Title: Brand followers: motivations and attitudes of consumers to follow brands in social media

Authors: Hakan Yılmaz; Ebru Enginkaya

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Yıldız Technical University, Barbaros Bulvarı 34349, Yıldız-İstanbul, Turkey ' Department of Business Administration, Yıldız Technical University, Barbaros Bulvarı 34349, Yıldız-İstanbul, Turkey

Abstract: Social media (SM) strategies are vital for brands to stay connected with consumers. Although the brands' purposes are explicit, consumers' motivations of interacting with brands in SM are more tentative. The aim of this study is to examine consumer motivations and attitudes of following brand pages in SM. A scale development procedure was followed after the literature review and qualitative assessments. Principle component analyses with first sample revealed 'conversation', 'brand affiliation', 'opportunity seeking', 'entertainment', and 'investigation' motives that lead consumers to follow brands in social media. Reliability, validity and predictive properties of motivation constructs were tested with CFA and SEM analyses in a validation sample. Brand affiliation and opportunity seeking were indicated as significant factors on attitudes toward following brands through SM.

Keywords: social media marketing; motivation scale; internet marketing; brand following motivation; online brand communities; online consumer motivation; brand followers; consumer attitudes; principle component analysis; PCA; conversation; brand affiliation; opportunity seeking; entertainment; investigation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2015.068356

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2015 Vol.9 No.1, pp.3 - 20

Received: 15 Feb 2014
Accepted: 03 Nov 2014
Published online: 31 Mar 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article