Social Media-based Brand Communities Research Articles

Investigating antecedents of brand value co-creation behaviors in social media based brand communities

Consumers’ participation in brand value co-creation has played an important role in brand building since the rise of social media. There is little research that investigates brand value co-creation behaviors and their antecedents in social media-based brand communities (SMBBCs). This research proposes and tests an integrated model of brand value co-creation behaviors on the basis of the uses and gratifications and attachment theories. This study recruited 932 valid brand community members on Weibo, one of the most well-known social media platforms in China. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research model. The research findings confirm that brand community members’ motivations positively influence common identity-based and bond-based attachments, which in turn affect knowledge sharing behavior and brand advocacy. This research provides theoretical and practical contributions for SMBBC managers.

Investigating social media-based brand communities engagement’s motives and evangelistic tendencies for football sport’s fans

This study aims to investigate variables that motive brand community engagement. Moreover, explore the mediating role of brand evangelism between brand community engagement and brand defense. The data was collected using quantitative research through an online questionnaire-based survey from 217 active members of certain social media brand communities (SMBCs) which are Facebook and Whatsapp. I chose them because they provide similar functionality. The data was analyzed by using regression analysis. Facebook; for example, adopting instant messaging (IM) features similar to those found in Whatsapp however, the two tools of social media provide different social practices, resulting in different user experiences with the same functionality. Thus, the current research adapted these two tools to add richness to data collection. Respondents are a variety of university students and more than 50 different occupations. The data was analyzed by using multiple regression analysis. The research findings provide a comprehensive analysis of user perceptions and engagement within an entertainment platform across eight dimensions. Users generally hold favorable opinions of the platform, with high ratings for entertainment and information, while self-discovery offers opportunities for improvement. Reliability analysis indicates strong internal consistency among measured items, enhancing data trustworthiness. The correlation matrix underscores significant relationships among dimensions, highlighting their interconnectedness. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett's Test supports data suitability. Communalities reveal variable significance through PCA. Regression analysis demonstrates the model's effectiveness in explaining engagement variance. Additionally, mediation analysis emphasizes the direct effects of engagement on brand defense, and the indirect one via brand evangelism, contributing to a deeper understanding of user experiences on the platform.

Modelling the Effects of Social Media–based Brand Communities on Brand Trust, Brand Equity and Consumer Response

Social media platforms help brands connect with their customers online, and a social media -based brand community (SMBBC) enable brand attachments to particular brands. These brand communities enhance consumer relationships, increase customer advocacy, discover customer problems, and generate unique product and marketing ideas. In the context of Social Identity Theory and SOR framework (stimulus-organism-response), the present study explored the influence of customer-centric elements (the four relationships) on an online brand community that affect and provoke members’ conscious brains to get into action. The study further examines the impact of SMMBC on brand trust and brand equity variables (brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association and brand loyalty) and, consequently, on customer response (purchase intention, response to brand extension and willingness to pay a premium). A self-administered online survey was conducted to collect data on all selected brands. The brands were selected using a stratified sampling method, and the stratum used was the number of fans following the brands. The top three brands with the highest fan following from 15 sectors were picked. The study selected 384 final responses after the data screening procedure. SPSS version 26 and AMOS graphics were used for testing hypothesised relationship. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to ensure that the selected scale items were appropriately loaded, followed by measurement model’s reliability and validity testing using Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The findings of SEM analysis conclude that customer-centric elements are significant determinants of the online brand community. The results also confirmed that strengthening SMBBC leads to higher brand trust and positively influences all brand equity dimensions. In addition, the research study found that positive brand equity results in favourable consumer responses. This study contributes theoretically to past studies on brand community and customer response, mainly in social media. The findings are helpful for managers to design and manage their online brand communities effectively and to elicit more positive responses.

Engaging consumers via online brand communities to achieve brand love and positive recommendations

Purpose This study aims to investigate the influence of brand relationship quality and consumer community identification on consumer engagement. This study also examines the mediating role of consumer engagement between brand relationship quality and consumer community identification with brand love. Positive word of mouth is taken as an outcome variable. Design/methodology/approach To test the proposed relationships, data were collected from 580 social media-based brand community followers and analysed through structural equation modelling. Findings Results corroborate brand relationship quality and consumer community identification as critical drivers of consumer engagement on the online platforms. The results further reveal a positive association between consumer engagement and brand love which consequently foster positive word of mouth. The findings also corroborate the partial as well as full mediating role of consumer engagement on different proposed associations. Originality/value This study offers an in-depth insight of specific motivations to engage consumers in the virtual domain, make them adore their brands and spread a positive word. All of these outcomes are crucial in offering competitive advantages to firms. This study validates the relevance of consumer engagement interactions in contemporary firms’ relationship marketing strategies.

How do customers engage in social media-based brand communities: The moderator role of the brand's country of origin?

Across the globe, companies increasingly use social media-based brand communities (SMBBC) to facilitate customer engagement (CE). This study clarifies the relationship between brand trust and CE in SMBBC, which is often inconsistent in previous literature. Drawing on the uses and gratifications theory, we examine the motivations that drive customers' active and passive engagement behaviors. Additionally, this study employs multi-group analysis to compare the differences in the customer engagement process concerning the brand's country of origin. The empirical results demonstrate that brand trust is an antecedent to customer engagement in a long-term relationship. Brand affiliation, entertainment, and investigation prompt customers' active and passive engagement behaviors; the opportunity-seeking only encourages the passive engagement, but the motivation of conversation prompts neither active nor passive behaviors of the customers. Notably, there is no significant difference in Chinese customer engagement between domestic and foreign brands on Sina Weibo. The research enriches the understanding of customer engagement in SMBBC and provides valuable insights for international brands keen on the Chinese market.

Impact of brand community supportive climates on consumer-to-consumer helping behavior

PurposeThis paper aims to explore whether or not and how brand community supportive climates (information- versus emotion-supportive climates) have an impact on consumer-to-consumer helping behavior.Design/methodology/approachA survey of users of cell phone brand communities was conducted, and data from 413 participants were used to validate the hypotheses of this study.FindingsResults indicated that emotion- and information-supportive climates enhance consumer-to-consumer helping behavior through consumer–community relationships (i.e. brand community identification and brand community commitment).Research limitations/implicationsTo enhance the external validity of this research, future studies could investigate other settings (e.g. social media-based brand communities and brands of other product types) in countries with different religious beliefs.Practical implicationsMarketers should create an environment where consumers feel informationally and emotionally supported within the brand community, thereby enabling the former to enhance their relationships with their brand communities and ultimately increase consumers' helping behavior.Originality/valueBy dividing the supportive climate into two parts, the current study enriched the literature on community climate. Moreover, the authors complemented and expanded the literature on consumer helping behavior.

A Forgotten Tale of Lurking Engagement and Social Media-Based Brand Communities

The study is motivated by the lack of comprehension on how lurking and posting engagement are driven by hedonic vs. utilitarian brands in social media-based brand communities (SMBBC). Survey responses of 229 social media customers comprising group 1 for hedonic brands (n = 126) and group 2 for utilitarian brands (n = 103) were included in a multigroup analysis (MGA). PLS-SEM modeling results indicate that economic and entertainment needs of customers are significantly related to lurking engagement for hedonic brands. In contrast, identification and information needs of customers are significantly related to posting engagement for utilitarian brands. Importantly, lurking engagement appears more significantly related to brand loyalty compared to posting engagement. The study extends several insights on lurking and posting engagement to design brand type-oriented social media marketing strategies. Findings of the study also enrich the Uses and Gratification Theory in the context of lurking and posting engagement.

It Takes a Village!: Customer Value Co-Creation Behavior in Restaurant Social Media-Based Brand Community

Customers’ value co-creation behavior plays an essential role on brand pages, which many hospitality firms adopt to create value with customers. However, current understanding of the elements, drivers, and dynamics of such behavior is limited. Based on the value co-creation literature, motivation–opportunity–ability theory, and the dual identification framework, this study sought to bridge this knowledge gap. Specifically, this research clarified customer engagement behavior (CEB) and customer citizenship behavior (CCB) as respective in-role and extra-role behaviors of value co-creation and revealed their positive relationship. Structural equation modeling indicated that motivations (seeking assistance and diversion), social presence, and brand knowledge positively influenced CEB, which then affected CCB directly and indirectly through customer–brand identification. Moreover, functional benefits did not trigger meaningful CEB, and customer–community identification had a minimal impact on CCB. Overall, these insights can help practitioners manage their brand pages more effectively to co-create value with customers.

How Do Customers Engage in Social Media-Based Brand Communities: The Moderator Role of the Brand's Country of Origin

How Do Customers Engage in Social Media-Based Brand Communities: The Moderator Role of the Brand's Country of Origin

Facilitating value: How organizations deploy resources in social media-based brand communities

An organization's production of resources is fundamental to value creation and is thus a key managerial decision. However, for organizations that host social media-based brand communities (SMBCs) research does not yet explain how they can deploy resources to facilitate value. To bridge this gap, this study applies service logic and a qualitative method to investigate the value-facilitating resource strategies of two cause organizations that host SMBCs. The findings reveal the organizations produce three interdependent categories of value-facilitating resources (People, Operational, Informational) and seven resource-shaping processes that supporters use in their value co- creating interactions. This research builds theory by clarifying how organizations facilitate value. It expands understanding of value co-creation in a digital context and deepens insights into the organizational resources required for value creation. For managers of SMBCs, this research demonstrates the types of resources that supporters may value and how to deploy these, for supporter and organizational value.

Exploring Drivers and Outcomes of Lurking Engagement and Posting Engagement in Social Media-Based Brand Communities:

Social media-based brand communities (SMBBC) offer valuable opportunities for brands to build customer engagement (CE). Hitherto brands lack the knowledge of the forms of engagement in SMBBC that drive brand loyalty, effectiveness of investment in SMBBC, and the expected returns on the investment. Hence, the main objective of the study is to determine the drivers of CE in SMBBC, identify how they relate to two forms of engagement behaviors: lurking and posting, and their influence on resulting brand loyalty. PLS-SEM analysis of 229 fans of brands on Facebook established that significant differences exist between the drivers for lurking and posting engagement by hedonic and utilitarian brands type. Lurking engagement emerged as a significant and a stronger type of engagement behavior for brand loyalty than posting engagement. The study furnishes valuable insights on lurking and posting engagement and the variation in these engagement forms by hedonic and utilitarian brands in SMBBC.

Determinants of Fan Engagement in Social Media-Based Brand Communities: A Brand Relationship Quality Perspective

This study adopts a brand relationship quality (BRQ) perspective to reveal the reason firms’ investments in social media-based brand communities should increase their social relationship marketing performances. An empirical analysis with 234 Facebook users who joined brand communities was conducted to examine the proposed hypotheses, revealing that fan needs fulfillments—information, entertainment, social interaction, and monetary ones—had positive effects on BRQ. Further, BRQ was found to have positive effects on fans’ engagement behavioral intentions toward brands, including willingness to buy, member continuance intention, and electronic word of mouth intention. This study contributes to existing research that indicates a new mechanism of BRQ improvement via the social media-based brand community. Implications corresponding to the research findings as well as study limitations and future directions are also addressed.

Investigating brand community engagement and evangelistic tendencies on social media

PurposeThis study aims to explore the antecedents and outcomes of brand community engagement (BCE) in the context of social media-based brand communities (SMBCs). Moreover, the mediating role of brand evangelism between BCE and brand defence and between BCE and brand resilience is examined.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected using a questionnaire-based survey from 201 active members of various SMBCs. Partial least square based structural equation modelling is used to test the proposed conceptual model.FindingsThe results suggest that brand identification and brand prominence are the antecedents of BCE. BCE positively influence brand evangelism and brand defence. Furthermore, the finding suggests that brand evangelism mediates the relationship between BCE and brand defence and also between BCE and brand resilience.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample for this study involves respondents active on different SMBCs, which may constrain uniformity in respondents’ experiences.Practical implicationsThe insights provided by this study are useful in enhancing BCE with the SMBCs. The study highlights the role of brand evangelism in actively endorsing and defending the brands. The brand manager can promote brand evangelistic behaviour through meaningful engagement with SMBCs.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature of brand community engagement by focussing on its antecedents and outcomes in SMBCs. Further, this study adds to the branding literature by connecting two crucial streams of brand research: BCE and brand evangelism. The study also explores the mediating role of brand evangelism. It enhances the understanding of consumer-brand relationships in the context of SMBCs.

Can social media-based brand communities build brand relationships? Examining the effect of community engagement on brand love

ABSTRACT The rise of social media has dramatically changed relationship building between brands and fans. Social media-based brand communities are widely embraced by firms who use them to create consumer engagement and facilitate stronger consumer-brand relationships. Despite the importance of consumer engagement, our understanding of what drives community engagement and how individuals' love for a brand can be facilitated through SMBBCs remains limited. Based on social identity theory and social capital theory, this study explores the aforementioned gap by proposing an integrated conceptual model that encompasses the individual and group-level factors contributing to the establishment of community engagement, which in turn facilitates an individual's love for a brand and ultimately leads to positive behaviours towards the brand. We conducted a survey and found that community engagement, which is driven by brand identification and social capital (relational, structural, and cognitive capital), is a key determinant facilitating an individual's love for a brand. This love subsequently affects the individual's inclination to engage in brand-related information-sharing behaviours. The results of this research can guide practitioners in designing a SMBBCs by using relationship-building activities.

The Formation of Florists’ Social Media–Based Brand Communities and Its Causal Relationship with Users’ Knowledge, Personal Experience, and Florists’ Brand Equity

As social media penetration has reached more than half of the eligible populations for most of the countries in the world, many florists are thinking of ways of converting their social media fan base into a virtual brand community that can bring numerous benefits to the florists. As relevant topics are rarely investigated in the academic domain of floriculture, this study seeks to address this deficiency. The objectives of this study were 1) to examine the possibility of converting the florists’ social media fan base into a virtual brand community, and 2) to investigate the influence of users’ knowledge of and personal experience with the florist on the formation of the florists’ social media–based brand communities, as well as the subsequent influence on the florists’ brand equity. The statistical results of the descriptive statistical analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that the florists’ social media fan base has revealed the markers of brand communities, demonstrating the potential that exists for building the florists’ virtual brand communities from their social media fan base. These statistical results also show that the users’ knowledge of the florist is one of the key elements assisting in the conversion of the florist’s fan base into a virtual brand community for the florist, and subsequently enhances the users’ commitment toward the florist’s brand. Even though the influence of the users’ personal experience with the florist on the formation of the florist’s social media–based brand community is not proved, it is found to be highly correlated with the users’ knowledge of the florist. Based on the study’s findings, strategies for driving the formation of florists’ social media–based brand communities are also provided.

Digital ecosystem and consumer engagement: A socio-technical perspective

This paper develops a technology-centric perspective on consumer engagement in the digital ecosystem. Focusing on engagement with brands on social media-based brand communities, the study argues that consumer engagement is a socio-technical phenomenon that emerges from consumer action with digital technology. The action and the technology are co-constitutive of engagement practice and subject to continuous and mutually recursive change. The empirical findings explore how consumers engage in the digital ecosystem through actions with physical devices, digital haptics, and platforms. The findings highlight how the digital materiality of the engagement ecosystem generates new kinds of engagement practices including uncovering, appropriating, and cultivating. The study advances current thinking on engagement by offering a holistic view of engagement practice that encompasses multiple technologies and rejects technological mediation. This paper offers original theoretical insights into the status of digital technologies in consumer engagement, setting new directions for the future research on engagement.

THE UTILISATION OF FACEBOOK GROUP IN BUILDING SOCIAL MEDIA-BASED BRAND COMMUNITY BY A SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISE IN YOGYAKARTA

Internet and social media play important role in fostering both the creation of identities and the development of brand community. Brand community is a community of consumers of a specific brand that are socially constructed and shaped. However, research on this topic are mostly investigated at large enterprises context, leaving some gaps at small-medium enterprises (SMEs) context. SMEs, particularly in developing countries such as Indonesia, hold important role to the country’s economic development. Therefore, this study aims to examine how SMEs build social media-based brand community by using qualitative research as its approach and applied a case study research method to investigate a Yogyakarta-based SME, AB. Findings show that AB build social media-based brand community on Facebook group with the help of its loyal customers. Strong relationship and intense interaction formed between the AB’s owner and some loyal customers are characteristics of social media-based brand community found in this research.

The Roles of Community Engagement and Brand Community Types in Building Brand Trust on Social Media Based Brand Communities

This study aims to understand the influence of the four elements of the relationship or customer- centric model in the online brand community (relationship between customer-product, customer-brand, customer-company, and customer-other customers) on brand trust in the realm of social media, by measuring moderation effects of community engagement and brand community types. The respondents are 220 respondents, coming from two types of brand community: consumer-initiated and company-initiated brand community. In general, the measurement is done by using structural equation modeling method. The results obtained from the analysis of this study are from the four elements of existing relationships in the online brand community (customer relationships with product, brand, company, and other customers), only customer-brand relationships that significantly affects brand trust. The results are different from previous studies, so it is interesting to investigate further. Furthermore, this research also found moderation effect of community engagement and community types in the relationship between online brand community and brand trust.

Understanding drivers and outcomes of lurking vs. posting engagement behaviours in social media-based brand communities

ABSTRACT Social media-based brand communities (SMBBC) are ideal tools to develop Consumer Engagement (CE). Yet, brands do not fully understand whether members are really loyally engaged with the brand and uncertainties remain regarding SMBBC return on investment. Therefore, our aim is to understand what drives CE within SMBBC, to relate it to different CE behaviours and to study its impact on brand loyalty. Data from 213 Facebook users was analysed using PLS-SEM. The study concludes that the drivers for passive/lurking and active/posting behaviours differ and vary according to brand type, with the former revealing a stronger positive association with brand loyalty than the latter. This study also provides valuable insights into CE literature and to brands holding SMBBC, helping them to successfully develop social media strategies.

Brand Innovation and Value-Creating Practices of the City of Johannesburg’s Twitter Community

Brands facilitating and sustaining healthy brand communities on social networks such as Twitter benefit from collaborative engagements where members are inspired to suggest innovative ideas, solve problems and enjoy a sense of commitment to their social membership co-creative space. We explored how brand innovation practices contribute to the collective value-creating practices within the social media-based brand community hosted by the official City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Twitter account. This purposive sample include 1,232 tweets during Youth Day, followed by one in-depth, semi-structured interview with the social media manager of the CoJ Twitter account to confirm and contextualise findings. Thematic analysis in a qualitative design found five of six brand innovation practices, namely animation, openness, linking, structuring and theorisation. The CoJ social media-based brand community was co-created innovatively owing to high levels of engagement, room for fun and effective communication on service delivery issues so that the brand community continuously increases its membership and commitment. Findings confirmed eight of twelve value-creating practices, namely welcoming, empathising, governing, evangelising, justifying, grooming, customising and commoditising. The healthier a brand community, the more extensive the variety of innovation practices for a brand.