An integrative typology of relational benefits and costs in social media brand pages

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.

Social media advertising reactance model: a theoretical review

“…The quantitative survey method dominates SMAR research, adopted by over 65% (n 5 60) of the articles identified. Including mixed-method studies, seven take qualitative approaches, such as focus group interview, in-depth interview, and semantic analysis (Deraz, 2019;Kongsagoonwong and Ngamkroeckjoti, 2018;Mattke et al, 2018a;Riedel et al, 2018; Note(s): One study published in 2020 is not included Truong and Simmons, 2010;Tsimonis et al, 2020;Youn and Kim, 2019a). Additionally, seven articles involve more than one study (Ahn et al, 2017;Belanche et al, 2017;Celebi, 2015;Hamby and Ilyuk, 2019;Huang, 2019;Park et al, 2016;Tsimonis et al, 2020).…”

“…The emergence of social media has not only considerably changed the ways individuals interact but also altered the digital marketing landscape. Social media has become a new communication paradigm for company-to-consumer message delivery and attracted a great deal of advertising investment (Tsimonis et al, 2020). Taking the United States as an example, the total advertising budget for social media reached 32 billion US dollars in 2019, with a growth rate of 19.4% (eMarketer, 2019).…”

“…However, social media is now considered to go too far in monetizing its service and receives increasing criticism. First, with more and more advertising budgets rushing to social media, platforms are overloaded with advertisements (Tsimonis et al, 2020). Second, advertisements leverage social media to break into users' daily lives unscrupulously (Wei et al, 2019).…”

Companies responses to scandal backlash caused by social media influencers

“…With the revolution and disruptiveness that social media has become known for, there are common risks associated with influencer marketing (Tsimonis et al, 2020)…”

“…When a brand partners with well-known personalities, the brand is in essence associating that person’s public persona with the values and reputation of their brand’s intrinsic along with the reputation that the brand has worked so hard to build up (Tsimonis et al, 2020). Negative press around a partner can put an organization’s brand at risk for being “guilty by association,” leaving the organization’s brand vulnerable to any criticism that the influencer may face.…”