Enhancing social media branded content effectiveness: strategies via telepresence and social presence

The commodification of mobile devices and penetration of high-speed Internet continue to make social media an ideal platform for businesses to reach consumers. Despite ample studies have been conducted to understand the factors that affect social media marketing effectiveness, the specific nature of tourism and hospitality products (i.e., highly experiential) has rarely been considered. Based on computer-mediated communication (CMC) theories and relevant work in the communication literature, this study investigates what affect the effectiveness of hotel social media branded contents. Self-reported data were collected from 318 respondents and were tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings demonstrate the positive impact of telepresence and social presence on customer purchase intention through trust and perceived usefulness. This work integrates CMC theories and technology acceptance model to provide a comprehensive explanation of social media branded content effectiveness. Practical implications are provided for hoteliers to design more effective social media branded contents.