a period that reactions were only recently introduced by Facebook, therefore users and brands may not have been familiarized with their use. Practical implications The study contributes to the understanding of consumer engagement with retail brands’ pages on Facebook and social media, and the ways they use reactions and other ways of interactions with brand posts. The results can provide some insight to retailers on how to achieve higher levels of engagement for their brands through their Facebook pages, improving the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns. Originality/value The findings contribute in understanding the ways users interact with brand posts in Facebook using reactions, using a number of popularity measures, providing useful insights about reactions, engagement and e-WoM, extending prior research.