Marketing

Thematic analysis

Social marketing

Relationship marketing

Extant taxon

Biology

Social media marketing

Public relations

Computer science

Business

Qualitative research

Evolutionary biology

Marketing science

Marketing research

Marketing management

Politics

Social media

Political science

Value (mathematics)

Sociology

Promotion (chess)

Artificial intelligence

Perspective (graphical)

Machine learning

Social science

Psychology and Marketing

The widespread use of social media as a marketing tool during the last decade has been responsible for attracting a significant volume of academic research, which, however, can be described as highly fragmented to yield clear directions and insights. We systematically synthesize and critically evaluate extant knowledge of social media marketing extracted from 418 articles published during the period 2009–2021. In doing so, we use an organizing framework focusing on five key areas of social media marketing research, namely, social media as a promotion and selling outlet, social media as a communication and branding channel, social media as a monitoring and intelligence source, social media as a customer relationship management and value cocreation platform, and social media as a general marketing and strategic tool. Within each of these areas, we provide important theoretical, methodological, and thematic insights, as well as future research directions. We also offer useful managerial implications derived from the articles reviewed.

Social media in marketing research: Theoretical bases, methodological aspects, and thematic focus