Brand equity in social media-based brand community

Abstract Purpose: The main purpose of
this
research
is to examine the effects of social media-based
brand
community
(
SMBBC
) markers on
customer
-based
brand
equity
(
CBBE
).
Moreover
,
this
research
evaluates the mediating
effect
of
brand
community
commitment
, and moderating
effect
of
customer
gender
. Design
/
methodology
/
approach:
This
research
collected data from a questionnaire survey with the
participants who
Accept comma addition
participants, who
are the members of
Xiaomi
Community
in Vietnam on Facebook (XCVF).
Finally
, 512 valid and usable questionnaires were tested by applying structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. Findings: The results showed that three components of
brand
community
markers significant influence
two
aspects of
CBBE
.
Moreover
,
brand
community
commitment
plays the mediating
role
in the
relationship
of shared consciousness, ritual and traditions and
CBBE
.
In addition
, the influence of
SMBBC
on
CBBE
is stronger for women in
comparison
with men.
Research
limitations
/
implications: The sample selected
is limited
Suggestion
limits
for only members of XCVF, which may have an inadequate view in
comparison
with other
brand
communities.
This
research
can eliminate some other important variables that can contribute to
this
relationship
. Originality
/
value
:
This
research
is among the
first
works that have focused on the
importance
of
SMBBC
markers on
CBBE
, the mediating
role
of
brand
community
commitment
, as well as the moderating
effect
of
customer
gender
. Keywords: social media;
brand
community
;
customer
– based
brand
equity
;
brand
community
markers;
brand
community
commitment
. 1. Introduction “
Xiaomi
is a
brand
making effective use of online
brand
community
marketing.
Xiaomi
has gained the benefit of a new media era. “Born for enthusiasm” is the
brand
concept and behind the large sales figures, as the company is very successful in fostering a
fans
Suggestion
fan
culture. Its fans, self-proclaimed as “MI fans” which sounds like
mifen
an alkaloid narcotic drug extracted from opium; a powerful, habit-forming narcotic used to relieve pain
morphine
muffins
muffin
(米粉 rice noodle) in Chinese, have become an important force making the
Xiaomi
brand
popular.
Xiaomi
stimulates its fans’
participation spirit
Accept comma addition
participation, spirit
and satisfies their self-realization needs by constructing a virtual space, MIUI (MI User Interface) forum”
.
Accept space
.
The advance of technology in the Internet age has totally changed our daily life and firms’ activities as well.
For instance
, with the
development
of social media, marketing activities are much more complicated in
comparison
with conventional marketing (
Habibi
et al., 2016). Recently, the concept “social media-based
brand
community
” (
SMBBC
) has frequently used to express
brand
community
that is
created on the social media platforms
such
as Facebook, Weibo (
Habibi
et al., 2014).
Brand
community
relates to specialized, non-geographically bound
community
, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a
brand
(Muniz and O'
Guinn
, 2001). Nowadays, with the evolution of Web 2.0 platforms, customers’
role
was transformed
Suggestion
were transformed
from passive in Web 1.0
platform
Suggestion
platforms
to active.
Hence
, social media supports
brand
community
members creating
Accept comma addition
members, creating
content themselves as called “user-generated content” (Kumar et al., 2016) or
customer
co-creation
value
(Hidayanti et al., 2018) that was confirmed as the determinants of word-of-mouth (Chu and Kim, 2011), which in turn, influenced on
customer
engagement, buyer-seller
relationship
quality
(Sashi, 2012a), as well as
brand
awareness
,
brand
loyalty
and purchase intention (Jamali and Khan, 2018).
Moreover
, previous
research
indicated that
SMBBC
stimulated
customer
satisfaction,
customer
relationship
capabilities, and firms performances as well (Clark et al., 2017).
Furthermore
, owing to
SMBBC
,
customer
Suggestion
customers
the customer
can
significant
Suggestion
significantly
sign
participate in the
brand
value
co-creation process (Merz et al., 2018). But previous
research
also
showed the necessary to
clearer
Suggestion
clear
understand
Suggestion
understanding
the
role
of
SMBBC
in the marketing field because of its
value
for the firms in the Industry 4.0 (Merz et al., 2018).
SMBBC
comprises people who like specific
brand
(s) of firms, are the members of the
brand
community
created by firms or by the subsidiary/ agent of firms in a country (Munnukka et al., 2015). With
this
important significance,
SMBBC
has recently gained great attention from marketing scholars and practitioners (Munnukka et al., 2015;
Habibi
et al., 2014; Hur et al., 2011;
Kamboj
and Rahman, 2018; Islam et al., 2018).
For instance
, (
Kamboj
and Rahman, 2018) asserted principal antecedents and the outcomes of
SMBBC
as well as the possible moderators and mediators. They
also
showed a lot of
research
gaps and called for
further
research
in terms of other possible determinants and/ or outcomes. In the same line, other researchers stated the
importance
of deeper evaluating the effects of customers’
perception
and
behavior
manner of acting or controlling yourself
behaviour
on
CBBE
(
Habibi
et al., 2016; Munnukka et al., 2015).
CBBE
refers to the customers’
perception
regarding the overall betterment of a
brand
in
comparison
with other related brands (Hassan and Luis V. Casaló Ariño, 2015).
This
research
gaps
Suggestion
gap
is needed for
further
and
deeper examining
Accept comma addition
deeper, examining
because it is crucial for companies in building and maintaining the competitive advantage of their brands in new technology based business as suggested by (Palazon et al., 2018),
Kamboj
& Rahman, 2018. Based on the literature review,
this
research
propose
Suggestion
proposes
and utilize
two
aspects of
CBBE
, namely,
brand
awareness
and
brand
loyalty
.
Moreover
, the
development
of social media
platforms challenges
Accept comma addition
platforms, challenges
firms to establish and manage their
SMBBC
. Through
SMBBC
firms can understand more about their customers’ demands or suggestions to optimize their products, their adaptability and competitiveness (Cui and Wu, 2015; Kang et al., 2016; Carlson et al., 2018).
Moreover
,
SMBBC
facilitates customers in searching and understanding information concerning products and services of the firms, as well as experiences, feedbacks of other customers. Well managed
SMBBC
can lead customers to be
more
Suggestion
more loyal
loyalty
to the firms (Poulis et al., 2018) to form citizenship
behavior
manner of acting or controlling yourself
behaviour
.
Although
such
importance
, a lot of firms have not adequately apprehended the
role
of
SMBBC
yet.
In addition
, most customers still lack the willingness to participate actively (
Kamboj
and Rahman, 2018; Jain et al., 2018; Kaur et al., 2018).
Furthermore
, previous scholars regard the social, economic, psychological and functional motivation of customers as the factors influencing
CBBE
(Poulis et al., 2018; Godey et al., 2016), but overlooking the impact of
brand
community
commitment
.
Brand
community
commitment
is not innate, but can be influenced by the markers of
SMBBC
and establishing a sense to firm
belonging
Suggestion
belongs
. So that, the
research
of
CBBE
should proceed from the markers of
SMBBC
, and in-depth analysis with the mediating
effect
of
brand
community
commitment
.
Thus
shaping a systematic analysis, the
research
has important significance for obtaining
CBBE
. Recently, (Hook et al., 2018) suggested that future researchers need to
deeper examine
Accept comma addition
deeper, examine
long – term consequences of
customer
brand
community
participation. They
also
indicated the necessary to investigate the terms “
brand
community
markers” and “
brand
community
commitment
” together, rather than researching in separation. In the same vein, (
Kamboj
& Rahman, 2018) showed that it is necessary to
further
examine the new mediating variables
such
as
brand
community
commitment
.
Moreover
, because of the
different
Suggestion
difference
differences
in biology,
previous
Suggestion
previously
indicated the necessary to differ in
behaviors
manner of acting or controlling yourself
behaviour
between male and female customers (Correa et al., 2010).
Therefore
,
this
work attempts to answer to the
research
questions as
follow
Suggestion
follows
: RQ1: How do
SMBBC
markers influence
CBBE
? RQ2: Which component of
SMBBC
markers is more significant related to specific aspects of
CBBE
? RQ3: How does
brand
Suggestion
a brand community commitment
community
commitment
mediate the
relationship
between
SMBBC
markers and
CBBE
? RQ4: Does
customer
gender
moderate the
relationship
between
SMBBC
markers and
CBBE
? To answer the above questions,
this
paper proposes and empirical tests a
research
model to clarify the correlation between
SMBBC
markers and
CBBE
directly and indirectly via
brand
community
commitment
and
customer
gender
. The remains of
this
research
is organized
Suggestion
are organized
as
follow
Suggestion
follows
.
This
research
starts with theoretical background and
research
design, which followed by the data analysis results and conclusion. 2. Theoretical background and hypothesis
development
2.1. Social media based
brand
community
The notion of
brand
community
was proposed by (Muniz and O'
Guinn
, 2001) and relates to the organized social
relationship
based on
brand
admirers, a specialized
community
organization without geographical boundaries.
This
concept provides a better way to solve the
two
challenges of one-to-one
customer
relationship
management and
customer
classification faced by firms. With the rapid
development
of
Internet
Suggestion
the Internet
which is one of the most important innovations of human life, the
brand
community
is easier than ever in terms of
timely
Suggestion
timing
timeliness
time
, geographical restrictions. Its application forms and implementation technologies are constantly evolving. Many firms are gradually building
SMBBC
on the basis of computer cyberspace, social media and other virtual platforms.
In
Suggestion
On
one hand,
SMBBC
is the combination of social media and
brand
community
(Algesheimer et al., 2005) or
brand
communities created on the platforms of social media (
Habibi
et al., 2014; Kaur et al., 2018; Zaglia, 2013).
In
Suggestion
On
the other hand, (Arnone et al., 2010) indicated that
SMBBC
relates to customers gathered together because of similar
brand
preferences or ideas, and sharing
brand
experience as well as values through social media platforms.
Although
a wide
types
Suggestion
type
of social media platforms, scholars all agreed that shared consciousness, shared rituals and traditions and obligation to
community
Suggestion
the community
are the components of
SMBBC
(
Habibi
et al., 2014; Muniz and O'
Guinn
, 2001;
Habibi
et al., 2016).
Therefore
,
this
research
inherits their assertion to test the
relationship
with their consequences. In which, shared consciousness relates to connection among members of a
brand
community
that decide the difference between its members with outsiders (Zhou et al., 2012).
Besides
it, shared rituals and traditions refers to the social responsibility of members towards the
community
and its members (Muniz and O'
Guinn
, 2001).
Moreover
, obligation to
community
indicates that members think about and act for the benefits of the
community
and its members.
This
can explain the reason of willingness to mutual help of members in a
community
(Muniz and O'
Guinn
, 2001).
In addition
, previous researchers considered that
SMBBC
is based on a series of relationships among members with brands, products and firms to form four kinds of
relationship
(
Habibi
et al., 2016; James H.
McAlexander
et al., 2002). In the reality, many firms have established
SMBBC
not only for establishing and maintaining the above four relationships and
also
stimulating members to share
brand
experience and innovative ideas to improve the
quality
of products or services (Casaló et al., 2010; See-To and Ho, 2014). Because through the knowledge acquisition
from
Suggestion
of
social media, firms can improve the
brand
innovation strategy (Bang et al., 2015).
Moreover
,
SMBBC
influences on
customer
satisfaction, trust, and
loyalty
with the
brand
(Algesheimer et al., 2005; Zhou et al., 2012; Tsai et al., 2012). Obviously,
SMBBC
also
has some negative effects, called “dark side”,
such
as leading to normative pressure on members, thereby reducing
community
identification, recommendation and participation as well (Poulis et al., 2018). 2.2.
Customer
– based
brand
equity
Brand
equity
refers to the
perception
of the customers about the overall betterment of a
brand
when they compare to other related brands (Hassan and Luis V. Casaló Ariño, 2015). In the perspective of customers,
brand
equity
relates to
CBBE
(
Yoo
et al., 2000; Datta et al., 2018). That means customers acquaint with certain
brand
and revoke uniqueness of
brand
Suggestion
the brand
such
as its name, logo and motto (Torres et al., 2015). These factors stimulate
customers’
Suggestion
the customers’ perception
perception
of the
brand
and other factors of the
brand
such
as its
importance
or positioning (Keller, 1993).
CBBE
is an interesting and important topic that recently has gained the attention of researchers and practitioners in marketing (Poulis et al., 2018;
Yoo
et al., 2000; Datta et al., 2018). But to date, its dimensions are still
in disputable
not open to question; obviously true
indisputable
.
For instance
, (Godey et al., 2016) divided
customer
based
brand
equity
in
brand
awareness
and
brand
image; (Chahal and Rani, 2017) considered
brand
awareness
,
brand
image and
brand
loyalty
as the dimensions of
brand
equity
;
brand
awareness
,
brand
loyalty
, perceived
quality
of
brand
and
brand
association (Sasmita and Norazah Mohd Suki, 2015);
brand
awareness
,
brand
quality
and
brand
loyalty
(Guzmán and Davis, 2017);
brand
associations,
brand
image, perceived
quality
and
brand
credibility (Vogel and Watchravesringkan, 2017). Among the different approaches, most of researchers highlighted that
CBBE
combines
two
main components, namely,
brand
awareness
and
brand
loyalty
(Poulis et al., 2018). For
this
reason, by inheriting and utilizing these
two
dimensions of
CBBE
,
this
research
develops and tests a new framework to clarify the related relationships. In which,
brand
awareness
relates to the power of
brand
existence and
perception
in the
customer
’s head and thinking (Molinillo et al., 2017).
Hence
, customers can easily distinguish a specific
brand
among other brands in term of logo, name and motto.
Brand
awareness
can be created and maintained through marketing communication
such
as advertising or through social media platforms (Barreda et al., 2015; Sasmita and Norazah Mohd Suki, 2015; Bruhn et al., 2012; Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2014) Along with
brand
awareness
,
brand
loyalty
relates to the customers’
first
choice of a specific
brand
among other brands (
Yoo
et al., 2000). Previous
research
confirmed that
loyalty
Suggestion
loyal
customers even may not consider buying other brands (Aaker, 1996) or selecting as their default preferred
brand
(
Yoo
et al., 2000). In a sense,
brand
loyalty
refers to one of the main goals for marketing activities which in turns can increase sales and market share (Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2014).
Likewise
,
brand
loyalty
affects the purchase decisions of the customers to the same product (Huang et al., 2010). Previous
research
showed that social media is a type of communication that acts as an important
role
in promoting
customer
engagement (Hollebeek et al., 2014; Sashi, 2012b). They
also
showed that
SMBBC
significant correlates with
customer
- based
brand
equity
(Godey et al., 2016; Sasmita and Norazah Mohd Suki, 2015; Jiao et al., 2018). In the
next
section, the authors clarify the
relationship
between
SMBBC
markers and
CBBE
.
Submitted by kiwibidi on

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Writing9 with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Fully explain your ideas

To get an excellent score in the IELTS Task 2 writing section, one of the easiest and most effective tips is structuring your writing in the most solid format. A great argument essay structure may be divided to four paragraphs, in which comprises of four sentences (excluding the conclusion paragraph, which comprises of three sentences).

For we to consider an essay structure a great one, it should be looking like this:

  • Paragraph 1 - Introduction
    • Sentence 1 - Background statement
    • Sentence 2 - Detailed background statement
    • Sentence 3 - Thesis
    • Sentence 4 - Outline sentence
  • Paragraph 2 - First supporting paragraph
    • Sentence 1 - Topic sentence
    • Sentence 2 - Example
    • Sentence 3 - Discussion
    • Sentence 4 - Conclusion
  • Paragraph 3 - Second supporting paragraph
    • Sentence 1 - Topic sentence
    • Sentence 2 - Example
    • Sentence 3 - Discussion
    • Sentence 4 - Conclusion
  • Paragraph 4 - Conclusion
    • Sentence 1 - Summary
    • Sentence 2 - Restatement of thesis
    • Sentence 3 - Prediction or recommendation

Our recommended essay structure above comprises of fifteen (15) sentences, which will make your essay approximately 250 to 275 words.

Discover more tips in The Ultimate Guide to Get a Target Band Score of 7+ »— a book that's free for 🚀 Premium users.

What to do next:
Look at other essays: