Research on the Reasons for Viral Marketing Being a Commonly Adopted Marketing Method in Chinese Milk Tea Shops

Research Article
Open access

Research on the Reasons for Viral Marketing Being a Commonly Adopted Marketing Method in Chinese Milk Tea Shops

Zibu Fang 1*
  • 1 School of Business, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, the United Kingdom    
  • *corresponding author 1176467389@qq.com
AEMPS Vol.188
ISSN (Print): 2754-1177
ISSN (Online): 2754-1169
ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-175-4
ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-176-1

Abstract

In the development of marketing strategies based on consumer tastes and dynamism in China's milk tea industry, viral marketing approaches are emerging in this process, as brands start to diversify their business models to offer more diverse consumer experiences. Although viral marketing enables brands to position themselves as trendy, innovative, and community-oriented, their scaling up is influenced by consumer perceptions and attitude-behaviour gaps. Thus, this study investigates why the Chinese milk tea industry is fond of applying viral marketing, exploring how Chinese milk tea stores can utilise viral marketing to refine their brand image and consumer perceptions. Employing a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 participants who are frequent or returning consumers of those Chinese milk tea brands. The result revealed that viral marketing characters had a significant impact on consumer perceptions and brand images by enhancing emotional engagement and creating symbolic values. This study extends the existing literature on viral marketing and the narrative paradigm by providing empirical evidence supporting the importance of emotional connection and symbolic values in social media hype. The current study's limitations and future research directions are discussed, underscoring the need for ongoing exploration and refinement of our understanding of narratives and narrative-extended theoretical frameworks in a constantly evolving market landscape.

Keywords:

viral marketing, narrative paradigm, Chinese milk tea industry, cultural marketing

Fang,Z. (2025). Research on the Reasons for Viral Marketing Being a Commonly Adopted Marketing Method in Chinese Milk Tea Shops. Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences,188,8-14.
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References

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[10]. Wang, W. and Street, W.N. (2018) ‘Modeling and maximizing influence diffusion in social networks for viral marketing’, Applied Network Science, 3, p. 6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-018-0062-7.

[11]. Koçyiğit, M. (2017) ‘A literature review on the viral advertising narrative structure’, in Handbook of Research on Effective Advertising Strategies in the Social Media Age. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-2373-4.ch010.

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[14]. Strauss, A.L. and Corbin, J.M. (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

[15]. Férey, G., Mellot-Draznieks, C., Serre, C., Millange, F., Dutour, J., Surblé, S. and Margiolaki, I. (2005) 'A chromium terephthalate-based solid with unusually large pore volumes and surface area', Science, 309(5743), pp. 2040–2042. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1116275.

[16]. Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D. (2018) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 5th edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

Cite this article

Fang,Z. (2025). Research on the Reasons for Viral Marketing Being a Commonly Adopted Marketing Method in Chinese Milk Tea Shops. Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences,188,8-14.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Volume title: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Management Research and Economic Development

ISBN：978-1-80590-175-4(Print) / 978-1-80590-176-1(Online)
Editor：Lukáš Vartiak
Conference website: https://2025.icmred.org/
Conference date: 30 May 2025
Series: Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
Volume number: Vol.188
ISSN：2754-1169(Print) / 2754-1177(Online)

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References

[1]. Escalas, J. E. (2007). Self-referencing and persuasion: Narrative transportation versus analytical elaboration. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(4), 421-429. https://doi.org/10.1086/510216

[2]. Lundqvist, A., Liljander, V., Gummerus, J. and van Riel, A. (2013) ‘The impact of storytelling on the consumer brand experience: The case of a firm-originated story’, Journal of Brand Management, 20(4), pp. 283-297. https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2012.15.

[3]. Fisher, W.R. (1985). The Narrative Paradigm: In the Beginning. Journal of Communication, 35(4), pp.74–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1985.tb02974.x

[4]. Gubrium, F., J. and Holstein, A., J. (1998) ‚‘Narrative Practice and the Coherence of Personal Stories’, The Sociological Quarterly, 39(1), pp.163-187.

[5]. Blumenfeld-Jones, D. (1995) ‘Fidelity as a criterion for practicing and evaluating narrative inquiry’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), pp.25-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839950080104

[6]. Gibreel, O., Mostafa, M.M., Kinawy, R.N., ElMelegy, A.R. and Al Hajj, R. (2025) ‘Two decades of viral marketing landscape: Thematic evolution, knowledge structure and collaboration networks’, Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 10(2), p. 100659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2025.100659.

[7]. Akpinar, E. and Berger, J. (2017). Valuable Virality. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(2), pp. 318-330. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.13.0350

[8]. Miller, R. and Lammas, N. (2010) ‘Social media and its implications for viral marketing’, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 2(8), https://doi.org/10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p586

[9]. Parker, G., Petropoulos, G., & Van Alstyne, M. W. (2021). Platform mergers and antitrust. Boston University Questrom School of Business Research Paper No. 376351. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3763513.

[10]. Wang, W. and Street, W.N. (2018) ‘Modeling and maximizing influence diffusion in social networks for viral marketing’, Applied Network Science, 3, p. 6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-018-0062-7.

[11]. Koçyiğit, M. (2017) ‘A literature review on the viral advertising narrative structure’, in Handbook of Research on Effective Advertising Strategies in the Social Media Age. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-2373-4.ch010.

[12]. Holt, D. (2004). How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

[13]. Ritchie, J. and Spencer, L. (2002) ‘Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research’, in Huberman, A.M. and Miles, M.B. (eds.) The Qualitative Researcher’s Companion. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 305–329.

[14]. Strauss, A.L. and Corbin, J.M. (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

[15]. Férey, G., Mellot-Draznieks, C., Serre, C., Millange, F., Dutour, J., Surblé, S. and Margiolaki, I. (2005) 'A chromium terephthalate-based solid with unusually large pore volumes and surface area', Science, 309(5743), pp. 2040–2042. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1116275.

[16]. Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D. (2018) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 5th edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

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