TO LOVE, LIKE OR
‘LIKE’ A BRAND
FAN PAGE?
MASTER THESIS – 2ND VERSION MSC. IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION -‐ MARKETING TRACK AMSTERDAM BUSINESS SCHOOL
NAME: STEPHANIE MULDER STUDENT NUMBER: 10728473 1ST SUPERVISOR: DRS. J. LABADIE
2ND SUPERVISOR: DRS. R. PRUPPERS DATE: 10-‐04-‐2015
This document is written by, Stephanie Mulder. I declare to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.
The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Stephanie Mulder – Amsterdam 2015
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Hereby I want to thank my 1st supervisor Drs. Jorge Labadie and my 2nd supervisor Drs. Roger Pruppers who guided me throughout the whole process. It was a rough process, but I would like thank you for your constant guidance, expertise and feedback. I could have never completed my thesis without this guidance. Additionally, I would like to thank Ms. Sofija Pajic for her advice regarding the usage of SPSS and the data analysis. Furthermore, I want to thank my boyfriend Tim Elfring, you gave me love, strength, motivation, great support and understanding Last but not least, I want to thank my friend Gino Smit for assessing and discussing the questionnaire and the data, you have always stirred me on the right path.
Stephanie Mulder – Amsterdam 2015
ABSTRACT
The aim is this study is to better understand the relationship between a ‘liker’ of a brand fan page on brand resonance, when taking differences based on the motivation type of the brand fan page ‘liker’ into account. Furthermore, the study investigated the effects on the individual brand resonance dimensions, drawn form a sample of 153 individuals who ‘like’ brands on Facebook.
To test the hypotheses, the main test consisted of a 4 (motivation types: information, entertainment, remuneration and self-‐construction) x 4 (brand resonances dimensions: behavioural loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community and active engagement) between group design.
The results of this experimental study show that a ‘like’ on a brand fan page based on the motivation types information, entertainment and self-‐ construction have a small but positive effect on brand resonance, as a construct of the four different dimensions of brand resonance. Moreover, a ‘like’ on a brand fan page based on the motivation type remuneration has no effect on brand resonance, and brand loving hardly exists. Furthermore, the motivation type entertainment has the strongest effect on attitudinal attachment, as compared to other brand resonance dimensions. Lastly, the additional analyses give clear insights when looking at a specific brand resonance dimension and compare the influence of the different motivation types.
Furthermore, this study contributes to relatively unexplored field of brand fan page liking related to brand resonance building, with interesting managerial implications regarding effective online marketing strategies to achieve goals specific to a brand resonance dimension, which is enriching the brand resonance theory of Keller (2001).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 New valuable marketing tool ... 1
1.1.1 FACEBOOK BRAND FAN PAGES ... 1
1.2 Current research objectives ... 2
1.3 Putting in doubt… ... 3
1.3.1 WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO REALLY LIKE A BRAND? ... 4
1.4 Research question ... 4 1.5 Delimitations ... 5 1.6 Relevance ... 6 1.6.1 THEORETICAL RELEVANCE ... 6 1.6.2 MANAGERIAL RELEVANCE ... 7 1.7 Thesis outline ... 7
CHAPTER 2 – BRAND FAN PAGE COMMUNITIES 9 2.1 Social media ... 9
2.1.1 SOCIAL NETWORK SITES ... 10
2.1.2 FACEBOOK ... 11
2.1.3 FACEBOOK VS. BRANDS ... 11
2.2 Brand fan pages ... 13
2.2.1 BRAND COMMUNITIES BY BRAND FAN PAGES ... 14
CHAPTER 3 – BRAND LIKE & BRAND LOVE 16 3.1 Brand liking ... 16
3.1.1 MOTIVATIONS TO LIKE A BRAND FAN PAGE ... 16
3.1.2 OUTCOMES OF LIKING A BRAND FAN PAGE ... 18
3.2 Brand love ... 19
3.2.1 OUTCOMES OF BRAND LOVE ... 20
CHAPTER 4 – BRAND EQUITY & RESONANCE 21 4.1 Brand equity ... 21
4.1.1 TWO PERSPECTIVES OF BRAND EQUITY ... 22
4.2 Brand equity building, CBBE model ... 25
4.3 Brand resonance ... 26
CHAPTER 5 – HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 28 5.1 Conceptual model ... 30
5.2 Differences between motivation types ... 31
5.2.1 INFORMATION ... 32
5.2.2 ENTERTAINMENT ... 32
5.2.3 REMUNERATION ... 33
5.2.4 SELF-‐CONSTRUCTION ... 33
5.4 Differences between motivation types and between types of brand
resonance dimensions ... 35
5.4.1 INFORMATION ... 36
5.4.2 ENTERTAINMENT ... 36
5.4.4 SELF-‐CONSTRUCTION ... 37
CHAPTER 6 – RESEARCH DESIGN & METHOD 38 6.1 Research design ... 38 6.1.1 PHILOSOPHY ... 38 6.1.2 RESEARCH APPROACH ... 39 6.2 Data collection ... 40 6.2.1 RESEARCH PROCEDURE ... 40 6.2.2 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES ... 41 6.2.3 DEPENDENT VARIABLES ... 43 6.2.4 CONTROL VARIABLES ... 44 6.3 Study sample ... 44 6.4 Methodology ... 45 6.4.1 VALIDITY ... 45 6.4.2 RELIABILITY ... 47 6.4.3 DATA CLEANING ... 47 6.5 Pilot tests ... 47
6.5.1 RESULTS OF PILOT TEST 1 ... 48
6.5.2 RESULTS OF PILOT TEST 2 ... 48
6.6 Questionnaire distribution ... 49 6.7 Data analysis ... 49 CHAPTER 7 – RESULTS 50 7.1 Sample characteristics ... 50 7.2 Data preparation ... 51 7.2.1 COMPUTING VALUES ... 51 7.2.2 NORMALITY CHECK ... 51 7.2.3 RELIABIITY CHECK ... 52 7.2.4 MANIPULATION CHECK ... 52 7.2.4.1 CONDITION 1 -‐ INFORMATION ... 54 7.2.4.2 CONDITION 2 -‐ ENTERTAINMENT ... 55 7.2.4.3 CONDITION 3 -‐ REMUNERATION ... 57
7.2.4.4 CONDITION 4 – SELF-‐CONSTRUCTION ... 58
7.2.4.5 TO SUM UP ... 60
7.2.5 CORRELATION ANALYSIS ... 61 7.3 Hypotheses analysis ... 62 7.3.1 HYPOTHESIS 1 ... 63 7.3.2 HYPOTHESIS 2 ... 66 7.3.3 HYPOTHESIS 3 ... 69 7.3.3.1 HYPOTHESIS 3A ... 69 7.3.3.2 HYPOTHESIS 3B ... 72 7.3.3.3 HYPOTHESIS 3C ... 74 7.3.3.4 SUMMARY HYPOTHESIS 3 ... 77
7.4.1 BRAND LOVE ... 78
7.4.2 BRAND RESONANCE DIMENSIONS ... 79
7.4.2.1 ATTITUDINAL ATTACHMENT ... 80
7.4.2.2 SENSE OF COMMUNITY ... 82
7.4.2.3 HYPOTHESIS 3C ... 83
CHAPTER 8 – DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION 85 8.1 Aim of the paper ... 85
8.2 Results interpretation ... 86
8.2.1 RESULTS INTERPRETATION FOR HYPOTHESIS 1 ... 86
8.2.2 RESULTS INTERPRETATION FOR HYPOTHESIS 2 ... 87
8.2.3 RESULTS INTERPRETATION FOR HYPOTHESIS 3 ... 89
8.2.3.1 RESULTS INTERPRETATION FOR HYPOTHESIS 3A ... 89
8.2.3.2 RESULTS INTERPRETATION FOR HYPOTHESIS 3B ... 91
8.2.3.3 RESULTS INTERPRETATION FOR HYPOTHESIS 3C ... 92
8.3 Implications ... 93
8.3.1 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS ... 93
8.3.2 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS ... 95
8.3.2.1 DIFFERENT MOTIVATION TYPES ... 96
8.3.2.2 ENTERTAINMENT ... 97
8.3.2.4 PRACTICAL EXAMPLE ... 97
8.4 Conclusion ... 98
8.5 Limitations and future research ... 99
CHAPTER 9 – REFERENCES 103 CHAPTER 10 – APPENDIX 108 Appendix 1: Chapter 6 Research design and method ... 108
APPENDIX 1A: CONDITION QUESTIONS ... 108
APPENDIX 1B: VARIABLES ... 108
APPENDIX 1C: PILOT TEST 1 ... 109
APPENDIX 1D: PILOT TEST 2 ... 111
APPENDIX 1E: FINAL QUESTIONNAIRE ... 112
Appendix 2: Chapter 7 Results ... 117
APPENDIX 2A: COMPUTING VALUES ... 117
APPENDIX 2B: NORMALTY CHECK ... 117
APPENDIX 2C: RELIABILITY ... 118
APPENDIX 2D: MANIPULATION CHECK ... 118
APPENDIX 2E: HYPOTHESIS 1 ... 119
APPENDIX 2F: HYPOTHESIS 2 ... 119
APPENDIX 2G: HYPOTHESIS 3 ... 120
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 1.1 NEW VALUABLE MARKETING TOOL
At the moment, social networking sites are one of the key communication channels used in a personal, as well as a business setting. Additionally, the activity on the social networking sites increases exponentially. It is expected that this massive technological communication opportunity attracted the attention of academic researchers, because it created extensive chances for new business models (Hennig-‐Thurau et al., 2010).
Traditionally, organizations have influenced customer-‐brand
relationships through marketing tactics as loyalty programs and public relations (Hennig-‐Thurau et al., 2010). Nowadays, marketers are aiming to create online communities by means of brand fan pages to enhance these relationships, whereby attracting community members is a potentially valuable marketing communications strategy (McAlexander, Schouten & Koenig, 2002, Hollis, 2011). The brand fan pages are used to establish brand presence in order to build connections with the users of the social networking sites (Dholakia et al., 2004; Carlson, Suter & Brown, 2008; Laroche, Habibi & Richard, 2012).
1.1.1 FACEBOOK BRAND FAN PAGES Facebook pages present an environment, which offers the users a possibility to present themselves and were they can make identity statements that they might would not make offline (Mehdizadeh, 2010). Therefore, users are able to expose themselves more, which has led to an increasing level of exhibitionism (Mehdizadeh, 2010). Additionally, next to individual users, brands can create pages as well.
The brand fan pages on Facebook are pages were brands can create their online profile, tell their marketing stories and disseminate the culture and image of the brand (Laroche, Habibi & Richard, 2012). Facebook users can become a member of the page, and follow the brand by clicking the ‘like’ button on the brand fan page.
Zaglia (2012) argues that crowds of people who ‘like’ brand pages on Facebook, are similar to brand communities. Marketers recognized the importance of the online brand community as a relationship-‐building tool (Dholakia et al., 2004) and became increasingly interested in how to create and foster successful brand communities (Carlson, Suter & Brown, 2008).
1.2 CURRENT RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Due to brand fan pages perception potential valuable marketing tools, it seems that marketers are obsessed by the ‘numbers of likes’ and the value of a ‘like’ metric (Lapointe, 2012). Of course the number of likes of a brand fan page are important for organizations, but it might be a bit shortsighted.
When looking from a short-‐term perspective, the number of likes is important. ‘Likers’ of brand fan pages are kept informed about brand developments, a ‘like’ helps spreading a message, generates word-‐of-‐mouth and will increase overall brand familiarity and awareness (Bloemer & Kasper, 1995; Newman, 2010; Parker, 2012), which has been shown to have a positive impact on the efficacy of brand-‐related messages (Delgado-‐Ballester, Navarro, & Sicilia, 2012). Additionally, knowing what consumers are talking about and find interesting provides key information for organisations (Dobele & Lindgreen, 2011).
By looking from a long-‐term perspective, prior research argues that the liking of brand pages has a positive relationship with purchase intentions and purchase behaviors, which finally relates to a more stable and higher income (Gounaris, 2004; Laroche Habibi, Richard and Sankaranaraynan, 2012). There is also evidence found, saying that brand communities by brand fan pages on
Facebook relate to brand loyalty (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001; Hollis, 2011; Laroche Habibi, Richard and Sankaranaraynan, 2012).
Finally, organizations represent their ‘likes’ as something valuable, corresponding to future sales and loyal customers (Gounaris, 2004; Hoffman and Fodor, 2010; Hollis, 2011).
1.3 PUTTING IN DOUBT…
Nevertheless, the long-‐term advantages described in the previous section are still ambiguous. Lets keep in mind that it takes literally one click of a finger to ‘like’ a brand. So it does not require the ‘liker’ to take any effort to like a particular brand. Additionally, we know that the numbers of likes are rising and there is a large inflation regarding the numbers of likes (Lapointe, 2012). So, what is a like really worth? What can we really say about the value of a like?
To understand the value of a ‘liker’, we need to recognize that not all likers are generated in the same way. Hereby we first have to take a look at what drives people to become a liker of a brand fan page. Facebook users have different motivations for liking a brand page, so the engagement can be formed differently (Muntinga, Moorman and Smit, 2011).
Therefore, liking does not automatically means loyalty, or engagement because next to intrinsic motivated likers, there are also likers who are motivated extrinsically (Wong, 2010; Muntinga, Moorman and Smit, 2011; Lapointe, 2012). People can like a brand page because of monetary extrinsic rewards, for illustration by incentives offered by the brand received after liking the brand page (Lapointe, 2012; Wong, 2010).
Nevertheless, because of the different motivations to like a brand page, it does not mean that a like is always valuable for brands in a long-‐term relationship perspective, for instance corresponding to purchase behavior and loyalty. Looking from that point of view we may assume that organizations overvalue the value of a like on their brand pages, and the relationship resulting to purchase behavior and loyalty is doubtful and unclear.
1.3.1 WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO REALLY LIKE A BRAND? A lot of research is already done concerning the motivations of ‘likers’ to like a brand page (Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit, 2011), but little evidence has been produced that gives answer to which ‘likers’ are also motivated enough to reach a deep relationship with the brand. Can ‘likers’ be categorized by their worth for the company by taking their motivations into account? Besides, how many ‘likers’ would as well ‘love’ a brand when there is a ‘love’ button to click on available? Which means that customer’s feelings of a brand become so extreme, that it is not only liking, but also loving by creating feelings of affection and intimacy towards a brand. Customers have to express ‘I love this brand’ in public, instead of ‘I like this brand’. Will this mean that an ultimate customer engagement and brand resonance is established?
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION
Little is known about the complicated relationship between brand fan page ‘likers’ and their ‘liked’ brands (Nelson-‐Field et al., 2012). Concerning this gap in the literature this study indicates explanatory insights into the differences in the relationship of a ‘liker’ on a brand fan page on brand resonance, which differs by the motivation type of the brand fan page ‘liker’. Hereby, this study will create an answer to the following research question:
TO WHAT EXTENT DO DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOTIVATIONS OF LIKING A BRAND FAN PAGE, INFLUENCE THE DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF BRAND RESONANCE?
To investigate this research question, we first have to pay attention to the underlined constructs: social networking sites, brand fan pages, motivations behind brand liking and loving, brand equity and the brand resonance dimensions. These constructs will be addressed in the following chapters. Furthermore, before investigating the interaction effect of the different types of motivations of liking a brand fan page on the different dimensions of brand resonance, I need to examine the main effects of the motivation types to like a
brand fan page on the total brand resonance, and main effects of the different dimensions of brand resonance on the total brand resonance score.
1.5 DELIMITATIONS
First of all, due to the limit of scope and time, this research is only focused on the most popular social networking site named Facebook. We are not investigating other social networking sites like Twitter or LinkedIn. The honeycomb of social media, developed by Kietzmann, Hermkens and McCarthy (2011), indicates the main functionalities of the different social media. The main functionality of Facebook is building relationships, whereas creating identity is the main functionality of LinkedIn (Kietzmann, Hermkens and McCarth, 2011). These differences in functionalities will lead to different motivations to join the social media platforms.
Secondly, this study does not consider brand fan page ‘likers’ and ‘not
likers’. This implies that there is no control group; therefore the research will not investigate the direct effect of ‘liking’ a brand fan page on brand resonance. When looking at the CBBE pyramid of Keller (2001), we only focus on the last level of the brand equity pyramid, the level of brand resonance. This because this research emphases the relationship between brand fan page ‘likers’ and their ‘liked’ brands, whereby the brand equity levels based on identity meaning and response are already met (Keller, 2001).
Furthermore, there are many brands and all kind of industries, who have
a brand page on Facebook. In this study we will not make a selection in brands or industries; respondents will not be confronted with a list of brands. The focus will be on the brand fan pages, which respondents had liked. Because the respondents can choose the brand themself we can ensure that the respondents ‘likes’ the brand fan page on Facebook and is interested in following the brand, which is a requirement to create an effect on the brand resonance dimensions.
Moreover, the study sample does not involve all Facebook users. There will
of Facebook users is skewed younger than a typical customer (Lipsman et al. 2012) and the named age group is more self-‐expressive and is more concerned about their self-‐image (Maitlis and Kirkpatrick, 2011).
Finally, this study will include the main four-‐clustered motivation types
derived from previous research. These four motivation types indicate the four different conditions in which ‘likers’ are assigned, to achieve the right stimuli. 1.6 RELEVANCE
1.6.1 THEORETICAL RELEVANCE This thesis aims to provide science with currently lacking insights in important aspects concerning the ‘value’ of a ‘like’ on brand fan pages at Facebook, because of the different motivations to like a brand page. I am doubtful about the positive relationship of liking a brand page with purchase intentions and purchase behaviors (Gounaris, 2004; Laroche Habibi, Richard and Sankaranaraynan, 2012), as well as the positive relationship of liking with customer loyalty (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001; Hollis, 2011).
This because the motivations to like a brand page differ between ‘likers’ based on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Therefore, we think that a ‘like’ on a brand fan page is not a clear indicator to explain the relationship with customer loyalty and future purchases. This thesis will provide a deeper understanding on the relationship of ‘likers’ motivations towards liking brand fan pages and brand resonance. Furthermore, this study will contribute to the literature of Keller (2001), regarding building brand equity by brand fan pages on Facebook, looking at the individual brand resonance dimensions.
1.6.2 MANAGERIAL RELEVANCE This thesis will not only enrich scientific theories, but also serves as a managerial guideline for companies. Facebook creates great marketing opportunities and extensive chances for new business models (Hennig-‐Thurau et al., 2010). Marketers are aiming to create online communities by a brand fan page to enhance relationships with customers. (McAlexander, Schouten & Koenig, 2002). But it seems that brands are nowadays only focusing on number of likes, without knowing the worth of the likes, which they are generating. While research has focused on ‘likers’ behaviour (for example the number of ‘likes’), much less is known about the profiles of the ‘likers’ reached (Lipsman et al., 2012).
Through this research, companies and managers will be able to understand the role of the ‘likers’ motivations to like a brand fan page, on building equity towards a brand. More specifically, they will create better understanding in influencing the motivations of ‘likers’, by brand fan page updates. Consequently, companies can develop more targeted and effective online marketing techniques, in their effort to build and strengthen their consumer brand equity.
1.7 THESIS OUTLINE
The first chapter of this thesis introduced the background problem and aim of the research. Furthermore, it provided a brief explanation on the academic relevance, managerial relevance. The second chapter will elaborate on the current academic literature and will give insight into the phenomenon of social media, Facebook as an SNS, brand pages and online brand communities Followed up by the third chapter, which will give explanation of the concept of brand liking and loving and the motivations of customers behind the engagement with online brand communities. The fourth chapter will describe the concepts of brand equity, including a deeper understanding by examining the ‘Customer Based Brand Equity’ model of Keller with the concept of brand resonance.
The literature of these chapters will contribute to the deductive nature of this research by providing substantiation for a gap in the literature. Afterwards the hypotheses and the conceptual framework will be comprehensively elaborated in the fifth chapter, followed up with a description of the research method used to obtain data by quantitative research. The seventh chapter describes how the data is analyzed with the results produced by this research. Lastly, chapter eight consists a discussion of the research results, with a comparison of the results of this research with the existing literature, including a conclusion that recaps the whole thesis, explains the possibilities for future
BRAND FAN PAGE COMMUNITIES
CHAPTER 2 This chapter describes the existing literature concerning the subjects of social media and online brand communities. Social media makes it possible to create, share and exchange user-‐generated content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Nowadays, brands have created their own business pages and profiles on social networking sites in order to communicate, interact and engage with current prospective consumers (Dholakia et al., 2004). In this way, the brand fan pages act as a brand community, which provides a way for brands to shape emotionally consumer–brand relationships (Carlson, Suter & Brown, 2008; Laroche, Habibi & Richard, 2012). Those three topics relate to each other, and will be examined separately in the following sections.2.1 SOCIAL MEDIA
The Internet has created a major change in lifestyle patterns by the way in which people find and share information and knowledge, as well as how we communicate with each other (Kim, Ranjeong and WonLee, 2010). Social Media developed the ability to change the communication scenery; the increased control of the Internet became crucial for organizations (Ross et al. 2009, Berthon et al, 2012). Social media uses web-‐based technologies to create social networking sites were consumers can “share, co-‐create, discus and modify user-‐ generated content” (Kietzman et al. 2011). Which means that social media users get access to a huge wealth of online exposure (Cheung et al., 2012). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) describe social media as “a group of Internet based applications that is built on the foundations of Web 2.0 and gives the ability to create and exchange User-‐Generated Content”. A social media user has the ability to speak freely with others, expressing opinions, knowledge and creating a self-‐ presentation by using technologies and practices (Kaplan and Heanlein, 2010).
Social media became one of the key communication channels, as well as in a personal as in a business setting. Social media offers two different ways of communication, through company-‐generated content and through user-‐ generated content (Kaplan, 2012). Hence, companies connect with customers, as well as customers can communicate with companies. These new ways of communication generate engagement from the customer with the company. However, customers can as well interact with each other. This means that the marketer does not have the power and control anymore; the communication paradigm has shifted towards the customer (Bernhoff & Li, 2008; Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Hennig-‐Thurau et al., 2010). The customer has control over the published information, which means that the company has to react flexible and can only choose to ignore social media or participate (Bernhoff & Li, 2008). There are several forms of social media, and social networking sites are the most popular platforms of social media, which will be described in the next section.
2.1.1 SOCIAL NETWORK SITES A social networking site is and online application and a type of social media (Weinberg & Pehlivan, 2011). Over the past few years, social networking sites were an attractive topic to investigate for many researchers. Boyd & Ellison (2008) define social network sites as “web based services that allow individuals to; construct a public or semi-‐public profile within a bounded system; articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection; and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”. Preece and Maloney-‐Krichmar (2005) declare that “social networking sites are platforms where people come together for a particular purpose, and who are guided by policies, and supported by software”. Another definition by Kaplan and Haenlein (2009) state that “social networking sites enable users to connect by creating personal information profiles, inviting friends and colleagues to have access to those profiles and sending emails and instant messages between each other”.
Finally, taking all definitions together they explain that social networking sites have a few functionalities (Kasavana, et al. 2010). Firstly, a social network site is an interaction channel, as well as in a personal as in a business context.
Furthermore, social network sites give users the ability to express themselves by creating profiles, socialize with friends, share opinions and information and construct social relationships (Kasavana, et al. 2010; Lin & Lu, 2011). Lastly, users can find other users with similar interests, join communities and build new networks of connected people within the same interest, which otherwise never been made (McKenna et al. 2002). There are many different social networking sites, but most popular social networking site is Facebook. This study will only focus on the social networking site Facebook, which will be further introduced in the next paragraph.
2.1.2 FACEBOOK Mark Zuckerberg found Facebook in 2004, with the objective to connect students by online social networks. However, a lot is changed and Facebook became the most popular social networking site accessed by citizens over 180 countries, with each month more than one billion active users (Fowler, 2012; Shih, 2010) Those billion users together are pressing the ‘like’ thumb 2.7 billion times a day (Facebook, 2014). Facebook’s current mission is changed towards making the whole world more connected and open, by discovering, sharing and expressing (Facebook, 2014). Facebook allows people to post comments, give their votes or meanings in a form of a like and creates ability for self-‐expressing. Users can make identity statements, which they might, would not make offline (Mehdizadeh, 2010). One example of an identity statement is for instance through giving your opinion by giving a ‘like’. And this user-‐generated content, as giving a ‘like’, is been seen as very trustworthy, because it is created by users for other users, for example online word-‐of-‐mouth (Boyd & Ellison, 2008; Thackery et al., 2009).
2.1.3 FACEBOOK VS. BRANDS Facebook has a rich marketing potential for brands, because brands can create their own ‘brand pages’, which can be followed or ‘liked’ by Facebook users. In this way, it becomes very easy for brands to connect and create a bond with Facebook users. Additionally, everything what happens on Facebook brand fan
winning or losing likes they have a day, how many Facebook users a particular message reaches, as well as the ‘likers’ personal interests and the other brands they like. Hereby, brands can easily identify users and react on conversations.
By these reasons, Facebook became the largest database in the world, which makes Facebook more of a public relations medium, instead of a commercial network (Maitlis & Kirkpatrick, 2011). All the marketers who are using Facebook have two goals in common; the marketing or public relations opportunities and the customer service, which can be delivered by participating on Facebook.
To further highlight the importance of Facebook in the business setting, in 2010 there was a massive increase of participation on Facebook of 100%. This change resulted in a better idea of what is going on in the mind of the ‘likers’, increasing conversations and interactions and growing numbers of customer relationships (Dobele & Lindgreen, 2011).
Kietzmann, Hermkens and McCarthy (2011) developed in their research the honeycomb of social media, which includes seven building blocks (see figure 1). They separated each block of the honeycomb, which is a specific functionality of social media user experience, and its implications for companies. Looking at the honeycomb of Facebook, the framework gives a better understanding of main functionalities of Facebook, indicated by color (see figure 1).
The figure shows that building relationships is the most important function of Facebook. The functions, presence, identity, conversations and reputation are also quit essential (Kietzmann, Hermkens and McCarthy, 2011). Furthermore, when you compare for example advertisements on TV with activation on Facebook, people are more active, are in a kind of ‘search mode’ and want to be influenced more (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
Conclusively, Facebook brings attractive functionalities and the Facebook user is more interested, aware and open, which results into a perfect combination. Facebook allows companies to engage and create consumer
contact, in a direct, timely, efficient way at relatively low cost (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Mangold and Faulds, 2009; Lin & Lu, 2011; Mushkat et al. 2010).
Figure 1
Honeycomb of Facebook: seven building blocks as specific functionalities of Facebook
Facebook has three page categories; individual profile pages, group pages and brand fan pages. In line which this thesis we will discuss the brand fan pages, more deeply in the next section.
2.2 BRAND FAN PAGES
At the moment, online brand fan pages are the most popular sources of information, regarding activities of the brand (Fowler, 2012). Brand fan pages, which can legally only being made by companies, are representing a brand within an online social community (Mushkat et al. 2010). Kirschner & Karpinski (2010) mention that Facebook has 5,3 billion brand fan page ‘likers’ spread over all the brand fan pages. Furthermore, they state that users become a ‘liker’ of two new brand fan pages a month. The brand fan pages are pages where brands can create their online profile, tell their marketing stories, and disseminate the culture and image of the brand (Laroche, Habibi & Richard, 2012).
When Facebook users click on the ‘like’ button of a brand fan page, they are referred as a ‘liker’. Those ‘likers’ of brand fan pages are kept informed about brand developments can respond to the brands updates and give their opinion by giving a ‘like’ or give a comment. When a Facebook user ‘likes’ a brand fan page, he or she is willing to interact and kept informed and wants to be engaged in a relationship (Flory, 2011) To keep the brand fan page alive, a right way of managing these relationships is necessary (Mailtis & Kirkpatrick, 2011).
Additionally, to reach new ‘likers’, likes from other ‘likers’ will help spreading messages, will generate word-‐of-‐mouth and will increase the overall brand familiarity and awareness (Bloemer & Kasper, 1995; Newman, 2010; Parker, 2012) This will increase the efficacy of brand-‐related messages and will attract new ‘likers’ (Delgado-‐Ballester, Navarro, & Sicilia, 2012).
Conclusively, brand pages create possibilities for companies to market a brand by a brand fan page, engage and communicate with customers or potential customers and to build an online brand community and establish closer ties (Li & Bernoff, 2008; Bloemer & Kasper, 1995; Newman, 2010; Parker, 2012; Laroche, Habibi & Richard, 2012). Zaglia (2012) argues that crowds of people, who ‘like’ brand fan pages on Facebook, are similar to brand communities. This study considers brand fan pages as an online brand community, which will be further discussed in the next paragraph.
2.2.1 BRAND COMMUNITIES BY BRAND FAN PAGES Online communities are considered as social networks formed around a common interest or product category (Williams & Cothrell, 2000). Those online communities found their way thought the Internet by the functionalities of social networking sites like Facebook (Kim et al., 2008). Differences between offline brand communities and online brand communities are that online brand communities are non-‐geographically and non-‐physically bounded, because of the online environment (Kim et al., 2008). Users can be invisible by only reading information without posting or giving comments. Physical appearance is not necessary as well. This gives the users the ability to communicate everywhere and at any time. Additionally, online communities tend to be bigger, more
distributed and typically have members with more heterogeneous social characteristics (Hiltz and Wellman, 1997). Brand communities are open social communities created around a brand or product as a form of interest (McAlexander et al., 2002).
Therefore, online brand communities can be defined as “specialized, non-‐ geographically bound communities based on structured sets of social relationships among users of a brand” (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). Consequently, a brand community on Facebook offers the ability for companies to gain customers together in order to create an environment, which stimulates the relationship between customer and company (Laroche, Habibi & Richard, 2012). This increased customer engagement creates many advantages for companies. Firstly, customer engagement is providing relevant insights and information, whereby companies can react to. Reacting on relevant information can lead to an increasing number of visits, views, clicks, likes and posts. Subsequent, brand communities also provide personal information, which can be used for segmenting and targeting. Hence, customer engagement can be seen as a win-‐ win concept, which will create value for both customer and organization.
Marketers recognized this value and the importance of the online brand communities as a relationship-‐building tool, and became increasingly interested in how to create and foster successful brand communities (Dholakia et al., 2004; Carlson, Suter & Brown, 2008). To create successful brand communities by Facebook fan pages, companies have to understand how to attract customers and the motivations of customers to click on the like button of the brand fan page and join the community. Accordingly, after having examined online communities by brand fan pages, the motivations for ‘liking’ brand fan pages will be discussed
BRAND LIKE & BRAND LOVE
CHAPTER 3 This chapter defines the existing literature regarding the concept of brand liking, including the motivations to like a brand fan page and the outcomes of liking a brand fan page. Furthermore, this chapter describes the concept of brand love, containing the outcomes of brand loving.
3.1 BRAND LIKING
As described in the previous chapter, Facebook users can become a ‘liker’ of a brand fan page by clicking the ‘Like’ button on the brand fan page. Hereby, the ‘liker’ creates a voluntary unidirectional relationship (Flory, 2011). This results in an acceptance and willingness to reach brand related content and join and belong with the brand community (Flory, 2011).
3.1.1 MOTIVATIONS TO LIKE A BRAND FAN PAGE A lot of research is already done concerning the motivations of customers to click on the ‘Like’ button and join the online brand community by brand fan pages (Fournier et al. 2009; Schau et al. 2002; Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit, 2011; Ouwersloot et al., 2008). When looking at the previous literature, they all have in common that joining a brand community will fulfil customer’s social needs.
Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit (2011) provide insights into the motivations of ‘likers’ to engage with a brand on social media. They argue that ‘likers’ have three main motivations to consume brand related content. The first motivation type is gaining information; accordingly likers stay up to date with the brands news and comments. Additionally, people search for information based on other people experiences or check out events of the brand. ‘Likers’ are interested and willing to invest time and energy to follow a brand to keep informed (Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit, 2011). The motivation type
information covers four sub motivations. The first is knowledge, based on opinion and advice seeking to get to know more about the brand or product. The second sub motivation is surveillance, standing for observing and staying up dated to know what is going on with the brand. The third sub-‐motivation is pre-‐ purchase information, referring to search for product reviews. Lastly, the fourth sub motivation is inspiration, based on searching information about the brand to be inspired and get new ideas (Park et al, 2009; Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit, 2011).
The second main motivation type which Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit (2011) describe is entertainment. ‘Likers’ enjoy interacting and communicating with people who are interested in the same brand. Park et al. (2009) state that participation in an online community is mostly driven by entertainment, interacting with other motivations. Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit (2011) describe three sub motivations of the motivation type entertainment, enjoyment, relaxation and pastime. The sub motivation enjoyment is quite straightforward based on entertainment and just enjoying following a brand. Relaxation stands for the release and unwinds from the everyday life, which is intertwined with pastime.
Those two motivation types, information and entertainment, are both intrinsically motivated, which is an antecedent to customer brand engagement (Van Doorn et al., 2010). Although, the third motivation, which Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit (2011) define, is extrinsic motivated.
Extrinsic motivation is strongly focused on receiving something tangible; it acts in order to get a certain outcome such as rewards, rather than the activity itself. Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit, examines this third motivator as remuneration. Fournier (1998) defines these transaction-‐based relationships without commitment as short-‐term and time-‐bounded engagements.
Besides that Facebook users are joining brand fan pages to get involved, they are also motivated by being emotionally supported and encouraged by feeling connected and interacted with other community members (Fournier et
on the presentation of their self-‐image, which will be connected with the brands image (Fournier et al., 2009; Algesheimer et al., 2005; Mehdizadeh, 2010).
Ouwersloot et al. (2008) argues in their research that customers want to show their brand affection, by becoming a member of the brand community, which is related to their self-‐image congruence. Boyd (2008) found that identity expressions is as well important motivator to join online brand communities, based on integration, social integration and identity. ‘Likers’ search for a sense of belonging, interaction and emotional support, which are sub motivators of the motivation type self-‐construction (Fournier et al., 2009; Ouwersloot et al. (2008; Boyd, 2008).
3.1.2 OUTCOMES OF LIKING A BRAND FAN PAGE Prior research argues that the liking of brand fan pages have many positive outcomes for brands. First of all, likers are joining brand fan pages because they are willing to get involved and stay up to date (Van Doorn et al., 2010; Fournier et al., 2009; Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit, 2011). They are willing to invest time and energy, which are the components of an active engagement with the brand (Fournier et al., 2009). The connection is not built from the brand towards the customer, but from the customer towards the brand, so customers choose voluntary to connect with the brand (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001; Fournier et al., 2009).
Secondly, customers are joining brand communities to get emotional support and to get a feeling of connection and interaction with other community members (Fournier et al., 2009), which relates to a sense of community and belonging (Algesheimer et al., 2005). To reach the sense of community, brand identification between the customer and the brand is necessary (Algesheimer et al., 2005). The fit between the self-‐image and brand image will relate to feelings of engagement and willingness to interact (Algesheimer et al., 2005).
Furthermore, Kressmann et al. (2006) highlight that the fit in identification between the customer and brand is positively correlated with the purchase intentions and behavior of the customer. Consequently, the identity fit
