The importance of electronic word-of-mouth on consumer perception of content marketing

Content marketing is a new trend that is highly recognisable in online marketing strategies. The nexus of commercial communication of content is to enable the brand to give something valuable and gain something valuable in return. Indeed, research on firm-generated content (FGC) and user-generated content (UGC) exists, but possible connections are left in the dark. This study explored the commercial value added chain of content marketing by focusing on possible coherences of commercially driven content generating constructs and their online communication channels, using content marketing as an umbrella term for any commercially generated content. This study provides insights into commercial B2C online content generation. After a data cleaning, elimination of incomplete questionnaires, the data was analysed with structural equation modelling. The results illustrate content marketing's ability to impact UGC commercially and thus provide a solid base for future research.