The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors (original) (raw)

Consumer-Brand Relationships in Social Media

The paper focuses on consumer-brand relationships, and attempts to identify what relational benefits and costs consumers-members of social media brand pages perceive. Considering the rapid development of social media and their penetration in business marketing actions, this study is an exploratory step towards the understanding of relational benefits and costs together in the context of social media. A qualitative approach was employed for this study. Data were collected from four focus groups consisting of 32 Greek social media users who are members of popular brand pages on both Facebook and Twitter, providing preliminary evidence about the perceived benefits and costs arising from consumers’ participation in social media brand pages. Results indicate that consumers perceive social benefits, information benefits, time & effort benefits, economic benefits, and personal treatment benefits. Overload, privacy concern, and annoyance are members’ perceived costs from interacting with companies in social media brand pages. The study identifies and proposes several opportunities for company managers, suggesting practices for effective social media handling, towards the enhancement of perceived relational benefits and the reduction of relational costs.

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL-MEDIA COMMUNICATION ON CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF BRANDS

Researchers and brand managers have limited understanding of the effects of firm-created and user-generated social media communication on brand equity, brand attitude, and purchase intention. Thus, we investigated 504 Facebook users using a standardized online survey across Poland. To test the proposed model, we analysed 60 brands across three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing, and mobile operators. In the data analysis, we applied the structural equation modelling technique. The results of our empirical studies showed that user-generated social media communication had a positive influence on brand equity and brand attitude. In addition, the analysis indicated that firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude showed a positive influence on purchase intention. Moreover, measurement invariance was assessed using a multi-group structural modelling equation. The findings revealed that the proposed model was invariant across the researched industries.

The Impact of Consumer Interactions in Social Networking Sites on Brand Perception

Journal of Internet and e-Business Studies, 2015

Nowadays, measurement of the impact of the digital world on the traditional marketing mix is critical to the success of the marketing planning, especially in the communication effort. Digital evolution and especially social media have changed how consumers and marketers communicate. Peer communication through social media (SM), a new form of consumer socialization, has profound impacts on consumer decision making and thus marketing strategies (Vinerean, et al., 2013). Schultz and Peltier (2013) establish as future research directions the study of how social media is

Fostering Consumer–Brand Relationships in Social Media Environments: The Role of Parasocial Interaction

Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2014

As brands solidify their place in social media environments, consumers' expectations have amplified, thus spurring the development of technologies to assist with the engagement process. Understanding the ways in which brands can preserve the one-to-one characteristics and intimate relationship qualities offered by social media while still meeting consumer expectations amidst the escalating volume of interactions has become essential. Drawing on the communications literature, this research proposes that parasocial interaction (PSI) theory may be used as a theoretical lens for designing successful social media strategies. Three studies, using a multi-method approach, provide evidence of PSI's role in the development of positive relationship outcomes. Mediation analysis reveals that this sense of feeling connected with the brand goes beyond the interaction itself and drives increased feelings of loyalty intentions and willingness to provide information to the brand. Evidence from this research suggests that these effects may not hold when consumers are aware of the possibility that the brand's social media response may be automated. These findings offer marketers theoretical guidance for fostering relationships in social media environments.

Fostering Online Relationships With Brands Through Websites and Social Media Brand Pages

Journal of Promotion Management, 2019

The current study explores how brands create and maintain online relationships with consumers through their Websites, Facebook and Instagram brand pages. Findings show that Websites perform better in the two strategies disclosure and information dissemination. Regarding the strategy interactivity and involvement, websites lack interactive features that allow firms to engage with consumers, such as commenting and sharing opportunity. Managerial implications of the study are also provided.

Social Media Communication and Consumer Brand Perceptions

Social media has changed the shape of communication strategies in the corporate world. Corporations are using social media to reach their maximum stakeholders in minimum time at different social media forums. Consumers being an important corporate stakeholder hold significant importance in corporate communication strategy. The current study examines the role of social media communication on consumer brand perceptions and their buying behavior. A comprehensive survey is conducted through various social media forums including Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Linkedin, to collect data regarding social media communication of a cellular service provider company's brand in Pakistan. The empirical results report positive and significant influence of company-generated and user-generated social media communications on consumer brand perceptions and purchase intentions. The study strongly recommends use of social media communication to influence consumer behavior, particularly for technology oriented brands. The findings of this study provide important information to the marketing professionals and brand managers to understand consumer behavior through social media communication.

A Conceptual Framework of the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer ’ s relationship

2015

From the social media marketing perspective, the rapid speed of change in the high-street fashion industry generated the need to create, adapt and integrate conversations that will allow bridging the gaps between the brand and consumers. This is done by communicating, engaging, entertaining and triggering response through social media content to ultimately stage and develop a customer experience that will ensure the development a long-term relationship and immersing the brand in the consumer‟s lifestyle. The main paper objective is to investigate how high-street fashion brands use social media in order to develop customer relationships and thus create personal relationships between the brands and consumers. Moreover, the study will provide answers in regards to the properties of high-street fashion brands‟ social media marketing in regards to media platforms and how these affect customer relationship constructs such as

Would You Be My Friend? An Examination of Global Marketers' Brand Personification Strategies in Social Media

Building on the consumer–brand relationship framework, this research examines global marketers’ branding strategies and consumer engagement in social media. Results of a content analysis in Study 1 show that brand personification strategies are prevalently employed on global brands’ Facebook pages in both graphic and textual content. Brand personification strategies in textual content are especially effective in inducing consumer engagement (i.e., likes, shares, and comments). A linguistic analysis in Study 2 further suggests that highly engaged consumers exhibit anthropomorphic responses when they interact with brands; they treat brands as humanlike social agents and show positive emotions toward the brands. The synthesized results provide empirical evidence that consumer– brand relationships are realized by brand personification strategies and consumers’ anthropomorphism in the social media domain. Theoretical implications and managerial suggestions are discussed.

Consumers’ relationships with brands

Current Opinion in Psychology, 2016

Highlights  Strong, positive relationships are not as frequent as marketers would like.  The formation of strong bonds brings unanticipated risks for consumers and brands.  Anthropomorphism activates interpersonal processes in consumer-brand relationships.  Attachment style effects on brand bonds can vary from those at play in human relations.  Scholarly critiques invite revision and extension of early brand relationship frameworks.

Impact of Parasocial Interaction on Brand Relationship Quality: The Mediating Effect of Brand Loyalty and Willingness to Share Personal Information

International Journal of Management Research and Emerging Sciences, 2023

This study investigates how the physical and social attractiveness of digital influencers and the attitude homophily they share with their audience serve as antecedents of parasocial interactions with the influencer. It addresses gaps in existing literature of how these parasocial interactions relate to "consumer "brand engagement in self-concept" and "brand relationship quality" in reference to brands on Instagram that are recommended by the influencers and; how consumers' brand loyalty, willingness to share information and privacy concerns impact these relationships. Survey research was conducted whereby online questionnaires were distributed to followers of fashion influencers on Instagram. In order to test the proposed framework through the data collected, "partial least squares structural equation modeling" (PLS-SEM) was adopted. The results revealed that influencer attractiveness and attitude homophily lead to parasocial interactions, which further have significant direct and indirect correlations with "brand engagement in self-concept", brand loyalty, willingness to share information and brand relationship quality.