From Post to Profits: The Role of Social Media Usage on Shaping Firm Performance of Consumer Cyclical Sector in Indonesia

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the growth of social media usage of firm's official Facebook and Instagram affect firm's financial performance measured by Return on Assets (ROA). This study is focused on consumer cyclical sector subject to firm's listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the period 2016-2023. This study is important for firm's to understand which social media usage from different social media platforms affect significantly on firm's financial performance. Design/methodology/approach: To analyze the effect of the growth of social media usage, this study uses Two-step System GMM as a regression model. The growth of total comments and likes on each platform are used to measure firm's social media usage by extracting social media usage data using custom-written code of social media platforms API and Apify web-scrapping tools. Financial metrics data was sourced from Refinitiv and firm's annual report. Findings: This study finds that the growth of Facebook social media usage positively affects firm financial perform-ance at a significant level, whereas the growth of Instagram social media usage presents a low significance on firm's financial performance. Research limitations/implications: This study does not specifically examine all social media usage metrics and only uses comments and likes in ensuring the effect of social media usage on firm performance. Originality/value: This study contributes by providing new empirical evidence about social media usage of firm's official Facebook and Instagram in consumer cyclical sector in Indonesia. By investigating which social media usage and social media platforms significantly affect firm performance. To the best of knowledge, this is the first study that explores the issue of social media usage for consumer cyclical sector in Indonesia.