Find peace: mindfulness messages and their impact on social media engagement and product purchase intention

Mindfulness content has proliferated on social media platforms, where it is frequently incorporated into campaigns aimed at promoting brands and products. However, there is limited understanding about how mindfulness-centered product promotion messages on social media affect consumer engagement with the post and their purchase intentions. Our findings from two lab experiments and an econometric analysis of 3928 consumer-generated posts from four Instagram campaigns show that posts with mindfulness content on social media are more liked and commented on, leading to increased intention to purchase the products featured in the messages. Further, the positive effects of the mindfulness messages are likely bounded by consumption goals and tend to dissipate when a utilitarian consumption goal is made salient. These findings provide important managerial guidance that assists marketers in leveraging mindfulness messages to design effective social media campaigns.