The Impact of Social Media Engagement on the Company's Business Performance

Currently, the popularity of social networking sites continues to grow rapidly. Active usage of social networks is becoming characteristic not only for users, but also for companies that create their official accounts in order to interact with customers through these platforms. This study is aimed at studying the impact of the use of social networking sites on the performance of Russian companies. In particular, such popular social networks as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vkontakte are considered. The study examines the official social networking account of Russian companies that are among the 400 largest organizations according to the Expert-400 rating for 2020. Cross-sectional data were used for the study. The dependent variable was the revenue indicator of the companies. The explanatory variables were user engagement metrics (the number of likes, shares, and comments on the account), as well as the company's activity in social networks (the number of published posts). The results showed that the presence of the company in social networks, updating posts, as well as the number of likes, shares and comments on Facebook and Vkontakte have a positive impact on revenue. The findings can help Russian companies effectively build a strategy for using social networking sites in their activities.