Does a Virtual like Cause Actual Liking? How following a Brand's Facebook Updates Enhances Brand Evaluations and Purchase Intention

Studies have shown positive associations between liking a Facebook brand page and brand evaluations, but causal evidence is lacking. This online pre–post-measure experiment compared brand evaluations of ‘current followers’ of a target brand's Facebook page, with ‘new followers’ instructed to ‘like’ the page, and ‘non-followers’ over one month. Results showed a significant positive increase for new followers on brand evaluations, whereas non-followers showed no change. Current followers were most positive in evaluations overall, but showed no change over time. This provides evidence that following a brand's Facebook updates can cause positive changes in brand evaluations. The effects were explained by perceived conversational human voice, indicating the importance of brand interactivity. Implications for brands' social media presence are discussed.

[1]  Tom Kelleher,et al.  Conversational Voice, Communicated Commitment, and Public Relations Outcomes in Interactive Online Communication , 2009 .

[2]  B. Weinberg,et al.  Social spending: Managing the social media mix , 2011 .

[3]  Bruno Schivinski,et al.  The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands , 2016 .

[4]  Katherine N. Lemon,et al.  Customer Engagement Behavior: Theoretical Foundations and Research Directions , 2010 .

[5]  Emily T. Metzgar,et al.  Communicating during crisis: Use of blogs as a relationship management tool , 2007 .

[6]  Rebecca Walker Naylor,et al.  Beyond the “Like” Button: The Impact of Mere Virtual Presence on Brand Evaluations and Purchase Intentions in Social Media Settings , 2012 .

[7]  M. Bruhn,et al.  Are social media replacing traditional media in terms of brand equity creation , 2012 .

[8]  Hyunmin Lee,et al.  Show Us You Are Real: The Effect of Human-Versus-Organizational Presence on Online Relationship Building Through Social Networking Sites , 2013, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[9]  Daniel R. Fesenmaier,et al.  Assessing Motivation of Contribution in Online Communities: An Empirical Investigation of an Online Travel Community , 1998, Electron. Mark..

[10]  Lauren I. Labrecque Fostering Consumer–Brand Relationships in Social Media Environments: The Role of Parasocial Interaction , 2014 .

[11]  Tom Kelleher,et al.  Organizational Blogs and the Human Voice: Relational Strategies and Relational Outcomes , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[12]  Gregory D. Saxton,et al.  Engaging Stakeholders Through Twitter: How Nonprofit Organizations Are Getting More Out of 140 Characters or Less , 2010, ArXiv.

[13]  Melanie E. Zaglia Brand communities embedded in social networks☆ , 2013, Journal of business research.

[14]  Micael Dahlen,et al.  Following the Fashionable Friend: The Power of Social Media , 2011, Journal of Advertising Research.

[15]  Essi Pöyry,et al.  Can we get from liking to buying? Behavioral differences in hedonic and utilitarian Facebook usage , 2013, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..

[16]  Guda van Noort,et al.  Webcare as an integrative tool for customer care, reputation management, and online marketing: a literature review , 2015 .

[17]  Camiel J. Beukeboom,et al.  A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation , 2015 .

[18]  Doc Searls,et al.  The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual , 2000 .

[19]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  The Benefits of Facebook "Friends: " Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[20]  Angella J. Kim,et al.  Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand , 2012 .

[21]  D. Horton,et al.  Mass communication and para-social interaction; observations on intimacy at a distance. , 1956, Psychiatry.

[22]  Utpal M. Dholakia,et al.  El experimento de Facebook con una cadena de cafeterías , 2010 .

[23]  Karen H. Smith,et al.  Developing Affective Brand Commitment through Social Media , 2013 .

[24]  Guda van Noort,et al.  Online Damage Control: The Effects of Proactive versus Reactive Webcare Interventions in Consumer-generated and Brand-generated Platforms , 2012 .

[25]  F. Reichheld The one number you need to grow. , 2003, Harvard business review.

[26]  Philip Johnson,et al.  Effects of Narratives, Openness to Dialogic Communication, and Credibility on Engagement in Crisis Communication Through Organizational Blogs , 2010, Commun. Res..

[27]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[28]  Claire Warwick,et al.  Use of social media for corporate communications by research-funding organisations in the UK , 2013 .

[29]  R. Brodie,et al.  Customer Engagement , 2011 .

[30]  Yongjun Sung,et al.  Brand followers' retweeting behavior on Twitter: How brand relationships influence brand electronic word-of-mouth , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[31]  D. Muntinga,et al.  Introducing COBRAs , 2011 .

[32]  D. Aaker MEASURING BRAND EQUITY ACROSS PRODUCTS AND MARKETS , 1996 .

[33]  Glen T. Cameron,et al.  Keeping It Real , 2014 .

[34]  Ethan R. Burris,et al.  Debunking four myths about employee silence. , 2010, Harvard business review.

[35]  Dwayne D. Gremler,et al.  Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet? , 2004 .