Brands regularly attempt to stimulate consumer engagement by posting messages on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook), but their messages are often ignored. How can managers write social media messages that engage consumers? The present research sheds light on how the language of brand messages influences consumer engagement. Text analyses of brand messages posted on Facebook and Twitter shows that brand messages that include words that express certainty (e.g., always, everything, forever) are associated with higher levels of consumer engagement (e.g., likes, comments, shares/retweets). The results of two controlled experiments demonstrate that messages expressing certainty increase engagement by influencing how consumers perceive brands. Specifically, expressing certainty makes brands seem more powerful, and perceptions of power exert a positive effect on engagement. In addition, the indirect effect of certainty on consumer engagement is stronger (weaker) among consumers with higher (lower) power distance beliefs. These results assist marketing managers by demonstrating how language influences consumer engagement on social media.

品牌经常通过在社交媒体平台（例如Facebook）上发布消息来尝试刺激消费者的参与，但是他们的消息通常被忽略。管理者如何撰写吸引消费者的社交媒体消息？本研究揭示了品牌信息的语言如何影响消费者的参与度。对在Facebook和Twitter上发布的品牌消息的文本分析表明，品牌消息中包含表达确定性的单词（例如，永远，所有事物，永远）与更高级别的消费者参与度（例如，喜欢，评论，分享/转发）相关联。两项受控实验的结果表明，表达确定性的信息会通过影响消费者对品牌的感知方式来提高参与度。具体来说，表达确定性会使品牌看起来更强大，权力观念对参与有积极作用。另外，确定性对消费者参与度的间接影响在具有较高（较低）功率距离信念的消费者中更强（更弱）。这些结果证明了语言如何影响消费者在社交媒体上的参与度，从而为营销经理提供了帮助。