Brand followers: motivations and attitudes of consumers to follow brands in social media

Abstract

Social media (SM) strategies are vital for brands to stay connected with consumers. Although the brands' purposes are explicit, consumers' motivations of interacting with brands in SM are more tentative. The aim of this study is to examine consumer motivations and attitudes of following brand pages in SM. A scale development procedure was followed after the literature review and qualitative assessments. Principle component analyses with first sample revealed 'conversation', 'brand affiliation', 'opportunity seeking', 'entertainment', and 'investigation' motives that lead consumers to follow brands in social media. Reliability, validity and predictive properties of motivation constructs were tested with CFA and SEM analyses in a validation sample. Brand affiliation and opportunity seeking were indicated as significant factors on attitudes toward following brands through SM.