Comparative analysis of user engagement discursive strategies in social media: a case study of Russian and Chinese alcohol brands

Van Yuichzhi ORCID: 0000-0002-2984-8238 PhD in Philology Senior Lecturer; Institute of Foreign Languages; Sichuan University 610000, China, Sichuan, Chengdu yuzhiwang@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The relevance of the research is due to the fundamental transformation of communication practices in the digital age, which significantly changes the nature of interaction between brands and consumers. Social media as a special communicative space not only modifies the channels of information dissemination, but also fundamentally changes the very nature of brand communication, turning consumers from passive recipients of information into active participants in the creation of brand discourse. In the context of globalization and digitalization of the economy, a comparative study of the discursive practices of alcohol brands in Russia and China is of particular importance, revealing both universal mechanisms of digital communication and culturally specific aspects of interaction with the audience.

The object of the study is the user engagement discourse generated by the brands "Russian Standard" and "Ulyanye" on the VKontakte and Weibo platforms in the period January-December 2024.

The purpose of the study is to identify the features of discursive user engagement strategies used by alcohol brands in Russia and China in social media in order to identify culturally specific features of the formation of interactive brand discourse.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks are defined:

1. Consider linguistic and semiotic means of implementing discursive strategies in social media, identifying common and specific characteristics of brand communication practices.

2. To analyze the ways of integrating brand communication into the socio-cultural context of the target audience, defining the mechanisms of adaptation of discursive strategies to the peculiarities of the digital environment.

3. To study the user engagement systems used by brands in various cultural contexts, identifying the design features of the interactive space.

4. To conduct a comparative analysis of the discursive practices of Russian and Chinese brands, determining the influence of cultural traditions on the formation of user engagement strategies.

The scientific novelty of the research consists in the development of a comprehensive model for the comparative study of discursive strategies in various cultural contexts, integrating linguistic, semiotic and sociocultural approaches. For the first time, a systematic comparison of the communicative practices of alcohol brands in the Russian and Chinese sociomedia space has been conducted. The culturally determined features of the implementation of the user engagement discourse are revealed, revealing the specifics of digital communication in various cultural traditions.

The theoretical significance of the research lies in enriching the theory of social media discourse through a systematic description of brand communication strategies in the digital environment. The revealed patterns expand the understanding of the transformation of marketing discourse in the era of digitalization and contribute to the development of cross-cultural linguistics, media linguistics and the theory of intercultural communication.

The practical significance of the research is determined by the applicability of its results in three main areas: in the development of culturally adapted communication strategies for international brands; in improving the methodology of digital marketing, taking into account the identified culturally specific discursive patterns; in the educational process in the training of specialists in intercultural communication and the formation of teaching materials in disciplines related to brand communications in the digital environment.

The research methodology is based on the integration of discourse analysis, functional linguistics and multimodal semiotics. The research material is the content of the official accounts of the Russian Standard and Ulyanye brands on the VKontakte and Weibo platforms. The analysis includes the study of verbal and non-verbal components of communication, discursive mechanisms of interaction with the audience and the functional integration of semiotic resources in the construction of meaning.

The degree of scientific development of the topic is characterized by a significant amount of research in the field of social media, while the study of discursive strategies for user engagement in an intercultural perspective seems to be an emerging scientific field. The evolution of theoretical approaches can be traced from early conceptual works that laid the foundation for understanding marketing in social media (J. K. Dwivedi, K. K. Kapoor, H. Chen ^[1]; N. V. Zlobina, K. V. Zavrazhina ^[2]), to modern integrative models that consider social media as an element of strategic development in the digital age (K. Jamil, L. Dunnan, R. F. Gul ^[3]; M. T. Khanom ^[4]), and works offering an analysis of the historical development of user engagement concepts (V. M. Lim, T. Rasul ^[5]). Considerable attention in research is paid to the mechanisms of consumer engagement, in particular, in works devoted to the systematization of approaches to studying audience interaction with brands (V. Barger, J. V. Peltier, D. E. Schultz ^[6]; H. Alves, K. Fernandez, M. Raposo ^[7]), the analysis of the role of influencers in the formation of consumer engagement (B. Pradhan, K. Kishore, N. Gokhale ^[10]), and the study of consumer behavior formation processes through social media (C. Ji, S. Miero, G. Huang ^[9]; J. P. Doyle, Y. Su, T. Kunkel ^[11]).

The methodological foundation of modern research on discursive strategies in social media is formed by fundamental works on multimodal critical discourse analysis, among which D. Machin's research ^[12] stands out, defining the theoretical and methodological foundations of this field as an independent scientific discipline at the junction of linguistics, semiotics and sociology. The methodology was further developed in the works of Ch. Ratnayake and D. Suthers ^[13], as well as in the study by V. Eisenlauer and S. Karatz ^[14], devoted to multimodal literacy, media opportunities and semiotic resources in the context of discursive communities, which significantly expands the understanding of the role of various semiotic systems in the formation of modern digital discourse. The applied application of multimodal analysis is presented in works devoted to various product categories. Suphabornrat, P. Punkasirikul ^[15]; O. Ottman, H. A. Rahmad, R. Juhendri ^[16]), as well as the integration of multimodal analysis with an intercultural perspective in the study of branding (J. Wang, D. Feng ^[17]; K. Bayard, P. L. Rippi ^[18]). In the Russian scientific space, the field of social media research is developing, represented by works adapting modern marketing concepts to the national context (G. H. Salmanova, E. T. Sakhautdinova, Yu.F. Khamitova, L. R. Kurmanova ^[19]; I. Aldarova ^[20]), which contributes to the formation of a comprehensive understanding of marketing communications in various cultural environments.

An analysis of the scientific literature suggests that with a significant body of research devoted to certain aspects of social media marketing, it is possible to further develop comprehensive intercultural studies of brand discursive strategies from various cultural areas, integrating the achievements of multimodal discourse analysis, user engagement theory, and culturally specific aspects of digital communication. The present study, which focuses on a comparative analysis of discursive strategies for involving users of alcohol brands in Russia and China, may contribute to the expansion of methodological tools for analyzing digital communications from an intercultural perspective.

The empirical basis of the study is made up of materials from the official accounts of the Russian Standard and Ulyana brands on the VKontakte and Weibo social networks for the period January–December 2024. The study analyzes a representative sample of publications reflecting various aspects of audience engagement strategies. The criteria for selecting the material are the presence of elements aimed at enhancing user engagement, as well as thematic relevance for analyzing brand discursive strategies.

Analysis of discursive strategies for engaging users of the Russian Standard brand.

The study of the Russian Standard brand's communication practices on the VKontakte platform allows us to identify a comprehensive system of discursive user engagement strategies that integrates five interrelated dimensions: the construction of interpersonal relationships, the organization of interactive mechanisms, the contextualization of communication practices, the design of multi-level participation frameworks and the implementation of cross-platform integration.

In the dimension of interpersonal relationship construction, the discursive practices of the Russian Standard brand are characterized by the transformation of the traditional producer-consumer communication model towards the formation of socially oriented relationships. Linguistic analysis reveals the systematic use of the word "Friends" as the dominant appellative, which demonstrates a significant deviation from conventional marketing terminology using such categories as "buyers" or "consumers". This appellative is regularly localized in the initial position of messages, forming a stable collocation with an exclamation mark and greeting formulas.: "Friends! How was your weekend?" Such a structure of the opening element signals the reconfiguration of the communicative space from commercial to social and establishes relations of communicative equality through grammatical markers of intimization, including the use of verb and pronominal forms of the second person plural.

The analysis of the distribution of appellative forms reveals their systematic correlation with markers of collectivity, such as "we" and "together" in the context of interactive posts.: "Friends! Let's celebrate this holiday together." In this construction, the "let's" connector combines semantic inclusivity, which unites the addressee and the addressee, with the grammatical requirement of the infinitive verb form, which ensures that the brand and users are placed in a single grammatical position of the subject of action, thereby reconstructing social relations at the syntactic level.

The communicative relations established within the framework of the interpersonal dimension serve as the basis for the organization of interactive mechanisms that manifest themselves in the formation of standardized functional structures of the text. An analysis of the corpus of interactive publications reveals a stable three-part composition: an initiating block marked with fixed collocations marking the beginning of the competition; an information block containing regulatory provisions; and a final block with temporal constraints and expressive formulas of wishes.

Each component of this structure is characterized by a specific distribution of syntactic constructions: the initiating block is represented mainly by declarative and exclamation sentences ("Today Russian vodka celebrates its birthday! In honor of this significant event, we are announcing a contest..."), the information block is dominated by imperative constructions ("Post a photo in the comments to this post"), the final block contains conditional sentences and declaratives in the future tense ("We will select the winner using a randomizer on January 10th. Good luck and good mood to all of you!"). This distribution of syntactic forms functionally correlates with the communicative tasks of each block: exclamation constructions form emotional resonance through prosodic markers, imperative sentences carry out behavioral regulation through direct directive influence, conditional constructions build expectations about the results through the establishment of logical connections.

It should be noted that at the lexical level, an integral terminological system is identified in the discourse of competitive activities, including such units as "participant", "winner", "randomizer", which form a complete semantic field. These lexical units not only increase the level of professional representation of activities, but also establish intertextual connections through regular reproduction in various publications, ensuring the coherence of discourse at the macro level and transforming discrete interactive events into a single discursive system.

Formalized interactive mechanisms acquire sociocultural significance through a strategy of contextualization of communicative practices, in which the discourse of the Russian Standard brand demonstrates systematic integration with the sociocultural chronotope of Russian society. The corpus of interactive publications identifies the regular use of temporal markers, among which seasonal and festive deictic elements are the most frequent. These temporal markers function not only as chronological indicators, but also as carriers of cultural connotations: the nomination "May holidays", in addition to its temporal meaning, implies a cultural scenario of external activities and social gatherings; the nomination "New Year's holidays" activates the semantic field of family gatherings and festive feasts.

Collocation analysis reveals a systematic correlation between temporal markers and vocabulary representing social scenarios: "festive table", "party", "meeting". These lexical units form a semantic network representing holistic social situations. This lexical choice strategy activates specific social contexts through the mechanisms of cultural cognition, integrating the product into the life practices of the target audience in a natural way.

In the multimodal aspect of contextualization, the analysis of the relationship between textual and visual elements allows us to identify three main integration models: complementary (text description and visual content complement each other, as in competitive posts, where the text with a proposal to photograph the "Russian Standard" on a festive table is accompanied by an image of an aesthetically served table with a bottle of vodka among the festive attributes), intensifying (the visual element enhances the key information of the text, which is observed in posts about significant brand events, where the image shows a close-up of a premium bottle of "Russian Standard" in a thematic design that emphasizes the special significance of the moment) and expansive (the visual element provides additional information not provided in the text, as in some competitive posts where the photo shows cocktail options with brand products, visually expanding the context of the use of prizes, although the text content focuses mainly on the rules of participation). These integration models form a complex multimodal strategy for contextualizing brand communication, ensuring multidimensional audience involvement in the communication process.

Interactive mechanisms contextualized in the socio-cultural space naturally form different levels of user perception and engagement, which necessitates the design of differentiated participation frameworks. Since the depth of understanding of cultural references and the degree of resonance with value orientations vary among the audience, the brand naturally builds a multi–level engagement system capable of meeting the needs of various segments of users - from situational participants to active contributors to the brand narrative. In this dimension, brand discourse primarily implements a strategy of multilevel gradation of engagement through linguistic structures. The analysis of the material makes it possible to identify the construction of a progressive system of engagement from basic interaction to deep participation. At the level of basic interaction, the use of simple directive statements is fixed, setting a low threshold for entry: "like", "share", "subscribe". These verbs are presented in the form of the perfect form of the imperative mood, which grammatically marks the singleness and completeness of the action.

At the level of content interaction, constructions that require the production of content are identified: "write in the comments", "tell us about", "take a picture". These expressions mainly use the imperfect form of the imperative mood, which implies the procedural nature and duration of the action. At the level of creative participation, the use of verbs with a high cognitive requirement is revealed: "create", "invent", which regularly correlate with conditional or concessive adjectives that establish complex conditions for participation. The analysis of grammatical characteristics reveals a tendency to structural complexity from simple imperative sentences to complex syntactic constructions, as well as a tendency to semantic abstraction from specific behavioral verbs to abstract cognitive predicates. This progression of linguistic structures ensures an effective reduction of the initial threshold of engagement while simultaneously constructing a path to deeper participation through linguistic implications.

The fifth dimension in the discursive system of the Russian Standard brand is the cross-platform strategy. It integrates and develops the previous four components, forming a single communicative space through linguistic mechanisms for building intertextual connections between various media platforms. Russian Instar's publication body on the VKontakte platform identifies explicit references to other platforms: "in our Telegram channel", "on our Instagram page". These cross-platform directives are mainly implemented through parallel syntactic structures: "A and B", "Not only A but also B", which place various platform actions in equivalent grammatical positions, which minimizes the cognitive barrier to cross-platform user migration.

Collocation analysis reveals a systematic correlation between cross-platform references and expressions of incremental benefit: "increase the chance", "get additional bonuses", which forms a motivational structure for cross-platform participation. At the level of semantic coherence, consistency in the use of thematic markers, key terminology and temporal indicators between different platforms is identified, which ensures the formation of a unified narrative system integrating discrete platform discourses into a single communicative space.

Thus, the analysis of discursive strategies for engaging users of the Russian Standard brand makes it possible to identify a systematic organization of communication practices characterized by the logical interconnectedness of various aspects of interaction with the audience. There is a certain sequence in the deployment of strategic components of the discourse, where each previous element creates the basis for the implementation of the next one. This organization forms an integrated audience engagement system in which certain trends can be noted, presumably correlating with some aspects of the Russian communicative tradition, including elements of procedural regulation and space for individual expression.

Analysis of discursive strategies for engaging users of the Ulyana brand

A study of the Ulyana brand's communication practices on the Weibo platform reveals a systemically organized set of discursive user engagement strategies that combine five interrelated and logically interdependent dimensions. These dimensions – the construction of subjective identity, the design of a multi–level system of engagement, the formation of emotional scenarios, the transmission of cultural values and the implementation of integrative communication practices - form not just parallel areas of activity, but a single system where each previous dimension lays the foundation for the next, providing a comprehensive impact on the audience.

In the dimension of constructing subjective identity, the Ulyana brand forms a unique speech subject through personification through the nomination "Wu Zhangui" (五掌柜, "master Wu"). This personified discursive actor is implemented in communicative practices as follows: "Wu Zhangui enjoys this moonlit night with everyone and wishes everyone a happy Lantern Festival!". Linguistic and cultural analysis shows that this construct has a dual functionality: on the one hand, referring to traditional Chinese commercial culture through the lexeme "zhangui" (掌柜, "shopkeeper") translates authority and reliability; on the other, it adapts communication to the interactive features of modern social media by reducing the communicative distance.

It is important to note that this subjective identity is not static, but exhibits dynamic variability in various contextual conditions. Holiday posts are dominated by markers of empathy and caring: "Wu Zhangui knows that many friends have already left for work after the holidays, we wish everyone a safe journey." Markers of creativity and playfulness prevail in interactive posts.: "Wu Zhangui is personally coming on stage to give you a happy avatar of Ulyana." In the aspect of addressing the addressee, there is a systematic use of inclusive appellatives "friends", "fans", which contributes to the formation of parity communicative relations.

Of particular interest is the strategy of manipulating subject boundaries through the flexible use of grammatical categories of a person and referential means. In the brand's discourse, there is a systematic variation in the forms of addressing and reference, aimed at blurring the boundaries between the addressee and the addressee. An illustrative example is the saying: "May everyone be financially prosperous in the new year, with full wallets," where the inclusive designation "everything" unites the brand and users into a single reference group. Such grammatical construction of commonality, combined with the use of wishes addressed implicitly to a team that includes both sides, eliminates the demarcation line between the brand and the audience, creating a common emotional space and forming the necessary basis for the implementation of a multi-level engagement system.

The formed subjective identity creates the necessary communicative basis for designing a multi-level engagement system. Personification of the brand through the image of Wu Zhangui ensures a trusting relationship with the audience and allows the brand to flexibly adapt communication strategies to different levels of interaction. The traditional role of the "shopkeeper" naturally presupposes the ability to engage visitors in a dialogue of varying degrees of depth – from greeting to meaningful conversation. Based on this communicative foundation, the Ulyana brand's discourse demonstrates a consistent gradation of interactive practices from basic interaction to in-depth participation. In this dimension, a three-level structure with differentiated entry thresholds, interaction mechanisms and incentive systems is identified, forming an integrated trajectory of user development.

At the level of basic engagement, interactive formats with minimal cognitive requirements and maximum procedural accessibility prevail: "Share + comment on this post with the hashtag #harmonious Ulyana happy Chinese New Year# and tell us about your 'intense' relationship with Ulyana over the past year." These basic interactions are characterized by the use of concise directive structures that minimize the threshold of entry and ensure wide audience coverage, thereby creating an initial user base for subsequent, deeper forms of interaction.

At the level of thematic engagement, the focus shifts to sustained serial interactions centered around regular thematic constructs. An illustrative example is the series "#Friday conversations#", which includes a variety of thematic content from "share your winter classics to watch" to "what should definitely be on your playlist on a snowy day." Such a format, through the establishment of temporal regularity, forms sustainable practices of participation, consolidating the thematic community around the brand and creating favorable conditions for the emotional involvement of users.

At the level of in-depth engagement, interactive tasks are recorded that require significant creative investment and meaningful depth, for example: "#alcohol should pamper you # Ulyana's secondary creativity challenge." Such formats stimulate the creative self-expression of users, forming the core of a loyal audience. The three-level engagement system not only expands the reach of brand communication, but also creates the necessary prerequisites for deep emotional integration of users into brand discourse.

A multilevel system of engagement naturally requires meaningful emotional content, which is realized in the dimension of the formation of emotional scenarios. In this aspect, the Ulyana brand's discourse demonstrates systematic integration with the temporal cycles and social contexts of Chinese society. In the temporal aspect, there is a deep incorporation of the traditional Chinese calendar cycle, which includes the main holidays and seasonal divisions of the "24 seasons of the solar calendar". Through constructions of temporal reflection ("the days pass one after another, and the year 2024 is coming to an end") The collective experience of time is activated, which corresponds to the cyclical perception of time processes in the Chinese cultural tradition.

In terms of constructing social contexts, the brand creates a multi-level system of interactive scenarios from cozy family situations to large-scale social events. The family context is represented through detailed descriptions: "try the soft sweet rice balls of Yuanxiao, enjoy the fragrant drink, Wu Zhangui enjoys this moonlit night with everyone." The context of social events is formed through references to popular cultural events.: "@Hunan TV channel @Mango TV New Year's gala concert", "Central Television". This strategy ensures the amplification of the emotional spectrum, creating favorable conditions for the subsequent translation of cultural values.

In the lexical aspect of emotional construction, the use of a diverse repertoire of expressive means is recorded: traditional benevolent formulas ("full blessings", "success in everything, fullness in every bowl"); creative congratulations using homonymy and puns ("in the year of the snake, we wish you good luck snakes [si si rui], which is homonymous to wishing success in all cases [shi shi rui], where the hieroglyph 巳 [si], the symbol of a snake in the Chinese calendar, is consonant with the hieroglyph 事 [shi], meaning 'business'"); poetic expressions using classical allusions ("the east wind melts the ice, sleeping insects begin to stir", "the light wind dances scarlet with snow in front of the bowl, the warm sun shows abundant fragrance under the dew"). This diversity of emotional registers creates a natural transition to the next dimension – the translation of cultural values.

By developing the emotional basis of interaction, the Ulyana brand's discourse in measuring the transmission of cultural values demonstrates the systemic integration of traditional value concepts with modern communication formats. Cultural concepts such as he (harmony), jia (family), yuan (completeness), and fu (well-being) are regularly updated in the publication body. These value dominants are translated through linguistic structures of various levels: lexical (direct nomination), grammatical (imperative constructions with value-oriented verbs), rhetorical (the use of parallelisms and antitheses to accentuate value oppositions).

Special attention is drawn to the linguistic and cultural adaptation of classical texts and concepts to the modern sociomedia format. There is a systematic use of traditional symbols (lantern, moon, red color) in combination with modern visual codes, which creates a multimodal cultural palimpsest. The text structures record a high frequency of classical allusions and reminiscences adapted to the modern linguistic context, which ensures the cultural legitimization of the brand while maintaining communicative accessibility.

The formation of subjective identity, a multilevel system of engagement, emotional scenarios and the translation of cultural values are integrated into a single communication ecosystem through the implementation of integrative communication practices. In this dimension, the Ulyana brand's discourse demonstrates a systematic approach to designing a multi-platform, multimodal ecosystem of user engagement that includes three interrelated components: thematic engagement design, cross-platform integration, and convergence of online and offline interactions.

In terms of thematic design of participation, the author identifies the construction of serial thematic complexes, such as a New Year's cycle of activities inviting users to share interactive stories with the brand, and seasonal interactive themes expressing specific concern for target groups ("Wu Zhangui knows that many friends have already gone on the road to work after the holidays"). These thematic complexes, through the systematic use of central concepts, in particular "hemei" (harmonious beauty), provide emotional coherence and value consistency of various interactive formats.

In terms of cross-platform integration, the brand demonstrates the system design of cross-platform user trajectories. An illustrative example is the integration with the television format of the "Spring Festival": @Hunan TV Channel @Mango TV New Year's Gala Concert, where Weibo users are directed to television and mobile applications. This cross-media design forms a multidimensional brand communication, extending the impact of previous strategic dimensions.

In the aspect of online-offline convergence, a set of practices is registered that transform virtual interactions into physical experiences. Through a system of online announcements of offline activities, including visits to tourist destinations and exhibitions, the brand constructs trajectories for the transition from digital interaction to tangible experience, which significantly enhances the quality of user engagement.

Thus, the discursive strategies for engaging users of the Ulyanye brand represent a logically interconnected and consistently unfolding system. The construction of subjective identity through the image of "Wu Zhangui" forms the communicative basis of the entire system. The multi–level engagement structure provides differentiated trajectories of user engagement, from basic interactions to creative challenges. The formation of emotional scenarios integrates the brand into the temporal cycles and social contexts of Chinese society. The translation of cultural values is realized through the actualization of the concepts of he (harmony), jia (family), yuan (completeness) and fu (well-being). Integrative communication practices provide a systematic implementation of previous measurements through cross-platform and online-offline integration. This discursive system demonstrates a focus on value coherence and collective identity, which can be considered as a manifestation of the peculiarities of the Chinese communicative tradition in the context of constructing brand discourse in a digital environment.

Conclusion

The analysis of discursive strategies for involving users of the Russian Standard and Ulyana brands allows us to state the presence of both universal patterns of interactive discourse formation in social media, as well as culturally specific modes of communicative interaction. A comparative study reveals that the discursive practices of alcohol brands in the digital space represent a multidimensional system of symbolic exchange, the functioning of which is determined by both technological parameters of platforms and cultural communication patterns.

In terms of the architectonics of discursive strategies, both brands demonstrate a five-component structure that includes the formation of a communicative subject (or interpersonal relationships), the construction of a multi-level engagement system, integration with the socio-cultural chronotope, the translation of value orientations and the implementation of cross-platform communication practices. This isomorphism of the strategic architecture indicates the existence of fundamental patterns of brand communication organization in the social media environment, regardless of the cultural context.

In measuring the construction of a multi-level user engagement system, a systemic pattern of progression from basic interactions to in-depth participation is revealed. In both cases, a three-level gradation of engagement is formed: the basic level provides broad coverage through simple interactive actions; the intermediate level intensifies interaction through thematic discussions; and the deep level forms the core of a loyal audience through user-generated content.

In measuring the contextualization of communication practices, a similar trend towards product integration into significant temporal and social contexts is revealed. Both brands demonstrate the use of temporal markers linking communication with socially significant periods and events, which ensures the natural incorporation of the commercial narrative into the life world of the target audience.

Significant differences are found in three key dimensions. Firstly, the degree of formalization of interactive mechanisms: the discourse of the "Russian Standard" is characterized by a high degree of standardization of interactive procedures, implemented through stable syntactic structures and terminological consistency; the discourse of "Ulyana" demonstrates a more flexible variability of interaction formats while maintaining conceptual integrity.

Secondly, in the cultural orientation of emotional construction: the discourse of the Russian brand emphasizes individual expectations and direct emotional feedback through direct grammatical constructions; the discourse of the Chinese brand systematically integrates individual experience into cultural scenarios using complex semiotic ensembles linking personal experiences with tradition and collective identity.

Thirdly, in the mode of constructing social connectivity: "Russian Standard" forms a community through egalitarian nominations and syntactic unification of brand and audience in common speech acts; "Ulyana" builds social relations through a personalized actor "Wu Zhangui" and the systematic actualization of cultural concepts "he" (for example, harmony, meaning balance and coexistence opposites), "jia" (家, family, embodying the idea of kinship as the foundation of society), "yuan" (圆, completeness, symbolizing integrity) and "fu" (福, well-being, representing the complex concept of wealth and well-being).

The revealed differences reflect the fundamental features of communication patterns in the respective cultural traditions. The Russian model shows an emphasis on procedural transparency and explicit expression of individual intentions, which corresponds to a higher value of certainty in communicative expectations; the Chinese model is characterized by higher contextuality and implicitness, with priority of value coherence and collective identity over individual expression.

The interactive space of social media transforms the communication of brands with consumers into a cyclical process of joint meaning-making, where the brand acts not as a source of information, but as a moderator of social interaction. In this context, the issue of balancing universal principles of digital marketing and culturally specific communication models is of particular importance. The observed differences in the strategies of Russian and Chinese brands demonstrate that even in the context of global digitalization of marketing communications, cultural patterns of interaction retain their stability and functional significance. This circumstance makes it possible to rethink the traditional dichotomy of globalization and localization of brand strategies, focusing on the cultural conditionality of the mechanisms of social communication themselves and, accordingly, the need to take this factor into account when designing communication strategies for international brands.

The prospects for further development of the topic include: expanding the empirical base at the expense of brands from other product categories and cultural areas; applying methods of automated big data analysis to more accurately identify discursive patterns; developing applied recommendations for adapting communication strategies to different cultural contexts. An important area is also the study of the impact of new technological formats of social media on the mechanisms of user engagement.

The research results are addressed to three main target audiences: in the academic environment – researchers in the field of discourse analysis, intercultural communication and digital marketing; in the professional field - specialists in international marketing and brand management interested in the effective adaptation of communication programs to different cultural contexts; in the educational process – in the training of specialists in digital marketing and cross-cultural communication, ensuring the integration of theoretical models with relevant practical examples.