Engagement in a social media : an analysis in higher education institutions

Purpose: Social media are channels of communication and relationship between consumers and brands. In this paper, the determinants of consumer engagement in firm-generated content on Facebook are examined in a higher education institutions (HEIs) context. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected from 1,981 Facebook brand posts of 16 Brazilian HEIs and thoroughly analyzed with seemingly unrelated regression (SUR). Findings: The results indicated that the type of media does not increase the user's engagement. The emotional content, on the other hand, increases the number of likes and shares and not comments. An interaction between dimensions, type of media and content is relevant disclosed to increase engagement metrics, while characteristics related to the day and time of posting are not relevant. Research limitations/implications: This study analyzes the factors that influence consumer engagement in brand messages published on Facebook, in the context of higher education institutions. Specifically, the authors seek to examine the influence that emanates from the likes, comments and shares: (1) factors related to the type of media (interactivity and liveliness); (2) content-related factors (remuneration, emotional, entertainment and informational); and (3) factors related to posting (day of the week and time of day). Practical implications: In the context of educational services, social media is increasingly present, remarkably in HEI marketing practices. Previous studies have shown that universities use social media (mainly Facebook) to promote interactivity with students. The study presents the key characteristics of the postings by the HEIs, with an emphasis on the liveliness, the interactivity of the media, and the information content of the posts. It stands out by the examination of the most relevant factors that influence Facebook engagement, and by providing evidence on the strength of the factors related to post features that influence user engagement. Originality/value: The research contributes to the proposition and empirical test of a predictive model of consumer engagement on Facebook, which can predict engagement in an HEI context. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2020-0242