Advertising a Health Product Brand on Facebook

Abstract: The current study examined the effects of 3 types of Facebook reaction icons (positive, neutral, negative) and valence of comments (positive, neutral, negative) on brand attitude, trust, information seeking, purchase intention, and eWOM intention towards a health brand. Additionally, the study also assessed potential moderating effects of social media use on the relationship between Facebook reaction icons and eWOM intention. A 3 (reaction icons: positive vs. neutral vs. negative) x 3 (valence of comments: positive vs. neutral vs. negative) between-subjects experiment with a sample of college students (N = 306) from a large public university in the U.S. was conducted. The findings indicated that positive Facebook reaction icons (i.e. like and love) significantly influenced brand attitude, trust, purchase intention and eWOM intention. Moreover, positive and neutral post comments significantly impacted brand attitude and trust. However, degree of SNS use negatively moderated between valence of reaction icons and eWOM intention. Implications for future research are discussed.