O impacto das ações de marketing em Redes sociais: um estudo experimental com uma marca do varejo

Abstract

This study is inserted in the marketing and retail field counting on a social networking trend. The research aims to verify the impact of marketing activities on social networks, using a well known brand situated in the retail market for an experiment performing. The variables used were found in theories relating marketing and social networks, with the aim of collecting recent studies to check what was being developed in the marketing field. As consumers are heavily inserted in the social networks, brands in retail have shown interest in acting within social networks, aiming to build and maintain a more interactive relationship with users (Labrecque, 2014). According to this, a documental stage was performed to verify the contents posted on Facebook by a brand. After this stage, an experimental research was architected according to the gaps found in the literature. Thus, the independent variables: hedonism, vividness and brand intimacy were used as stimuli in the experiment, through videos from a retail brand, which is a format that was verified as more interactive on social networks. Through these stimuli, it was possible to verify the existence of impacts on the dependent variables: brand equity, sales performance, word of mouth and brand engagement. These variables are related to studies involving marketing and social networks in the literature. From this scenario, the experiment rounds were held in four different groups, one for each stimulus for priming effect purposes and one for the neutral effect, making the placebo effect. The sample is from business management undergraduate degree students from Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos), and was attended by 136 participants in total. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and CHI SQUARE statistical tests. The results show that the independent variables actually impact the dependent variables. The variable that most impacted was the brand intimacy, accepting all the hypothesis related. Therefore, users stimulated with videos that have brand intimacy content, are more likely to assign brand equity, perform the word of mouth through social networks, engage with the brand, as well as go to the shop of the brand to check on products. This research proves that the content prepared for social networks involving a brand, brings positive results for organizations. The findings of this research can help marketing managers in retail organizations to invest in social network actions and carry out projects involving new media formats.