Using Social Media as a Marketing Channel : how relevance, realness, and remarkableness influence interactivity and engagement

This research explored a potential working framework for using social media as a marketing channel. Based on an extensive literature review and a multiple case study, important factors for using social media have been identified. Companies should provide relevant information, show signs of real behavior, and design remarkable campaigns in order to enhance interaction between and engagement amongst customers. This should be the ultimate goal as interaction and engagement allow a company and its communicated message to be accepted and adopted by the crowd more efficiently and effectively. Future research is needed to test and enhance the framework. The research is relevant for practitioners and scientists as it provides new and further elaborated insights on the use of social media as a marketing channel.