Customer Engagement on Facebook
Individual Research
“Customer engagement of commercial brand community on Facebook”
Ms.Benchawan Phumphuengsri ID: 543-9374
iMBA Batch 3 Section 19
BP6993 Individual Research
Submitted to
Assistant Professor Dr. Kriengsin Prasongsukarn
Graduate School of business
Assumption University
Submission date: 12 April 2013
Word count: ……..words
Abstract
The rise of the Internet in worldwide there are opportunities and challenges have emerged for marketing brands and products. In its early days, the Internet was seen as an opportunity for marketers to communicate with consumers, and even to engage the customer in two-way communications. However, consumers are becoming overcome by marketers’ attempts to engage them in relationship marketing strategies. The marketing managers and planners should apply new ideas in order to make their brand community more effective because traditional web sites are no longer motivating customers to return and interact to the site. So it is important for the marketer to find out the strategy that involves the development of a virtual community around the brand by focusing on perceived benefits such as social benefits, entertainment benefits and economic benefits to the customer by using online media and social network which are more powerful marketing tools in the current day. In addition, interactions among members can influence the selection of brands, making effective communities very important for the company. In order to get a better understanding of the important factors of community engagement behaviour, this study will show which factor lead to successful online strategies for the marketing on Facebook fan page by using Product Moment Coefficient Pearson Correlation (Bivariate) to analyse the variables and explain that how social benefits, economic benefits and entertainment benefits have a relationship on customer community engagement behaviour.
Acknowledgements
To complete my individual research, I would like to thank you my advisor Assistant Professor Dr. Kriengsin Prasongsukarn for all helpful advices and guidance since the beginning up to the individual research completion. Moreover I have learned many things from him during the consulting time and he motivated me to try harder to understand and apply his teaching to real practice.
I would like to thank to all of my friends, iMBA section 19 for their advice and encouragement which supported me to finish this individual research. Thank you to respondents of my questionnaires. Lastly I would like to thank my family who always believe in me that I could do study and work at the same time.
I hope this research will be benefits the business towards understanding ways to enhance customer engagement with their brands.
Table of Contents
CHATER 1...................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………. 1
1.1 Background of the topic……………………...…………………………………….. 1
1.2 Statement of the problem…………………………………………………………….3
1.3 Research Objectives………………………………………………………………....3
1.4 Scope of Research ………………………………………………………………..... 4
1.5 Limitations of research …………………………………………..……………….... 4
1.6 Significant of study ……………………………………………………………….... 5
1.7 Definition of terms ……………………..……..……………………………………. 5
CHATER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………..……… 5 2.1 Theoretical Literature …………………………………………………………........ 5
2.2 Related Literature Review ....……………………………………………...…….......7
2.3 Summary table of findings of previous researches…….…...………..……………... 9
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK …………………………………... 11
3.1 Theoretical Framework …………………………………………………………… 11
3.2 Conceptual Framework…………………………………………..…………..…… 12
3.3 Research hypothesis ……………………………………………..………..... .....…13
3.4 Operationalization of the variables ……………………………………………….. 14
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT............................................................................. 15
4.1 Method of Research ................................................................................................ 15
4.2 Source of Data …………………………………………………………………..... 15
4.3 Research instrument …………………………………………………………...…. 15
4.4 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………. …… 16
4.5 Summary of Hypotheses Testing …………………………………………………. 22
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.…………………………………… 23
5.1 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..…… 23
5.2 Recommendation ………………………………………………………………… 24
5.3 Future Study ……………………………………………………………………… 25
REFERENCE………………………………………………………………………. . 26
Appendix A Analysis ………………………………………………………………….28
Appendix B Questionnaire …………………………………………………………….32
Customer engagement in a Facebook commercial brand community
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the topic
The reason to select the studying community engagement behaviors in a Facebook brand community of customers is because nowadays Facebook is a very famous social-networking website that has impacts on daily life and it socially influences the people’s choices. The world is moving toward the cyber world is which internet connections are easily access and reachable for every households and businesses. This study will show how the customer community engagement behavior affects perceived benefits of the Facebook commercial brand, and user of its services and applications. We will focus on both male and female respondents who are Facebook users and fans of at last one brand on Facebook, because these people can respond to our questionnaire effectively as they already experience social-networking. The company is looking for ways to brand loyalty among customers as the brand community offers both companies and customers new ways to engage with each other. Whilst companies aim at engaging with influencing members’ perceptions, loyal customers about the brand, sharing information, and learning from and about customers (Algesheimer et al., 2005), customers perceive value through the variety of practices that they execute offline and online (Schau et al., 2009). Although originally, an online brand community referred to a community on the www, recently social media network has been added to companies’ marketing and brand building activities (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Attracted by the great number of users of Facebook so, the creative marketing activity in Facebook brand community will draw people to participate and make the brand succeed. This study will help the firm understand more about customer engagement in the Facebook brand community.
1.1.2 Social Network, Facebook
Over the last years, the ways people search, share information and communicate with each other has changed dramatically (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube are playing a major role and are more important in business communication. The changes force the company and brand to focus on online services in order to create relationships to customers.
Facebook allows companies several services to contact and communicate with their customers. Fan pages are a very interesting tool for companies to use. Usual characteristics of fans are self-identification as a fan, cultural competence, emotional engagement, co-production and auxiliary consumption (Kozinets et al., 2010). The Internet brought the possibility to overcome geographical restrictions and also help the company build fan communities world-wide. In practice, Facebook users can be fans of a fan page by pressing the “like-button,” then it identifies that they like this brand and will present their profiles on social network. The content and information of fan page is automatically posted to the customer is Facebook news feed, and the customer can post comments on the fan page, interact with the brand, forward offers from the page as well as the interact with other community members (Jahn and Kunz.,2012). 1.2 Statement of problem
As a social network, Facebook has affected the social life and activity of people in several ways. With its availability on many mobile devices, Facebook allows users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and other connections wherever they are in the world, as long as there is access to the Internet. It can also tie people with same interests or beliefs through groups and other pages. This study will help the company to understand more how community engagement behavior in Facebook is important to the company for implementing the technique to create company brand perception and gain market share via Facebook.
In addition, engaging with the brand community in different behaviors, receive different relationship benefits, for example entertainment, may make customers more satisfied. This assumption is based on the reasoning that customers. This study will investigate how a customer engagement behavior affects consumers perceived benefits, and assume a positive relationship between the constructs. (Gummerus et al., 2012) 1.3 Research objectives
The research objective is to study the affects of community engagement behaviour of Facebook commercial brand on perceived benefits. The company can know more insight of customer behaviour especially the company who focuses on social network marketing activities. This study will help the company create marketing and content to their page on Facebook effectively to increase perceived benefit of the brand. * To study community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on social benefit * To study community engagement behaviour has s positive relationship on entertainment benefit * To study community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on economic benefit 1.4 Scope of research
The research studied the affects of community engagement behaviour on three factors of perceived benefits. The three independent variables of perceived benefits factors are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The respondents of this research are male and female Facebook user in Bangkok. This research result would be advantage to the marketing department of the company who has community page of their brand on Facebook they can apply more attractive activities for their members. This study will help them to monitor their Facebook fan page effectively after they understand the fact that the brand community will help a firm draws individual customers and to create relationships with those customers, and also establishing long-term relationships.
1.5 Limitations of research
There are some limitations to this study of customer community engagement behaviours of commercial brands on Facebook. The study is limited to the engagement behaviour in a Facebook commercial brand community, while customers also engage with the brand in other ways. The limitations that need to be considered are first, self-selection of respondents affects the results which may come from inactive community users. Second, the behavioural measures were reported by the respondents themselves, and do not know that the answers are from actual behaviour or not. Finally, because the findings are based on commercial brand on Facebook page and the respondent have to be both Facebook user and commercial brand community page so this will represent only some portion of target customer of the company not the whole market
1.6 Significant of the study
The findings in this study have several implications for social media strategies, and help the company to understand why customers participate in the Facebook brand community which is important to increasing more numbers of Facebook users to become brand community members and towards develop marketing on Facebook, which is lower cost than other commercial media. Firms may want to encourage and reward consumers to become more active on the site to receive maximal perceived benefits from the community (Gummerus et al., 2012).
1.7 Definitions of Terms
Fan pages the important tool on Facebook for brand communication. The company can use to integrate and interact with the customers effectively (Dholakia et al., 2004).
Community engagement behaviour is the customer behaviour that is more value than purchasing the product or service, and can be defined as a customer’s behavioural manifestations that have a focus as motivational drivers rather than purchasing by the brand or firm (van Doorn et al., 2010).
Social benefits results from interaction among the company and consumer and mention to recognition and also friendship (Gweinner et al., 1998).
Entertainment benefits is the relaxation and fun which customer perceive and could encourage community participation (Dholakia et al., 2004).
Economic benefits refer to people joining brand communities in order to get discounts and time savings, or to take part in marketing activity campaign and competitions (Gwinner et al., 1998).
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Literature
Customer engagement in brand communities Customer engagement in brand communities causes the customer’s interactive experiences direct to the brand, is context-dependent, and develops consumers’ experience of brand value (Brodie et al., 2011). Customer engagement is sometimes used to represent the highest form of loyalty (Bowden, 2009; Roberts and Alpert, 2010), but as behavioural indicator it comprises all kinds of behaviours, not only those that are characteristic of high degrees of loyalty (Libai, 2011; Narayandas, 1998). The customer engagement consists of five dimensions. First, customer engagement can be defined in a different ways depending on customer time, interest or preference this called customer’s resources. Second, it can generate in different of outcomes for the customer such as improvement in the service. Third, it can be different in scope and be momentary, for example on going behaviour or issuing a complaint. Fourth, it has various impact on the company both negative and positive impact. Fifth, customer can engage in the behaviours for specific purposes (van Doorn et al., 2010). Consumers engage in a number of behaviours that tie their relationship with the brand. For example frequency of visit, buying behaviours, and intended behaviour which go beyond the traditional measure of the loyalty of the customer (Gummerus et al., 2012).
Perceived benefits of customer engagement in brand communities Before the existence of Web 2.0, the customers did not consider social benefits important in an online context. They sought to experience trust benefit and special treatment benefit such as saving time and receiving special service rather than experience social benefit (Yen and Gwinner, 2003). The previous research studied on practical benefits which included informational and instrumental benefits (Dholakia et al., 2004) which are often achievable through a Facebook fan page set up by the company. This study is focused on social, entertainment and economic benefits which we called perceived benefits. The reasons that people use social networking site are social connections such as keeping in touch with their friends and exchanging information such as events or gossip, (Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). In similar interest, Foster et al. (2010) found the important motivation of people to participate the social network is the perceived information value from the community and the connection to their friends. The experiential value that derives the satisfaction of the customer of using online services is entertainment (Mathwick et al., 2001; Nambisan and Baron, 2009; Nonnecke et al., 2006). Entertainment benefit can be expected as an important more than e-commerce in a brand community context. The Facebook fan pages spend their time with the community page such as game applications (Gummerus at al., 2012). Many previous researches also show that entertainment plays an important role as shared and consumed content on social networking sites (Sheldon, 2008; LaRose et al., 2001). Economic benefits (Gwinner et al., 1998) mention to people connecting brand communities because they want to get discounts and time savings, or to be a part in awards and competitions.
2.2 Related Literature Review
Brand Community The companies aim to engage with the loyal customers, influencing the member to have good perception toward the brand, distributing information and learning form and about customers (Algesheimer et al., 2005), customer perceive value from the variety of practice that they perform online and offline (Schau et al., 2009). An online brand community referred to a community on the World Wide Web, recently social media has been added to companies’ marketing and brand building activities (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). In this study, brand community is defined as a group of people who possess a particular brand or who have a strong interest in a brand, and who are active both online and offline (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Jeppesen and Frederiksen, 2006). Research on brand communities found several different dimensions, including geographic concentration, social context, size, and temporality (Dholakia et al., 2004; McAlexander et al., 2002). Regarding the size, Dholakia et al., (2004) found the differences between small group-based communities and big communities in terms of motivation to join the communities. Another dimension is their temporality in communities, some are unchanging and others are short-term. The temporal stability of community members can be benefit to marketers as well as longevity associates with a long-term, stable market. Finally, geographically concentrated or scattered are considered as a dimension of communities (Hur at el., 2011) The keys of brand community participation are hedonic and functional. Functional goals mention to information sharing among community members, while hedonic goals lead customer to have a positive experience over the interactions among the member (Holland and Baker, 2001). Regardless of which aim is established before a participation, the effect of brand community on private lives has been growing, for example over actual product consumption and purchasing, or the formation of opinions toward products or brands (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997), since they have been changing the role performed by existing reference groups (Constant et al., 1996). The firms have begun to use brand communities for the strategic purpose of getting closer to a specific target market segment. Members of a brand community define the outline and particular community activities by the inter-relationships between members who like the same brand, and as they share information about the brand (Muniz and Schau, 2005), they set up brand-centered sub-culture (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), which could be applied for companies’ brand-building strategies. Then, the interaction between brand communities and companies is helpful for the firms to analyse customers’ characteristics and needs more accurately, so that firms can achieve long-term customer relationships at a lower cost.
2.3 Summary table of findings of previous researches. There are many researchers who studied about the customer engagement, brand community, social networking, social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The researcher name, objective and result are as follow:
Table 2.1 Previous empirical studies
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Theoretical Framework From previous research two engagement behavioural factors were found, one being community behaviour and one being transactional behaviours as independent variables (Gummerus et al., 2012). The variable measuring how often customers visit the page and react to the brand on Facebook. Therefore, the three constructs were social benefits, economic and entertainment benefits as mediator. The dependent variables were relationship outcome, one is satisfaction and one is loyalty.
Figure 3.1 Model of study on relationship benefits mediate the effect on customer engagement on relationship outcomes
Source: Johanna Gummerus, Veronica Liljander, Emil Weman, Minna Pihlström, (2012),"Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community", Management Research Review 35 (9), 857 - 877
3.2 Conceptual Framework
The theoretical framework of relationship benefits mediate the effect on customer engagement on relationship outcomes (Gummerus et al., 2012). The researcher adjusted the conceptual framework to study the relationship on customer engagement behaviour and perceived benefits as follows
Figure 3.2 Conceptual Framework
There are three independent variables which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The dependent variable of this conceptual framework is community engagement behaviour.
3.3 Research hypothesis
The hypotheses studies the relationship between customer engagement behaviour which is community engagement behaviour about the brand community on Facebook and perceived benefit which are social benefit, economic benefit and entertainment benefit and demonstrate that there is positive relationship of customer community engagement behaviour on perceived benefit for Facebook users in Thailand.
Customer engagement in brand communities From previous studies, the researcher examined the customer behavioural engagement in a brand community relationship on perceived relationship benefits of Game Club in Facebook. For this study we will study a customer community engagement behaviour relationship on perceived relationship benefits of Facebook user in Thailand who are members of the commercial brand’s fan page.
Perceived benefits of customer engagement in brand communities From previous studies, the researcher examined the relationship benefits mediation of customer engagement on satisfaction and loyalty of Game Club in Facebook. For this study we will research the relationship of customer community engagement behaviour and perceived benefits which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit of Facebook user in Thailand who is fan page of the commercial brand.
Hence, the hypothesized model can be summarized as shown below: H1: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on social benefits. H2: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on entertainment benefits. H3: Community engagement behaviour has positive relationship on economic benefits.
3.4 Operationalization of the variables
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT
4.1 Method of Research The Facebook user who is a member of the fan page of the brand on Facebook is defined as a target group to distribute the questionnaire in order to test the hypothesis. The questionnaires are available into two methods; one is online questionnaire and second is questionnaire paper. The respondent who answered the questionnaire of this study is all Thai Facebook users and also being a fan page of commercial brand on Facebook. The questionnaire combined 4 constructs which are customer community engagement behaviour construct, social benefit construct, entertainment benefit construct and economic benefit construct and consists of 23 questions which this research applied the question from the previous study base on this research objectives.
4.2 Source of Data This research was applied from the previous study of customer engagement on Facebook. The information was collected from 208 respondents who are Facebook users and members of a commercial brand fan page and were tested to prove the hypotheses. The researcher collected data by distributed 58 questionnaires in Siam Square, Assumption University and Thai Summit Tower building in Bangkok, and posted a questionnaire online for Thai Facebook users and there is 150 respondents from online questionnaire. The date duration to collect the data is 24th February 2013 to 12th March 2013.
4.3 Research instrument
The instruments for gathering the data for the research are online questionnaire and paper questionnaire. To test the hypothesis the question paper consists of varies specific questions to measure the relationship of community engagement behaviours on three perceived benefit, social benefit, economic benefit and entertainment benefit. The questionnaires consist of four constructs. The Community engagement behaviours the perceived benefit statement was measured on a Five-point Likert scale with the anchors “Strongly agree” – “Strongly disagree”.
Table 4.1 Measurement Scale
4.4 Data Analysis
In this research, there are three types of data analysis. First, this study uses descriptive analysis to analyse the frequency and percentage of the data in screening question and demographic information. Second, this research use reliability analysis to test the reliability of each question for dependent and independent variables. Finally, this research use inferential analysis to analyse the correlation between variables by using Pearson correlation (Bivariate).
Descriptive Analysis
After screening question of the questionnaire from 208 respondents there are 200 respondents who are Facebook users and be a member of brand fan page and 8 respondents who are not Facebook user. The following table shows the frequency and percentage of demographic by using descriptive analysis.
Table 4.2 Screening question
Facebook user
From table 4.2 of 208 respondents, we found 200 respondents are Facebook users 96.2% (200) and 3.8% (8) are not Facebook user.
Brand fan page on Facebook From table 4.2, after the first screening question we got 200 respondents who are members of a brand fan page on Facebook.
Frequency of visit fan page
From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of visits to brand fan page on Facebook of the respondents is 1-3 times per week and the lowest percentage is once a month or seldom. There are 37.5% (75) of respondents who visit 1-3 times per week, 29.5% (59) of visit daily, 20% (40) of 4-6 times per week, 7% (14) of 2-3 times per month and 6% (12) of once a month or seldom.
Table 4.3 Demographic information
Factor of Gender From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of respondents was female. There are 56.5% (113) of female respondents and 43.5% (87) of male respondents.
Factor of Age From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of respondents was age 25-29 years old and the lowest percentage is age below 20 years old. There are 69% (138) of age 25 to 29 years old, 16% (32) of age 21 to 24 years old, 12.5% (25) of age 30 and above and 2.5% (5) of age below 20 years old.
Factor of education level From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of respondents was college/university level and the lowest percentage is high school level. There are 66.5% (133) of college/university level, 31.5% (63) of advance degree level and 2% (4) of high school level.
Table 4.4 The Analysis of Descriptive statistics of constructs by using Average Mean and Standard Deviation
Reliability Analysis The purpose of testing the reliability is to measure the question of each variable by using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha test. The results of each variable are as follows:
Table 4.5 The reliability Analysis of Research Instrument
From table 4.5, the results show that the reliability of all variables is greater than .6 so all questions are reliable to use for this study.
Inferential Analysis There are 3 independent variables which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and social benefit to analyse the relationship with community engagement behaviour by using Coefficient Pearson Correlation (Bivariate). Each independent variable has a positive relationship to community engagement behaviour and significant value is less than 0.01 which means all hypotheses are fail to reject (supported).
Hypothesis 1: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on social benefits.
Table 4.6 The Analysis of relationship between Community engagement behaviour and Social benefit
As the result in table 4.6, the sig. is equal to .000 which is less than .01 (.000 <.01). It means that null hypothesis is rejected. Then there is a relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit at the .01 significant level. At .260, it means that there is a weak positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit. It can conclude that two variables move to the same direction or if the customer has high community engagement behaviour their perceived social benefit is high.
Hypothesis 2: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on entertainment benefits.
Table 4.7 The Analysis of relationship between Community engagement behaviour and Entertainment benefit
As the result in table 4.7, the sig. is equal to .011 which is less than .05 (.011 <.05). It means that null hypothesis is rejected. Then there is a relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit at the .05 significant level. At .180, it means that there is weak positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and entertainment benefit. It can conclude that two variables move to the same direction or if the customer has a high community engagement behaviour their perceived entertainment benefit is high.
Hypothesis 3: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on economic benefits.
Table 4.8 The Analysis of relationship between Community engagement behaviour and economic benefit As the result in table 4.8, the sig. is equal to .000 which is less than .01 (.000 <.01). It means that null hypothesis is rejected. Then there is a relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit at the .01 significant level. At .257, it means that there is a weak positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and economic benefit. It can conclude that two variables move to the same direction or if the customer has high community engagement behaviour their perceived economic benefit is high.
4.5 Summary of Hypotheses Testing There are three hypothesis of this research to test relationship between independent variables that are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit and dependent variable that is community engagement behaviour of a brand fan page on Facebook by using Product Moment Correlation Coefficient.
Table 4.9 Summary of Hypotheses Testing
The result from these hypothesis state that perceived benefit which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit are important factor of customer engagement. All hypotheses are supported and positive related to customer engagement behaviour.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion
The findings in this study have practical implications for marketing practices. First of all, there is a positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and perceived benefit that are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The effectiveness of creating marketing on a Facebook fan page of the company can increase the customer engagement successfully.
Second, the more customers interact to the brand on Facebook the more they perceive social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. This research found that social benefit has the strongest relationship toward community engagement behaviour. The customers are likely to interact with the brand because they like to exchange information and experience and community with people who has the same interest. Entertainment benefit is also has a relationship to the community engagement behaviour when the customer has high attention to the brand fan page on Facebook can be indicate that they perceive the entertainment benefit value. There is a high customer engagement level when the entertainment benefits that the customers perceive are high. The study also found that the relationship of economic factor and customer engagement behaviour is positive so the interactive of customer toward the brand on Facebook is high when the customer perception of the economic factors is high.
The important role of developing brand community on Facebook of the company should make every effort to actively manage social, economic and entertainment benefit respectively in order to engage the customer on online communities successfully.
5.2 Recommendation
A significant issue of great interest to the brand is how participants in online communities become associated with a brand over time. The building of online communities is supposed to be an effective means of marketing communication which create multiple benefits; for example, improving brand awareness and target marketing. The providing of social, economic and entertainment benefit to online communities will encourages community members to jointly engage to the company effectively. As Facebook became a successful tool of the companies to promote the brand and create customer relationship online and widely broadcast as there is the largest number of user in social media network so, the companies should focused on creating their brand community on Facebook by developing the factors of social, economic and entertainment benefit in order to get customer attention and interaction toward the brand and go beyond the transaction then it can generate loyalty of the brand successfully.
5.3 Future Study For this study we focused on the customer community engagement behaviour of commercial brand on Facebook for and as the brand communities in social media increases on customer behaviour towards multiple community sites so the next research we can study about the customers engagement behaviour towards other social media brand communities, and compare what are the important factors of customer who joins these communities. Moreover we can study the differences of customers’ point of view between the Facebook brand communities and other popular online brand communities such as Twitter, You Tube and Instagram to find out whether customers engage in both, or they prefer using one over the other social media network. Finally, we can study customer’s engagement in different behaviours such as transactional behaviour and find out their expectations on the online communities.
REFERENCE
Algesheimer, R., Dholakia, U.M. and Herrmann, A. (2005), “The social influence of brand community: evidence from European car clubs”, Journal of Marketing, 69,19-34.
Brodie, R.J. and Hollebeek, L.D. (2011), “Advancing and consolidating knowledge about customer engagement”, Journal of Service Research, 14 (3), 283-4.
Constant, D., Sproull, L. and Kiesler, S. (1996), “The kindness of strangers: the usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice”, Organization Science, 7 (2), 119-35.
Dholakia, U.M., Bagozzi, R.P. and Pearo, L.K. (2004), “A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21 (3), 241-63.
Dholakia, U.M., Bagozzi, R.P. and Pearo, L.K. (2004), “A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21 (3), 241-63.
Gwinner, K.P., Gremler, D.D. and Bitner, M.J. (1998), “Relational benefits in service industries: the customer’s perspective”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 26 (2), 101-14.
Hur, W-M., Park, J. and Kim, M. (2010), “The role of commitment on the customer benefits-loyalty relationship in mobile service industry”, Service Industries Journal, 30 (14), 2293-309.
Johanna Gummerus, Veronica Liljander, Emil Weman, Minna Pihlström, (2012),"Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community", Management Research Review, 35 (9), 857 – 877
Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010), “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media”, Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.
Mathwick, C., Malhotra, N. and Rigdon, E. (2001), “Experiential value: conceptualization, measurement and application in the catalog and internet shopping environment”, Journal of Retailing, 77 (1), 9-16.
Muniz, A.M. and O’guinn, T.C. (2001),“Brand community”, Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 412-32.
McAlexander, J.H., Schouten, J.W. and Koenig, H.F. (2002), “Building brand community”, Journal of Marketing, 66 (1), 38-54.
Schau, H.J., Mun˜ iz, A.M. and Arnould, E.J. (2009), “How brand community practices create value”, Journal of Marketing, 73, 30-51.
van Doorn, J. (2011), “Comment: customer engagement: essence, dimensionality, and boundaries”, Journal of Service Research, 14 (3), 280-2.
van Doorn, J., Lemon, K.N., Mittal, V., Nass, S., Doree´n, P., Pirner, P. and Verhoef, P.C. (2010),“Customer engagement behavior: theoretical foundations and research directions”, Journal of Service Research, 13 (3), 253-66.
Won-Moo Hur, Kwang-Ho Ahn , & Minsung Kim (2011) “Building brand loyalty through managing brand community commitment”, Management Decision, 49 (7), 1194-1213.
Yen, H.J.R. and Gwinner, K.P. (2003), “Internet retail customer loyalty: the mediating role of relational benefits”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 14 (5), 483-500.
Appendix A: Data Analysis
FREQUENCY AND DESCRIPTIVE
Demographic
Gender: Gender | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | Male | 87 | 43.5 | 43.5 | 43.5 | | Female | 113 | 56.5 | 56.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Age: Age | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | Below 20 | 5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | | 20 - 24 | 32 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 18.5 | | 25 - 29 | 138 | 69.0 | 69.0 | 87.5 | | 30 and above | 25 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Education:
Education | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | High school | 4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | | College/University | 133 | 66.5 | 66.5 | 68.5 | | Advance degree | 63 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Visit fan page on Facebook:
Visit times | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | Once a month or more seldom | 12 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | | 2-3 times per month | 14 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 13.0 | | 1-3 times per week | 75 | 37.5 | 37.5 | 50.5 | | 4-6 times per week | 40 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 70.5 | | Daily | 59 | 29.5 | 29.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Descriptive Statistics | | N | Minimum | Maximum | Mean | Std. Deviation | Read | 200 | 1 | 5 | 4.08 | .953 | Like | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.02 | 1.149 | Write | 200 | 1 | 5 | 2.44 | 1.226 | Because I want to get to know other commercial brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.09 | .775 | To provide information to other brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.04 | .693 | To share my ideas with other commercial brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.01 | .716 | Because I want to stay in touch with other brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.03 | .698 | To help other community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.83 | .751 | To feel needed by brand or other community members | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.68 | .843 | To get help from other community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.91 | .727 | To get entertained | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.81 | .861 | To relax | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.81 | .835 | To pass time when I am bored | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.80 | .837 | To get bonuses | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.90 | .874 | To get better service | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.60 | .972 | To get fast responses | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.63 | .979 | To participate in brand activity | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.73 | .868 | Valid N (listwise) | 200 | | | | |
RELIABILITY
Customer community engagement behavior
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .933 | 3 |
Social benefits
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .883 | 7 |
Entertainment benefits
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .889 | 3 |
Economic benefits
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .839 | 4 |
INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS
Relationship between Customer engagement behavior and Social benefits Correlations | | MeanCEB | MeanSB | MeanCEB | Pearson Correlation | 1 | .260** | | Sig. (2-tailed) | | .000 | | N | 200 | 200 | MeanSB | Pearson Correlation | .260** | 1 | | Sig. (2-tailed) | .000 | | | N | 200 | 200 | **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). |
Relationship between Customer engagement behavior and Entertainment benefits
Correlations | | MeanCEB | MeanETB | MeanCEB | Pearson Correlation | 1 | .180* | | Sig. (2-tailed) | | .011 | | N | 200 | 200 | MeanETB | Pearson Correlation | .180* | 1 | | Sig. (2-tailed) | .011 | | | N | 200 | 200 | *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). |
Relationship between Customer engagement behavior and Economic benefits
Correlations | | MeanCEB | MeanECB | MeanCEB | Pearson Correlation | 1 | .257** | | Sig. (2-tailed) | | .000 | | N | 200 | 200 | MeanECB | Pearson Correlation | .257** | 1 | | Sig. (2-tailed) | .000 | | | N | 200 | 200 | **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). |
APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE
Customer Engagement in a Facebook brand community
IBM Business Research Methodology (BP 6902)
Master of Business AdministrationAssumption University
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
As part of our Master Degree studies, we are in need of collecting some data that Customer Engagement in a Facebook brand community. It will be highly appreciated if you could spend few minutes with us to complete this questionnaire. Your information will be kept as confidential and this only we use for our research purpose. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Part I: Screening Question 1. Do you have Facebook account? (คุณมีบัญชีรายชื่อในเฟสบุคหรือไม่) YES (มี) NO (ไม่มี) 2. Are you a fan of fan page of brand community on Facebook? (คุณเป็นแฟนเพจของยี่ห้อสินค้าในเฟสบุคหรือไม่) YES (เป็น) If yes, please go to the next Question (ถ้าเป็น กรุณาตอบคำถามข้อต่อไป) NO (ไม่เป็น) If no, end of questionnaire (ถ้าไม่เป็น จบแบบสอบถาม) 3. How often you visit commercial brand community fan page on Facebook?
คุณเข้าแฟนเพจบนเฟสบุคของสินค้าบ่อยเพียงใด
Daily (ทุกวัน)
4-6 times per week (4-6 ครั้งต่อสัปดาห์)
1-3 times per week (1-3 ครั้งต่อสัปดาห์) 2-3 times per month (2-3 ครั้งต่อเดือน) Once a month or more seldom (1 ครั้งต่อเดือนหรือมากกว่า)
Part II: Measurement of Dependents Variables
1. Customer community engagement behavior (is defined as a Facebook user’s interact to the brand on Facebook fan page)
Statements began with: I am a Facebook commercial brand community
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree
5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1)You are regularly read message of the brand on Facebook fan page คุณอ่านข้อความของแฟนเพจยี่ห้อสินค้าบนเฟสบุคเป็นประจำ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) You are regularly press like message of the brand on Facebook fan page คุณกดไลค์ข้อความของแฟนเพจยี่ห้อสินค้าบนเฟสบุคเป็นประจำ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) You are regularly write comment of the brand on Facebook fan page คุณเขียนความเห็นบนแฟนเพจยี่ห้อสินค้าบนเฟสบุคเป็นประจำ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Part III: Measurement of Independent Variables
2. Social benefit (is defined as a Facebook user’s perception toward social benefit)
Statements began with: I am a Facebook commercial brand community
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree 5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1)Because I want to get to know other commercial brand community members เพราะฉันต้องการรู้จักเพื่อนคนอื่นๆที่เป็นสมาชิกสินค้ายี่ห้อเดียวกัน | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) To provide information to other brand community members เพื่อให้ข้อมูลเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) To share my ideas with other commercial brand community members เพื่อแบ่งปันความคิดเห็นกับเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4) Because I want to stay in touch with other brand community members เพื่อรักษาความสัมพันธ์กับเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5) To help other community members เพื่อช่วยเหลือเพื่อสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6) To feel needed by brand or other community members เพื่อเป็นที่ต้องการของยี่ห้อสินค้าหรือเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7) To get help from other community members เพื่อได้รับความช่วยเหลือจากเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
3. Entertainment benefit (is defined as Facebook user’s perception toward entertainment benefit )
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree 5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1) To get entertained เพื่อความบันเทิง | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) To relax เพื่อผ่อนคลาย | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) To pass time when I am bored เพื่อฆ่าเวลา | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
5 Economic benefit (is defined as Facebook user’s perception toward Economic benefit)
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree
5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1) To get bonuses เพื่อได้รางวัล | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) To get better service เพื่อได้รับบริการที่ดีขึ้น | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) To get fast responses เพื่อได้รับการตอบสนองที่เร็วขึ้น | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4) To participate in marketing activity campaign เพื่อเข้าร่วมในกิจกรรมทางการตลาด | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Part IV: Demographic
1. Gender เพศ
Male (ชาย) Female (หญิง)
2. Age อายุ
Below 20 (ต่ำกว่า 20ปี) 20-24 25-29 30 and above (30 ปีหรือมากกว่า) 4. What is your education level? ระดับการศึกษา
Middle School มัธยมศึกษาตอนต้น
High School มัธยมศึกษาตอนปลาย
College/University มหาวิทยาลัย
Advance Degree ปริญญาโท หรือสูงกว่า
--- Thank You for Your Time ---
“Customer engagement of commercial brand community on Facebook”
Ms.Benchawan Phumphuengsri ID: 543-9374
iMBA Batch 3 Section 19
BP6993 Individual Research
Submitted to
Assistant Professor Dr. Kriengsin Prasongsukarn
Graduate School of business
Assumption University
Submission date: 12 April 2013
Word count: ……..words
Abstract
The rise of the Internet in worldwide there are opportunities and challenges have emerged for marketing brands and products. In its early days, the Internet was seen as an opportunity for marketers to communicate with consumers, and even to engage the customer in two-way communications. However, consumers are becoming overcome by marketers’ attempts to engage them in relationship marketing strategies. The marketing managers and planners should apply new ideas in order to make their brand community more effective because traditional web sites are no longer motivating customers to return and interact to the site. So it is important for the marketer to find out the strategy that involves the development of a virtual community around the brand by focusing on perceived benefits such as social benefits, entertainment benefits and economic benefits to the customer by using online media and social network which are more powerful marketing tools in the current day. In addition, interactions among members can influence the selection of brands, making effective communities very important for the company. In order to get a better understanding of the important factors of community engagement behaviour, this study will show which factor lead to successful online strategies for the marketing on Facebook fan page by using Product Moment Coefficient Pearson Correlation (Bivariate) to analyse the variables and explain that how social benefits, economic benefits and entertainment benefits have a relationship on customer community engagement behaviour.
Acknowledgements
To complete my individual research, I would like to thank you my advisor Assistant Professor Dr. Kriengsin Prasongsukarn for all helpful advices and guidance since the beginning up to the individual research completion. Moreover I have learned many things from him during the consulting time and he motivated me to try harder to understand and apply his teaching to real practice.
I would like to thank to all of my friends, iMBA section 19 for their advice and encouragement which supported me to finish this individual research. Thank you to respondents of my questionnaires. Lastly I would like to thank my family who always believe in me that I could do study and work at the same time.
I hope this research will be benefits the business towards understanding ways to enhance customer engagement with their brands.
Table of Contents
CHATER 1...................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………. 1
1.1 Background of the topic……………………...…………………………………….. 1
1.2 Statement of the problem…………………………………………………………….3
1.3 Research Objectives………………………………………………………………....3
1.4 Scope of Research ………………………………………………………………..... 4
1.5 Limitations of research …………………………………………..……………….... 4
1.6 Significant of study ……………………………………………………………….... 5
1.7 Definition of terms ……………………..……..……………………………………. 5
CHATER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………..……… 5 2.1 Theoretical Literature …………………………………………………………........ 5
2.2 Related Literature Review ....……………………………………………...…….......7
2.3 Summary table of findings of previous researches…….…...………..……………... 9
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK …………………………………... 11
3.1 Theoretical Framework …………………………………………………………… 11
3.2 Conceptual Framework…………………………………………..…………..…… 12
3.3 Research hypothesis ……………………………………………..………..... .....…13
3.4 Operationalization of the variables ……………………………………………….. 14
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT............................................................................. 15
4.1 Method of Research ................................................................................................ 15
4.2 Source of Data …………………………………………………………………..... 15
4.3 Research instrument …………………………………………………………...…. 15
4.4 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………. …… 16
4.5 Summary of Hypotheses Testing …………………………………………………. 22
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.…………………………………… 23
5.1 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..…… 23
5.2 Recommendation ………………………………………………………………… 24
5.3 Future Study ……………………………………………………………………… 25
REFERENCE………………………………………………………………………. . 26
Appendix A Analysis ………………………………………………………………….28
Appendix B Questionnaire …………………………………………………………….32
Customer engagement in a Facebook commercial brand community
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the topic
The reason to select the studying community engagement behaviors in a Facebook brand community of customers is because nowadays Facebook is a very famous social-networking website that has impacts on daily life and it socially influences the people’s choices. The world is moving toward the cyber world is which internet connections are easily access and reachable for every households and businesses. This study will show how the customer community engagement behavior affects perceived benefits of the Facebook commercial brand, and user of its services and applications. We will focus on both male and female respondents who are Facebook users and fans of at last one brand on Facebook, because these people can respond to our questionnaire effectively as they already experience social-networking. The company is looking for ways to brand loyalty among customers as the brand community offers both companies and customers new ways to engage with each other. Whilst companies aim at engaging with influencing members’ perceptions, loyal customers about the brand, sharing information, and learning from and about customers (Algesheimer et al., 2005), customers perceive value through the variety of practices that they execute offline and online (Schau et al., 2009). Although originally, an online brand community referred to a community on the www, recently social media network has been added to companies’ marketing and brand building activities (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Attracted by the great number of users of Facebook so, the creative marketing activity in Facebook brand community will draw people to participate and make the brand succeed. This study will help the firm understand more about customer engagement in the Facebook brand community.
1.1.2 Social Network, Facebook
Over the last years, the ways people search, share information and communicate with each other has changed dramatically (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube are playing a major role and are more important in business communication. The changes force the company and brand to focus on online services in order to create relationships to customers.
Facebook allows companies several services to contact and communicate with their customers. Fan pages are a very interesting tool for companies to use. Usual characteristics of fans are self-identification as a fan, cultural competence, emotional engagement, co-production and auxiliary consumption (Kozinets et al., 2010). The Internet brought the possibility to overcome geographical restrictions and also help the company build fan communities world-wide. In practice, Facebook users can be fans of a fan page by pressing the “like-button,” then it identifies that they like this brand and will present their profiles on social network. The content and information of fan page is automatically posted to the customer is Facebook news feed, and the customer can post comments on the fan page, interact with the brand, forward offers from the page as well as the interact with other community members (Jahn and Kunz.,2012). 1.2 Statement of problem
As a social network, Facebook has affected the social life and activity of people in several ways. With its availability on many mobile devices, Facebook allows users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and other connections wherever they are in the world, as long as there is access to the Internet. It can also tie people with same interests or beliefs through groups and other pages. This study will help the company to understand more how community engagement behavior in Facebook is important to the company for implementing the technique to create company brand perception and gain market share via Facebook.
In addition, engaging with the brand community in different behaviors, receive different relationship benefits, for example entertainment, may make customers more satisfied. This assumption is based on the reasoning that customers. This study will investigate how a customer engagement behavior affects consumers perceived benefits, and assume a positive relationship between the constructs. (Gummerus et al., 2012) 1.3 Research objectives
The research objective is to study the affects of community engagement behaviour of Facebook commercial brand on perceived benefits. The company can know more insight of customer behaviour especially the company who focuses on social network marketing activities. This study will help the company create marketing and content to their page on Facebook effectively to increase perceived benefit of the brand. * To study community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on social benefit * To study community engagement behaviour has s positive relationship on entertainment benefit * To study community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on economic benefit 1.4 Scope of research
The research studied the affects of community engagement behaviour on three factors of perceived benefits. The three independent variables of perceived benefits factors are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The respondents of this research are male and female Facebook user in Bangkok. This research result would be advantage to the marketing department of the company who has community page of their brand on Facebook they can apply more attractive activities for their members. This study will help them to monitor their Facebook fan page effectively after they understand the fact that the brand community will help a firm draws individual customers and to create relationships with those customers, and also establishing long-term relationships.
1.5 Limitations of research
There are some limitations to this study of customer community engagement behaviours of commercial brands on Facebook. The study is limited to the engagement behaviour in a Facebook commercial brand community, while customers also engage with the brand in other ways. The limitations that need to be considered are first, self-selection of respondents affects the results which may come from inactive community users. Second, the behavioural measures were reported by the respondents themselves, and do not know that the answers are from actual behaviour or not. Finally, because the findings are based on commercial brand on Facebook page and the respondent have to be both Facebook user and commercial brand community page so this will represent only some portion of target customer of the company not the whole market
1.6 Significant of the study
The findings in this study have several implications for social media strategies, and help the company to understand why customers participate in the Facebook brand community which is important to increasing more numbers of Facebook users to become brand community members and towards develop marketing on Facebook, which is lower cost than other commercial media. Firms may want to encourage and reward consumers to become more active on the site to receive maximal perceived benefits from the community (Gummerus et al., 2012).
1.7 Definitions of Terms
Fan pages the important tool on Facebook for brand communication. The company can use to integrate and interact with the customers effectively (Dholakia et al., 2004).
Community engagement behaviour is the customer behaviour that is more value than purchasing the product or service, and can be defined as a customer’s behavioural manifestations that have a focus as motivational drivers rather than purchasing by the brand or firm (van Doorn et al., 2010).
Social benefits results from interaction among the company and consumer and mention to recognition and also friendship (Gweinner et al., 1998).
Entertainment benefits is the relaxation and fun which customer perceive and could encourage community participation (Dholakia et al., 2004).
Economic benefits refer to people joining brand communities in order to get discounts and time savings, or to take part in marketing activity campaign and competitions (Gwinner et al., 1998).
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Literature
Customer engagement in brand communities Customer engagement in brand communities causes the customer’s interactive experiences direct to the brand, is context-dependent, and develops consumers’ experience of brand value (Brodie et al., 2011). Customer engagement is sometimes used to represent the highest form of loyalty (Bowden, 2009; Roberts and Alpert, 2010), but as behavioural indicator it comprises all kinds of behaviours, not only those that are characteristic of high degrees of loyalty (Libai, 2011; Narayandas, 1998). The customer engagement consists of five dimensions. First, customer engagement can be defined in a different ways depending on customer time, interest or preference this called customer’s resources. Second, it can generate in different of outcomes for the customer such as improvement in the service. Third, it can be different in scope and be momentary, for example on going behaviour or issuing a complaint. Fourth, it has various impact on the company both negative and positive impact. Fifth, customer can engage in the behaviours for specific purposes (van Doorn et al., 2010). Consumers engage in a number of behaviours that tie their relationship with the brand. For example frequency of visit, buying behaviours, and intended behaviour which go beyond the traditional measure of the loyalty of the customer (Gummerus et al., 2012).
Perceived benefits of customer engagement in brand communities Before the existence of Web 2.0, the customers did not consider social benefits important in an online context. They sought to experience trust benefit and special treatment benefit such as saving time and receiving special service rather than experience social benefit (Yen and Gwinner, 2003). The previous research studied on practical benefits which included informational and instrumental benefits (Dholakia et al., 2004) which are often achievable through a Facebook fan page set up by the company. This study is focused on social, entertainment and economic benefits which we called perceived benefits. The reasons that people use social networking site are social connections such as keeping in touch with their friends and exchanging information such as events or gossip, (Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). In similar interest, Foster et al. (2010) found the important motivation of people to participate the social network is the perceived information value from the community and the connection to their friends. The experiential value that derives the satisfaction of the customer of using online services is entertainment (Mathwick et al., 2001; Nambisan and Baron, 2009; Nonnecke et al., 2006). Entertainment benefit can be expected as an important more than e-commerce in a brand community context. The Facebook fan pages spend their time with the community page such as game applications (Gummerus at al., 2012). Many previous researches also show that entertainment plays an important role as shared and consumed content on social networking sites (Sheldon, 2008; LaRose et al., 2001). Economic benefits (Gwinner et al., 1998) mention to people connecting brand communities because they want to get discounts and time savings, or to be a part in awards and competitions.
2.2 Related Literature Review
Brand Community The companies aim to engage with the loyal customers, influencing the member to have good perception toward the brand, distributing information and learning form and about customers (Algesheimer et al., 2005), customer perceive value from the variety of practice that they perform online and offline (Schau et al., 2009). An online brand community referred to a community on the World Wide Web, recently social media has been added to companies’ marketing and brand building activities (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). In this study, brand community is defined as a group of people who possess a particular brand or who have a strong interest in a brand, and who are active both online and offline (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Jeppesen and Frederiksen, 2006). Research on brand communities found several different dimensions, including geographic concentration, social context, size, and temporality (Dholakia et al., 2004; McAlexander et al., 2002). Regarding the size, Dholakia et al., (2004) found the differences between small group-based communities and big communities in terms of motivation to join the communities. Another dimension is their temporality in communities, some are unchanging and others are short-term. The temporal stability of community members can be benefit to marketers as well as longevity associates with a long-term, stable market. Finally, geographically concentrated or scattered are considered as a dimension of communities (Hur at el., 2011) The keys of brand community participation are hedonic and functional. Functional goals mention to information sharing among community members, while hedonic goals lead customer to have a positive experience over the interactions among the member (Holland and Baker, 2001). Regardless of which aim is established before a participation, the effect of brand community on private lives has been growing, for example over actual product consumption and purchasing, or the formation of opinions toward products or brands (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997), since they have been changing the role performed by existing reference groups (Constant et al., 1996). The firms have begun to use brand communities for the strategic purpose of getting closer to a specific target market segment. Members of a brand community define the outline and particular community activities by the inter-relationships between members who like the same brand, and as they share information about the brand (Muniz and Schau, 2005), they set up brand-centered sub-culture (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), which could be applied for companies’ brand-building strategies. Then, the interaction between brand communities and companies is helpful for the firms to analyse customers’ characteristics and needs more accurately, so that firms can achieve long-term customer relationships at a lower cost.
2.3 Summary table of findings of previous researches. There are many researchers who studied about the customer engagement, brand community, social networking, social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The researcher name, objective and result are as follow:
Table 2.1 Previous empirical studies
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Theoretical Framework From previous research two engagement behavioural factors were found, one being community behaviour and one being transactional behaviours as independent variables (Gummerus et al., 2012). The variable measuring how often customers visit the page and react to the brand on Facebook. Therefore, the three constructs were social benefits, economic and entertainment benefits as mediator. The dependent variables were relationship outcome, one is satisfaction and one is loyalty.
Figure 3.1 Model of study on relationship benefits mediate the effect on customer engagement on relationship outcomes
Source: Johanna Gummerus, Veronica Liljander, Emil Weman, Minna Pihlström, (2012),"Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community", Management Research Review 35 (9), 857 - 877
3.2 Conceptual Framework
The theoretical framework of relationship benefits mediate the effect on customer engagement on relationship outcomes (Gummerus et al., 2012). The researcher adjusted the conceptual framework to study the relationship on customer engagement behaviour and perceived benefits as follows
Figure 3.2 Conceptual Framework
There are three independent variables which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The dependent variable of this conceptual framework is community engagement behaviour.
3.3 Research hypothesis
The hypotheses studies the relationship between customer engagement behaviour which is community engagement behaviour about the brand community on Facebook and perceived benefit which are social benefit, economic benefit and entertainment benefit and demonstrate that there is positive relationship of customer community engagement behaviour on perceived benefit for Facebook users in Thailand.
Customer engagement in brand communities From previous studies, the researcher examined the customer behavioural engagement in a brand community relationship on perceived relationship benefits of Game Club in Facebook. For this study we will study a customer community engagement behaviour relationship on perceived relationship benefits of Facebook user in Thailand who are members of the commercial brand’s fan page.
Perceived benefits of customer engagement in brand communities From previous studies, the researcher examined the relationship benefits mediation of customer engagement on satisfaction and loyalty of Game Club in Facebook. For this study we will research the relationship of customer community engagement behaviour and perceived benefits which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit of Facebook user in Thailand who is fan page of the commercial brand.
Hence, the hypothesized model can be summarized as shown below: H1: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on social benefits. H2: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on entertainment benefits. H3: Community engagement behaviour has positive relationship on economic benefits.
3.4 Operationalization of the variables
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT
4.1 Method of Research The Facebook user who is a member of the fan page of the brand on Facebook is defined as a target group to distribute the questionnaire in order to test the hypothesis. The questionnaires are available into two methods; one is online questionnaire and second is questionnaire paper. The respondent who answered the questionnaire of this study is all Thai Facebook users and also being a fan page of commercial brand on Facebook. The questionnaire combined 4 constructs which are customer community engagement behaviour construct, social benefit construct, entertainment benefit construct and economic benefit construct and consists of 23 questions which this research applied the question from the previous study base on this research objectives.
4.2 Source of Data This research was applied from the previous study of customer engagement on Facebook. The information was collected from 208 respondents who are Facebook users and members of a commercial brand fan page and were tested to prove the hypotheses. The researcher collected data by distributed 58 questionnaires in Siam Square, Assumption University and Thai Summit Tower building in Bangkok, and posted a questionnaire online for Thai Facebook users and there is 150 respondents from online questionnaire. The date duration to collect the data is 24th February 2013 to 12th March 2013.
4.3 Research instrument
The instruments for gathering the data for the research are online questionnaire and paper questionnaire. To test the hypothesis the question paper consists of varies specific questions to measure the relationship of community engagement behaviours on three perceived benefit, social benefit, economic benefit and entertainment benefit. The questionnaires consist of four constructs. The Community engagement behaviours the perceived benefit statement was measured on a Five-point Likert scale with the anchors “Strongly agree” – “Strongly disagree”.
Table 4.1 Measurement Scale
4.4 Data Analysis
In this research, there are three types of data analysis. First, this study uses descriptive analysis to analyse the frequency and percentage of the data in screening question and demographic information. Second, this research use reliability analysis to test the reliability of each question for dependent and independent variables. Finally, this research use inferential analysis to analyse the correlation between variables by using Pearson correlation (Bivariate).
Descriptive Analysis
After screening question of the questionnaire from 208 respondents there are 200 respondents who are Facebook users and be a member of brand fan page and 8 respondents who are not Facebook user. The following table shows the frequency and percentage of demographic by using descriptive analysis.
Table 4.2 Screening question
Facebook user
From table 4.2 of 208 respondents, we found 200 respondents are Facebook users 96.2% (200) and 3.8% (8) are not Facebook user.
Brand fan page on Facebook From table 4.2, after the first screening question we got 200 respondents who are members of a brand fan page on Facebook.
Frequency of visit fan page
From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of visits to brand fan page on Facebook of the respondents is 1-3 times per week and the lowest percentage is once a month or seldom. There are 37.5% (75) of respondents who visit 1-3 times per week, 29.5% (59) of visit daily, 20% (40) of 4-6 times per week, 7% (14) of 2-3 times per month and 6% (12) of once a month or seldom.
Table 4.3 Demographic information
Factor of Gender From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of respondents was female. There are 56.5% (113) of female respondents and 43.5% (87) of male respondents.
Factor of Age From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of respondents was age 25-29 years old and the lowest percentage is age below 20 years old. There are 69% (138) of age 25 to 29 years old, 16% (32) of age 21 to 24 years old, 12.5% (25) of age 30 and above and 2.5% (5) of age below 20 years old.
Factor of education level From the table 4.2, the highest percentage of respondents was college/university level and the lowest percentage is high school level. There are 66.5% (133) of college/university level, 31.5% (63) of advance degree level and 2% (4) of high school level.
Table 4.4 The Analysis of Descriptive statistics of constructs by using Average Mean and Standard Deviation
Reliability Analysis The purpose of testing the reliability is to measure the question of each variable by using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha test. The results of each variable are as follows:
Table 4.5 The reliability Analysis of Research Instrument
From table 4.5, the results show that the reliability of all variables is greater than .6 so all questions are reliable to use for this study.
Inferential Analysis There are 3 independent variables which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and social benefit to analyse the relationship with community engagement behaviour by using Coefficient Pearson Correlation (Bivariate). Each independent variable has a positive relationship to community engagement behaviour and significant value is less than 0.01 which means all hypotheses are fail to reject (supported).
Hypothesis 1: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on social benefits.
Table 4.6 The Analysis of relationship between Community engagement behaviour and Social benefit
As the result in table 4.6, the sig. is equal to .000 which is less than .01 (.000 <.01). It means that null hypothesis is rejected. Then there is a relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit at the .01 significant level. At .260, it means that there is a weak positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit. It can conclude that two variables move to the same direction or if the customer has high community engagement behaviour their perceived social benefit is high.
Hypothesis 2: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on entertainment benefits.
Table 4.7 The Analysis of relationship between Community engagement behaviour and Entertainment benefit
As the result in table 4.7, the sig. is equal to .011 which is less than .05 (.011 <.05). It means that null hypothesis is rejected. Then there is a relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit at the .05 significant level. At .180, it means that there is weak positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and entertainment benefit. It can conclude that two variables move to the same direction or if the customer has a high community engagement behaviour their perceived entertainment benefit is high.
Hypothesis 3: Community engagement behaviour has a positive relationship on economic benefits.
Table 4.8 The Analysis of relationship between Community engagement behaviour and economic benefit As the result in table 4.8, the sig. is equal to .000 which is less than .01 (.000 <.01). It means that null hypothesis is rejected. Then there is a relationship between community engagement behaviour and social benefit at the .01 significant level. At .257, it means that there is a weak positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and economic benefit. It can conclude that two variables move to the same direction or if the customer has high community engagement behaviour their perceived economic benefit is high.
4.5 Summary of Hypotheses Testing There are three hypothesis of this research to test relationship between independent variables that are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit and dependent variable that is community engagement behaviour of a brand fan page on Facebook by using Product Moment Correlation Coefficient.
Table 4.9 Summary of Hypotheses Testing
The result from these hypothesis state that perceived benefit which are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit are important factor of customer engagement. All hypotheses are supported and positive related to customer engagement behaviour.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion
The findings in this study have practical implications for marketing practices. First of all, there is a positive relationship between community engagement behaviour and perceived benefit that are social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. The effectiveness of creating marketing on a Facebook fan page of the company can increase the customer engagement successfully.
Second, the more customers interact to the brand on Facebook the more they perceive social benefit, entertainment benefit and economic benefit. This research found that social benefit has the strongest relationship toward community engagement behaviour. The customers are likely to interact with the brand because they like to exchange information and experience and community with people who has the same interest. Entertainment benefit is also has a relationship to the community engagement behaviour when the customer has high attention to the brand fan page on Facebook can be indicate that they perceive the entertainment benefit value. There is a high customer engagement level when the entertainment benefits that the customers perceive are high. The study also found that the relationship of economic factor and customer engagement behaviour is positive so the interactive of customer toward the brand on Facebook is high when the customer perception of the economic factors is high.
The important role of developing brand community on Facebook of the company should make every effort to actively manage social, economic and entertainment benefit respectively in order to engage the customer on online communities successfully.
5.2 Recommendation
A significant issue of great interest to the brand is how participants in online communities become associated with a brand over time. The building of online communities is supposed to be an effective means of marketing communication which create multiple benefits; for example, improving brand awareness and target marketing. The providing of social, economic and entertainment benefit to online communities will encourages community members to jointly engage to the company effectively. As Facebook became a successful tool of the companies to promote the brand and create customer relationship online and widely broadcast as there is the largest number of user in social media network so, the companies should focused on creating their brand community on Facebook by developing the factors of social, economic and entertainment benefit in order to get customer attention and interaction toward the brand and go beyond the transaction then it can generate loyalty of the brand successfully.
5.3 Future Study For this study we focused on the customer community engagement behaviour of commercial brand on Facebook for and as the brand communities in social media increases on customer behaviour towards multiple community sites so the next research we can study about the customers engagement behaviour towards other social media brand communities, and compare what are the important factors of customer who joins these communities. Moreover we can study the differences of customers’ point of view between the Facebook brand communities and other popular online brand communities such as Twitter, You Tube and Instagram to find out whether customers engage in both, or they prefer using one over the other social media network. Finally, we can study customer’s engagement in different behaviours such as transactional behaviour and find out their expectations on the online communities.
REFERENCE
Algesheimer, R., Dholakia, U.M. and Herrmann, A. (2005), “The social influence of brand community: evidence from European car clubs”, Journal of Marketing, 69,19-34.
Brodie, R.J. and Hollebeek, L.D. (2011), “Advancing and consolidating knowledge about customer engagement”, Journal of Service Research, 14 (3), 283-4.
Constant, D., Sproull, L. and Kiesler, S. (1996), “The kindness of strangers: the usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice”, Organization Science, 7 (2), 119-35.
Dholakia, U.M., Bagozzi, R.P. and Pearo, L.K. (2004), “A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21 (3), 241-63.
Dholakia, U.M., Bagozzi, R.P. and Pearo, L.K. (2004), “A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21 (3), 241-63.
Gwinner, K.P., Gremler, D.D. and Bitner, M.J. (1998), “Relational benefits in service industries: the customer’s perspective”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 26 (2), 101-14.
Hur, W-M., Park, J. and Kim, M. (2010), “The role of commitment on the customer benefits-loyalty relationship in mobile service industry”, Service Industries Journal, 30 (14), 2293-309.
Johanna Gummerus, Veronica Liljander, Emil Weman, Minna Pihlström, (2012),"Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community", Management Research Review, 35 (9), 857 – 877
Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010), “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media”, Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.
Mathwick, C., Malhotra, N. and Rigdon, E. (2001), “Experiential value: conceptualization, measurement and application in the catalog and internet shopping environment”, Journal of Retailing, 77 (1), 9-16.
Muniz, A.M. and O’guinn, T.C. (2001),“Brand community”, Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 412-32.
McAlexander, J.H., Schouten, J.W. and Koenig, H.F. (2002), “Building brand community”, Journal of Marketing, 66 (1), 38-54.
Schau, H.J., Mun˜ iz, A.M. and Arnould, E.J. (2009), “How brand community practices create value”, Journal of Marketing, 73, 30-51.
van Doorn, J. (2011), “Comment: customer engagement: essence, dimensionality, and boundaries”, Journal of Service Research, 14 (3), 280-2.
van Doorn, J., Lemon, K.N., Mittal, V., Nass, S., Doree´n, P., Pirner, P. and Verhoef, P.C. (2010),“Customer engagement behavior: theoretical foundations and research directions”, Journal of Service Research, 13 (3), 253-66.
Won-Moo Hur, Kwang-Ho Ahn , & Minsung Kim (2011) “Building brand loyalty through managing brand community commitment”, Management Decision, 49 (7), 1194-1213.
Yen, H.J.R. and Gwinner, K.P. (2003), “Internet retail customer loyalty: the mediating role of relational benefits”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 14 (5), 483-500.
Appendix A: Data Analysis
FREQUENCY AND DESCRIPTIVE
Demographic
Gender: Gender | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | Male | 87 | 43.5 | 43.5 | 43.5 | | Female | 113 | 56.5 | 56.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Age: Age | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | Below 20 | 5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | | 20 - 24 | 32 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 18.5 | | 25 - 29 | 138 | 69.0 | 69.0 | 87.5 | | 30 and above | 25 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Education:
Education | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | High school | 4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | | College/University | 133 | 66.5 | 66.5 | 68.5 | | Advance degree | 63 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Visit fan page on Facebook:
Visit times | | Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | Valid | Once a month or more seldom | 12 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | | 2-3 times per month | 14 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 13.0 | | 1-3 times per week | 75 | 37.5 | 37.5 | 50.5 | | 4-6 times per week | 40 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 70.5 | | Daily | 59 | 29.5 | 29.5 | 100.0 | | Total | 200 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
Descriptive Statistics | | N | Minimum | Maximum | Mean | Std. Deviation | Read | 200 | 1 | 5 | 4.08 | .953 | Like | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.02 | 1.149 | Write | 200 | 1 | 5 | 2.44 | 1.226 | Because I want to get to know other commercial brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.09 | .775 | To provide information to other brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.04 | .693 | To share my ideas with other commercial brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.01 | .716 | Because I want to stay in touch with other brand community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 4.03 | .698 | To help other community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.83 | .751 | To feel needed by brand or other community members | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.68 | .843 | To get help from other community members | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.91 | .727 | To get entertained | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.81 | .861 | To relax | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.81 | .835 | To pass time when I am bored | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.80 | .837 | To get bonuses | 200 | 2 | 5 | 3.90 | .874 | To get better service | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.60 | .972 | To get fast responses | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.63 | .979 | To participate in brand activity | 200 | 1 | 5 | 3.73 | .868 | Valid N (listwise) | 200 | | | | |
RELIABILITY
Customer community engagement behavior
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .933 | 3 |
Social benefits
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .883 | 7 |
Entertainment benefits
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .889 | 3 |
Economic benefits
Reliability Statistics | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items | .839 | 4 |
INFERENTIAL ANALYSIS
Relationship between Customer engagement behavior and Social benefits Correlations | | MeanCEB | MeanSB | MeanCEB | Pearson Correlation | 1 | .260** | | Sig. (2-tailed) | | .000 | | N | 200 | 200 | MeanSB | Pearson Correlation | .260** | 1 | | Sig. (2-tailed) | .000 | | | N | 200 | 200 | **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). |
Relationship between Customer engagement behavior and Entertainment benefits
Correlations | | MeanCEB | MeanETB | MeanCEB | Pearson Correlation | 1 | .180* | | Sig. (2-tailed) | | .011 | | N | 200 | 200 | MeanETB | Pearson Correlation | .180* | 1 | | Sig. (2-tailed) | .011 | | | N | 200 | 200 | *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). |
Relationship between Customer engagement behavior and Economic benefits
Correlations | | MeanCEB | MeanECB | MeanCEB | Pearson Correlation | 1 | .257** | | Sig. (2-tailed) | | .000 | | N | 200 | 200 | MeanECB | Pearson Correlation | .257** | 1 | | Sig. (2-tailed) | .000 | | | N | 200 | 200 | **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). |
APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE
Customer Engagement in a Facebook brand community
IBM Business Research Methodology (BP 6902)
Master of Business AdministrationAssumption University
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
As part of our Master Degree studies, we are in need of collecting some data that Customer Engagement in a Facebook brand community. It will be highly appreciated if you could spend few minutes with us to complete this questionnaire. Your information will be kept as confidential and this only we use for our research purpose. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Part I: Screening Question 1. Do you have Facebook account? (คุณมีบัญชีรายชื่อในเฟสบุคหรือไม่) YES (มี) NO (ไม่มี) 2. Are you a fan of fan page of brand community on Facebook? (คุณเป็นแฟนเพจของยี่ห้อสินค้าในเฟสบุคหรือไม่) YES (เป็น) If yes, please go to the next Question (ถ้าเป็น กรุณาตอบคำถามข้อต่อไป) NO (ไม่เป็น) If no, end of questionnaire (ถ้าไม่เป็น จบแบบสอบถาม) 3. How often you visit commercial brand community fan page on Facebook?
คุณเข้าแฟนเพจบนเฟสบุคของสินค้าบ่อยเพียงใด
Daily (ทุกวัน)
4-6 times per week (4-6 ครั้งต่อสัปดาห์)
1-3 times per week (1-3 ครั้งต่อสัปดาห์) 2-3 times per month (2-3 ครั้งต่อเดือน) Once a month or more seldom (1 ครั้งต่อเดือนหรือมากกว่า)
Part II: Measurement of Dependents Variables
1. Customer community engagement behavior (is defined as a Facebook user’s interact to the brand on Facebook fan page)
Statements began with: I am a Facebook commercial brand community
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree
5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1)You are regularly read message of the brand on Facebook fan page คุณอ่านข้อความของแฟนเพจยี่ห้อสินค้าบนเฟสบุคเป็นประจำ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) You are regularly press like message of the brand on Facebook fan page คุณกดไลค์ข้อความของแฟนเพจยี่ห้อสินค้าบนเฟสบุคเป็นประจำ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) You are regularly write comment of the brand on Facebook fan page คุณเขียนความเห็นบนแฟนเพจยี่ห้อสินค้าบนเฟสบุคเป็นประจำ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Part III: Measurement of Independent Variables
2. Social benefit (is defined as a Facebook user’s perception toward social benefit)
Statements began with: I am a Facebook commercial brand community
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree 5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1)Because I want to get to know other commercial brand community members เพราะฉันต้องการรู้จักเพื่อนคนอื่นๆที่เป็นสมาชิกสินค้ายี่ห้อเดียวกัน | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) To provide information to other brand community members เพื่อให้ข้อมูลเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) To share my ideas with other commercial brand community members เพื่อแบ่งปันความคิดเห็นกับเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4) Because I want to stay in touch with other brand community members เพื่อรักษาความสัมพันธ์กับเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5) To help other community members เพื่อช่วยเหลือเพื่อสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6) To feel needed by brand or other community members เพื่อเป็นที่ต้องการของยี่ห้อสินค้าหรือเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7) To get help from other community members เพื่อได้รับความช่วยเหลือจากเพื่อนสมาชิกคนอื่นๆ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
3. Entertainment benefit (is defined as Facebook user’s perception toward entertainment benefit )
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree 5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1) To get entertained เพื่อความบันเทิง | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) To relax เพื่อผ่อนคลาย | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) To pass time when I am bored เพื่อฆ่าเวลา | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
5 Economic benefit (is defined as Facebook user’s perception toward Economic benefit)
5= strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3= neutral, 2= disagree, and 1= strongly disagree
5 = เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง, 4 = เห็นด้วย, 3 = เฉยๆ, 2 = ไม่เห็นด้วย และ 1 = ไม่เห็นด้วยอย่างยิ่ง 1) To get bonuses เพื่อได้รางวัล | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2) To get better service เพื่อได้รับบริการที่ดีขึ้น | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3) To get fast responses เพื่อได้รับการตอบสนองที่เร็วขึ้น | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4) To participate in marketing activity campaign เพื่อเข้าร่วมในกิจกรรมทางการตลาด | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Part IV: Demographic
1. Gender เพศ
Male (ชาย) Female (หญิง)
2. Age อายุ
Below 20 (ต่ำกว่า 20ปี) 20-24 25-29 30 and above (30 ปีหรือมากกว่า) 4. What is your education level? ระดับการศึกษา
Middle School มัธยมศึกษาตอนต้น
High School มัธยมศึกษาตอนปลาย
College/University มหาวิทยาลัย
Advance Degree ปริญญาโท หรือสูงกว่า
--- Thank You for Your Time ---
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Facebook has proven to be a successful marketing tool in allowing companies to advertise to consumer that find the related products interesting and relevant. With social media being an important part in our life, it’s no wonder that companies use Facebook to reach its target audience. “Whilst, some may argue, that adopting a ‘pay-to-play’ marketing strategy may have driven some users away, Facebook is in many ways still a valid and valuable marketing tool.” (Corbett)…
- 476 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In “An Examination of the Factors Influencing Consumers ' Attitudes Toward Social Media Marketing.?” Akar and Topcu point out that social media has become a phenomenon in marketing. (Akar and Topcu, 2011) Marketers are beginning to understand the use of social media as a component in their marketing and strategies and campaigns to reach out to customers. Promotions marketing intelligence, sentiment research, public relations, marketing communications, and product and customer management are marketing components that may utilize social media. Marketers are now realizing the benefits that social media has on the design and production of new and existing product and services. Each social media connection has an effect on marketing performance, so it is important to understand their associated importance and their interconnectedness.…
- 1098 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
These two advertising channels will allow the company to address the professional audience, as well as young people looking where to spend their vacations. Social media is an important channel in reaching the target audience. It is argued that social media enables to build customized relationships with potential customer (Naidoo, 2011). In addition, advertising through social media engages consumers, enhances brand reputation and image as well as building positive brand…
- 541 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Justyesterday, MySpace and Friendster were big news. ThenFacebook and Twitter absorbed all our attention. Now it’sFoursquare and Groupon. Tomorrow?In a social media landscape that shifts by the minute, onething is certain: some channels will fall by the wayside, otherswill rise to take their place. Marketers, therefore, can’t wasteenergy simply chasing channels. Instead, they must create anagile, consistent process for sustaining customer dialog.This process must include:• Methods for tracking customer interactions andcapturing insights from individuals and segments,regardless of channel• Strategies for experimentation that identify the mosteffective channels and justify further investment• Systems that coordinate marketing efforts across socialmedia and traditional channels2. Put social media in its place – as one channel withinyour interactive marketing strategy.Practiced in isolation, social media tactics fail to deliver allof their potential value. Without appropriate planning, youlose the ability to see which efforts drive web traffic andconversions. The impact of influencers on friends and followerscannot be measured . . . and individual and aggregatecustomer behaviors, rich with marketing potential, vanish intothe ether.…
- 691 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
“The experimentation era in social media marketing is long over. Social media has proven to be a viable and potentially lucrative marketing channel for B2B and B2C companies of all sizes, across the globe. As more and more companies jump on the social media bandwagon, it is more important now than ever that you provide value, not add to the clutter already on the social web. The reigning champions of social media are the brands that listen to their community, and deliver worthwhile information based on what they hear (Top Rank, 2013).”…
- 1804 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
As social media applications like Facebook (here, cofounder Mark Zuckerberg) have changed the ways consumers interact with brands, companies have struggled to keep up.Target, Dell, Burger King and more are trying to learn what’s effective.…
- 6275 Words
- 26 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Social media has revo0lutionized the way we communicate with each other primarily through Internet and mobile-based tools used for sharing and discussing information. It has enabled users to create, exchange, share and comment amongst themselves in virtual communities and networks. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. There are many different types of social media out on the market today such as Blogger (blogs), Facebook (social networking), Twitter (micro blogging), YouTube (content communities), and the list goes on. With all these social media mediums available, it offers advertisement and marketing opportunities.…
- 1350 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
What do we mean by social media? Why there is so much of buzz, and how will B2B companies will benefit? Social media facilitates interaction between people. It describes the online tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself. The Big Idea Social media gives us the opportunity to create lasting brand differentiation by: Recapturing the attention of existing and ‘on the fence’ customers Interacting with a completely new set of customers Engaging with customers in ways that are relevant to their lifestyles…
- 496 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The above named students declare that the content of this Continuous Assessment project is solely the work of the individual whose name appears on this cover sheet. The work of any other authors has been cited and referenced in full.…
- 7918 Words
- 32 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Every company in every industry to jump into social networks and change their marketing strategies by focusing on talking to customers aiming for deepened relationship. Nevertheless, not every business appreciates this new channel even though building the deepened relationship via social media is cheap and it means brand loyalty which can be referred to generate sale because brands will completely lose control and the power will shift to consumer side (Fournier and Avery, 2011) especially in a luxury-brand industry. However, to not become a part of social media can make brands absent from customers’ minds as well, so with many opportunities that companies could achieve through social media activities and bunch of risks that companies could have avoided are such…
- 2968 Words
- 12 Pages
Best Essays -
Social media has taken the marketing world by storm. Today, not only do companies have a dedicated Website,but organizations, representative of all industries and sizes, also have a blog, Twitter account, Facebook page and a Youtube channel (Wetpaint & Alimeter, 2009). In fact, social media is the number one activity on the web. Because of this, companies view social media as a critical component to its overall marketing strategy, especially since these tactics are cost-effective and produce results (Wetpaint & Alimeter Group, 2009).…
- 4779 Words
- 20 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Some hotels are also including a “Book Now” button on their Facebook pages. Please consider if you would implement this for your company’s Facebook page (if applicable). Explain why or why not…
- 1029 Words
- 5 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Social media can create a highly interactive phenomenon for customers to share the new products information, discuss and comment on them. It is recorded that about 77 percent of B2C companies and 43 percent of B2B companies solicited customers from Facebook. (Jorgensen, 2012) It is a good way to improve the customer care. In this report, briefly, I will introduce the consequences of how social media be used to improve customer care and this consequence as the reason to affect the…
- 1554 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The internet users are now becoming more and more into social networks. According to Compete, Inc., the number of people, who joined social networks, increased by 109% from 2004-2006 and coupled with a 414% growth in usage. Majority of the users engage in social networks to meet new people (78%), to be entertained (47%), to learn (38%) and to influence others (23%). Transaction between social network members involves exchanges in resources, either material or information, trust, influence, etc. With this various processes going on, we focus on the intention of one member to influence another person. Networking involves making use of one’s chain of connections to make new friends, date, etc (Donath, 2004). In ecommerce, networking can be used by marketers to find potential customers. Companies have begun setting their eyes in the social media outlets to find a new way on conducting ecommerce. In this aspect, social networks are being set as a new platform for online selling and advertising, but what makes it different from the traditional online selling websites is that the consumers themselves are engaged in…
- 2933 Words
- 12 Pages
Best Essays -
The development of the Internet, particularly the ground-breaking evolvement of WEB 2.0, has completely changed the media landscape and subsequently the way people communicate. Nowadays, people can show their…
- 5477 Words
- 22 Pages
Best Essays