Online value propositions and customer behaviour: Inside and outside brand communities: A study in a Chinese social media context

Social media strategies can be aimed at customer acquisition or customer retention.In this study we use “comment” and “like” responses to brand content as proxies for willingness to engage in “within brand” behaviour that reinforces customer loyalty, and “forwarding” as a proxy for willingness to share brand-related content outside the brand community. We hypothesize that functional value propositions from brands are more likely to result in “within brand” behaviour, while symbolic value propositions are more likely to be associated with “outside brand” behaviour, while emotional value propositions are associated with both types of behaviour. We coded social media posts from a range of brands according to the type of value proposition offered, and evaluated our model using multiple regression. Our results suggest that “comments”, “likes” and “forwards” can be used as proxies for willingness to engage in different types of brand-related behaviour. Social media strategies can be aimed at customer acquisition or customer retention.In this study we use “comment” and “like” responses to brand content as proxies for willingness to engage in “within brand” behaviour that reinforces customer loyalty, and “forwarding” as a proxy for willingness to share brand-related content outside the brand community. We hypothesize that functional value propositions from brands are more likely to result in “within brand” behaviour, while symbolic value propositions are more likely to be associated with “outside brand” behaviour, while emotional value propositions are associated with both types of behaviour. We coded social media posts from a range of brands according to the type of value proposition offered, and evaluated our model using multiple regression. Our results suggest that “comments”, “likes” and “forwards” can be used as proxies for willingness to engage in different types of brand-related behavior