Developing a Parasocial Relationship with Hotel Brands on Facebook: Will Millennials Differ from GenXers?

Facebook, particularly its brand page, is becoming one of the most powerful tool for relationship building and customer engagement for hospitality companies. As the social media marketing practices evolve in the hospitality industry, the industry starts to realize the importance of customer participation behaviors based on relationship quality rather than quantity of interactions and the rising significance of the Millennials generation. To respond to this trend, this study pursues an empirical investigation of the antecedents for consumer-hotel brand relationship on Facebook, and the potential differences between Millennials and non-Millennials, particularly the GenXers. It also examines the potential varying relational consequences on consumers\u27 online participation behaviors and brand loyalty between these two groups. More specifically, this study positions Facebook as an innovative communication medium, and applies the “parasocial relationship” framework in mediated communication literature as an overarching theoretical guide. Five social-media related factors are included to explain the psychological mechanisms of consumer’s parasocial relationship with brands: utilitarian benefits, hedonic benefits, perceived self-disclosure, perceived interactivity, and perceived information overload. This study also investigates the effects of parasocial relationship on Facebook users’ online participation behaviors with brands and their offline brand loyalty. The hypothesized model is tested with multi-group SEM modelling. Practical and theoretical implications are also discussed in the study

Parasocial relationships and social media usage

This study investigates the use of social networking sites by media figures, celebrities and celebrity brands and how consumers use and participate in brand communities on these sites. The concept of parasocial relationships has been applied to this medium and studied as a marketing tool to reach consumers and maintain relationships with them. Consumers\u27 use of social networking sites, their participation with celebrity brands via social networking sites, and their feelings toward that celebrity brand and online community are explored. The relationship between consumers\u27 time spent and usage of social networking sites is compared to factors of parasocial relationships as well as perceptions of celebrity brands

Rise of Social Media Influencers as a New Marketing Channel: Focusing on the Roles of Psychological Well-Being and Perceived Social Responsibility among Consumers

This empirical research investigated the structural relationships between social media influencer attributes, perceived friendship, psychological well-being, loyalty, and perceived social responsibility of influencers, focusing on the perspective of social media users. More specifically, this study conceptually identified social media influencer attributes such as language similarity, interest similarity, interaction frequency, and self-disclosure and examined the respective effects of each dimension on perceived friendship and psychological well-being, consequently resulting in loyalty toward social media influencers. The authors collected and analyzed data from 388 social media users in the United States via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk with multivariate analyses to test the hypothesized associations among the variables in this study. The findings indicated that perceived friendship was significantly influenced by language similarity, interest similarity, and self-disclosure, but did not have a significant impact on psychological well-being. Additionally, perceived friendship significantly affected psychological well-being and loyalty, and psychological well-being significantly influenced loyalty. Lastly, social media influencers’ social responsibility moderated the path from psychological well-being to loyalty. Based on these findings, this study proposes theoretical and managerial implications for the social media influencer marketing context

Parasocial interaction on social media : how source identification affects brand trust

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of source identification on parasocial interaction and brand trust on social media by comparing perceptions of marketer-generated social media content from brand accounts with no identified author to content from the accounts of the brand's CEO. Guided by the theory of parasocial interaction, the study used a 2 (identity) x 3 (social media channel) mixed factorial experiment. Identity was a within-subjects factor and social media channel was a between-subjects factor. This quantitative online survey experiment of 104 university student participants found that, while there was a significant positive correlation between parasocial interaction and brand trust, (204)=0.581, p less than 0.001, and a significant difference between levels of parasocial interactionand brand trust between the two source types, F(1, 208)=8.976, p=0.003 and F(1, 208)=7.27, p=0.008, higher levels of parasocial interaction and brand trust were perceived in the content from the brand account with no identified author,(M=25.615, SD=5.885), than from the CEO, (M=23.612, SD=6.059). This result is opposite of what was predicted based on a review of the literature: that the content from the CEO's account would have higher levels of brand trust and parasocial interaction. The findings of this study can inform practical decisions on using CEOs in social media marketing

External Organizational Identification, Parasocial Relationships, and Social Media Use

The pervasive use of the Internet for social purposes has led to organizational and social change, as well as social movements online throughout the world. Of particular interest in this study is commitment to organizations by patrons and stakeholders showcased via social media outlets. This research includes a review of organizational identification, parasocial relationships and social media research followed by a detailed description of the method, which included the creation and testing of a questionnaire examining the organizational identification and parasocial relationships of external publics, and their social media use. A hypothesis is put forth suggesting that there is a relationship between social media use and external organizational identification, which was confirmed with a Pearson Product-Moment correlation A research question that sought to discover whether parasocial relationships influence that relationship was asked and results of a mediation analysis suggest that parasocial relationships do mediate the relationship between social media use and external organizational identification. Practical implications for communication researchers and organizations, as well as, suggestions for future research and limitations conclude this research

Entrepreneurs as influencers: the impact of parasocial interactions on communication outcomes

Purpose: Drawing on the example of car manufacturer Tesla and its early investor Elon Musk, the purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between the personal communication activities of influential entrepreneurs on social media, the emergence of parasocial interactions (PSIs) and the related communication outcomes for the company. Design/methodology/approach: This paper conducted an online survey, recruiting 207 participants via purposive sampling. Partial least square path modeling and an independent t-test were conducted to test hypotheses. Findings: The results of this paper show that following entrepreneurs' personal social media activities amplifies PSIs, which in turn positively impact the company's communication outcomes. Organization-public relationships and purchase intentions are improved by PSI. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that connects the personal and the organizational level in exploring entrepreneurial marketing. The results show that Elon Musk acts as an influential entrepreneur to effectively promote communication outcomes for Tesla. This paper illuminates the potential of entrepreneurs' personal social media activities to support the success of their ventures

E-wom y Facebook móvil: un análisis de la participación activa del usuario en las fan page

El uso combinado de las redes sociales y la tecnología móvil está cambiando no solo los patrones de consumo y uso de los medios de comunicación, sino también la forma en que se relacionan los consumidores entre sí y con las distintas marcas. Facebook móvil se están convirtiendo así en una potente herramienta de comunicación, participación, relación y recomendación de productos y servicios entre los propios consumidores, una poderosa plataforma donde construir comunidad. Pese a la importancia que adquieren ambas fenómenos, todavía es escasa la literatura centrada en su estudio conjunto. Con una muestra de 202 usuarios que acceden a través del móvil a las fan page de marcas de moda, el presente trabajo persigue como objetivo analizar la influencia que ejerce la dependencia, actitud e interacción parasocial en la participación activa del usuario en las páginas de Facebook de las marcas de moda. Para testar el modelo se utiliza la metodología PLS. Esperamos que los resultados confirmen que tanto la dependencia, como la actitud y participación de otros usuarios en la fan page sean factores determinantes de la participación activa del usuario en dichas páginas. Las conclusiones e implicaciones para la gestión ayudarán a las empresas a mejorar la relación con sus usuarios, crear lazos afectivos y conseguir una mayor participación e implicación de los mismos

Viewers\u27 Consumption Intentions in the Live Game Streaming Context

Live-streaming in the game industry have grown fast and is becoming popular as a form of online entertainment. However, a key issue has yet received less attention: why people around the globe spend their time on watching other playing games? Why viewers would be willing to subscribe or donate money to a streamer? To fill the research gap, this study examines how emotional attachment and group identification influence viewers’ continuous watching, donation, and subscription intentions based on the theoretical lens of common identity and common bond. Specifically, the crucial roles of para-social interaction with the streamer and co-viewers as antecedents of identity- and bond-based attachment are also investigated. An empirical research with a sample of viewers with live game streaming spectating experience will be conducted. This study has important implications for both researchers and practitioners, especially for streamers in the live game streaming context

Friends or just fans? Parasocial relationships in online television fiction communities

This paper explores parasocial phenomena on social media pages related to Spanish television fiction by analysing the development of parasociality through relationships established between users and characters and the characteristics of this type of online community. The sample consisted of 4,762 spontaneous comments posted on social media pages (1,598 on Facebook and 3,164 on Twitter) linked to television series. Comments published between 1 January 2018 and 31 May 2020 were compiled the day after the premiere of each fiction. Our findings confirm those of previous researchs on the similarity between parasocial relationships with fictional characters and relationships in real life. This study also substantiates that women's comments show a greater tendency to draw associations between parasocial relationships and daily life. We also find a link between programme longevity and audience success on the one hand, and the intensity of parasocial relationships with the characters on the other. The relationships among community members reveal a degree of narcissism, prompting more self-disclosure than interaction with the rest of the users. Therefore, such relationships are closer to consociality (Kozinets, 2015) than parasociality, although significant differences concerning gender identity are also found in this context.Este artículo explora los fenómenos parasociales que se producen en las redes sociales dedicadas a la ficción televisiva española, con el objetivo de analizar tanto las relaciones entre los usuarios y los personajes como las características de este tipo de comunidades y la evolución de ambas manifestaciones de la parasocialidad. La muestra de análisis está integrada por 4.762 comentarios espontáneos en las webs dedicadas a los programas (1.598 en Facebook y 3.164 de Twitter), publicados entre el 1 de enero de 2018 y el 31 de mayo de 2020 y recogidos al día siguiente del estreno de cada ficción. El trabajo confirma los resultados de las investigaciones precedentes sobre la semejanza de las relaciones parasociales con los personajes y las relaciones reales, así como la mayor tendencia de los comentarios femeninos a extrapolar las relaciones parasociales a su vida cotidiana. El análisis también evidencia la relación entre, por un lado, la longevidad de los programas y el éxito de audiencia y, por otro lado, la intensidad de las relaciones parasociales con los personajes. Las relaciones entre los miembros de la comunidad revelan un cierto narcisismo, que los induce más a mostrarse (self-disclosure) que a interactuar con el resto de los usuarios. Se sitúan, por consiguiente, más próximos a la consocialidad (Kozinets, 2015) que a la parasocialidad, aunque también en este punto se aprecian diferencias significativas en relación con la identidad de género