مطالعات اخیر اهمیت هواداران برند در رسانه های اجتماعی را به وفاداری به برند برجسته کرده است. این مقاله با هدف تأکید بر نقش برند در این رابطه، یک مدل مفهومی برای محصولات پرفروش بازار که در آن مشارکت مصرف کنندگان بین گروه های هوادار برند در رسانه های اجتماعی، هویت برند و شناسایی برند مصرف کننده ، وابسته به نتایج برند است، پیشنهاد می کند مانند اعتماد و وفاداری. تجزیه و تحلیل کیفی، از طریق مصاحبه جامع و کامل با متخصصان و بحث های گروهی متمرکز با مصرف کنندگان ، به منظور ارزیابی تجربه ی خود از برندها ها در رسانه های اجتماعی انجام شد. یافته های این تحقیق نشان می دهد که در بازار های انبوه، مصرف کنندگانی که در گروه های هوادار برند در رسانه های اجتماعی مشارکت دارند ممکن است نگرش مثبتی(مانند اعتماد و وفاداری) نسبت به برند داشته باشند و شناسایی برند مصرف کننده ممکن است نقش اساسی در تبدیل هوادارن برند-مصرف کننده به روابط برند-مصرف کننده داشته باشد.

Abstract

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of social media brand communities to brand loyalty. This paper aims to stress the role of the brand in that relationship, suggesting a conceptual model in mass-market products in which consumers’ engagement in social media brand communities, brand identity, and consumer-brand identification are related to brand outcomes, such as trust and loyalty. A qualitative analysis was conducted, through in-depth interviews with experts and focus group discussions with consumers, so as to evaluate their experience with brands on social media. The findings indicated that in mass-markets, consumers engaged in social media brand communities may develop positive attitudes towards the brand, such as trust and loyalty, and that consumer-brand identification may have a fundamental role in transforming consumer-brand community interactions into consumer-brand relationships.

Keywords: Consumer-brand identification,Consumer engagement,Social media,Brand loyalty,Brand identity

Introduction

Social media represents a new challenge for brands and consumer researchers since it presents a new form of the consumer-brand relationship (Davis et al., 2014; Fournier and Avery, 2011; Laroche et al., 2013). An increasing number of companies are investing time and money into designing strategies and managing brand communities on social media to gain consumers’ attention and interact with them (de Vries et al., 2012; Munnukka et al., 2015).

These communities constitute new marketing research tools, since marketers can harvest reliable information about who consumers are and gain insights on various aspects of their everyday lives including lifestyles, needs, desires and consumption expectations (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002; Brogi, 2014; Enginkaya and Hakan, 2014; Harris and Dennis, 2011). They can also act as relational marketing instruments, facilitating communication with consumers on a one-to-one basis (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002; de Vries et al., 2012; Harris and Dennis, 2011). In recent years, many scholars and practitioners have been exploring this field of research concerning the new challenges brands are facing (Davis et al., 2014; Fournier and Avery, 2011).

A major question is how the interactions within the brand community on social media translate into a relationship with the brand. Studies published thus far have focused on the relationship between the brand community dynamics (practices and relationships within the community) and customer loyalty (Brodie et al., 2013; Habibi et al., 2014a; Hollebeek et al., 2014; Labrecque, 2014; Laroche et al., 2013, 2012; Park and Kim, 2014). As seminal works, these studies explored highly dynamic brand communities, choosing high involvement brands (e.g., Harley Davison, Apple, Starbucks) or products (e.g., cars, motorcycles, computers or cameras). Today, all sorts of brands from all product categories interact with consumers on social media, even convenience goods (Habibi et al., 2014a). Moreover, different types of consumers are increasingly available to these interactions (Baldus et al., 2015).

Can one expect those same results in brand communities of low-involvement products? The mass-market is highly competitive, many products are designed for the same purpose and are undifferentiated from consumers’ perspectives. Brands working in this market have until now, not had, a direct communication channel with consumers. Social media offers them the opportunity to listen to and talk with consumers. For marketers, being inside ‘people’s media’ (Fournier and Avery, 2011) will provide access to consumers and consumer data and promote brand awareness (Spaulding, 2010).