Digital Content Strategies and the Relational Foundations of Sustainable Overseas Engagement: Multimodal Evidence from Chinese Advanced Manufacturing Brands in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Sustainable overseas engagement concerns the maintenance of culturally legitimate and trustworthy relationships with host-market stakeholders over time. This study examines how multimodal content strategies relate to differentiated interaction on Facebook. We analyze 5324 posts published during 2020–2024 by five localized brand–market pages: Xiaomi Indonesia, Huawei Thailand, TCL Thailand, Haier Vietnam, and BYD Malaysia. Multimodal indicators describe technical imagery, visual organization, cultural references, interactive text features, and textual cultural adaptation. Separate ordinary least squares models relate these indicators to log-transformed likes, comments, and shares. Textual cultural adaptation has positive estimates across all three outcomes, whereas technical imagery has positive estimates for likes and comments and a negative estimate for shares. Results from an exploratory specification are consistent with a behavior-specific pattern; however, overlapping measures and the absence of formal cross-outcome contrasts preclude confirmation of differences among the interaction coefficients. By distinguishing among engagement behaviors and content configurations, the findings inform context-sensitive communication strategies relevant to long-term overseas stakeholder relationships. The observational design does not support causal inference.