Class Year

2026

Document Type

Student Research Paper

Date of Creation

Spring 2026

Department 1

Management

Abstract

As companies increasingly rely on social media to engage with consumers, questions remain about whether social media metrics translate into measurable financial outcomes.This study investigated whether changes in Instagram engagement metrics predicted financial performance among publicly traded apparel and lifestyle retail companies. Social media data, including the number of posts and average likes, were collected manually for February 2025 and February 2026. Financial data, including adjusted stock prices and year-over-year quarterly revenue growth, were collected from Yahoo Finance. The final sample included 28 companies after removing outliers and cases with missing data. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that percent change in number of posts and percent change in average likes did not significantly predict stock price change or quarterly revenue growth. Exploratory analyses using engagement per post were also not significant. These findings suggest that Instagram engagement may be valuable for building brand awareness and consumer relationships, but its impact on financial performance may be indirect, delayed, or influenced by broader market and industry conditions.

Comments

Written for MGT 462: Individualized Study - Research.

Download

Share

COinS