Conceptualising cues in social media

Marketers utilise cues to improve the effectiveness of advertising. This study attempts to classify the central arguments and peripheral cues in social media communications using the elaboration likelihood model (ELM). Central arguments encompassed argument quality, source credibility, prior knowledge and others. Peripheral cues included source attractiveness, endorsement, source expertise, reputation, source credibility, argument quantity, moods, price and so on. This study contributed to ELM cues studies by classifying central arguments and peripheral cues and introducing multiple possibilities of a mixture of cue utilisation. Classification and analysis of cue utilisation provided a better understanding of applying cues in marketing in the social media platforms. In saturated markets, this study guides practitioners to apply suitable cues in order to enhance competitive advantage for success. Marketers are advised to utilise the findings of the study to create suitable mixtures of cues in social media platforms.