Social media networking is now the most popular online activity worldwide and a large part of social media interaction involves sharing visual content on platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. The phenomenal growth in numbers of users makes visual platforms enticing for marketers who spend ever-increasing time, effort and money on social media in the hope of generating consumer engagement for their brands. This research investigates customer behaviour for the largest visual social media platform, Instagram. It looks at users’ behavioural engagement and links engagement to brand purchase decisions through a social shopping construct. In order to evaluate the potential marketing benefits of visual social media we compared brand-generated content with user- generated content in terms of brand engagement and its effect on social shopping. Engagement was measured in four different dimensions – cognitive, emotional, personal, and behavioural. Key issues in the use of visual social media are the credibility of the source content and the user’s willingness to be the recipient of marketing interventions This mixed-method approach revealed that user-generated content created by unfamiliar users such as bloggers is most effective in influencing purchase. Conversely and surprisingly, user-generated content from close social ties are least effective in inspiring purchase behaviour. The study highlights the importance for marketers of reaching key influencers with large followings in order to engender social shopping amongst visual social media users
