Why customers follow a brand page in social media; investigating user gratification, social identity, and social capital theories

The purpose of this article is to find the most important reasons for customers to join a brand page on social network sites (SNS). We aim to understand what customers expect from a brand page on social networks. Although there have been many studies about social networks thus for, there is still little understanding of how a brand page should be managed. Therefore, this research clarifies how the proper management of a brand page in social networks can make more customers' satisfaction with that page. By studying earlier research, three theories were identified to be involved, and eleven factors were identified as the main reasons for joining customers to a brand page. This study showed that some of these factors significantly impact the promotion of customers to join the brand page, while others have no significant effect. Another contribution of this research is identifying loyal customers by investigating their reasons to interact with the brand page. Thus, brands will be able to recognize their loyal customers. Given that this research was carried out in one of the eastern countries of the world (Iran), this study also explores the possible differences between the eastern and western communities by comparing this research result with previous research results.

کلیدواژه ها:

Social Network Brands ، Loyal Customers ، Social Identity ، Social Capital