Branded content experience in social media: conceptualization, scale development, and validation

Understanding customer experience with branded content on social media has become critical as brands allocate a considerable budget to the creation and dissemination of branded content. Customers interact with social media branded content such as brand-related images, videos, and text posts, and respond by engaging with content on social media. However, despite growing scholarly interest in social media experiences, there is a lack of research on the conceptualization and operationalization of the “branded content experience” (BCE) on social media. This research aims to enhance the understanding of customer experience with branded content by exploring several experience dimensions and construct a BCE scale. We derived seven BCE dimensions, including self-identity, social bonding, utilitarian, aesthetic, humor, awe-inspiring, and discerning with the help of two qualitative studies. We employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to propose a reliable and valid 35-item BCE scale. The findings suggested that BCE predicts consumer engagement with branded content (CEBC) on social media.