Towards a Theoretical Framework for Engaging fans of the Brand in the Social Media Environment

Natalie de VriesDr Jamie CarlsonNewcastle Business School

Agenda• Introduction to the Research

- Facilitating Customer Engagement with Branded Social Networking Sites

• Research Objective

• Theoretical Background

• Propositions and Theoretical Framework

• Discussion and Implications

• Future Research Directions

• Questions

Introduction to the Research

• Social Networking Sites (SNS’s) becoming increasingly popular reflected by the growing adoption and use by consumers and brands alike

• Global marketing spending on SNS @$4.3 billion (Williamson 2011)• Brands are proactively managing their social media presence on Facebook with @1.11 billion users (Facebook,

2013) to ‘engage with consumers’

• Increasing technological capabilities of Facebook brand pages allow brands to:1. deliver greater levels of interactivity and engagement with customers 2. facilitate diverse interactions among customers that result in eWoM diffusion and value co-

creation opportunities (Canhoto & Clark, 2013; Kozinets et al. 2010)

• Websites or other computer-mediated entities such as SNS’s like Facebook brand pages can be seen as firm-based activities that personify the brand (Mollen & Wilson, 2010) and allow online customer engagement with the brand to take place

Branded Social Networking Sites

• Greater focus on ‘customer engagement’ (CE) in offline (Brodie et al. 2010; Van Doorn et al. 2010; Vivek et al. 2012) and online markets (Brodie et al. 2013; Jahn & Kunz 2012; Wirtz et al. 2013)

– defined as “a customer’s behavioural manifestations that have a brand or firm focus, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers” (Van Doorn et al. 2010, p. 254)

– Ownership or purchase of a product or brand is not a prerequisite of engagement (Vivek et al. 2012)

• Scholars argue customer loyalty to a brand a consequence of CE (Brodie et al. 2013; Hollebeek 2011a; Vivek et al. 2012)

• Emerging empirical work in SNS context has found a positive relationship between higher levels of CE and customer loyalty outcomes in online SNS environment (Jahn & Kunz, 2012)

• Despite Facebook brand pages increasingly deployed by brands globally, little is known on the factors that drive CE with a Facebook brand page, as well as on loyalty

• Research objective: Provide a theoretical framework for facilitating online CE through branded SNS and outline its antecedent drivers and consequences

Introduction to the Research (continued)

Theoretical UnderpinningsBranding• Consumers’ prior relationship with a brand impacts CE towards the brand is central to the online

customer-brand relationship (Vivek, et al. 2012)– Brand Involvement identified as being at the heart of the person-object relationship (Evrard & Aurrier, 1996)– Self Brand Congruency (SBC) refers to the match between a consumers’ self-concept and the ‘personality’ of a

brand perceived by the customer and when the match is high, SBC related to higher levels of satisfaction, purchase intentions and brand attitudes (Hohenstein, et al. 2007)

Uses and Gratifications• U&G theory focuses on the psychological and social needs of individuals and how media vehicles can

gratify needs and motives to communicate (Chen, 2011)• U&G has been used in research into SNS including Twitter, Facebook and Myspace to find consumer’s

motivations to use such media (Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013; Jahn & Kunz, 2012; Chen, 2011)

Flow• Flow characterized as an optimal experience achieved by the merging of action and awareness, focused

concentration, perceived control/sense of potential control, loss of self-consciousness, time distortion and enjoyment experience (Hoffman & Novak, 2009; Novak et al. 2000)

• Flow leads to favourable attitudes and behaviour outcomes in e-commerce environments (O’Cass & Carlson 2010; Fan et al. 2013)

Brand Involvement on Customer Engagement• The consumers’ prior relationship with a brand impacts on CE towards the brand (Vivek, et al.

2012)

• Brand involvement is important in a CE process due to the cognitive resources a highly involved customer is prepared to undergo with a brand in terms of thoughts, emotions and behaviours (Bowden, 2009)

• In the SNS context, such levels of involvement are important because:– they provide the opportunity for much more active participation by the individual (Wirtz, et al., 2013) – customers are able to more easily display their involved thoughts, emotions and behaviours via the SNS

brand page

• Thus, we propose…

P1: Higher brand involvement is positively related to higher CE with the Facebook Brand Page

Self-Brand Image Congruency on Customer Engagement• Recognised in the literature that SBC impacts consumer behaviours (e.g. Tuškej, Golob, &

Podnar, 2013)

• SBC is relevant in online CE studies (Tuškej et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2009) show that higher levels of SBC lead to higher levels of positive behavioural manifestations towards a brand such as:

– Higher levels of brand loyalty– Higher levels of future purchase intentions– Greater commitment to the brand– Higher levels of customer satisfaction– Positive Word-of-Mouth

• We argue higher levels of self-brand image congruency, therefore; when a match between the consumer’s self-concept and brand image of the brand and as personified via the SNS, it will have a positive effect on CE

P2: Higher Self-Brand Congruency is positively related to CE with the Facebook Brand Page

Hedonic and Functional Value of the SNS brand page on Customer Engagement

• Drawing upon U&G Theory in order to explain consumers’ usage of SNS, literature shows consumers seek to satisfy hedonic and functional gratifications and that hedonic/entertaining and functional/useful content are significant drivers for online CE and online behaviours towards the brand (Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013; Jahn & Kunz, 2012)

• Findings are also consistent with studies in e-commerce where hedonic and functional value influencing adoption and participation of online channels (e.g. Ko et al. 2005; Luo et al. 2011)

• We argue that when a Facebook brand page provides users with entertaining and useful content, CE will be positively influenced

P3: Higher hedonic value is positively related to higher CE with the Facebook Brand Page

P4: Higher functional value is positively related to CE on the Facebook Brand Page

Social- and Brand-Interaction Value of the SNS brand page on Customer Engagement

• Relationship between a customer and the brand is central to the development of CE behaviours (Bowden, 2009)

• A brand interaction gratification is a need users of a brand’s Facebook page may wish to satisfy

• Seeking social interaction value (growing and maintaining relationships) with other users of the brand has also been found to be a driver of participation and involvement in online brand communities (e.g. Madupu & Cooley, 2010)

• Empirical studies have also shown that higher satisfaction of brand-interaction and higher levels of social value, in an online community or in Facebook brand pages, lead to higher levels of CE (Madupu & Cooley, 2010; Jahn & Kunz, 2012; Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013)

P5: Higher Brand-Interaction Value is positively related to CE on the Facebook Brand Page

P6: Higher Social-Interaction Value is positively related to CE on the Facebook Brand Page

Outcomes of Customer Engagement• Customer loyalty has been proposed as an outcome of CE (e.g. Brodie et al. 2013; Hollebeek,

2011b; Jahn & Kunz, 2012; Vivek et al. 2012)

• Positive experiences that connect an individual to a brand, and to others who are engaged with a brand, will increase the likelihood of subsequent membership or involvement in a brand community (Vivek et al. 2012)

• Empirical evidence for the link between online CE and customer loyalty to the brand and online brand community has emerged (Jahn & Kunz, 2012; Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013)

• Argued that CE is likely to lead to customer loyalty to the brand, and online loyalty behaviours towards the brand

P7a: Higher CE on the Facebook Brand Page is positively related to higher brand loyaltyP7b: Higher CE on the Facebook Brand Page is positively related to future Facebook engagement

behaviour intentions

The Moderating Effect of Flow• Prior studies call for research to investigate to what degree engagement with a brand (personified by the website)

can be moderated by factors such as the experiential quality perceived by users (Mollen and Wilson 2010)

• Flow is generally characterized as an optimal experience achieved by the merging of action and awareness, focused concentration, perceived control/sense of potential control, loss of self-consciousness, time distortion, and enjoyment/autotelic experience (Hoffman & Novak, 2009)

• When users are in flow, they are totally involved in the activity and time elapses rapidly for them and has been found to be a determinant of favourable attitudes and behaviour of consumers in e-commerce environments (Hausman & Siepke, 2009; O’Cass & Carlson 2010; Fan et al. 2013)

• We argue that when a consumer experiences higher flow states during their usage of the Facebook brand page (i.e. browsing, communicating, participating and collaborating), they will subsequently make greater post-evaluation judgement of customer engagement, and to replicate or re-experience that state in the future

• Flow is expected to enhance positive consumer perceptions towards the Facebook brand page resulting in greater engagement with the brand, and through brand extension effects

P8: Consumers who perceive higher flow experiences, will positively moderate their relationship between the system of relationships then consumers who perceive lower flow experiences

Theoretical Framework of the Study: Social Media Customer Engagement Model

Discussion and Implications

• Building upon Jahn and Kunz (2012), our framework provides further thinking/insights to facilitate CE through SNS brand pages (namely: Facebook brand pages)

• Study highlights opportunities on how the Facebook brand page can serve to develop online brand communities, and consequently, act as a potential platform for collaborative innovation and engagement with customers

• Anticipated findings is expected to provide implications in the form of creating, managing and transforming CE via SNS’s like Facebook to real customer loyalty behaviours towards the brand

• Study highlights the important role of the relationship between a customer and a brand, along with the flow experience to advance a theoretical framework to facilitate CE in social media environments

Future Research Directions• Formulate testable hypotheses and empirically test propositions via structural equation modelling (SEM)

• Test framework across different consumer brand categories (e.g. different types of goods and services) for more specific insight into similarities and difference which maybe unique in each category

• Consider expanding number of interfaces which may enhance (constrain) the delivery of customer experiences (such as the creation of flow experiences) and engagement intensity levels on Facebook which take place on an increasing number of devices including mobile (PC tablets, mini-PC tablets, smartphones) and traditional computing platforms (workstations, laptops)

• Explore the impact of customer resource variables:– Personality traits (e.g. trait theory, consumer innovators, opinion leaders)– SNS Technology readiness/self-efficacy– Age cohort differences

• Universality of the framework across country markets

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Questions?natalie.devries@newcastle.edu.au

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