The mediating role of Customer Engagement in the relationship between Content Marketing and Electronic Word of Mouth: A case of online food ordering and delivery applications in Egypt

Abstract

Content Marketing (CM) is among the strategies used to create consumer brand loyalty and improve consumer word-of-mouth, yet it lacks scientific research. Therefore, to narrow the gap, this paper intends to explore the effect of customer engagement(CE) as a mediator in the relationship between content marketing (CM) and electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) specially in Egyptian online food ordering and delivery service applications. In this study, content marketing comprises three factors, which are content format, Combination of Content Tools, and complexity of the content. This paper is reviewing the content of online food ordering and delivery service applications in Egypt (Otlob/Talbat, Glovo, Uber Eats, Akelni, Elmenus, Mrsool). The current findings showed that content marketing (CM) has a substantial positive effect on both customer engagement (CE) and electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM). customer engagement (CE) also mediates the association between content marketing(CM) and electronic word of mouth(E-WOM) in a positive and statistically significant correlation