Identification of the Factors Contributing to the User-Generated Content on Social Media in the Service Sector

One of the important subjects in social media marketing is the User-Generated Content (UGC) on social networks. The question arisen in this respect is that what are the factors affecting the creation of UGCs by customers on social networks for businesses. The present research has considered the businesses in the service sector as the case study, in order to answer this question. A total of 50 cafes and coffee shops were observed as the final sample, and 6230 different comments were analyzed that were obtained from Foursquare. Data mining and machine learning methods were applied to analyze the users’ texts and comments. This research has attempted to identify the factors affecting the creation of UGCs based on the content generated and has made an effort to assess the users’ views based on the data collected. According to the results obtained by data mining, eight major factors including quality of drinks and food, price, coziness, interior design, staff behavior, visual and auditory elements, menu variety, and location were explained as being effective on UGCs on social networks in the context studied. Regarding these results, many businesses in the service sector can assess the behavior of pattern of their customers based on which they can design and perform their future marketing strategies.