The rapid development of information technology has affected every area of the daily lives of modern consumers and is shaping consumer behavior, especially their purchasing decisions. The immense popularity of social media has made it a means of satisfying a wide range of needs, from information needs and the need to communicate with others, through shopping and cultural needs to spiritual needs. Instead of using search engines, more and more users are looking for information on social media platforms, which allow them not only to gather the necessary information and knowledge but also to discuss and comment on ongoing events and understand different points of view on a given topic. Head and Eisenberg (2010) have shown that social media platforms are an important source of information for consumers around the world. Asian countries such as South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia are among those with the highest Internet penetration rates, reaching as high as 96.8–97.6% of the population, as reported in 2023. However, the highest Internet penetration rates in the world are mainly recorded in countries such as Ireland, Norway and the United Arab Emirates, where they exceed 99% (Kemp, 2023).

China’s modern market is characterized by extremely rapid development and widespread use of social media platforms, which have become an indispensable part of Chinese citizens’ daily lives. At the beginning of 2024, China’s Internet penetration rate averaged 76.4%, meaning that more than 1.05 billion people were using the Internet (Kemp, 2024; Zheng, 2024; CNNIC, 2024). Platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin play a key role in communication processes, entertainment, and in shaping consumer behavior.

WeChat, which is one of China’s most popular social media platforms, is seeing a regularly growing number of users. According to 2023 data, the number of active WeChat users has exceeded 1.3 billion. Young people, representatives of Generation Z and Y, account for the largest share of use of this platform. According to the latest data, Generation Y users account for about 30% of all WeChat users in China, while Generation Z represents about 40% of users (Wechatcourse, 2024; Masterson, 2024). It is important to note that WeChat is not just a messaging app, it also offers a wide range of functions, including mobile payments, online shopping and access to public services, making it a versatile platform used by users on a daily basis (GizmoChina, 2024; AsiaPac, 2021; CNNIC, 2023).

Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, is also hugely popular, especially among younger generations. In 2023, the platform boasted some 583 million monthly active users. Weibo is a key tool for brands and influencers, as it enables marketing campaigns and direct interaction with consumers (AsiaPac, 2021; Statista, 2024).

Finally, Douyin (the Chinese equivalent of TikTok), is one of the fastest growing social media platforms in China. By 2023, Douyin’s user base exceeded 700 million, making it one of the country’s most important marketing and communication tools. The platform has gained tremendous popularity for its short videos, which are eagerly created and shared by younger generations (GizmoChina, 2024; Verot, 2024).
All of the aforementioned platforms play an important role in the daily lives of Chinese citizens, both personally and professionally. Young Chinese, especially students, regard them as a key tool to support their purchasing decisions, which shows the importance of social media platforms in consumer behavior in this market. Social media not only facilitates access to information, but also allows interaction with brands and active participation in the creation of product images. It should be noted that social networks in China have further gained prominence due to the role of influencers, known as Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). These individuals, with their authenticity and large numbers of followers, have a tremendous impact on the buying preferences of Chinese consumers.

In addition, through product recommendations and reviews, they are able to effectively build trust in the brand, which directly translates into the purchasing decisions of their observers (China Marketing Corp, 2024).

Research on social media user behavior in China indicates that the majority of Chinese users log onto social media platforms several times a day, and the dominant majority of them access these platforms via smartphones, further increasing accessibility and intensity of use (Kemp, 2024; Kiely, 2024; China Social Media Statistics, 2024).

The literature often emphasizes that social media has become a platform where interaction takes place not only between consumers and brands, but also between consumers themselves, leading to a specific form of peer pressure. As Kahai and Cooper (2001) point out, the quality of purchasing decisions depends on the knowledge of participants and their ability to recognize real information among the wide stream of data available on social media. Moreover, group behavior theory suggests that social media helps people form like-minded groups, which can influence their attitudes and consumer choices, promoting what is known as “social proof of rightness” (Power & Phillips-Wren, 2011): consumers base their purchasing decisions on the opinions and actions of others, recognizing that if many people take a certain action or recommend a product, then the choice must be right. The scientific literature on the subject emphasizes that social proof of rightness is particularly important under conditions of uncertainty, when consumers seek confirmation from the actions of others to facilitate their purchasing decisions. This is particularly effective in online marketing strategies, where the opinions and recommendations of other users are easily available and influence consumer choices (Sanak-Kosmowska, 2023).

Many Chinese consumers use social media platforms to share their experiences on brands and products. Products with many positive online reviews are then most likely to be trusted by other consumers. The role of social media has been widely described both in the processes of forming relationships between people from different backgrounds, including cultural backgrounds (Sawyer & Chen, 2012), and in personal marketing communications (Nadziakiewicz, 2018; Kietzmann et al., 2011).

Consumers also pay attention to recommendations from influencers that convince them to behave in certain ways, including buying products. At the same time, equipping social media platforms with e-commerce functions allows them to increase their reach in influencing consumers, hence the growing role of these media in marketing strategies in China (Sawyer & Chen, 2012; Nadziakiewicz, 2018).
As the aim of this article is to explore the role of social media in shaping the attitudes of Chinese Generation Y and Z consumers toward organic food products, it is necessary to emphasize the great importance of social media in shaping the attitudes, views and values of users. Therefore, companies must not use only commercial messages, but should offer such values that are expected by customers, which they follow in satisfying their needs. These values include: knowledge, skill acquisition, respect for the environment, or various forms of integration in real and virtual environment. The emergence of relationships between people who share similar values and interests triggers a certain kind of cultural transformation, which involves the emergence of new forms of needs fulfillment. Consequently, this leads to the development of new models of consumption. Organic products are playing an increasingly important role in these models (Mazurek-Łopacińska & Sobocińska, 2017).

Over the past two decades, the world has seen a gradual and significant increase in demand for organic food (Du et al., 2017). In 2019, sales of these products exceeded $105 billion (Willer et al., 2020). Research on organic food consumption has so far focused mainly on developed countries (Kushwah et al., 2019), which are indeed responsible for as much as 90% of the world’s consumption of these foods (Asif et al., 2018). However, the growth potential of developing country markets, where most of the world’s organic food has been produced, should not be overlooked. China has the largest organic food market in Asia and the fourth largest market in the world. They have more than 3 million hectares of organic farmland, and their sales volume reached $8.59 billion in 2018 (Willer et al., 2020). A growing awareness of the need to protect both one’s own health and the environment is driving consumers to seek healthier food options and consume organic products (Lazzarini et al., 2018; Hermaniuk, 2018; Angowski & Domańska, 2016). Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward organic food are also strongly linked to beliefs in its health, taste and environmental friendliness. Social media, in turn, has developed as an important source of information on topics related to health and improving quality of life, especially for young people, therefore recognizing its impact on the attitudes of these consumers is very important in studying their reactions to organic food offer in China.

Representatives of Generation Y (or Millennials) and Generation Z are more open to new trends, as well as to the impact of the demonstration effect of foreign markets and experts’ opinions. This is because young consumers make extensive use of various sources of information, including social media platforms, which have a strong influence on their behavior. It should be noted that Generation Z accounts for about 15% of China’s total population, which translates into about 200 million people. Generation Y, on the other hand, accounts for about 22% of the population. This group, being one of the main drivers of consumption in China, consists of more than 300 million people. Both generations have a significant impact on shaping market trends, and so their rising incomes and changing consumer preferences are crucial to the Chinese economy (Zhou et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2023). Therefore, this article attempts to answer the following questions:

1. Is social media perceived by Generation Y and Z consumers as a reliable source of information about organic food products?
2. Does the information presented in the media about the characteristics and qualities of organic food stimulate consumer interest in these products?
3. What kind of feelings toward organic food are generated by sharing opinions on social media?
4. Is the content presented on social media effective in encouraging Chinese consumers to buy organic food?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Literature review

Social media plays a key role in the purchasing decisions of both Millennials and Generation Z. Both generations grew up in the digital age, but they differ in their use of social media and how these platforms influence their purchasing behavior. For both generations, social media is an important tool for discovering new products. According to GlobalWebIndex’s 2021 report, 47% of Millennials use social media as their main source of shopping inspiration. In the case of Generation Z, the percentage is even higher, with as many as 58% of this group admitting that they discover new products specifically through social media (GlobalWebIndex Report, 2021). This difference may be due to the greater integration of social media into the daily lives of Generation Z, who spend more time on these platforms and are more engaged in interactions with brands.

Both groups appreciate social media recommendations, but Generation Z shows greater susceptibility to influencers. Indeed, as many as 68% of Generation Z consumers admit that they trust influencers more than traditional celebrities, which has a direct impact on their purchasing decisions (Morning Consult Report, 2022). For Millennials, the impact of influencers is also significant, but they are more likely to rely on friends’ reviews and opinions as well as user-generated content (Hajli, 2014). This is because Millennials grew up at a time when traditional marketing and the opinions of reference groups, including aspirational groups, had more influence on consumer attitudes and behavior than they do today.

The development of Internet technology makes Millennials increasingly demanding; they expect to see the personalization of content and interaction with brands, which affects their loyalty. This is reflected in the statistics. The results of a study conducted by Epsilon on a group of 1,000 respondents aged 18–64 show that 63% of Millennials indicate that they are more inclined to buy brands that offer personalized offers and content (Epsilon Marketing, 2018). Generation Z, on the other hand, while also valuing customization, is more focused on brand authenticity and transparency. As many as 90% of Generation Z believe that authenticity is a key factor in their purchasing decisions, highlighting the importance of authentic messages and values presented by brands (Morning Consult Report, 2022).

Based on the research findings reported in the available literature, it can be concluded that that social media plays a similar, important role in the formation of brand loyalty in both generations, whereas differences lie in the way this loyalty is built. Indeed, Millennials who engage in brand interactions on social media show greater loyalty to those brands that directly respond to their needs and offer valuable content (Laroche et al., 2013). Generation Z, on the other hand, expects brands to establish a more direct and personal relationship with them, and to actively participate in social issues. Therefore, brands that engage in social issues and demonstrate transparency are more likely to gain the loyalty of this group (Yu et al., 2020).

At this point, it should be noted that user-generated content (UGC) is important for both generations, but Generation Z is more active in creating and sharing such content. Indeed, as many as 76% of Generation Z consumers say they share content related to brands on social media, while this percentage is lower for Millennials, at 60% (Stackla Report, 2019). For Generation Z, user-generated content is not only a source of information, but also a way to express their identity and participate in brand-related online communities.

We can therefore conclude that Generations Y and Z play a key role in shaping the modern consumer market. Their attitudes, behaviors and preferences have a significant impact on companies’ marketing strategies, especially in the context of the growing popularity of social media as a communication and promotion channel. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the organic products segment, where environmental awareness and concern for the environment are becoming increasingly important factors and decision-making criteria. Companies offering green products must take into account the dominant role of social media as a source of information about products and services (Bolton et al., 2013). These media are used both to seek recommendations and to judge the quality of products based on the opinions of other users (Sanak, 2012). In the context of organic products, Generations Y and Z show particular interest in information on composition, origin and environmental impact. Research by Hwang et al. (2016) indicates that young consumers are more likely to purchase organic products if they get positive reviews on them from trusted sources on social media. Sanak-Kosmowska, meanwhile, points out that positive reviews and recommendations on social media can significantly increase consumer trust and loyalty not only to specific product groups, but also to the brand as a whole (Sanak-Kosmowska, 2021).

However, when considering the reliability of information obtained from social media, researchers suggest some skepticism, especially when it comes to the credibility and scientific basis of the content presented on social networks (Sanak-Kosmowska & Sliwinska, 2020).
It is worth pointing out the broader context related to the interest that a different consumer groups have in green products, for Generations Y and Z show greater environmental awareness and interest in sustainability compared to older generations. Studies show that younger generations prefer organic products because of their health and environmental benefits (Kamenidou et al., 2020). Studies conducted in European countries, including Poland and the UK, show that the intensity of pro-environmental attitudes is higher among young consumers, which directly affects their purchase decisions regarding organic food (Kowalska et al., 2021).

In China, social media plays an equally important role in shaping environmental awareness and consumer behavior. With the popularity of platforms such as WeChat, Weibo and Douyin, Chinese consumers, especially young people, are using these channels extensively to seek information about products (Zhu et al., 2016; ns in Psychology, 2021). Studies show that Chinese Millennials and Generation Z are more likely to trust recommendations from influencers and opinions posted on social media than traditional advertising (Yang, 2020).

In addition, one of the main reasons Chinese consumers use social media is the need to verify brand credibility. Indeed, Chinese social media is becoming a platform where consumers can inquire about third-party certifications, such as FCC (Federal Communications Commission), CE (Conformité Européenne), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), CCC (China Compulsory Certification), which act as guarantors of product quality and reliability. They can also check the opinions of other users, which significantly influences their purchasing decisions. Brands with such accreditations enjoy greater trust among consumers, which in turn translates into their greater commitment and willingness to make a purchase (China Marketing Corp, 2024).

The challenge for those responsible for managing social media is therefore to skillfully tailor messages to the needs and expectations of customers, rather than simply promoting an offer (Pogorzelski, 2015). In doing so, Sanak-Kosmowska (2018) emphasizes the importance of authenticity and engaging consumers as key elements of effective marketing communications, which is important in the context of building trust in organic products and encouraging their purchase. Carefully planned social media marketing campaigns aligned with consumers’ expectations and cultural values help effectively build trust in the brand, which is crucial in the context of successfully encouraging Chinese consumers to purchase organic food (Sanak-Kosmowska, 2020).

In conclusion, it can be said that the attitudes of generations Y and Z toward ecology and green products in China are being shaped by a growing general environmental awareness and changing social norms, as young Chinese consumers are increasingly aware of pollution and health issues (Zhang et al., 2019a). As a result, they are more likely to support brands that promote sustainability and offer green products.

Comparing China with other countries, it can be seen that in Western markets such as the United States, social media also plays an important role in shaping the consumer attitudes of generations Y and Z. However, as the research indicates, cultural differences and preferences for social media platforms affect how these media are used. For example, in China, due to the nature of local social media platforms and strong government control over information, marketing strategies must be tailored to local conditions (MDPI (2020), while Western consumers may be more independent in their search for information, relying less on influencers and more on user reviews and independent product research (Smith et al., 2013). However, in both cultural contexts, social media remains a key source of information about organic products, as confirmed by numerous studies (Forbes, 2016).

In a global context, these attitudes are similar, although there may be differences in motivations and levels of environmental commitment. For example, in Scandinavian countries, where environmental awareness is high, young consumers may be more critical of organic certification and supply chain transparency (Johansson et al., 2020). In China, as in other countries, consumers, especially from Generations Y and Z, also use social media to get information on green products, which influences their purchasing decisions. Understanding the impact mechanism of these media, especially through the prism of the credibility of the information posted, the authenticity of the campaigns and the ability to generate positive emotions is therefore crucial for companies that want to effectively reach younger consumers and promote sustainable products.

2.2. Methodology used

Seeking to answer the research questions, survey was carried out in 2022, in cooperation with a research agency (IMAS International), on a group of 1012 Chinese users of China’s most popular social networks, i.e. WeChat and Sina Weibo (the population of young consumers of Generations Y (25–40 years old) and Z (16–24 years old)). The research sample included 68% of Generation Y respondents and 32% of Generation Z respondents. The sample was drawn from the IMAS Agency’s online research panel. For the IMAS Agency has an online consumer panel and has experience in marketing research in the Chinese market. The results of the desk research on Chinese consumers’ consumption of organic food and their use of social media were also an important context in interpreting the survey results. The structure of the survey sample was carefully balanced in terms of gender, age, education, occupation, economic situation, the number of people comprising the household and the number of children under the age of 18 included in the household (Table 1). This allowed for representative results for different demographic groups. In the sample, women accounted for 47.5% and men accounted for 52.5%. The majority of respondents, 82.5%, had a university degree. In addition, 71.2% of the respondents were employed.

Nearly 60% of respondents rated their economic situation as above average, with 36% rating it as good and 23% as very good. Among the respondents, 46.9% declared that their household consisted of three people, and 28.7% of four people. In addition, 54.9% of respondents said they had one child on their support, while 26.5% of respondents said they had no children.

3. Analysis of results

The survey made it possible to identify the attitudes that Chinese representatives of Generation Y and Generation Z, have toward organic food.

The layout of the analysis was determined by the research questions presented. The first question concerned the importance of social media as a source of information about organic food products. The survey results presented in Table 2 show that social media is the main source or intermediary of information about organic products. Respondents indicate using information about organic product offer provided through social media by family and friends (33.3%, with 35.6% of Generation Y representatives and 27.9% of Generation Z representatives). They are followed by social media run by manufacturers (28%, including 29.7% of Generation Y representatives and 23.3% of Generation Z representatives), retailers (27.5%, with 29.3% of Generation Y representatives and 23.3% of Generation Z representatives) and influencers (25%, with 24.2% of Generation Y representatives and 26.5% of Generation Z representatives). This shows that people are looking for the most reliable information about organic products, as it can be assumed with high probability that these groups of actors, especially producers and sellers, present the most up-to-date content on the subject, and this generates trust in the information they present. Similarly, those in the immediate environment (family, friends) play an important role in providing their relatives with necessary information.

In an effort to answer the question of whether social media platforms are perceived by Generation Y and Z consumers as a reliable source of information about organic food products, the survey asked about the forms of activity manifested by the respondents aimed at deepening their knowledge of organic food offers. The results are shown in Table 3. Attention is drawn to the relatively high activity in seeking more detailed information reported by young consumers. Participation in social media discussions on organic products was declared by almost half of all surveyed representatives of Generations Z and Y. However, while most of them (48%) reported that they only ask questions about organic products via social media, a slightly smaller percentage (44%) stated that they express themselves and share their experiences in this area, while 43% stated that they made use of recommendations from others, especially experts (Table 3). However, differences are revealed in this regard between representatives of Generations Z and Y. For respondents from Generation Y show a greater inclination to ask questions on social networks (51.4%) as compared to Generation Z (39.9%). Millennials are also much more likely to speak out on online forums and share their experiences (51.1%) than Generation Z representatives (28.2%), and in their purchasing decisions they rely more heavily on recommendations from others (47.3%) than the latter (33.1%). This may be due to the greater maturity of Generation Y, as well as their wider range of accumulated experience and higher level of education, in the field of ecology included (nearly 58% of the Millennials surveyed reported that they try to stay up-to-date on the topic of organic food products available on the market. Meanwhile, more than half of the Generation Z respondents (53.1%) admitted that they do not participate in discussions about organic products on social networks because they lack the knowledge to speak out on the subject).

As regards the first research question on the cognitive layer of consumer attitudes, the survey results indicate that information on organic products available in social media is considered reliable by the respondents. In their opinion, it significantly expands knowledge about ecology and organic products (58.5%, with 57.6% of Generation Y respondents and 60.1% of Generation Z respondents) and is presented in an attractive, accessible form (41.5%, with 41.9% of Generation Y respondents and 40.2% of Generation Z respondents), more credible than content available in other media (34.6%, with 37.4% of Generation Y respondents and 28.5% of Generation Z respondents). One in three Chinese respondents of Generation Y (31.8%) and Generation Z (28.5%) even stated that they trust information presented in social media more than that presented in other media, and nearly half (49.9% of Generation Y representatives and 42.4% of Generation Z representatives) said that although the reliability of information presented in social media is similar to that available in other sources, they prefer to use social media (Table 4).

As for the second research question, the survey responses indicate that information presented in social media about the features and characteristics of organic food stimulates consumer interest in these products (Table 5). Indeed, more than half of respondents (i.e., 51%, with 49.8% of Generation Y respondents and 52.3% of Generation Z respondents) admitted that information on organic food presented in social media greatly expands their knowledge about these products, 41% of respondents (43.3% of Generation Y and 37.2% of Generation Z) said that they influence intentions to purchase organic products, and another 40% of respondents (41.1% of Generation Y and 35.6% of Generation Z) admitted that information obtained from social media stimulates the purchase of these products.

The third research question related to the emotional layer of consumer attitudes. The survey responses indicate that sharing opinions on social media generates positive emotions towards organic food, but only 20% of respondents (22.6% of generation Y and 14.6% of generation Z) admitted that they are related to health care, while in the opinion of 29% of respondents (28.9% of generation Y and 30.3% of generation Z) this content only increases their sensitivity to ecological problems. This is a very notable result, portending a certain predominance of altruistic values related to concern for the environment over selfish motivations focusing on the needs of individual consumers.

The results show the predominance of cognitive responses over emotional and behavioral ones. In addition, the majority of respondents, 65% overall (67.5% of Generation Y and 60.1% of Generation Z), would like to see the scope of information activities regarding organic product offers increased (Table 6).

As regards to the fourth research question on the behavioral aspect of attitude, it should be noted that for 41% of respondents, information on organic food presented in social media influences their intentions to purchase organic products, while 39% of respondents declared that it stimulates them to purchase these products. However, considering the criteria for choosing organic food (Table 7), respondents indicated that when making purchasing decisions they are primarily guided by the quality of the product (75%, with 72.1% of Generation Y representatives and 80.6% of Generation Z representatives) and its composition (55%, with 54.2% of Generation Y representatives and 56.5% of Generation Z representatives). Certificates confirming the ecological quality of the product (38.7%) and the product’s origin (37.8%) also play a large role in these decisions. Among these criteria, product recommendations by favorite social networks, opinions of experts and even opinions of relatives and friends play a relatively smaller role.

The relatively greater maturity of Generation Y leads them to make more informed choices and is reflected in their behavioral responses. Representatives of Generation Y are relatively more likely to buy organic food, one in four every day, and more than half at least once a week, whereas among the surveyed representatives of Generation Z, only 15% buy organic products daily, and less than 25% do so at least once a week.

When analyzing the factors limiting the purchase of organic food, price plays a decisive role. However, it is of greater importance to Millennials (65.2%) than to representatives of Generation Z (45%). The Zetas, on the other hand, are more critical when it comes to the assortment structure of the offer, and they express a lower level of trust in organic food, not believing in its health benefits (Table 8).
Among the organic food choices, one can also see a more comprehensive approach among Millennials, who buy products from more diverse assortment groups than representatives of Generation Z.

In conclusion, however, it should be noted that more than 60% of respondents from both generations strive to buy primarily organic food, preferring it over conventional food. When analyzing consumers’ motivations shaping their consumer choices, it is necessary to emphasize the indication of concern for their own health (77% of Generation Z respondents and 70% of Generation Y respondents) and that of their loved ones (63% of Generation Z and Y respondents). These are therefore the main motives that drive them to purchase organic food products. When conducting communication campaigns, it is therefore necessary to develop motivations related to the pursuit of environmental protection, which requires increasing awareness and sensitivity to threats to the environment.

Achieving positive results, however, will hinge on reducing the scale of restrictions, i.e. forming more affordable prices, expanding the range of organic food offered on the market, and being more effective in convincing people of the value of the market offer of organic products, thereby increasing the level of trust in these products.

4.Discussion

The results of the present study confirm that young consumers make extensive use of social media platforms, which have a strong influence on their behavior. This influence manifests itself in the use of other consumers’ opinions, their recommendations, and participation in discussion panels (Duffett, 2017; Hajli, 2015). Research on the behavior of social media users in China shows that most of them log onto these platforms multiple times a day, and the vast majority access them via smartphones. This makes the availability and intensity of social media use in China extremely high (Kemp, 2024; Kiely, 2024; China Social Media Statistics, 2024).

Social media has become relatively the most reliable source of obtaining information on products, including organic products, shaping their attitudes and consumption decisions (Tariq et al., 2018). This is also confirmed by the results of the present study.
The phenomenon, pointed out by previous researchers, of Chinese Millennials and Generation Z representatives’ relatively greater reliance on influencer recommendations and opinions posted on social media than on traditional advertising (Yang, 2020a), has only partially been confirmed by the present findings. For according to 47.5% of the respondents surveyed herein, the reliability of information on social media is similar to that available through other sources, but they prefer to use social media. This is related to the peculiar phenomenon of social media shaping the attitudes, mentality and behavior of users. This is particularly important with regard to organic products, the consumption of which affects the transformation of consumption patterns of modern generations.

The basis for trust in information obtained from social media is the role of these media in shaping life values, including those related to environmentalism. Researchers point to the importance of social networks in highlighting the value of organic food, as well as increasing its consumption and consumer loyalty (Chen et al., 2017).

The results of a survey conducted on Guangdong Province university students show that nine out of ten participants identified social media as their primary source of information, and reviews as well as opinions posted on these platforms had a significant impact on their purchasing decisions. Another interesting aspect is the impact of negative information on purchasing decisions. For studies have shown that the presence of negative reviews on social media can both discourage purchases and, paradoxically, increase confidence in the available information. This phenomenon indicates the complexity of the decision-making process and the importance of a balanced perception of information in social media (Qi, 2020).

However, given the growing environmental awareness, especially related to pollution and health issues, which translates into social norms, young Chinese consumers are more likely to support brands that promote sustainability and offer green products (Zhang et al., 2019b). The present research indicates that, according to 65% of Generation Y and Z respondents, the scope of social media outreach activities conducted by manufacturers and sellers of green products should be increased.

5. Limitations and Future Study Opportunities

Limitations of the present study include its focusing only on selected social networks, as well as the survey being conducted in relation to the entire group of organic food, yet the aspects of attitudes and behaviors studied are certainly differentiated across individual organic products. Moreover, only differences between representatives of Generation Z and Generation Y in terms of organic food baskets purchased are reported. Further areas of research may include identifying the specific criteria that guide buyers of particular organic food products, as well as pointing out the motives behind their purchasing decisions.

Directions for future research may include identifying the role of individual household members in the consumer decision-making process regarding the purchase of organic products, especially organic food (roles: initiator, advisor, offer information seeker, purchaser and consumer). After all, it is extremely important for companies offering organic products to know who in the household is most likely to provide information about product offers, as well as which members of the household initiate or advise them, as this allows the communication messages to be targeted accordingly. It is also important to know the interests and motives of buyers and consumers who make market choices, as well as those who participate in those choices.

Moreover, research should be continued on the strength of factors both stimulating and limiting the purchase of organic food, and monitoring changes in this area resulting from market trends.

The impact of shared social media that has been reported by researchers – content, ratings, recommendations and reviews of various products on the development of social commerce so-called “social shopping” (Hsu, 2017; Huang & Benyoucef, 2013) – should stimulate the identification of the extent to which information and opinions, as well as recommendations of products and services posted on social media affect the use of social commerce by users of these media platforms.

6. Conclusions

The use of social media as a source of information on market offerings, especially in the context of organic products, is a common phenomenon among Generations Y and Z in both Chinese and Western markets. Cultural differences and preferences for social media platforms influence the way young consumers seek and process information. In China, the role of influencers and the specifics of local social media platforms play a key role in shaping consumer attitudes, while in Western markets there is more emphasis on user reviews and independent research. Regardless of these differences, however, growing environmental awareness and interest in organic products are a common denominator for young consumers around the world.

The role of social media in shaping Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward organic food is invaluable in the context of the extensive sustainability strategies being implemented in China. These media not only facilitate access to information on organic products, but also stimulate the development of altruistic motivations, which are increasingly evident in consumer behavior. Chinese consumers, especially those of generations Y and Z, are showing increasing sensitivity to environmental issues, which is reflected in their purchasing preferences.
In the context of China’s sustainable development strategies, which include such ambitious goals as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality, the growing interest in organic food is an important step toward sustainable consumption. At the same time, growing awareness of the health risks of consuming conventionally grown products, enriched by discussions on social media platforms, is leading to increased demand for organic food.

Amid the widespread use of social media and growing health and environmental awareness among Chinese people, social media is becoming a powerful tool in promoting sustainable consumption practices in China. These shifts in consumer behavior are in line with global trends, where social and environmental responsibility is gaining prominence, driving a transformation toward a more sustainable economy.

Funding: This research was funded by Polish National Science Center under the Miniatura 5 Grant Program (Grant # 2021/05/X/HS4/01779).

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Today’s educational landscape is characterized by the rapid development of technology and the growing role of social media as key communication and promotional tools. Higher education institutions, including those with a business focus, are increasingly turning to advanced marketing strategies to attract prospective students, increase engagement with the academic community and strengthen their position in the competitive education market. One of the most popular tools in this context is video marketing, which allows complex information to be communicated in an attractive and accessible way, while building an emotional connection with the audience.

This study examines the effectiveness of video marketing activities undertaken by the top Polish business universities and their impact on audience perception and engagement. The qualitative research used the case studies of five leading Polish business schools, benchmarking them against the practices of London Business School, one of Europe’s leading business schools.

The findings may be useful for universities aiming to improve their operating strategies. The article also includes practical recommendations for measures to improve the effectiveness of marketing communication efforts within educational institutions.

2. Literature review

Defining an organization’s goals in relation to customer and market needs, rather than focusing solely on the organization itself, has now become more important than ever. Marketing, as the mechanisms for achieving such alignment, has been empowered by a powerful tool: the Internet. The Internet not only facilitates the dissemination of information but also acts as a means for collaboration and interaction among users (Królewski & Sala, 2021; Berman, 2014).

E-marketing is defined as a set of informational activities aimed at meeting the needs of individuals as well as collective needs within the electronic market, using information technology to gain a competitive advantage and increase profits for businesses operating both online and offline (Chmielarz, 2007; Reed 2010). Modern e-marketing encompasses much more than just a company website and email, it also includes instant messaging platforms, blogs, online advertising, search engines, and social media (Kotler & Armstrong, 2022).

Social media marketing is a rapidly evolving branch of e-marketing that combines various elements of marketing communication, such as content marketing, user engagement, relationship building with customers, advertising, website traffic, sales promotion, video marketing, viral marketing, and public relations (Hill, 2023; Butov at al., 2020). Social media is an increasingly diverse space that encompasses categories of tools such as discussion forums, widgets, wiki pages, podcasts, blogs and digital magazines, email newsletters, crowdsourcing, photo-sharing sites, voting platforms, live streaming, presentation-sharing services, and virtual worlds (Turner & Shah, 2011; Kopera 2022). Social media platforms, with their speed and relevance of communication, stimulate innovation in companies and enable them to fully understand the needs and desires of consumers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2022; Cheung, 2019). This, in turn, allows companies to enhance their communication efforts and increase consumer engagement and activity (Grębosz at al., 2016; Hess at al.2016). Social media platforms enable companies to build dialogue with potential customers, sponsors, and investors, create brand awareness, increase sales, and provide opportunities for gathering feedback from the market (Świerczyńska-Kaczor, 2012).

One prominent trend within social media marketing is video content. The video format engages users on social media platforms and responds to the content consumption style of today’s audience (Stawarz, 2017). Video marketing can be simply described as any marketing activity conducted using the video format (Daniłoś, 2016; Tarczydło 2017). More specifically, video content marketing refers to the creation and publication of video content on a website aimed at effectively promoting a brand, product, or service (Syska at al., 2018).

An essential feature of social media, and consequently of communication through video content, is interaction – encouraging users to engage in dialogue and build relationships (Verhoef, 2021). Video marketing focuses on creating and distributing content that is useful and valuable to users, fostering close relationships with both potential and current customers (Stępowski, 2017).

The main benefits of using video for marketing purposes include the following:

• Video content is much easier for Internet users to remember.
• Video helps in building brand image.
• It can attract supporters to the brand, increasing its recognition.
• Video materials support the development of lasting relationships with customers.
• The viral nature of video allows for reaching a wide audience.
• It increases user engagement.
• It facilitates interaction between the brand and the customer.
• It generates significant traffic (Tobiasz & Szymański, 2016; Reed, 2010).

The most popular platforms for video marketing currently include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Depending on a company’s goals, the video format can be harnessed in various ways to showcase products or services and increase brand recognition. To differentiate advertising formats in online video advertising, various classifications can be applied. Key factors determining the categorization of online video ad formats include the placement of the ads, the surrounding context, and the timing of the broadcast (Reed, 2010).

The trends that are shaping the future of video marketing in the coming years include the following (Skwarek, 2022):

• Short videos, such as those on TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter, are gaining increasing popularity. Users often have limited attention spans, making shorter videos more engaging and attention-grabbing.
• Real-time video, or live streaming, is becoming more popular as a tool for direct audience engagement. Companies can host live broadcasts for events, product showcases, Q&A sessions, and various other interactive formats.
• User-generated video content, created and shared by internet users themselves, has the potential to build authentic engagement and trust. UGC (user-generated content) can be useful for showcasing customer testimonials, product reviews, and creating a community around a brand.
• Personalization is a key aspect of effective video marketing. Brands will increasingly strive to create video content tailored to specific target groups, which may include personalized messages, offers, or product recommendations.
• Interactive videos that engage viewers in an active way provide an advantage over passive viewing materials. Technologies such as 360-degree video, viewer-selected video options, and video quizzes allow content creators to produce more engaging and interactive films.

These trends highlight the increasing importance of video marketing as an effective tool for reaching customers, building engagement, and strengthening brand presence. Given that technology and audience preferences continue to evolve, further innovations in the field of video marketing can be expected. The current education market is marked by rapid transformations driven by technological innovations and shifting societal demands. Within this landscape, educational marketing is essential for shaping the reputation of higher education institutions and drawing in prospective students. Innovative communication methods, particularly video marketing, are emerging as highly effective promotional tools (Miller, 2011; Flannery 2021).

3. Methodology

This study investigates the effectiveness of video marketing activities undertaken by Polish business universities and their impact on audience perception and engagement.

The research problem addressed herein concerns the use of video marketing by Polish business universities in the context of strengthening their position on the higher education market. The following research questions were formulated: 1) How do Polish business schools use video marketing in their communication strategies? 2) What are the key elements of effective video marketing activities in an educational context? 3) What impact do video marketing activities have on audience perception and engagement?

The aim of the research is to identify and evaluate the video marketing activities undertaken by Polish business schools and to assess their effectiveness in terms of image building and audience engagement. The following research methods were used: a literature review to formulate the research problem and research questions, comparative analysis of case studies concerning five leading Polish business schools, and benchmarking with London Business School, one of Europe’s leading business schools.

The findings may be useful for higher education institutions aiming to improve their operational strategies. The article also proposes practical recommendations for measures to improve the effectiveness of marketing communication efforts within educational institutions.

4. Selected universities benchmarked

This study analyzes the video marketing activities of five leading Polish business universities:

1. Warsaw School of Economics (SGH)
2. Kozminski University (ALK)
3. Krakow University of Economics (UEK)
4. Wroclaw University of Business and Economics (UEW)
5. Poznan University of Economics and Business (UEP)

To provide an international perspective, a benchmarking exercise was conducted with a sixth higher educational institution – London Business School, one of Europe’s leading business schools. This comparison highlights how these institutions in Poland compare against an internationally renowned competitor in terms of the effectiveness of the video marketing strategies used. The business universities analyzed and their social media platforms activity are presented below.

The aim of the analysis is to identify how these institutions use video marketing as part of their marketing strategies on social media platforms. By comparing marketing activities, this study seeks to identify best practices and areas for improvement, which can ultimately serve as a valuable resource for universities seeking to optimize their video marketing strategies.

The following sections of this article will discuss the marketing activities of each of the selected universities, with a particular focus on their specific approach to video marketing. This examination will not only shed light on the individual strategies employed by these institutions, but also seeks to capture wider trends and challenges in the use of video for social media marketing in the education sector.

5. Evaluating the video marketing performance of selected universities

In the context of universities and colleges, video marketing serves several functions. First and foremost, it allows for effective presentation of the educational offerings, infrastructure and academic life to prospective students. In addition, it enables the university to project an image as a modern and dynamic institution capable of meeting the challenges of the contemporary educational market. Beyond recruitment, video marketing is also an important tool in building emotional ties with current students, alumni and business partners.

To provide a structured analysis, four main aspects of video marketing activities have been selected for benchmarking: 1) presentations of the campus and infrastructure, 2) interviews with lecturers and students, 3) recordings of cultural and scientific events and 4) short promotional videos presenting the unique features and advantages of the university.

5.1. Campus and infrastructure presentations

Campus and infrastructure presentations are a key element of video marketing, as they allow prospective students and other stakeholders to experience the physical environment of the university. Showcasing the ensemble of campus facilities, lecture theatres, laboratories and recreational spaces can increase the attractiveness of the university and influence decisions on where to study.

As the comparative analysis shows, most of the Polish business universities examined, including SGH, UEK, UEP and UEW, actively use video marketing to present their campuses and infrastructure. All these universities regularly update their video materials, which is crucial to maintaining an up-to-date image in the eyes of prospective students. However, only SGH offers virtual tours, which distinguishes it from other universities (suggesting an opportunity for the latter to further develop their online presentation tools).

In terms of interactivity and professionalism of production, all the universities exhibit a commendable level of quality, but SGH, KU and UEW stand out for the particularly advanced interactivity of their materials. Multilingual video content is available from most of the Polish universities, although CUE could broaden its global reach by incorporating this feature. London Business School, although it does not offer virtual tours or videos with aerial shots, compensates for this with very advanced interactivity of materials and a high level of professionalism in production, which puts it at the forefront in terms of global video marketing standards.

In sum, while all the business universities analyzed do use video marketing effectively, features such as advanced interactivity, professional production and the availability of materials in various languages determine their effectiveness on the global educational market. The Polish business universities have a strong position, but they can still benefit from further optimization of their strategies, drawing inspiration from institutions such as London Business School.

5.2. Interviews with lecturers and students

Interviews with lecturers and students are an effective video marketing tool, focusing on the human side of the university. Such videos highlight not only scientific and teaching achievements, but also personal experiences and stories. Such content can build emotional bonds with current and future students and increase the university’s credibility and appeal.

This comparative analysis indicates that all the business universities analyzed – both the Polish institutions and London Business School – regularly publish interviews with faculty members and students. Such interviews effectively highlight both scientific achievements and student experiences, a common element that helps to build the image of the university as an academic institution of high standards.

Here again, London Business School clearly stands out in terms of content quality and the multilingual nature of its interviews, which contributes to its global success and wide reach. Polish universities, such as SGH, ALK, and UEW, are also well-rated, especially in terms of content quality and the availability of interviews in English, which helps them attract international students. UEK and UEP have room for improvement, particularly in terms of enhancing content quality and expanding their reach by publishing interviews in additional languages. Integrating these elements could strengthen their position on the international stage.

In summary, although Polish business universities demonstrate solid foundations in video marketing, there is still room for improvement in terms of content and language, which could bolster their competitive position in the global educational environment.

5.3. Recordings of cultural and scientific events

Recordings of cultural and scientific events are essential for building a university’s image as a dynamic and active academic center. Coverage of conferences, open days, festivals, and other events allows the university to be showcased in the context of its activities beyond strictly educational ones, which can increase interest from students, staff, and external partners.

This comparative analysis shows that all the analyzed business universities analyzed – both the Polish institutions and London Business School – actively participate in organizing and documenting conferences, open days, student festivals, and cultural events. All the universities conduct live broadcasts and provide online recordings of these events, which increases their accessibility and reach. London Business School and most Polish universities, including SGH, ALK, UEK, and UEW, actively participate in such campaigns, which strengthens their global presence and attracts international students. UEP, although active at the local level, does not engage in international campaigns, which may limit its reach and impact in the global education market. This shows that while UEP operates effectively at the national level, its development on the international stage may require additional efforts.

5.4. Short promotional videos highlighting the unique features and advantages of the university

Short promotional videos are an important tool in video marketing as they allow for the quick and effective presentation of a university’s unique features and advantages. They can effectively capture the attention of prospective students by showcasing the educational offerings, scientific achievements, and alumni successes in an appealing way.

Comparative analysis of this data indicates that all the business universities analyzed – both the Polish institutions and London Business School – effectively use video marketing to highlight their unique features, while maintaining consistency with the university’s image and dynamic narrative. However, differences emerge in terms of effectiveness in reaching a wide audience.

LBS yet again stands out significantly in terms of number of impressions, scoring very high, indicating its strong global position and reach. Among Polish universities, ALK achieves the highest number of impressions, suggesting that its video marketing strategy is more effective than those of SGH, UEK, UEP and UEW, which score only medium numbers of impressions.

In terms of the number of shares and community engagement, all of the universities analyzed, including LBS, have relatively low levels of engagement, which may indicate a need to better tailor video content to viewers’ preferences and expectations. The Polish business universities, in particular, could focus on improving the appeal of content to better engage viewers and encourage them to interact and share videos.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

Overall, this comparative analysis of video marketing at five leading Polish business schools and the London Business School (LBS) offers certain conclusions about the effectiveness of these activities and highlights areas for further development.

First, all of the universities analyzed make effective use of video marketing to showcase their campus, infrastructure and recreational spaces, which is key to building their image and attracting prospective students. SGH differentiates itself from other Polish universities by offering virtual walk-throughs of the campus, which increases accessibility and allows students to get an in-depth look at the university without being physically present. This approach is particularly attractive to international students, who can remotely tour the campus and learn about its facilities. London Business School, while not using virtual walk-throughs or bird’s-eye shots, focuses on using advanced technology and dynamic narratives in its videos. This strategy allows LBS to capture viewers’ attention on a global level and highlight its position as one of the world’s leading business schools.

Secondly, in terms of interviews with faculty and students, all universities regularly publish this kind of content, which is an important part of building relationships with audiences and showcasing academic achievements and student experiences. London Business School stands out for the highest quality content of these materials, which underscores its global prestige. In addition, LBS publishes interviews in multiple languages, which makes them more accessible to an international audience and allows it to attract students from different parts of the world. In Poland, SGH, ALK and UEW also offer interviews in English, which increases their international appeal. However, UEK and UEP only publish interviews in Polish, which may limit their global reach and prevent them from reaching a wider range of prospective international students.

Third, coverage of cultural and scientific events is well developed at all the universities analyzed. Both LBS and the Polish institutions analyzed provide live broadcasts of these events and ensure the availability of online records, which allows them to reach a wider audience, including those who could not attend live events. This practice increases the involvement of the academic community and highlights the university’s activity in organizing various cultural and scientific initiatives. It is also worth noting that participation in international campaigns is an important part of London Business School’s marketing strategy, which contributes to building its global brand and attracting students from all over the world. In Poland, SGH, ALK and UEW are also involved in such campaigns, which strengthens their international reach and prestige. However, UEP, while active at the national level, does not participate in international campaigns, which may limit its reach and ability to reach the global academic community. In the long term, this could affect its competitiveness in the international market and limit its ability to attract international students and partners.

Fourth, in terms of numbers of subscribers and social media reach, London Business School definitely stands out as a global leader, which is a testament to its effective marketing efforts and strong position in the education market. LBS effectively uses a variety of communication channels to reach a wide audience, which translates into very high results in terms of both the number of subscribers and reach. In Poland, ALK and UEW also score high in these areas, which demonstrates their ability to run effective marketing campaigns and build an engaged community around their brands. SGH, UEK and UEP, on the other hand, are performing at an average level, suggesting the need to intensify promotional activities in social media. Better content targeting and more intensified campaigns could help increase audience reach and engagement, which could consequently improve their position in the market.

Importantly, Polish universities such as UEK and UEP should consider publishing video materials in English and other foreign languages to increase their international reach. Increasing the number of multilingual materials could help attract more international students and partners. Additionally, UEP, which does not participate in international campaigns, could strengthen its international presence by engaging in such initiatives. Developments in this area could help increase the university’s visibility in the global marketplace and build its prestige. The other Polish universities, such as SGH, ALK and UEW, should continue their activities while intensifying their social media promotion, which would allow them to achieve better results in terms of number of subscribers and reach. Strengthening their online presence and increasing audience engagement could further increase their appeal in the international market. Developing these areas is crucial for strengthening the position of Polish universities in the global education market and for increasing their competitiveness in attracting international students and academic partners.

To further enhance the effectiveness of the video marketing efforts of Polish business universities, some key strategies are recommended:

1. Introducing more interactive content, such as live Q&A sessions, could significantly increase audience engagement. Interactive content allows direct communication with prospective students, answering their questions and concerns in real time, which can increase their engagement and trust in the university.
2. Regularly publishing new video content is key to keeping the academic community and college applicants interested and engaged. Updating content, especially in the context of rapidly changing market and technological conditions, keeps audiences informed of the university’s news and achievements.
3. Expanding reach by working with educational influencers and promoting video content on international social media platforms can help increase the university’s global visibility. Educational influencers can effectively promote the university to their many followers, which increases the reach and impact of marketing efforts. International social media platforms, such as YouTube and Instagram, allow a wide and diverse audience to be reached, which is especially important for recruiting international students.
4. Creating personalized video content targeting different audiences, such as college applicants, current students, alumni and business partners, can significantly improve the effectiveness of marketing communications. It would be worthwhile to expand video marketing efforts with prominent alumni and business leaders, hailing from the business university and co-creating its brand. Personalizing content allows the message to be better tailored to the specific needs and expectations of different audiences, which increases their engagement and satisfaction.

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Social media is a phenomenon that has modified the ways people around the world interact and communicate (Edosomwan et al., 2011). More than half of the world’s population (59.4%) use social media, making a total of 4.76 billion users, while in Poland it is 66,3% of the total — 27.5 million residents (DataReportal, 2023).

What has made social media so popular among users is convenience, enjoyment and access to information (Chai & Kim, 2012). Social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc., are an integral part of social media and one of the fastest-growing uses of the Internet today (Omar et al., 2014). Society uses social networks for entertainment, to create and maintain relationships, to connect with others with similar interests or hobbies, or to fill free time (Marino et al., 2016; Ryan et al., 2016). Nowadays, in many cases, social media are replacing traditional forms of communication such as calling or e-mailing (Sigurdsson et al., 2021). The data also show that social media are engaging users around the world, who spend an average of 2 hr and 31 min a day, while for Polish residents, it is 2 hr and 2 min (DataReportal, 2023). Social media users use their favourite platforms because they want to stay in touch with relatives and friends, fill their free time, read news, find interesting content and be up to date. Alongside these reasons, they indicate a desire to find shopping inspiration or just to make purchases (DataReportal, 2023). One of the tools used to respond to users’ purchasing needs is influencer marketing-an extremely popular type of advertising that uses an opinion leader-an influencer. It was chosen to concentrate on this form because 66% of consumers say they trust shopping recommendations from family, friends or influencers. At the same time, only 33% trust brand recommendations (Celestino, 2023).

Moreover, it is decided to focus on the beauty industry, because beautyrelated content is one of the biggest and fast-growing industries across all social media platforms (Van Kessel et al., 2019). Also, an analysis was performed on two-of the most relevant-social media platforms for the beauty field:

• YouTube, because according to the data, beauty-related videos (about makeup and cosmetics) are the most popular content category for females on YouTube (Petrov, 2023).
• Instagram, because there is the second largest number of beauty influencers on this platform (after those addressing lifestyle topics; Statista, 2021). Moreover, Instagram is one of the fastest-growing platforms with the highest engagement from social media users (Phua et al., 2017).

Furthermore, on both Instagram and YouTube, ‘makeup’ is the most used hashtag, which also indicates a huge interest in beauty topics (Geyser, 2022). Also, Instagram and YouTube are the most common combination of platforms for beauty influencers. The majority of beauty influencers are active on both platforms (Industry Report — Beauty Brands, n.d.). Taking into consideration, the aforementioned information and the literature review, the objective of the article was formulated, which is to compare consumers’ preferences towards activities and content, published by beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube platforms.

To achieve the objective, the paper was based on primary and secondary sources. The former was obtained through an empirical study, using a survey method, of a sample of 146 individuals. The latter included a review of scientific articles from the SCOPUS database, industry reports and articles.

Literature Review

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that allows brands to have commercial partnerships with selected social media influencers, thereby addressing the influencer’s community and the collaborating brand’s content (Lou & Yuan, 2019). Influencer marketing has become an indispensable part of digital marketing strategy that enables reaching out to target customers (Kim & Kim, 2021). According to the Influencer Marketing Hub report, the market of influencer marketing reached $16.4 billion in 2022, an increase of $2.6 billion (so 19%) compared with the previous year.

Influencers are individuals who are active on social media and influence their audience, fans, etc. through the content they add on social media platforms (Vodák et al., 2019). Beauty influencers focus specifically on creating beauty content and promoting beauty products or brands. Tran, Rosales and Copes define a beauty influencer as an aesthetic expert who provides teaching on topics of enhancement (life, health, style, etc.) and beautification practices (Tran et al., 2020).

Beauty influencers are eager to use social media platforms to share the content they create and to promote many of their own products as well as brands that collaborate with them. The beauty industry itself is worth a lot of money, and it is expected to increase from $420 billion in 2018 to $716.3 billion by 2025 (Roberts, 2022). The beauty industry on YouTube has grown, thanks to interesting personalities who engage their audiences. In 2019, there was an important event for the beauty industry when two popular beauty influencers, Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson, created a documentary series of beauty videos titled ‘The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star’, which achieved 152 million views on YouTube. The series resulted as the most significant customer engagement and the largest product launch in e-commerce history (Cowburn, 2022) with 2 million users queuing on the website to purchase the products promoted in the series (Weinlich & Semerádová, 2022). Another example is Instagram beauty influencer Kylie Jenner, who released her first product-lipsticks-called ‘LipKits’-and sold them out in minutes after announcing the launch on Instagram (Duboff, 2015). Kylie Jenner, who is the biggest beauty influencer in the world, is also in the second place (after Christiano Ronaldo) in terms of the number of followers on Instagram with 378 million (Instagram, January 2023).

Based on the mentioned examples, beauty topics are particularly popular and engaging for social media users. Researchers are also paying a lot of attention to the topic of social media (265,987 publications can be found in the SCOPUS database alone). However, considering the purpose of the article and the research gap, it was decided to narrow down the search results.

Table 1 presents a literature review based on the SCOPUS database. In order to search for relevant results, it was decided to use the following keywords: ((‘beauty influencer’ OR ‘beauty content’) AND ‘social media’). Initially, 18 results appeared. Then the results were reduced by branch criteria. Articles belonging to the categories of Business, Management and Accounting or Social Sciences were filtered out. Eventually, 14 articles were included for further analysis.

In the available literature, it is noticeable that the authors address the topic of influencer marketing in the beauty industry on social media in different contexts. Some researchers have concentrated on word-of-mouth marketing as a strategy for promoting brands (Fitriati et al., 2022; Yones & Muthaiyah, 2022), others as a potential determinant of SME resilience and competitiveness (Konstantopoulou et al., 2019). Some researchers concentrated on the influence of electronic word-of-mouth and perceived quality on purchase intention of beauty products (Rosara & Luthfia, 2020). Other papers focused on aspects of gender, such as exploring the topic of beauty in the context of plastic surgery for trans women (Zhang, 2022) or the level to which influencers show themselves in a sexualized manner in various roles (Devos et al., 2022). Previous studies have also examined the impact of beauty content on purchase intentions (Pangaribuan et al., 2019). Others have examined the level of consumer engagement with products (Rutter et al., 2021) or the reasons why users follow influencers (Tran et al., 2022). There was also a concentration on how the attitudes of beauty influencers influence repeat purchase decisions (Ayuaspharalinda & Tanuwidjaja, 2021). The authors also focused on ethical topics, examining transparency while influencers disclose information about advertised products and brands (Lee et al., 2022).

Several articles did not concentrate on a specific platform at all. The studies were conducted in the context of social media in general (Ayuaspharalinda & Tanuwidjaja, 2021; Tran et al., 2022; Zhang, 2022). One article focused its considerations on TikTok platform (Yones & Muthaiyah, 2022). Others approached the research only in the context of Instagram (Devos et al., 2022; Fitriati et al., 2022; Konstantopoulou et al., 2019; Pangaribuan et al., 2019; Rutter et al., 2021) or only on YouTube (Bishop, 2019; Dekavalla, 2022; Lee et al., 2022; Rosara & Luthfia, 2020). However, they did not put both platforms in one study. The exception was the research of Sokolova and Kefi’s (2020) who focused on those two, previously mentioned platforms; however, the paper concentrates on examining the para-social interaction (PSI) that the audience creates with an influencer online and how this influences purchase decisions. To do this, the authors based their study on four beauty influencers who are popular in France. The survey considered not only beauty but also fashion influencers. Also, all the studies have been conducted in foreign markets, mostly in Indonesia (Ayuaspharalinda & Tanuwidjaja, 2021; Fitriati et al., 2022; Indrawati et al., 2022; Pangaribuan et al., 2019; Rosara & Luthfia, 2020).

The literature review helped to reveal that the Instagram and YouTube platforms have not been studied in terms of consumer preferences for the preferred beauty content shared by influencers and the product categories that they are most interested in. Moreover, neither the study focused on the Polish market and addressed the topic of the behaviour nor preferences of Polish consumers in terms of the beauty industry. This lack of information indicates a research gap, which prompted the authors, to conduct the following study.

Research

Methodology

To fulfil the objective of this paper, a research design was prepared according to the following research questions:

RQ1: What are consumers’ preferences for content, published by beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube?
RQ2: What are the respondents’ preferences for beauty products recommended by beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube?
RQ3: How do respondents perceive beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube and how does it affect followers’ purchasing decisions?

Procedure

The study was conducted using a diagnostic survey method, with a questionnaire as the research tool, hosted on Microsoft Forms and distributed via the Internet. The process of collecting responses lasted from December 2022 to January 2023. The selection of individuals for the survey sample was based on a purposive selection scheme, in which the categories were the use of social media, particularly the Instagram and YouTube platforms. A total of 151 questionnaires were collected; however, due to not meeting the criteria, 5 questionnaires were rejected. Thus, a total of 146 questionnaires were taken into further consideration. Responses were given anonymously.

The questionnaires were divided into three parts. The first part is general questions directed at active social media users. The second part involved questions related to the Instagram platform for respondents who declared that they use it, and a sub-category of this part-question related to beauty influencers on Instagram. Analogous to the previous one was the last part, concerning the YouTube platform and then the perception of beauty influencers.

Sample characteristics

Most of the participants in the survey were women (73.5%). The largest group are the respondents who were aged between 19 years old and 27 years old (76.8%), followed by young people between 12 years old and 18 years old (13.2%), then people who were aged between 28 years old and 42 years old (6.6%). The smallest group are the respondents who were aged between 43 years old and 57 years old (33%). In terms of occupational status, the survey mainly involved those declaring themselves to be university or school students — 91.4% and the rest were people who work. The sample was dominated by respondents who lived in large cities, with over 500,000 residents (536%). The others lived mainly in villages (172%) and mediumsized towns with a population between 50,001 and 200,000 (126%). The fewest number of respondents lived in small towns with a population of up to 50,000 residents (93%) and those who lived in large towns with a population between 150,001 and 500,000 residents (73%).

Results

The first question, in the general part of the questionnaire, required to identify the one social media platform that respondents use most frequently. The largest group chose Instagram (36.4%), followed by TikTok (19.9%) and Facebook Messenger (19.2%). The others indicated YouTube (14.4%), Facebook (5.5%) and WhatsApp (1.4%) as their favourite platform. The rest chose the answer ‘other’, indicating Twitter, Telegram and Snapchat here (0.7% each of additional responses).

The second question asked respondents to estimate how much time they spend on average on social media per day. The average was 3 hr and 38 min (SD = 1.96).

The next question allowed respondents to indicate their three favourite social media topic categories. The study found that it was mainly lifestyle (39%), entertainment (38%) and beauty (32%).

The next question referred to the Instagram platform. Thus, only people who use it participated in this part (n = 136). Instagram users declare that they use Instagram an average of 12.8 times per day (SD = 17.77) and spend on average 1 hr and 42 min on the app each day (SD = 1.22).

About 87% said they follow influencers on Instagram. Those who do were asked if they follow beauty influencers. A total of 100 respondents declared that they follow beauty influencers on Instagram.

Respondents, who are active on YouTube, were asked the same questions as with Instagram. Only those who use YouTube answered questions about this app (n = 131). YouTube users say, they use the platform 4.6 times a day (SD = 5.33) and spend an average of 2 hr and 10 min on it daily (SD = 3.36). About 91.6% of respondents said they follow influencers on YouTube. Those 120 people who gave a positive answer were asked if they also follow beauty influencers on YouTube. About 84.1% answered affirmatively. Therefore, 102 people answered further questions about the YouTube platform.

Table 2 presents the preferred types of content published by beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube. Respondents were asked to rank this content in the order from 1 (most favourite) to 10 (least favourite). They had the following types of content to choose from when ranking:

A – Tutorial videos
B – Product reviews
C – Shopping haul
D – Unboxing
E – Testing products of various brands
F – Comparison of the same products from different brands
G – Videos with invited guests
H – Review of the latest products
I – Promotional videos of own-brand products
J – Promotional videos about the products of the brands the influencer works with

Then a weighted mean value was calculated showing the degree of importance of each quantity, according to the respondents’ preferences.
The lower the value of the measure, the more the respondent prefers a particular type of content. The results are presented in Table 2.

Most respondents mainly prefer to view product reviews on Instagram (2.82%) and then tutorials (4.13%). On the other hand, the fewest number of respondents are interested in promotional videos of the influencer’s own products (7.47%) or a collaborative brand (8.66%) as their favourite type of content. In terms of respondents’ favourite content viewed on the YouTube platform, similar to Instagram, were product reviews (2.95%) and next tutorial videos (3.54%). Again, most consumers were least likely to indicate promotional videos about the products of the brands the influencer works with (8.23%) and videos about influencers’ brands (7.56%).

In the next section, respondents again ranked, but in this case, they decided which beauty products were their most (1) and least (7) favourite in content posted by beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube. Respondents had the following types of content to choose from when ranking:

A – Makeup products
B – Facial care cosmetics
C – Body care cosmetics
D – Hair care cosmetics
E – Hair styling cosmetics
F – Nail products
G – Beauty accessories

Then, similarly to the previous question, a weighted average value was calculated showing the degree of importance of each quantity according to the respondents’ preferences. The lower the value of the measure, the more the respondent prefers a particular type of content. The results are presented in Table 3.

Favourite beauty products in consumers’ feeds on Instagram are primarily facial care products (2.17%). Slightly fewer respondents indicated makeup products (2.44%). The last choice for consumers on Instagram were beauty accessories (5.43%) and nail products (5.43%). For the YouTube platform, respondents primarily pointed to makeup products (1.93%). The second most popular product category was facial care products (2.50%). As with Instagram, beauty accessories were the least popular.

The final part of the survey attempted to explore how respondents perceive beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube. For this purpose, a 5-point Likert scale has been applied, with which consumers could assess the extent to which they agree with the given statement. Table 4 compares the two platforms: Instagram (IG) and YouTube (YT). Only Instagram users responded to the statements (n = 100), and the same is the case of YouTube (n = 102).

Over half of Instagram users say they trust their favourite beauty influencers on Instagram (55.2% trust and 5.7% definitely trust). By contrast, on YouTube, 42.6% say they trust influencers and 18.5% say they definitely trust them. On Instagram, 9.2% do not trust their favourite beauty influencers, and 5.6% simply do not trust them. Overall, slightly more than one-fifth of respondents do not trust influencers on YouTube (14.8% of viewers disagreed with the statement in Table 4, and 5.6% strongly disagreed).

In the second affirmative given in Table 4, the audience was asked if they agreed with the statement that beauty influencers are the first source of information when they want to purchase a product. About 43.7% of Instagram users agreed with the statement, while 5.7% strongly agreed. In contrast, Instagram users answered rather positive (42.6%) and strongly positive (18.5%). Very similar results were noted in the case of negative attitudes to the given statement, for 9.2% of Instagram users and 9.3% of YouTube beauty influencers are definitely not the first source of product information, and for 29.9% Instagram and 25.9% YouTube consumers are rather not.

Another statement focused on purchasing issues, specifically whether beauty influencers influence followers’ purchasing decisions. The study found that for both platforms they do. About 46% of Instagram viewers declare that beauty influencers rather influence their purchasing decisions, and for 11.5% they definitely do. In the case of YouTube audiences, 35.2% of respondents are rather under the influence and 16.7% definitely are affected by influencers when it comes to purchasing from beauty influencers’ recommendations.

Responses to the last statement were quite divided. About 34.5% of Instagram users tend to agree with the statement: ‘beauty influencers on Instagram are credible’. In contrast, 25.3% think quite the opposite, while 28.7% have a neutral opinion on the issue. Meanwhile, in the context of trusting beauty influencers on YouTube, 29.6% rather trust them, 24.1% rather do not, and 27.8% do not particularly have an opinion.

Discussion

The objective of the paper is to compare consumers’ preferences towards activities and content, published by beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube platforms. The study showed similarities between consumer preferences for content. On both Instagram and YouTube, consumers are most likely to watch product reviews, and secondly tutorials. On the other hand, they least prefer advertising content, such as product promotional videos of brands the influencer works with and promotional content of his own products. This may be because promotional content is increasingly associated with advertisements, and consumers realize that such videos are aimed at profit and selling specific products. Reviews, on the other hand, respond to the needs of consumers, who see value in these videos for themselves, they might get an opinion on a product they are interested in, e.g., some particular cosmetics.

Meanwhile, taking into consideration the product preferences of respondents, some differences were noted between the platforms discussed. Favourite products in the beauty category for Instagram users are primarily facial care products and secondarily makeup products. These two categories are also the most popular on YouTube, with the difference being that makeup products were the primary choice and facial care the secondary choice. Given the high popularity of tutorials and makeup products, it can be assumed that Internet users are learning how to apply makeup from beauty influencers.

The survey also showed that both Instagram and YouTube users perceive beauty influencers rather positively. In both cases, most of the consumers trust their favourite influencers, but they do not always feel the same way about beauty influencers in general. In this case, opinions were mainly spread between rather negative, neutral and rather positive. Respondents also mostly declared that influencers on both Instagram and YouTube are the first source of information when they want to purchase a beauty product, and most often the mentioned influencers later affect their purchasing decisions. Such results show that influencers are opinion leaders and have a real impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions.

Conclusions

The study fulfilled the purpose of the article and answered the research questions. However, the conducted survey had some limitations, such as non-random nature of respondent’s selection and a relatively small sample size. Therefore, it is difficult to generalize the results of this research. Nonetheless, it is hoped that the presented article can expand the knowledge of buyers’ perception towards influencers. In the future, it would certainly be worthwhile to overcome these limitations. Moreover, future research could focus on other social media platforms, such as TikTok, which has recently become incredibly popular, especially among teens and young adults.

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The transition of the 20th into the 21st century is a period of many significant and often revolutionary changes related to or initiated by the spread of information technology. The main carrier of these changes was the emergence of the Internet and the possibility of direct, single- or multi-person communication and direct interaction. The digital economy is changing the realities of marketing communications, its forms, the palette of available tools and subsequent breakthroughs in the areas of elationship building, sales and advertising. These challenges are considered in numerous academic publications (Mazurek & Tkaczyk, 2016; Gregor & Kaczorowska-Spychalska, 2018; Bartosik-Purgat, 2019; Wiktor & Sanak-Kosmowska, 2021). With the emergence of social media, Internet participants gained the opportunity for creative expression, exchange of experiences, and creation of original content, with almost no restrictions.It follows that users familiar with the usage of Internet-based technologies were the main source from which the newly emergent Internet-based business models at the time derived their principal utility and value, and in particular the emergence of the advent of social-media-based marketing gave rise to a new generation of businesses that typically channelised a significant portion of their revenue from avid social-media users. Internet users, especially on social media, became both receivers and creators of the offered value. Their influence on consumer decisions remains unquestionable today-from simple decisions related to choosing a restaurant, a book to read or a museum worth visiting in a given location, or booking a specific destination for a business trip or family vacation; to decisions that change economic, social and political reality, such as shaping beliefs and decisions in parliamentary or presidential elections. Creators using the Internet have thus become another source of information, competing for consumers’ attention with professional information services, trade media and the so-called ‘reliable sources of information’. This is due to the premises mentioned above, namely dissemination and development of digital technologies, including mobile technologies. In addition, the opportunity to contact and learn about the opinions and experiences of people similar to oneself, i.e. ordinary people constituting users of the Internet and social media, possibly from one’s own or a related interest group, has gained importance (Kaczorowska-Spychalska, 2020).

Regulatory Forces in a Creative Environment

User-generated content (UGC) is typically created voluntarily. In other words, it is not paid for by its creators. Creative expression can take many forms, given the available and growing opportunities to share knowledge, news, creativity and activities of all kinds. Digital creators express themselves mainly through photos/images on platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat; and through video formats using TikTok, YouTube and Vine. They publish their advice, opinions, comments and analyses not only in virtual spaces dedicated to longer forms, such as blogs, but also in the form of shorter statements and updates on commonly visited social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Quora. The mentioned activities do not exhaust all possible forms of expression. In the area of content creation, it is also worth mentioning the publication of reviews, e.g. on Amazon or TripAdvisor, comments and content within sharing platforms such as Uber or Airbnb, crowdfunding activities, e.g. on the Kickstarter platform, or contributing to the content forming part of Wikipedia. The quality of posted content is increasingly subject to scrutiny, although it is essential to keep in mind that both the subject matter and the medium’s specifics will influence the message’s final reception. However, as previous studies have shown, reviews posted online by independent community members are usually consistent with expert opinions (Luca, 2015). It is worth noting that the Internet environment, especially the space allowing for the creation of independent content by individual creators, is increasingly subject to the activities of companies, politicians and other centres wishing to exert influence through the mass formulation of opinions. This involves not only activities that stimulate interest in a given issue, company or politician, such as generating posts or comments on request, and paying for promotional activities using, for example, influencers or influential experts, but also unethical activities of these entities such as fake reviews. Their scale may be difficult to estimate. A study by Luca and Zerwas (2016) analysed over 316,000 reviews of restaurants operating in the Boston area using an algorithm developed by Yelp. They identified 16% of the reviews flagged as suspicious by the algorithm. This takes on particular significance because previously published content influences subsequent publications and their tone. A study by Muchnik, Aral, and Taylo (2013), which analysed content published on a platform with the ability to rate articles by voting, showed that information with positive votes increased the likelihood of attracting subsequent positive votes by 32% (Luca, 2015). On the other hand, we have all kinds of ‘distortions’ in the visibility of published content resulting from the content sharing algorithm imposed by social media platforms. The algorithm and the criteria that are taken into account play a key role in selecting the content displayed and ultimately determining what content among all the content published will be seen by the users of the platforms (Skorus, 2020). According to Instagram’s Head of Product, only half of the content published by profiles, including brand profiles, is visible to those who follow those profiles (https://influmarketing.pl/ algorytm-instagrama-2021-duzo-nowej-wiedzy-od-samego-instagrama/, 2022). Additionally, often the exact workings of the algorithm are not made public, other than what areas of publishing activity are considered in the construction of the algorithm. In June 2021, the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, published an article that closely examines how content display mechanisms work on Instagram. The article begins with the sentence, ‘It’s hard to trust what you don’t understand.’ (Mosseri, 2021). Changes in the display of content on the Instagram platform are presented in Table 1. Raychoudhury (2022), Meta’s Vice President and Head of Research, argues-in his article published on Meta’s corporate portal-against the growing voices that have pointed out that social media algorithms exercise a significant, and even predominant, influence on the already-ascendant polarisation of society and the formation of information bubbles. The article emphasises that the contribution of social media to the phenomena described is much more complex, and the mainstream media play a more significant role in disinformation. A 2019 study conducted by Nielsen on a sample of more than 25,000 respondents found that only 9% of consumers are confident of the impartiality of the algorithms behind the so-called social media feed (Cigionline.org, 2020).

Is Influencer Marketing a Solution?

Since doubts prevail widely concerning the veracity of the information made available through social media platforms in particular and the Internet in general, several areas of the economy and multiple facets of its operation, especially businesses whose primary marketing modus operandi involves using an online mode of information propagation, are faced with the crises of loss of trust, and credibility being called into question; such a situation poses a significant challenge that could be potentially overcome by running an online campaign explaining ‘things from the enterprise’s point of view’. (Pasek, 2018). In their case, effective communication is one of the critical factors in building brand awareness on the market, and reliable information is also a tool to build a true identity of the company. Companies exposed, on the one hand, to the activities of unfair competition and demanding customers and, on the other hand, to difficult-to-predict changes in algorithms affecting the visibility of published content began to see the benefits of working with influencers. These are individuals who, as a result of their activity on the Internet, have gained the trust of their observers, thus becoming influential persons, especially about purchasing decisions and attitudes of buyers towards brands, or more broadly defined, ideas. These are known as influencers because they are people who formulate specific opinions and influence their recipients with the content they create, typically through selected channels on social media. The idea of brand ambassadors is nothing new. The first-known ambassador was Queen Charlotte, who represented the Queen’s Ware line of Wedgwood brand back in the 18th century. Recommendations from well-known and respected personalities have effectively influenced consumer choices for centuries. The turn of the 20th century, ushering in the development of technology, introduced the possibility of mass communication; and the advantages of television, radio and newspaper advertising addressed at a large audience became a much more practical solution for entrepreneurs, with regard especially to the wide-range of communication possibilities offered by these new media. It was not until the advent of the Internet and a turn away from traditional media, especially among the younger generation, that companies again began to see the potential of non-standard solutions, including the potential of influencers who combined all the features of former brand ambassadors with the high reach of mass media. It is worth noting that 2021 in Poland was characterised by the advantage of online advertising over TV advertising, amounting to 42.7% and 42.4%, respectively. The remaining 14.9% of the advertising market consisted of radio advertising (7.4%), outdoor advertising (3.8%), magazines and dailies (total 3.1%) and cinema advertising (0.6%) (https://interaktywnie.com/biznes/newsy/biznes/rynek-reklamowy-wpolscewiekszy-niz-przed-pandemia-na-czele-reklama-online-261981, 2022). If we additionally consider the activity of Internet users in blocking online ads and the phenomenon of the so-called banner blindness (https://www.emarketing.pl/reklama-internetowa/slepota-banerowa-dlaczego-internauci-ignoruja-reklamy/, 2022), then influencer marketing seems to be an attractive solution for the institution of an effective mechanism for brand propagation.

The estimated value of the influencer marketing market in 2022 will reach $15 billion. Considering the 2019 market value of $9 billion, there is a great interest in this kind of activity in the world (https://raportstrategiczny.iab.org.pl/raport/influencer-marketing/, 2022). Also, in Poland, cooperation with influencers is becoming increasingly popular. The LTTM network paid out US$ 42 million to influencers, and the estimates of the value of the influencer market in Poland on the Instagram platform increased from US$ 18.7 million in 2019 to US$ 22.7 million in 2020 (https://raportstrategiczny.iab.org.pl/raport/influencer-marketing/, 2022). Unfortunately, the influencer marketing market in Poland is not researched in terms of advertising expenses dedicated to cooperation with influencers, and thus it is difficult to say what percentage of the advertising pie these activities represent. It is especially worth emphasising that brandrelated activities and recommendations of influencers enjoy a maximum of 71% trust so far as consumers are concerned, whereas trust above 80% is only achieved by recommendations of friends (89%) and by the brand’s website (84%). On the other hand, advertising activities on the Internet do not enjoy a high level of trust among Internet users. Banner ads are distrusted by 38% of them, social media and search engine ads are distrusted by 36% of respondents, 34% of Internet users consider ads on mobile devices to be untrustworthy and 33% of Internet users consider online videos to be untrustworthy (https://annualmarketingreport.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/pdf/full_report_1649855483_4140011690.pdf, 2022). In addition to the issues of trust and changes in media consumption, including traditional media, mainly among the young audience, who typically tend to belong to generation Z, significant is the phenomenon of the emergence of solid ties between the influencer and his audience. According to the Nielsen report, especially in the last 2 years, a period associated with the pandemic and very often the need to physically restrict social contact, the relationship between influencers and their followers has grown significantly, and influencers themselves began to be seen as one of the most reliable sources of information about brands and sales channels. Indeed, the source of this success, particularly the bonds built, is the perception of influencers as ‘people from the neighbourhood’. Influencers who do not belong to the category of ‘celebrity influencers’ are usually ordinary Internet users who share their passions and daily choices and regularly report on events in their lives. What is particularly attractive is that the influencer market is very diverse, making it possible to choose a specific influencer in terms of the desired topic and the reach or number of followers. Any brand can work with an influencer, even brands with small advertising budgets. The popularity arising from the results achieved is not only mega influencers with several million followers or celebrity influencers with similar reach but also micro or nano influencers who are followed by a smaller audience. According to Omnicore data, for every $1 invested in influencer marketing activities on Instagram, marketers reach $5.20 (https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/, 2022). It makes this marketing activity worth considering and including in the brand’s promotional mix. Of course, influencers can only influence their audience if they can both gain and maintain their attention (Hearn & Schoenhoff, 2015).

Methodology

In order to identify the impact of algorithms on the freedom and effectiveness of social media communication, it was decided to conduct a narrative literature review. In addition to the methodology of a systematic literature review, a narrative review of the literature is applied, especially in cases where there are few scientific papers on the topic under study (Rozkwitalska, 2016). Establishing the state of knowledge in the research subject up to the present time is important for conducting empirical studies and creating new knowledge (Czakon, 2015). It should be mentioned that by effectiveness, the author means the message’s visibility to the social media user and not its persuasive function. For this purpose, the Web of Science database was searched using the words and phrases ‘algorithm’ or ‘algorithms’ or ‘filter bubble’ or ‘algorithmic power’ and ‘Instagram’ and ‘marketing’ and ‘social media’ and ‘influencer’, considering all search fields. The decision to choose the words ‘marketing’ and ‘Instagram’ was dictated by the specificity of the analysed issue, which should refer to marketing activities using the most popular influencer marketing platform. Research shows that most marketers (89%) and consumers (65%) indicate the Instagram platform as the most popular choice for influencer marketing activities and influencer followings (https://www.fourstarzz.com/post/instagram-influencer-marketing, 2022). Instagram is also indicated as the platform of choice by 78% of marketers worldwide for influencer marketing activities (https://www.tractionwise.com/ wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Industry-Report-2021-Final.pdf, 2022). The author then narrowed the results to articles in peer-reviewed journals in behavioural sciences, communication, business and economics and narrowed the date range from 2016, when Instagram abandoned the chronological display of content, to the present. The results were then narrowed to publications in English, yielding 12 articles. As a result of the content analysis, eight articles were rejected due to the lack of references to the Instagram platform and lack of relevance to the issue under study.

Discussion

The final analysis was conducted on four articles. In them, the authors draw attention to the invisible influence of algorithms on social media activities (Cotter, 2019) and the peculiar game that content creators seem to be playing, in which identifying the ‘rules’ of algorithms is fundamental. Cotter (2019) calls this the ‘visibility game’ while pointing out the significant role of influencers in working out visibility rules, which can guide brands and help identify behaviours that improve publication visibility. Algorithms significantly impact the visibility of communications and mainly influence the structure of experiences and social realities on social media, although not necessarily user behaviour (Cotter, 2019). Influencers, as people who care about visibility and reaching their followers, place great importance on collecting information about how algorithms work: they read expert blogs, participate in discussions and collect examples of actions. Research by Cotter (2019) shows that influencers are mainly interested in two areas of information: information that reveals what influences the visibility of communication (such as the choice of hashtags, ideas for building engagement or the times and frequency of publication) and what are the acceptable boundary behaviours (such as what is perceived as spam, or what tools are acceptable to use by the Instagram platform). It includes the phenomenon of shadowbanning, which involves limiting the visibility of posts due to violating the platform’s rules, virtually blocking the reaching of new audiences and expanding the reach of posts (Cotter, 2021). Certainly, influencers, for whom visibility is one of their primary activities, based on their experiences, see in advance and recognise signals of censorship, discrimination or unequal application of policies (Cotter, 2021). Gaenssle and Budzinski (2019) refer to the algorithm as part of effectively serving advertising messages to the most tailored audience. The authors show the algorithm discussed so far in a different context as a supportive tool for optimising corporate advertising spending. They emphasise the importance of experience in dealing with algorithms that determine the visibility of content for web developers. They also point out that experience resulting from time spent on the platform and constant experimentation to improve content visibility become factors that build an influencer’s expert position and create a barrier to entry for new creators. Gaenssle and Budzinski (2019) refer, like Cotter, to the notion of a ‘game’ while emphasising that winning (in this case with an algorithm or a recommender system) can create a snowball effect and improve the visibility of a given influencer. O’Meara (2019), on the other hand, refers to the problem of algorithms influencing the working conditions of digital creators by identifying ‘worker resistance’ activities. As an example, he gives bottom-up constituted groups, providing each other support by giving likes, shares, mentions and comments, which are measures of engagement. Engagement is a crucial element of the algorithm on the Instagram platform. Unlike Cotter, who presents a ‘game’ approach to visibility that assumes a rather individual and even expert dimension, the author sees visibility efforts on the platform as a collective effort by a specific community. One of the effects achieved by influencers by engaging in ‘engagement pods’ is also the professional building of an audience base that attracts brands interested in cooperation and improves the influencer’s negotiating position when establishing the terms of advertising cooperation with an interested company. However, these activities also face criticism from influencers who see them as fraud (O’Meara, 2019).

Conclusion

There are still many open questions and issues in the field of influencer marketing that need to be explored or verified. The social impact of the content generated by Internet users, especially by influencers, is gaining importance. Influencers are becoming a kind of ‘creative enterprise’ by transforming their activity and presence on social media platforms into a product consumed by the acquired audience and as an advertising medium for advertisers (O’Meara, 2019). To what extent can activities using social influence enter the canon of marketing tools and contribute to generating recognisable and comparable effects? Indeed, by observing the activities of social platforms, we can see efforts being made to impose specific rules for publishing and serving content that is shared not only by brands but also by digital creators. The shift from chronological publishing of materials shared by profiles to mechanisms serving photos and videos according to a planned scheme is supposed to, on the one hand, improve the visibility of valuable content, but, on the other hand, it introduces many conditions to be met. Additionally, the visibility of observed profiles was reduced by serving in the news not only content published by observed profiles but also ads and sponsored content. Considering the time users spend browsing Instagram, published posts compete for attention with advertising and sponsored posts. A review of the changes that took place in the algorithm and content ranking mechanisms on Instagram, especially the changes introduced after 2020, further indicates the great importance of creating thoughtful and consistent content. In this dimension, better results can be observed by influencers with a clearly defined profile of activity. Influencers whose activity is diverse may face difficulties in reaching a broad audience. The issue under discussion and the method used have some limitations. Changes related to algorithms are being made all the time, and information about them is not widely available. The literature analysis conducted also has its limitations. A review of other databases could identify additional scientific publications for analysis. The number of articles referring to the issue in question remains small and raises the need for further research that could provide answers to additional questions. To what extent does the visibility of content moderated by algorithms affect aspects of consumer perception and behaviour and brand image? How can knowledge of algorithms among influencers determine their negotiating position with brands?

What are the implications of the above considerations for brand owners? Online marketing is one of the technology trends impacting marketing and online sales (Trzmielak & Zehner, 2018). Advertised and suggested posts appearing in the news can be successfully used to improve the visibility of the brand profile or promoted content. On the other hand, openly reaching out to the community of influencers and presenting the brand as a perpetually improving continuum that has arisen and is being maintained as an outcome of cooperation between its creators and the providers of feedback on the various digital platforms is a chance to build engaging content and context in which to display the brand among an interested audience. However, bearing in mind the limitations described above, when deciding to work with an influencer, it is worthwhile to pay attention to the profile of their activity, especially its consistency and uniformity, in addition to several essential criteria such as reach, audience profile, engagement of followers and authenticity of the influencer. It would help if managers also considered to what extent the cooperation with an influencer will be an essential element of the brand’s promotional mix.

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With increasing prevalence, social networking platforms are being used by consumers for two-way communication, not only to connect with their friends and family but increasingly to connect with brands. This gives rise to a need for research enabling us to better understand consumers’ motives for engaging in social media communication, exploring why people like fanpages and write comments and posts on social media sites. Research is also needed to examine the various opportunities brands have to understand and possibly influence consumers’ behavior and actions. Much of the existing research has focused on understanding the impact of social media usage on consumer buying behavior (Nash, 2018; Hollebeek & Solem, 2017; Naylor & Lamberton, West, 2012; Erkan & Evans, 2016a; Gunawan& Huarng, 2015; Park, Lee& Han, 2007) with a particular emphasis on eWOM (Chu & Choi, 2011, Erkan & Evans, 2016b; Wolny & Mueller, 2013; Wang, Yu & Wei, 2012). While it is undoubtedly useful for brands to know this, it should be of interest to both academics and practitioners to gain a better understanding of what motivates consumers to engage in communication activities on social networks, and how brands can encourage or discourage such behaviors, which may later lead to purchase.

Social media platforms are nowadays one of the most important communication channels utilized by clothing brands (Bruhn, Schoenmueller & Schafer, 2012; Mangold & Faulds, 2009). This is primarily due to their popularity, the possibility of two-way communication (interacting directly with customers) and the ability to communicate using visual content. The last factor is particularly important for the fashion industry. It has been said that social media has become the most important runway for the fashion industry (Apparel Industry, 2010). The power and influence of social media on fashion industry is undoubted (Ahmad, Salman & Ashiq, 2015). Social media has become one of the most popular tools which creates a link between fashion brand and the consumer. This link not only gives a boost to purchase intentions but also increases two-way communication (Thackeray et al., 2008; Sashi, 2012). Social media platforms are also very valuable tools for consumers. Customers from the clothing industry use social media in their purchase process in several ways. They observe, add clothing brand profiles to friends, gather information about products, look for discounts and information about new collections and trends (Rajapaksha & Dk, 2019). They treat social media as a source of information and recommendations on clothing products (Chu & Kim, 2011). Opinions of other people and other consumers published in social media are one of the most important sources of information about clothing products.

Social media are particularly important in the context of young consumers belonging to “Generation Z” — the digital generation that lives simultaneously online and offline, spending about 4 hours daily online, mostly on social media platforms (Stachowiak-Krzyżan& Ankiel, 2019; Nask, 2019). Generation Z is one of the most numerous and active groups of social media users, they are called ‘digital era leaders’ (Berg, 2017). Young people belong to the target group of many clothing brands in the fast-fashion segment. The fast-fashion phenomenon has revolutionized the clothing industry over the past decade (Gabrielli, Baghi& Codeluppi, 2013). Fast-fashion consumption is predicated on a desire for instant gratification and affordable items with short product life cycle (McNeill & Venter, 2018). Research suggests that this phenomenon is particularly salient amongst young female consumers, who have little awareness of the social impact of their fashion consumption, but exhibit the highest levels of demand for new fashion products (Morgan & Birtwistle, 2009). Young people through their outfit express meanings about oneself and create an identity (McNeill & Moore, 2015). Fashion is psychologically central to teenagers in their self-evaluation and fashion facilitates social inclusion and avoidance of bullying and self-confidence (Isaksen & Roper, 2012). For young people personal appearance and body image are crucial (Ceballos & Bejarano, 2018; Jurgensen & Guesalaga, 2017). Young consumers demonstrate a desire to keep abreast of the latest product and brand trends. Generation Z have noteworthy purchasing power (Su & Tong, 2018; Parker, Hermans & Schaefer, 2004). Their purchasing decisions regarding clothing are often influenced by influencers or idols (Majkrzak & Salerno-Kochan, 2016).

The purpose of this article is to analyze consumers’ interactions with fast-fashion brands on social networking platforms, focusing on consumers’ motives for engagement in fashion brands communication activities realized in social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube. We use Principle Component Analysis to identify the critical factors determining the involvement of Polish representatives of Generation Z in clothing brand profiles, the main assumptions held by the survey participants regarding the clothing brands’ motives for being present and active on social media platforms, the types of the “best” social media activities conducted by clothing brand.

Conceptual background

Consumer involvement in fashion

The starting point for the development of the concept of customer engagement was the concept of relationship marketing, based on satisfaction and loyalty and building long-term relationships (Baird & Parasnis, 2011; Sashi 2012). Consumer involvement is perceived as consumer activity in relation to the company (Kumar et al., 2010; Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek, Beatty, Morgan 2012). If the consumer’s relationship with the given company is satisfying and based on emotional ties, this leads to the higher level: consumer commitment. The roots of the concept of consumer involvement should be sought in the psychology and theory of organizational behavior (Hollebeek, 2011; Brodie et al., 2013).

Consumer involvement is a multi-dimensional concept. Most often, in the literature, it is presented as a measure of the company’s activity (Kumar et al., 2010; Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek, Beatty & Morgan, 2012). Customer activity is considered in terms of purchases made, incentives directed to the customer, customer conversations about the brand (e.g. in social media) and feedback from the consumer to the company, containing suggestions for changes, in order to improve the level of services provided or product improvement (Zomerdijk, Voss 2010).

Kumar and Pansai (2017) see consumer involvement as a mechanism of influence in the process of creating added value for the company by the customer via his or her direct or indirect participation. Direct participation of the consumer in the creation of added value for the company consists of purchases made by customers, while indirect participation consists of recommendations, consumer conversations about the brand as well as customer feedback and suggestions for the company.

Fashion involvement may be understood as an attachment between consumer and fashion clothing or a relationship between consumer and brand (Su & Tong 2018). Fashion clothing is commonly considered a highinvolvement product category (Su & Tong, 2018; Naderi, 2013; Vieria, 2009; O’Cass, 2004), because of its symbolic, expressive or emotional meaning (Miller-Spillman, Reilly, Hunt-Hurst, 2012; O’Cass, 2000).

Fashion involvement refers to the extent of interest in fashion products and the amount of time, money, and attention spent on fashion products (Park, Kim & Forney, 2006). Fashion involvement can be defined by the combined impact of several important fashion-related behaviors: fashion innovativeness and time of purchase, fashion interpersonal communication, fashion interest, fashion knowledgeability, fashion awareness and reacting to changing fashion trends (Tiger, Ring & King, 1976). Fashion involvement is stronger when a product can satisfy valuable utilitarian and hedonic goals, and generate interest, enthusiasm and excitement (Khare, Mishra & Parveen, 2012). Research has shown that consumers differ in their level of involvement in fashion consumption, with younger consumers exhibiting a higher level of fashion involvement than older consumers (O’Cass, 2004). This causes them to perceive fashion consumption as highly substantial to their self-worth; moreover, they are often fashion innovators or opinion leaders among their peers (O’Cass, 2000; Ogle, Hyllegard & Yan, 2014).

Social media as a tool to engage consumers

Social media is defined as a group of online and offline applications that allow for the exchange of user-generated content including the exchange of knowledge and opinions (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). There is a variety of such online information-sharing social media platforms, including social networking platforms (e.g. Facebook), content-sharing platforms (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik-Tok), collaborative websites (e.g. Wikipedia) and microblogging platforms (e.g. Twitter, Tumblr) (Yannopoulou at al., 2019). Nowadays, almost every single company promotes its products or services on social media in some way.

Facebook brand pages have become one of the first channels through which consumers are able to interact with brands in a direct way, by liking, sharing or commenting on brands’ posts and messages (Machado, Antunes & Miranda, 2018). With the emergence of new social networking platforms (e.g. Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik-Tok, Snapchat and others), their importance in the context of building customer engagement grew (Niyonkomezi & Kwamboka, 2020; Weitz & Einwiller, 2018;

Miranda, Antunes & Machado, 2016). The like, share and comment features of social media allow anyone to easily interact with a brand. A single brand post can receive thousands of comments from social media sites users all over the world who interact with the brand and other users, providing a platform for dialogue from which information and feedback can be easily obtained. Social-media-using consumers can increasingly integrate and act as co-creators of brand messages. They have a great opportunity to engage and actively participate in communication on the brand’s pages on social media. These actions strengthen consumers’ ties with brands, turning them into committed fans (Niyonkomezi & Kwamboka, 2020).

More and more research is being done in the context of consumer engagement in social media. Previous studies in the field of customer engagement in brand communities have focused mostly on the consequences of engagement, including concepts of satisfaction (Bowden 2009), commitment and emotional attachment to the brand (Chan & Li, 2010), empowerment (Cova & Pace, 2006; Fuller et al., 2009), consumer value (Gruen et al., 2006; Schau et al., 2009), trust (Casalo et al., 2007; Hollebeek, 2011) and loyalty (Andersen, 2005; Casalo et al., 2007). Currently, various measures are used to explore and gauge consumer engagement. Most often, researchers use the likes, shares and comments index (Vries, Gensler & Leeflang, 2012; Cvijiki & Michahelles, 2013).

The main aim of this study, therefore, was to identify the role and importance of content published on social media platforms on the purchasing decisions made by young consumers (Generation Z) in the fastfashion clothing market in Poland. More specifically, we set out to study the activity of Generation Z in social media in the context of decisions to purchase clothing, in particular:

• what activity representatives of Generation Z display on the profiles of clothing brands in social media;
• key determinants of Generation Z’s involvement in the profiles of clothing brands in social media;
• key assumptions held by Generation Z representatives regarding the presence of clothing brands in social media.

Study and methods

We empirically examined the behavior of young consumers of Generation Z in the context of their use of social media in making purchasing decisions in the fast-fashion market in Poland, using the facetoface interview method, in the period from June 2017 to January 2018. After an initial assessment, 1,000 correctly completed questionnaires were accepted for further analysis. The research tool was an interview questionnaire prepared and verified in piloting. The measuring instrument consisted of 24 questions, including 6 demographic questions. The survey was anonymous and primarily consisted of closed-end, matrix and ranking questions. In addition, the interview questionnaire contained questions requesting information about the responders’ demographic, economic and social characteristics (including sex, age, place of residence, material status, education). The survey was conducted among consumers who declared that they systematically purchase fast-fashion products. The detailed breakdown of the research sample is presented in Table 1.

Nominal and ordinal scales were used in the questionnaire, including the Likert scale, i.e. a bipolar interval scale. The nominal scales were multiple and single choice. The reliability of the construction of the questionnaire was verified by the Alpha-Cronbach test (the coefficient alpha oscillated between 0.7–0.9). In the process of empirical data analysis, the IBM SPSS Statistics tool was used to analyze the results in terms of statistical description, correlation analysis, and factor analysis.

Result and discussion

Activity of Generation Z on the profiles of clothing brands in social media

One of the goals of the study was to identify the activity of Generation Z on the profiles of clothing brands in social media. The vast majority of the surveyed consumers of Generation Z in Poland are active in social media on the profiles of clothing brands in the fast-fashion segment. Detailed results of the study in this area are presented in Table 2 and 3 and in Figure 1.

As Table 2 shows, half of the respondents declared that they “liked” (or, depending on the nomenclature of the specific platform, that they “observed”/”subscribed to” their friends) from 6 to 10 profiles of clothing brands on various social networks. Every fourth respondent was not able to indicate or did not remember how many such profiles they liked. Taking into account gender, it turns out that women like more of such profiles than men. This may be due to the fact that women are usually more interested in fashion and trends, which are topics of interest, passions and hobbies for many women. In addition, there are more clothing brands on the market that offer women’s fashion than those with products intended for men, and therefore women have a wider range of brands that they may like.

Another interesting research issue is what motives drive the representatives of Generation Z in Poland when using profiles of clothing brands in social media.

Among the most important reasons why respondents click like on the fanpage of a clothing brand or follow it on Instagram or subscribe on YouTube, the following can be distinguished: eagerness to use a discount coupon ( = 3.4), which is usually only available to fans or friends of a given brands, the desire to be up to date, follow the offerings of a given clothing brand ( = 3.28) and, importantly, becoming a fan of a clothing brand is a reaction to respondents’ satisfaction with the purchased clothing products of a given brand ( = 3.18). The least important factors included a desire to participate in the discussion ( = 2.04) and to express an opinion about a clothing brand or its products ( = 2.4). This means that young people are more likely to draw upon the opinions of other people, read their recommendations regarding specific products, and at the same time are not eager to publicly express their own reflections and experiences.

In general, women are more active on clothing brand profiles than men. Women contact clothing brands much more often and more eagerly through private messages, in which they may be looking for support from the service department, information about products, the materials used, their availability, etc. Perhaps when choosing this form of contact, women do not want to make their activities, opinions or purchasing decisions public, they do not want any of their friends to notice their activity. On the other hand, as the survey results show, men are more likely to make public their opinions about clothing products and to interact with other users of social networking sites. Women’s activity is less “public” and visible.

The critical factors determining the involvement of the Z generation in clothing brand profiles

In order to identify the key determinants of survey participants’ involvement in the profiles of clothing brands in social media, factor analysis was used. In accordance with the procedure for verifying the correctness of the application of this method, Bartlett sphericity tests were carried out and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index was calculated (Table 4).

The obtained KMO value is 0.679, which indicates that the sampling was adequate for using exploratory factor analysis (it can be assumed that in this case the level of correlation between the factors is high).

Factor analysis was conducted using the method of Principal Component Analysis. Based on Cattell’s scree test (a scree plot), three groups of factors were created. Then, adopting a factor loading level of 0.5 as a cut-off point, all the factors were assigned into specific groups (Table 3). The three factors combined explain nearly 57% of common variance: the first one explains 29%, the second 15% and the third 13%.

The results of factor analysis shown in Table 5 allow us to identify the following key determinants of young consumers’ involvement in the profiles of clothing brands in social media:

Factor 1: active involvement in the clothing brand profile (the opportunity to express one’s opinion, the opportunity to participate in the contests, the possibility of systematic tracking of the clothing brand’s offerings);

Factor 2: observation for measurable benefits (possibility of obtaining a discount, searching for information on clothing brands);

Factor 3: brand loyalty (the opportunity to participate in the discussion, attachment to a clothing brand).

In summary, for young consumers, the main reasons for liking clothing brand profiles is the desire to be actively involved in the clothing brand profile. Secondly, young consumers are involved in clothing brand profiles because they see additional benefits, e.g. discount coupons. Thirdly, young consumers are involved in clothing brand profiles to show their loyalty to the clothing brand, which may be the result of positive experiences with the clothing product.

The critical factors determining assumptions about clothing brands’ motives for their social media presence and activity

Another research goal was to identify the key assumptions held by the Generation Z representatives participating in the survey about the clothing brands’ motives for being present and active in social media. For this, we again used factor analysis. The procedure was the same as described in section 3.2. First, the results were subjected to Bartlett’s sphericity test and the KMO (Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin) measure was calculated. Again, both the obtained measurements confirmed the adequacy of the sample for performing factor analysis (Table 6).

Then the analysis was again conducted using the method of Principal Component Analysis. Based on Cattell’s scree test (a scree plot), two groups of factors were created. Then, adopting a factor loading level of 0.5 as a cut-off point, all the factors were assigned into specific groups (Table 7). The two factors combined explain nearly 52% of common variance: the first one explains 34% and the second 18%.

The results of factor analysis included in Table 7 allow to identify the following key factors underlying participants’ assumptions about clothing brands’ motives for their social media presence and activity:

• Factor 1: image/sales goals (working to ensure the brand image, boosting product sales, acquiring new customers);
• Factor 2: cognitive goals (imitating/following the competition, obtaining information about clients, looking for new employees).

In the opinion of young consumers surveyed, the main motives assumed to be driving the presence of fast-fashion clothing brands in social media are image and sales goals, i.e. striving to improve sales results, to attract new customers or to care for and project the brand image. The second important type of assumed motive are cognitive goals, manifested in the desire to look for employees or obtain information about their clients.

The critical factors determining the best clothing brand activities in social media

The last goal was to identify factors which determine the best clothing brand activities in social media. Once again, the procedure was the same as described in section 3.2 and 3.3. Firstly, Bartlett’s sphericity test and the KMO (Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin) measure were calculated. Again, both measurements confirmed the sampling adequacy for performing factor analysis (Table 8).

Next, Principal Component Analysis was applied. Based on Cattell’s scree test (a scree plot), two groups of factors were created. Then, adopting a factor loading level of 0.5 as a cut-off point, all the factors were assigned into specific groups (Table 9). The two factors combined explain nearly 46% of common variance: the first one explains 28%, the second 18%.

The results of the factor analysis listed in Table 9 identify the following key determinants behind the presence and activity of clothing brands:

• Factor 1: entertainment activities (posting information from the clothing industry, conducting contests, providing games and applications);
• Factor 2: information activities (announcing new clothing collections and new products in the assortment, announcing special offers
  (discounts, sales, coupons), publishing photos and video materials about products and clothing brand).

For young consumers, the most interesting activities undertaken by clothing brands in social media are entertainment activities, including conducting contests and providing games and applications. The second group of valuable activities are information activities, consisting in providing information about new clothing collections as well as special offers and sales.

Conclusions

Social media platforms are a key channel of marketing communication for clothing companies from the fast-fashion segment, in the process of the purchasing decisions made by young consumers. Research has shown that social media platforms are used by young consumers at different stages of the decision-making process. They not only generate needs, but also constitute a valuable source of inspiration at the stage of searching for opportunities to satisfy a need. Our results indicate that women add more clothing brand profiles to their lists of friends than men do. In addition, women are more active on the profiles of clothing brands in social media, are more likely to make use of discount coupons, more often like and comment on published content and share it, take part in contests, add posts with inquiries and send private messages. In turn, men are more likely to express their opinion about products and enter into discussions with other users of social media. Gender also differentiates the opinions of the respondents towards the profiles of clothing brands in social media. Women, despite the fact that they treat these profiles as another advertising medium, evaluate them positively, as useful and interesting. Social media platforms alter the roles of buyers and sellers and the relationships between them.

The use of social media allows fans to connect and interact with other users, increasing mutual satisfaction and advocacy for brands. Seeking insight into customers’ involvement, our study analyzed the influencing factors in terms of Generation Z’s involvement on the social media profiles of fashion brands. From the point of view of companies in the clothing industry, customer engagement turns customers into fans. They become brand ambassadors, more attractive, more profitable and regular customers. Customers play an important role in the value-adding process as co-creators of content and value. Customer involvement is essential to brands for retaining them and turning them into loyal customers. On the other hand, from the point of view of customers, their commitment displayed in social media can be the result of several reasons: personal motives, a desire to achieve additional benefits and as an expression of loyalty to a fashion brand.

The results of this study may serve as a valuable source of information for brand managers who are responsible for designing and implementing brand communication activities in social media. The findings may help fashion brands to better understand how to influence peer-to-peer communications and how to engage their fans on social media. Moreover, the results of this study may lay the foundation for developing a strategy to increase customer satisfaction. Marketers should continually strive to learn more about what representatives of Generation Z — both in Poland and elsewhere — expect and what content they desire.

Limitations and future research directions

This study has several limitations. Firstly, the sample is limited. The results cannot be generalized to Polish consumers overall, due to the study population being limited to young people. Although this particular group of consumers is playing an important role in the clothing market, the results do not provide a comprehensive description of consumer engagement. Therefore, further research should also be carried out to include other consumer groups and other generations.

Secondly, the test results cannot be generalized to all clothing brands on the market from various segments. The survey covered the fast-fashion clothing segment, a segment which has its own distinctive traits. For this reason, the survey results should not be generalized to other segments of the clothing market.

It should also be noted that the study reported herein only considered selected social media sites popular in the clothing industry, which are often used by young people in Poland (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Youtube and Pinterest). It would be interesting to continue the study, examining the communication activities of clothing brands on individual, specific social networking sites, taking into account their distinctive aspects, which would allow better insight to be gained into consumer involvement. Moreover, it would be very interesting to conduct a similar study considering the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on consumer behavior.

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