Effect of marketing messages and consumer engagement on economic performance: evidence from Weibo

Purpose Social media commerce provides a convenient way for users to share information and interact with each other. Few studies, however, have examined the effect of marketing messages and consumer engagement behaviors on the economic performance of marketing. This study, therefore, explored the economic performance of social media in terms of marketing messages and consumer engagement. Design/methodology/approach Using ordinary least squares regression and data collected from Weibo and Maoyan, this study analyzed the effects among marketing messages, consumer engagement and movie ticket sales. Findings The results indicated that marketing messages on Weibo had a positive effect on box office revenues, while consumer engagement behavior (whether personal or interactive) did not affect box office revenues. The results suggested that marketing messages on social media have more salient effects for predicting economic performance than consumer engagement behaviors. Originality/value This study underscores the importance of social media in consumer purchasing behavior. The findings also extend the literature related to commerce and product message design on social media platforms.