An Integrative Typology of Relational Benefits and Costs in Social Media Brand Pages

Date

2019-01-24

Advisors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

ISSN

1470-7853

Volume Title

Publisher

Sage

Type

Article

Peer reviewed

Abstract

This article focuses on consumer–brand relationships in the social media environment and suggests a typology of the benefits and costs consumers perceive when interacting with social media brand pages. Employing an online questionnaire, quantitative data were collected from 881 followers of popular brand pages on both Facebook and Twitter. Study results indicate that followers of brand pages on Facebook and Twitter perceive “social,” “functional,” “enjoyment,” “special treatment,” “self-enhancement,” “advice,” and “status” benefits. “Privacy concern,” “information overload,” and “ad irritation” are consumers’ perceived costs. As the same seven factors of relational benefits and three factors of relational costs have been confirmed across all Facebook and Twitter brand pages, it is argued that the structure and dimensions of relational benefits and costs are medium and brand invariant, and are perceived in the same way by Facebook and Twitter followers. Considering the rapid development of social media and their penetration in business marketing actions, this research contributes to the digital marketing literature by providing a better understanding of relational benefits, relational costs, and consumer–brand relationships in a social media context. Finally, the article offers recommendations to brand managers, when designing appropriate social media content, that can enhance and strengthen a brand’s relationship with its customers.

Description

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.

Keywords

Relational Benefits, Relational Costs, Social Media, Consumer-brand relationships, Social Media Brand Pages

Citation

Tsimonis, G., Dimitriadis, S. and Omar, S. (2019) An Integrative Typology of Relational Benefits and Costs in Social Media Brand Pages. International Journal of Market Research,

Rights

Research Institute