This research examines the effects of social media brand–consumer interactions on three types of customer value: customer lifetime value (CLV), customer influencer value (CIV) and customer knowledge value (CKV). By examining the differential effects of consumers’ satisfaction and immersion with social-media brand interactions on CLV, CIV and CKV, the authors identify conditions under which interaction satisfaction and interaction immersion create value for brands. Results suggest that whereas interaction satisfaction positively influences both CLV and CIV, interaction immersion impacts both CIV and CKV. The authors identify social media strategies for brands related to interaction satisfaction and immersion that are based on the three types of customer value studied. The findings reported offer important managerial and theoretical implications with respect to the effects of discrete social media interactions on customer value creation.
Purpose
– The current increase in social media activity related to brand–consumer interactions is progressively influencing the manner in which brands and their customers communicate. Whereas this attention to social media is warranted, researchers and brand managers must also recognize that consumers connect and engage with brands across other communication platforms as well. Accordingly, this study aims to examine brand–consumer interactions taking place across social, online and physical platforms, as well as consumer motives for initiating these brand interactions across various platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
– A mixed-method approach integrating quantitative and qualitative data was used. We administered a written diary to 102 individuals over a two-month period, in which study participants recorded their motivations and platform use in their interactions with a brand. We evaluated latent-class mixture models for complex data and multi-level latent-class mixture models to identify classes of interactions based on participants’ motivations and platform use as well as customer segments based on the identified motives-by-platform classes.
Findings
– The findings reveal ten categories of motives for interacting with brands, including promotions and incentives, timely information, product information, engagement, browsing, purchase, customer service, branded content, entertainment, and personalization/exclusivity. Furthermore, six motives-by-platform interaction classes are identified. The findings suggest three consumer segments differentiated by their motives-by-platform profiles.
Research limitations/implications
– This study adds to past research investigating the motives behind brand–consumer interactions in social media by investigating both social media and non-social media-related interactions, and offering a typology of interaction profiles that considers interaction motives and platform preferences.
Practical implications
– This study illustrates that consumers are driven to interact with brands based upon the ten motive categories. These motives, in turn, are associated with different platform uses. Thus, it is important for brands to adopt ambidexterity across multiple communication platforms.
Originality/value
– This research adds to the understanding of brand–consumer interactions conducted on online and offline communication platforms.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.