Impact of Social Media Content on Social Media Engagement Behavior through Facebook: With Special Reference to Public Sector Commercial Banks in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Banks invest in social media to make customers more engaged with their brand. Nevertheless, managing content to drive engagement is worth investigating as most of the investments in digital strategy appears largely wasted. This study aims to determine social media content's effect under the rational and emotional message appeal on social media engagement behavior among Facebook users, based on a constructed framework using duel processing and uses gratification theory. Data was collected through convenience sampling using a structured questionnaire under a quantitative method with a deductive approach. Simple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the effects of content on consuming, contributing, and creating social media engagement behavior. The findings revealed emotionally appealing content has a significant effect in driving engagement among social media users over rational appealing content. This study is constrained to Facebook and public sector commercial banks in Sri Lanka thus, further investigations for other contexts are required to address the specific practice gaps that may exist. This study is one of the few studies examining the construct of social media content on social media engagement behavior to the Sri Lankan context regarding public sector commercial banks. Practical implications for social media managers are stated with guidelines and opportunities for strategic growth by enhancing social media content engagement.