THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK IN MARKETING: CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND EMPIRICAL TEST

The purpose of this research was to identify the relationships between ‘Facebook’ brand page users’ motivations, engagement behaviors and future behavioral intentions. For this purpose, a model of Facebook brand fan page user motivations, engagement and behavioral intentions was proposed. The model was tested via an online survey distributed to Facebook users in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 504 usable surveys were considered for the data analysis. Following the exploratory factor analysis tests, four main motivational factors emerged; information, personal identity, leisure and social interaction. Then, the relationships between these four motivational factors and customer engagement and behavioral intentions were tested in a structural model. Model tests revealed that Facebook brand fan page users were most motivated by information needs in regards to stronger engagement with the fan pages and more positive intentions to buy products through these fan pages. Personal identity needs were also important reasons for customer engagement with brand fan pages on Facebook. Based on these results, practical recommendations were given to marketers and brand fan page administrators

Customer Engagement in Social Media Brand Community A Study of Fast-Food facebook brand pages in Syria

The term "costumer engagment" has grown in importance in recent years to describe cosumers interative experiences with brands. The populaty of that term was boosted by the rapid penetration of social networking sites which facilitated the engagement of consumers through online brand communities. Moreover, Facebook brand pages are widely popular among young consumers due to its rapid adoption in marketing on social media networks.In light of the Syrian conflict, and after the return of stability and safety to most of the Syrian regions, local Fast food Syrian chains found an opportunity to recover and powerfully expand in the Syrian market, especially after the closure of global fastfood chains due to international sanctions. On the other hand, Social media marketing practices are considered to be in the infancy stage in Syria, with many mpanies starting to recognize the power of social media in communication with customers. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the antecedents of young customers engagement between ages 18-29 years in Fast food Facebook brand pages in Syria. The study examined two structures (brand trust and brand love) as antecedents related to consumers relationships with Local Fast-food brands and brand loyalty as an outcome of customer engagement. In the quantitative phase, an online survey was used to collect data for the current study, where was posted on Facebook brand pages of the fast-food chains in Syria. The data collection was conducted by drawing a sample from young consumers whose ages are between 18 and 29, and who are active members of official fast-food brand pages on Facebook in Syria, Also Structure Equation Model (SEM) was conducted to study these relations between variables. The most significant findings of this study reveal that brand trust and brand love factors can influence the level of customer brand engagement, which in turn will affect loyalty. Moreover, this study offers useful managerial insights for Fast food brand managers to better assess the motives and outcome of customer brand engagement with these Facebook brand pages, to establish better emotional and effective relations with them, therefore the ability to stand in the competitive business environment.N/

THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK IN MARKETING: CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND EMPIRICAL TEST Marketing Research and Strategy

Abstract The purpose of this research was to identify the relationships between 'Facebook' brand page users' motivations, engagement behaviours and future behavioural intentions. For this purpose, a model of Facebook brand fan page user motivations, engagement and behavioural intentions was proposed. The model was tested via an online survey distributed to Facebook users in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 504 usable surveys were considered for the data analysis. Following the exploratory factor analysis tests, four main motivational factors emerged; information, personal identity, leisure and social interaction. Then, the relationships between these four motivational factors and customer engagement and behavioural intentions were tested in a structural model. Model tests revealed that Facebook brand fan page users were most motivated by information needs in regards to stronger engagement with the fan pages and more positive intentions to buy products through these fan pages. Personal identity needs were also important reasons for customer engagement with brand fan pages on Facebook. Based on these results, practical recommendations were given to marketers and brand fan page administrators

Consumer Engagement in Social Media Based Brand Communities: A Study of Facebook and Fast-food in Egypt

This research project was conducted in response to several calls by marketing scholars and practitioners for a better understanding of the concept of consumer engagement in general and social media based brand communities in particular. The term ‘consumer engagement’ has grown in importance in recent years to describe consumers’ interactive experiences with brands. The popularity of that term was boosted by the rapid penetration of social networking sites which facilitated engagement of consumers through online brand communities embedded in it. This thesis investigates consumer engagement in Facebook brand pages. These pages are considered a form of online brand communities that are created by many companies for marketing purposes. Fast food brand pages in Egypt were used as a context for conducting this research study, where they are extensively used for targeting young consumers. With the purpose of identifying the factors that enhance consumer engagement in these online communities, this study examined consumers’ relationships with brands that initiated these communities as well as consumers’ perceptions inside these communities. Also, it studied the role of these brand pages in fostering consumers’ brand love as well as brand equity dimensions and outcomes. Brand love is an important marketing concept that has been appearing in academic publications recently to describe consumers’ emotional connections with brands. It is becoming widely accepted that consumers’ emotions towards brands, are a key determinant for their consumption behaviour. A mixed method research design incorporating focus groups and online surveys was used to collect data in the current study. The data collection was conducted by drawing a sample from young consumers whose ages are between 18 and 29, and who are active members of official fast food brand pages on Facebook in Egypt. The first phase of this study adopted a series of qualitative focus group discussions with the aim of exploring the nature and dimensionality of consumer engagement from the perspective of young Egyptian consumers. Also, it was useful in exploring the benefits these consumers seek by their engagement in online communities. The second phase was conducted through an online survey that was posted on Facebook brand pages of the fast food chains in Egypt. The aim of the quantitative phase was to test a conceptual framework for the antecedents and outcomes of consumer engagement in social media based brand communities. This framework was developed from an extensive literature review as well as the qualitative discussions. The findings indicated that consumer engagement is a multidimensional concept that consists of emotional, cognitive and behavioural dimensions, as well as several sub-dimensions. Also, three factors related to consumers’ relationships with brands (brand identification, satisfaction and trust) and four factors related to consumers’ perceptions inside the brand communities (critical mass; functional, hedonic and monetary benefits) were identified as antecedents of consumer engagement. Moreover, the study proved the positive effect of consumer engagement on the development of brand love. Furthermore, it indicated a positive influence of brand love on brand equity dimensions and outcomes. The current study contributes theoretically by enhancing our understanding of the concept of consumer engagement, particularly in the context of social media based brand communities in Egypt. More importantly, the inclusion of brand love is expected to contribute to the body of consumer-brand relationships literature. Also, this thesis contributes by providing a measurement scale for consumer engagement in the context of social media. On the other hand, the study provides some practical implications, where it provides some useful guidelines for companies to follow when advertising to young consumers on Facebook brand pages

What drives me there? The interplay of socio-psychological gratification and consumer values in social media brand engagement

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe social behavioral perspective is under-researched in the extant literature. This hinders the holistic understanding of social media brand engagement. This study examines the interplay of socio-psychological gratification variables (perceived homophily, perceived critical mass, and self-status seeking) and consumer values (personal, interpersonal, and fun) on consumer participation in social media brand engagement. The conceptual model in this study is situated on the principles of Uses and Gratifications, Critical Mass, Homophily, and Values theories. Based on an online survey of 713 Facebook users, a structural equation modeling (with Amos 23.0) disclosed insights on the interplay of motivational factors that underlie social media brand engagement. Our findings suggest that socio-psychological gratification variables (perceived homophily, perceived critical mass, and self-status seeking) drive consumers’ engagement with brand pages and brand communities on social media. This relationship is strengthened by the consumer values. These insights serve as an important basis for researchers and practitioners to understand social media brand engagement and its outcomes

Toward a Comprehensive Understanding of User-Generated Content and Engagement Behavior on Facebook Business Pages

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2018. Major: Business Administration. Advisors: Yuqing Ren, Gediminas Adomavicius. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 196 pages.Social media platforms such as Facebook empower individual users to interact with companies and with each other on company-managed business pages. Users can generate content by posting directly to the business pages, and other users can engage with the content through multiple engagement features. Although such user-generated content (UGC in short) and associated engagement behaviors bear important consequences to the companies, they are not well understood. The three essays of my dissertation fill in this gap, by analyzing data collected from Facebook business pages with multiple empirical methods. The first essay examines the valence and content characteristics of user-generated posts on the Facebook business pages of multiple large companies across key consumer-oriented industries. It demonstrates that user posts on Facebook business pages represent a new form of UGC that is distinct from online product reviews generated by consumers, in terms of valence distribution and content types. Further, it highlights the important valence and content factors that influence two canonical types of engagement activities, i.e., liking and commenting. The second essay discusses how user engagement behaviors are shaped by engagement features on Facebook, and in particular, how the introduction of a new engagement feature affects the usage of existing features as well as overall engagement activities. It aims to uncover new insights regarding the interplay of multiple engagement features. Analyses show that, despite distinct functionalities, the usage of different features is not independent, and user posts that have received engagement are likely to obtain even more engagement of various types. The third essay addresses a methodological challenge of studying UGC on social media or other online contexts, where researchers frequently seek to combine data mining with econometric modeling, but ignore the issue of measurement error and misclassification. Findings of my dissertation advance understanding of UGC and engagement behavior on social media brand pages, and have practical implications for social media platforms as well as businesses that have presence on these platforms

Fast-food advertising in social media. A case study on Facebook in Egypt

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that affect young Egyptian consumers' attitudes towards fast-food advertising in Facebook which is considered the most widely used social media network. 4 focus groups were conducted with young consumers from 2 Egyptian cities. Content analysis was applied for the Egyptian fast-food Facebook fan pages with the aid of the NVivo software. The findings of this exploratory study have shown that young consumers are accepting the idea of fast food advertising in Facebook. Moreover, the research provides a framework for the factors that lead to consumers' engagement with the advertisements on Facebook. With the increase in the popularity of social media websites among the young generation, fast-food marketers find it a more effective medium for advertising for their chains among that segment. The research provides insights for marketers to make their advertisements more effective on Facebook. The participants in the focus groups were young consumers in Egypt. It would be useful to expand the sample and conduct the research in other developing and developed countries with more consumers from other age groups. Consumer attitude towards advertising as a topic generates interest from academics and practitioners in looking at analysis of the effectiveness and success of advertisements in social media. Therefore this research adds value in that, so far, there is very little academic literature on this particular topic examining young Egyptian consumers' attitudes towards fast-food advertising in Facebook

Who's Feeding the Kids Online? Digital food marketing to children in Ireland: Advertisers’ tactics, children’s exposure and parents’ awareness

Obesity in children and young people is a global health challenge. The widespread marketing of unhealthy foods (food and non-alcoholic drinks high in fat, sugar and salt, or HFSS) plays a causal role in unhealthy eating and obesity. Food and eating is typically presented as an issue of ‘choice’. However, this disregards the fact that current obesogenic environments use many tactics to promote unhealthy foods, interfering with people’s ability to make good choices. This study examined: 1. Content appealing to children and young people on websites of top food and drink retail brands in Ireland 2. Marketing techniques on Facebook: Pages of food brands that have the highest reach among young teens, the first such study of which we are aware 3. Parents’ awareness of digital food marketing to their children in an online, two-stage survey with digital marketing examples and open-ended response options

What do you think of the return of dungarees?: Social media interactions between retail locations and their customers

Social media presents new digital interaction opportunities and challenges to urban retail locations such as shopping malls, centres and streets. Platforms such as Facebook facilitate online communication with, and between, customers that is not possible through traditional media and marketing techniques. Using data gathered from the Facebook pages of six urban retail locations over 12 months, this paper considers the possible factors that shape online customer engagement and conversation. In particular, we present a thematic analysis of content in shared posts, and discuss how characteristics of a retail location and the structure of the consumer community shape these posts. Our findings are used to form suggestions to further investigate engagement between customers and retail locations via social media

Social Media Influence: Metrics Matter

It is imperative for companies to engage in social media marketing as consumers are often dependent on online information and electronic word-of-mouth. Past literature claims that consumers evaluate the influence of communications differently on social media than they would in a traditional environment because of the nature of the internet. This study aims to analyze user’s perceptions of social media marketing influence and determines if user’s perception of influence changes based on the number of social media metrics (likes, comments, and shares) that accompany a Facebook post. The study also investigates if perceptions of influence vary depending on a user’s level of involvement in the situation. A 2x2 factorial design is utilized to manipulate both level of involvement and amount of likes, comments, and shares that accompany a Facebook post. The results contend that a high number of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook leads to increased perceptions of source credibility and information usefulness. In particular, the results prove that a high number of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook leads to increased purchase intention in a low-involvement situation. These results are essential to marketers as they prove the importance of curating engaging content on company’s Facebook pages in order to generate high amounts of likes, comments, and shares. Increasing the amount of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook will make the post more influential to users