Examining the drivers and brand performance implications of customer engagement with brands in the social media environment

Abstract

A key issue for marketers resulting from the dramatic rise of social media is how brand pages can be leveraged to engage customers and enhance relationships with brands. The article examines the role of gratifications consumers derive from brand pages together with customer-brand relationship characteristics influencing customer engagement (CE) with Facebook brand pages. Data was gathered via a survey of 404 consumers of brand pages and analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings show that co-creation value, social value, usage intensity and brand strength influence CE with brand pages. CE was also found to influence brand performance outcomes of CE behaviours directed at the brand page and brand loyalty. The findings are of value to brand managers of social media sites and focus on how managing critical user gratifications together with customer-brand relationship variables acts as a mechanism for unlocking CE with brand pages. In addition, the study examines CE effects on both behaviours central to the brand page and brand loyalty outcomes in the research framework.