The power of social media is colossal considering that the number of worldwide users is expected to grow even more in the future reaching 2.95 billion by 2020. Because of the apparent customer engagement in these platforms, companies spend on average 11% of marketing budgets on social media and this expenditure is expected to grow to 19% over the next five years (CMO Survey, 2017). However, the main challenge the companies are facing is how to convert the social media investments into effective marketing and contribution to company’s performance. The customer engagement (CE) in social media catches a strong attention from scholars (Brodie et al., 2013) as well as experts of online marketing (Dessart, Veloutsou, & Morgan-Thomas, 2016). Even though there is a significant progress in the conceptual (Van Doorn et al., 2010) and empirical (Brodie et al., 2013) analysis of CE, its clear understanding remains still insufficient. Customer engagement’s definition requires more attention as there is inconsistency in the terms because of a lack of agreement on the terminology (van Doorn et al., 2010). Noticeable differences exist concerning also the measurement of CE and what exactly this phenomenon encompasses (Dessart et al., 2016). Particularly, the empirical studies show incongruity in the number and the nature of the dimensions (Sprott et al., 2009; Brodie et al., 2013). To investigate the complex and emergent occurrence of CE in social media, this research endorses a managerial-oriented approach using rich qualitative data from three different sources covering a variety of views for different social media platforms (41 companies/24 advertising/communication agencies, and 10 research/consulting firms). The results illustrate the gaps among customer engagement’s conceptions, the customer engagement dimensionality, and the metrics of social media performance beyond customer engagement.

• Othman Boujena(NEOMA Business School, France)
• Isabelle Ulrich(NEOMA Business School, France)
• Aikaterini Manthiou(NEOMA Business School, France)
• Bruno Godey(NEOMA Business School, France)