Emotional selling on social media: The ‘punctum’ of personality and photographs

Abstract

Instagram marks a shift in operation from a collection of in situ photography towards a mode of engagement for small home-based businesses to promote their products. We unfold two significant aspects that influence customer engagement on Instagram: photographs and personality. Photographs with ‘punctum’ often capture users’ attention and engage them. Findings from this study also suggest that negative emotions influence user engagement through provocation, sarcasm, and frustration, but do not necessarily promote buying behavior.