Yogyakarta — Research on social media marketing and online customer reviews has become an increasingly important area of digital marketing studies, particularly in relation to consumer behavior, customer engagement, e-commerce, and purchasing decisions. This finding comes from a study by Maharatri Refina Berlianti, Tony Wijaya, and Sutirman of Yogyakarta State University, published in 2026. The researchers analyzed 219 scientific articles indexed in Scopus to identify publication trends, leading authors, institutional contributions, geographic distribution, and major research themes surrounding social media marketing and online customer reviews.
The rapid development of internet technology and smartphones has changed the way businesses communicate with consumers. Marketing that was once largely one-way has become increasingly interactive. Consumers can now communicate directly with companies through social media, mobile applications, websites, and other digital platforms. At the same time, consumers can publicly share their experiences and opinions about products and services.
This transformation has made online customer reviews an increasingly important source of information for consumers. Before making a purchase, people can look at the experiences of other users to gain additional information about a product or service. Reviews based on actual experiences can help reduce uncertainty, particularly when consumers cannot physically examine a product before purchasing it. Negative reviews, however, can also create unfavorable perceptions before consumers have direct experience with the product.
For businesses, social media has therefore become more than a promotional channel. Customer comments, reviews, and online conversations can provide valuable information about how products and services are perceived. Companies can use this feedback to understand customer needs, improve products, enhance service quality, strengthen customer relationships, and respond to negative experiences.
Berlianti, Wijaya, and Sutirman identified a need to examine social media marketing and online customer reviews together because previous research often investigated the two areas separately. Earlier studies also frequently focused on short-term effects, even though their influence on customer loyalty and purchasing decisions may develop over longer periods. The researchers used bibliometric analysis to provide a broader picture of how this field has developed and where future research opportunities remain.
The researchers used a descriptive bibliometric approach to map scientific publications based on publication patterns, authorship, citations, affiliations, countries, and relationships between research topics. Articles were retrieved from the Scopus database using the keywords “Social Media Marketing” and “Online Customer Review.” After identification, screening, eligibility assessment, and inclusion, 219 English-language articles in the Business, Management, and Accounting subject area remained for analysis. All 219 documents were categorized as research articles.
The selected publications were analyzed using VOSviewer to create visual maps of research themes and their relationships. This allowed the researchers to identify frequently occurring terms and clusters associated with social media, online reviews, consumer behavior, digital marketing, e-commerce, customer satisfaction, and electronic word-of-mouth, or e-WOM.
The network visualization on page 12 shows four major research clusters. The first centers on social media and online reviews, connecting these topics with digital marketing, word-of-mouth, customer engagement, and consumer satisfaction. The second focuses on social networks and consumer behavior, linking consumer behavior, sales, online social networking, e-commerce, customer engagement, and social media analytics.
The third cluster focuses on the internet and e-commerce. It connects electronic commerce, online consumer reviews, sales, customer relationship management, and economic measures. The fourth cluster centers on e-WOM and traditional word-of-mouth, highlighting how information and recommendations shared through digital and interpersonal communication can influence consumer engagement, brand reputation, customer satisfaction, and purchasing decisions.
The overlay visualization on page 13 further illustrates how the research themes have developed. “Social media” appears as a central concept connected to “online review,” “consumer behavior,” “marketing,” and “consumer engagement.” Other closely related themes include purchase intention, customer relationship management, word-of-mouth, e-commerce, sales, and online social networking. The visualization also highlights growing attention to social media analytics, customer satisfaction, and service quality.
The global distribution of publications also reveals strong differences between countries. According to the analysis on page 9, the United States produced the largest number of publications in the dataset, with 78 documents. China followed with 47 documents, while Hong Kong contributed 28 documents. The United Kingdom recorded 25 documents, India 23, Australia 14, Portugal 13, Spain 9, Taiwan 9, and Malaysia 7.
Institutional contributions show a similar concentration. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University ranked first with 23 documents. Iste–Instituto Universitário de Lisboa followed with 9 documents, while Griffith University contributed 7. Harbin Institute of Technology and the University of Central Florida each recorded 6 documents. These figures indicate that several institutions have become particularly active contributors to research in the field.
The author analysis also identifies researchers with relatively high publication output. Law, R. recorded the highest number of publications in the analyzed dataset, with 10 documents, followed by Moro, S. with 7 and Schuckert, M. with 6. Mattila, A.S. contributed 5 documents, while Liang, S. contributed 4. The researchers note that such publication patterns can help identify active scholars and potential collaboration networks in the field.
The subject-area distribution demonstrates the strong connection between digital marketing research and business studies. Business, Management, and Accounting accounted for 53 percent of the analyzed publications, making it the largest subject area. Social Sciences followed with 16.9 percent, while Computer Science accounted for 8.2 percent and Decision Sciences for 7.3 percent. The remaining publications were distributed across areas including Economics, Engineering, Arts and Humanities, Environmental Science, Psychology, Agriculture, and other fields.
The findings show that digital marketing is increasingly connected with the way consumers communicate and make decisions online. Companies are no longer only responsible for delivering promotional messages. They must also pay attention to consumer conversations, reviews, recommendations, satisfaction, and engagement. Online customer reviews and e-WOM can influence perceptions of products and brands, while social media provides companies with opportunities to interact directly with consumers.
For businesses, the study provides a basis for viewing social media as both a marketing channel and a source of customer information. Companies can use social media interactions and customer reviews to understand market needs, improve service quality, strengthen relationships, and develop more responsive digital marketing strategies. The researchers also identify opportunities for future studies across different industries, geographic regions, and consumer segments.
Future research could examine emerging digital platforms, artificial intelligence, influencer marketing, e-WOM, and consumer trust. The researchers also recommend combining bibliometric analysis with systematic literature reviews, empirical research, or qualitative approaches. Longitudinal research could provide additional insight into how social media marketing and online reviews change over time and how technological developments affect their influence on consumer perceptions and purchasing decisions.
Overall, the study by Maharatri Refina Berlianti, Tony Wijaya, and Sutirman provides a broad map of research on social media marketing and online customer reviews based on 219 Scopus-indexed articles. The VOSviewer analysis shows that social media has become a central research concept connecting digital marketing, online reviews, consumer behavior, customer engagement, e-commerce, and purchasing decisions. The findings underline the growing importance of understanding not only how businesses communicate with consumers, but also how consumers communicate with one another in digital environments.
Author Profiles
Maharatri Refina Berlianti — Yogyakarta State University.
Tony Wijaya — Yogyakarta State University.
Sutirman — Yogyakarta State University.
Research Source
Article Title: Trends and Impact of Social Media Marketing and Online Customer Reviews: A Bibliometric Study
Journal: East Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (EAJMR), Vol. 5 No. 8, 2026, pp. 3487–3504.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/eajmr.v5i8.282
Journal Website: https://journaleajmr.my.id/index.php/eajmr
0 Komentar