Assessing hierarchical model of word of mouth in social media: Its implication for entrepreneurs

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out how to assess the hierarchical model by word of mouth on social media. The growth of the Internet and social networking sites made social media word-of-mouth (WOM) has the power to reach more people and is therefore perceived as the most efficient and effective tool for business entrepreneurs for advertising and publicity of their products and services. However, there is lack of consensuses on how to develop strategic social media campaign due to the dynamics of activities based on the platforms. To fill this gap, this study developed an instrument to measure social media WOM activities and test the relationship between these activities using partial least square (PLS). This research uses descriptive analysis method. The finding confirmed the hierarchical relationship of WOM social media activities, namely. "consuming" strongly lead to "contributing" and "creating" activities, and "contributing" influenced "creating" activity. The results of this research is the potential impact to help entrepreneurs who use social media to maintain their relationships with consumers. It can be concluded it is important to administer the three social media WOM activities simultaneously to achieve a consistent social media presence. Experimental and incomplete social media utilization that has been practiced by most entrepreneurs to this day will spare social media marketing full potential.