This presentation reviews how a different form of engagement with the Air Miles Facebook page and their own social media site affects future purchase behaviors. Engagement includes a hierarchy from passively reading content, liking something, and contributing and sharing content. The test compares utilitarian and aspirational prompts. The particular form of engagement of entering a social media contest was also studied. It was found that participation increases mile accumulation behavior over a control group and after controlling for pre- contest behavior. How to estimate return on investment is illustrated. The Facebook test is currently in the field. Explanations for these findings are proposed, and their implications and applications discussed.
Engagement is not just something that distinguishes one media vehicle from another. It is not just that one magazine offers more engaged readers than another.This research indicates that consumers have experiences with ads in the same way that they have experiences with editorial content.Advertisers need to think about ads, as well as media vehicles, in terms of engagement. This presentation argues that both media companies and advertisers need to give more thought to the congruence of ads with vehicles, by considering the fit of ad experiences to media experiences.