Reconnecting with the past in social media: The moderating role of social influence in nostalgia marketing on Pinterest

Nostalgia marketing practices in social media help brands link consumers with happier times from the past. A randomized 2 (evoked nostalgia: high vs. low) × 2 (social influence: high vs. low) between-subjects factorial design experiment was conducted to examine the effects of nostalgia and social influence on consumers' judgments in the brand management context of Pinterest boards. The results revealed the strong main effect of evoked nostalgia on consumers' attitudes toward the Pinterest board and the brand, purchase intention, willingness to pass along branded pins, and brand–consumer relationship quality. Furthermore, this study discovered the significant moderating role of social influence for all dependent measures. Strongly (vs. weakly) evoked nostalgia generated more favorable responses only when social influence was high. In contrast, there were no significant differences between strongly and weakly evoked nostalgia when social influence was low. Theoretical contributions to the nostalgia literature and managerial implications for social media marketing are discussed.