Organizations are increasingly turning to social media as a means of communi- cating with consumers. While a growing body of research in marketing has focused on how the emotionality of message content may affect consumers’ subsequent engage- ment with social media posts, limited research has investigated how it simultaneously relates to the growth of a social media audience. While content emotionality has been investigated as a driver of behavior, social media may also be monitored to gauge the emotionality of consumer responses. In this presentation, research will be presented on how politicians’ use of Twitter affects the reach of their social media posts and the growth of their audience. Research will also be presented on how different types of consumers react on social media to brand-related events. We discuss the implications of our fndings for organizations, including frms and political campaigns, that use social media as a means of communicating with consumers and for monitoring consumer reactions.