Abstract

This paper investigates how discrete emotions and message features influence public engagement on X (Twitter). This study analyzed a dataset of 854 tweets from a leading political party using descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses. The results reveal a popularity-virality trade-off. Anger was found to significantly decrease favorites but acted as the strongest driver for retweets. Happiness and inadequacy significantly increased favorites, while fear and inadequacy were key predictors of retweets. Regarding message features, hashtags significantly enhanced both engagement metrics, whereas mentions and elapsed days negatively impacted both popularity and virality. The study is limited by its focus on a single, top-performing political party and one social media platform. Political marketers should utilize happiness to draw brand likability and passive engagement, while deploying anger or fear to improve virality. This paper adds to the growing literature on political marketing by providing a granular analysis of ten discrete emotions, identifying specific emotional appeals that drive multi-level engagement.

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