Do social networking sites contribute for building brands? Evaluating the impact of users' participation on brand awareness and brand attitude

Social networking sites (SNSs) have attracted increasing attention from brands, which look at the platform as a privileged communication channel to reach their audiences. Despite their growing adoption, few research efforts have been devoted to evaluate SNSs' concrete implications for the brands. The current study addresses this opportunity, proposing a model that evaluates the impact of users' participation in SNSs on brand awareness and brand attitude, the two main pillars of brand knowledge. The study focuses on brand like pages in Facebook, the most used SNSs platform for brands. An online quantitative survey with brand like page users of leading brands in Facebook was implemented. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the measurement model and structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed research hypotheses. The results identify a significant, positive and direct impact of users' participation on brand awareness. Brand attitude also substantially benefits from users' participation, but this relationship is mediated by brand awareness. The findings help to validate SNSs' significant role on building brand knowledge and to position users' participation at the core of brands' SNSs objectives. Furthermore, the study provides a practical research framework, easily adapted for monitoring purposes and managerial guidance. Future research directions are discussed.     

Explicating the ‘like’ on Facebook brand pages: The effect of intensity of Facebook use,number of overall ‘likes’, and number of friends' ‘likes’ on consumers' brand outcomes

This study examined the relationship between the number of overall ‘likes’ and friends' ‘likes’ on Facebook brand pages in influencing consumers' brand attitude, brand trust, brand involvement, and purchase intention, drawing upon theoretical concepts including diffusion of innovations, social capital theory, strength of weak ties, sociometric versus perceptual popularity, and prior research in online impression formation. Results of a 2 × 2 experiment revealed significant main effects of number of overall ‘likes’ and friends' ‘likes’ on key dependent measures. A significant interaction effect was also found between overall ‘likes’ and friends' ‘likes’. Additionally, intensity of Facebook use also mediated the relationships between number of overall ‘likes’ and friends' ‘likes’ with brand attitude, brand trust, and purchase intention.     

社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播的探讨

面对社会化媒体时代的到来,城市品牌传播该做怎么样的思考?本文基于社会化媒体用户生产并传播内容与用户彼此间的关系为社会化媒体发展的双驱动力的认知之上,围绕社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播发起者的可知与未知、社会化媒体平台在城市品牌传播中的角色认知、政府机构在社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播中角色的认知、社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播渠道认知等几点对社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播展开探讨。     

Exciting on Facebook or competent in the newspaper? Media effects on consumers’ perceptions of brands in the fashion category

Abstract

Media investments are continuously shifting from traditional media like newspapers to digital alternatives like websites and social media. This study investigated if and how media choice between the two rival channels can influence consumers’ perceptions of a novel brand. 504 Swedish retail fashion customers participated in an experiment to evaluate the identical advertisement placed either in a national newspaper or on Facebook. The results revealed that advertising in a newspaper can have a positive effect on brand equity facets and purchase intention through brand personality perceptions of being competent, while advertising on Facebook have similar effects but through perceptions of being exciting. Besides some evidence that choice between traditional and new media affects brand personality this study is one of the first attempts to incorporate media channel choice into the broader customer-based brand equity framework. The results from this particular study suggest that media channel choice should be considered from a brand equity building perspective at least in the fashion category. This study shows that different media channels could complement each other strategically, as traditional media channels still can have valuable and unique contributions to brand building through brand personality perceptions, especially for brands striving to be perceived as competent.     

Social Networking the Brand—An Exploration of the Drivers of Brand Image in the South African Beer Market

Social network marketing has risen to the fore as an innovative and cost effective method of reaching a target audience. However, owing to the recentness of this marketing technique, there is little scholarly research in this area, especially in emerging markets. This study considered the impact of interactivity and media richness on brand attitude and brand image in the South African beer market. It also tested whether brand involvement has a moderating effect in this regard. The empirical work was conducted through an electronic survey of Facebook fan page users. The results revealed that interactivity had a positive effect on brand attitude, whilst media richness did not. Brand involvement, tested for a moderating effect on the above relationships, was not found to be significant. As expected, brand attitude was found to be strongly linked to brand image in this context. The findings stress the importance of bidirectional communication in favor of media rich design. This suggests that marketers of beer would be well advised to engage with customers on fan pages in routinely responding to their comments and allowing them to upload suitable content. If consumers feel that they have ‘ownership’ of these pages and are able to have a positive influence on brand evolution, fan pages are likely to yield positive results in social media campaigns.     

Less speed more haste: The effect of crisis response speed and information strategy on the consumer−brand relationship

This paper investigates the relationship between firm crisis behavior and the resulting consumer–brand relationship (CBR) response. Drawing from theoretical traditions in brand transgressions, service failure, and crisis communications, we use longitudinal survey data combined with archival social media data to empirically test the effect of crisis response speed and crisis information strategy on the short-term consumer crisis response evaluations (1 month after crisis response), and the long-term CBR (1 year after crisis response). Results show that, contrary to intuitive expectations, a faster firm response is not always better, as a slower response was found to result in higher crisis response evaluations. We also show that this effect depends on the consistency of the communication strategy with the first active response. Specifically, when a firm prioritizes safety information (instructing strategy), a faster response is better. Whereas, when the firm prioritizes well-being information (adjusting strategy), a slower response is better. We argue the counterintuitive finding that a slower response is better implies that reacting too quickly may signal rashness and unpreparedness to the customer, leading to more negative evaluations. We term this distinction the difference between being responsive (fast but considered) and reactive (faster but rash).     

Facebook fan page: the effect of perceived socialness in consumer–brand communication

Facebook has become an important platform for a brand–consumer relationship channel. The current study investigates the influence of perceived socialness and its effect on consumers’ attitude toward brands. Participants (N = 404) were recruited in a large southeast university. A 2 (socialness: high vs. low)?×?2 (feedback control: high vs. low)?×?2 (brand image: high vs. low) between-subject design was conducted. The results of this study identified three important findings. First, high (vs. low) socialness elicited higher perceived relationship commitment, brand trust, and more favorable brand attitude. Second, the effect of socialness on brand attitude was moderated by brand image (positive vs. negative). Third, the mediation analysis showed that the effect of socialness (high vs. low) on brand attitude was fully mediated by perceived relationship commitment and brand trust.     

Internet media personality: scale development and advertising implications

This study explores the personality of Internet media and develops a multidimensional measurement scale to assess personality across diverse entities, including social networking sites, search engines, portals, and shopping sites. Through a series of qualitative and quantitative methods, including exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the present study identifies a set of 30 personality traits that represent five unique dimensions of Internet media personality: Intelligent, Amusing, Convenient, Sociable, and Confusing. This study found that different pairs of brand and Internet media personality dimensions yield different effects on attitude toward advertising brands. Practical implications for marketers and advertisers, as well as theoretical implications for advertising researchers, are discussed.     

‘You really are a great big sister’ – parasocial relationships,credibility, and the moderating role of audience comments in influencer marketing

ABSTRACT

This study examines the moderating role of audience comments in influencer marketing. A YouTube vlog entry by a social media influencer featuring the endorsement of a brand was studied, and an experimental design featuring two conditions related to audience comments was created. The results indicate that a parasocial relationship with the influencer builds the perceived credibility of the influencer, while comments by other audience members moderate the effect. Influencer credibility positively affects brand trust and purchase intention. The findings enhance the understanding of the role of an active audience in influencer marketing.     

Social Media,Social Me: A Content Analysis of Beauty Companies’ Use of Facebook in Marketing and Branding

This paper initiated an investigation on how beauty brands employ social media, particularly Facebook, to increase brand awareness and reinforce brand loyalty. It is no doubt that changes in the consumptive patterns of media have led companies to shift their focus from products to people and from information delivery to information exchange. Few studies, to our knowledge, exist that examine beauty brands and/or beauty companies’ use of social media as a means of engaging with or interacting with their current and potential consumers. Thus, the present study represented findings from a content analysis of Facebook posts from Estée Lauder, MAC cosmetics, Clinique, L’Oreal, Maybelline, and CoverGirl to see what types of social media tools were used more frequently by these brands to connect with their fans and users. Specifically, the study focused on the theoretical and practical implications of viral marketing in the branding strategies of the six beauty and/or makeup brands. Additionally, the study examined the way “high-end” brands used Facebook compared to the department store counterparts. These and other findings are discussed.     

What Advertisers Need to Know About Promotion in the Arab World: Technology and Media Perspectives

There is little doubt that globalization has and continues to have a significant impact on business activities worldwide. The impact of globalization was made possible mainly by advances in technological innovation including the area of global communication. Among the many regions that have been significantly impacted by globalization is the Arab world. The purpose of this paper is to provide answers to the following questions: (a) What technological innovations related to advertising and promotion are dominating the Arab world?; (b) What is the media landscape as it relates to advertising and promotion in the Arab world?; (c) What media outlets are being consumed by Arab consumers?; and (d) What are the most effective media outlets in reaching the Arab consumer? Arguments have been made that the growth of mobile phones, Internet technology, and multimedia devices such as iPods and PlayStation Portables has contributed to the trend of youth moving away from traditional media platforms such as television. While this finding has been supported in research for some regions of the world, this paper studies whether it holds true for the Arab population.     

Exploring interactive communication using social media

Engaging consumers in interactive marketing communication is instrumental in business–customer relationships building and development. Social media enables consumers to initiate marketing messages and gain growing control in the communication process due to its enhanced interactivity features. This study investigates whether communication between businesses and their social media users is interactive and how interactive it is. It also attempts to determine what types of messages are more likely to result in interactive communication. The findings reveal that businesses are attempting functional interactivity while individual users are increasingly securing a control to achieve contingent interactivity. Businesses are adopting a consumer-centric approach in designing and executing marketing communication messages to achieve interactivity though significant variance is established between businesses as measured by Interactivity Performance Matrix. Challenges remain for businesses as to how to engage their customers by utilizing the interactivity features of social media to facilitate relationships formulation and development.     

品牌价值视角下品牌竞争力提升研究

在产品或服务日趋同质化,消费者需求越来越多元化的背景下,品牌日益成为企业提升竞争力的主要源泉,而品牌价值的塑造也越来越受到人们的关注.本文分析了品牌价值和品牌竞争力之间的关系,从品牌价值视角出发,为企业品牌竞争力的提升实践提供一些借鉴.