Like, comment and share: examining the effect of firm-created content and user-generated content on consumer engagement

ABSTRACT Social media marketing efforts have been considered an essential role for businesses to stay in the competition and ensure the prosperity of the business world. This study aims to investigate the decisive role of two types of social media brand communication, namely firm-created content (FCC) and user-generated content (UGC), on customer engagement. Drawing on 257 fans of a coffee shop page on Facebook and using the structural equation modelling approach, the finding of this study indicated that FCC and UGC are significant predictors of customer engagement in the form of ‘like,’ ‘share,’ and ‘comment.’ The results indicate that UGC is a stronger predictor of liking and sharing than FCC, but that the effect of FCC on commenting is greater than that of UGC. The findings of this study contribute to the leisure context by examining the effect of two types of social media brand communication on customer engagement.