Content is king - But who is the king of kings? The effect of content marketing, sponsored content & user-generated content on brand responses

Despite a growing focus on content marketing as a modem marketing tool, research on it is sparse. Missing completely is a comparison of content marketing with other forms of content, namely sponsored and user generated content, although these content types are of high relevance for the marketing strategy of a company. To fill this research gap, the present study examines how different content types are perceived and how they influence brand responses through persuasion knowledge. A serial mediation model is developed, which posits that different content types lead to a varying conceptual persuasion knowledge, which then influences the activation of attitudinal persuasion knowledge and in turn results in different brand attitudes. The corresponding model is tested in an experimental study, using different content types in the context of the video game industry. The findings indicate that, through the proposed serial mediation, sponsored content leads to a more negative brand attitude than user-generated content and content marketing. These results suggest that, although coming directly from a company, content marketing seemingly is perceived in a similar way as user-generated content. The implications for marketing managers concerning content marketing strategies are discussed.