Optimising digital marketing and social media strategy: from push to pull to performance

• Published in: Journal of marketing management Vol. 38; no. 7-8; pp. 709 - 739
• Main Authors: Vieira, Valter Afonso, Severo de Almeida, Marcos Inácio, Gabler, Colin B., Limongi, Ricardo, Costa, Milena, Pires da Costa, Miriam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Helensburg Routledge 04-05-2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Digital marketing; Grocery industry; Instagram; Marketing; marketing performance; mobile marketing; push and pull promotion; Retailing; Social media; social media marketing; Social networks; time-series analysis
• ISSN: 0267-257X; 1472-1376
• DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2021.1996444

Social media and firm applications are two mobile service marketing mechanisms that rely on push or pull promotions to be effective. Literature, however, has yet to uncover how the promotions may complement each other when purposefully implemented. Our study examines this possibility in the grocery industry over three months. First, we create and manage a supermarket's Instagram profile, posting to the account (push promotion). Next, we compare performance measures with a third-party mobile app (pull promotion), which provides aggregated customer views and access to the supermarket profile. A time-series analysis reveals a sequential chain from push promotion to pull promotion to performance, the temporal effect of a push to pull, and the mediating effect from push to pull to purchase with an elasticity of .23. Results are important to those balancing push and pull promotional efforts and those involved with digital marketing and promotion in retailing.