Running heading: GRATIFICATION OF FOLLOWING BRANDS ONLINE Nelson 1

Gratification of following brands on social media

Maggie Nelson

Spring Hill College

CMM 335; Communication Research

Sharee Broussard

November 18, 2016

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Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the gratification online users have from

following brands and examining the influence of peers, advertisements and brands and how they

affect a person. By using the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine the question it helped to

further explain why people act. Further research was done to understand why users follow brands

and what motivates them to act. Articles and previous studies were used to gather information to

form the hypothesis: respondents will report having acted as a result of both online and peer

activity.

The pilot study was used to answer the research question: What benefits do consumers

derive from following brands on social media? Along with this research, a survey was

constructed in order to answer the hypothesis.. This pilot study showed that while not all people

are influenced by their peers to act on social media they are more likely to follow a brand based

on rewards and incentives as well as act based on advertisements on their social media platforms.
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Introduction

Social media has become a portable platform that allows online users to connect with

brands. While first simply serving a means of communication, it has now become a place for

consumption. Social media has become the focus for online communication and is a major player

of consumerism. Social media began as a place for users to share information and ideas but, over

time, has become a place for consumers to gain information about products and companies.

To understand why consumers feel satisfaction from following brands on social media is

The Theory of Planned Behavior. This theory, is an approach to understanding why people seek

out specific media to satisfy specific needs. People are influenced by the outcome of a situation

and will act based on the consequence of the outcome. Incentives influence consumers to follow

brands and engage with brands because consumers have previously experienced positive

consequences. People are also influenced by their peers and culture that surround them. The

Theory of Planned Behavior looks into the attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral

control. The theory focuses on the idea that a person will act based on the consequence an action.

The person is also influenced by their social norms Perceived behavioral control is based on a

variety of controls within a specific person. Different people have different controls that change

the way they act and react.

The purpose of this pilot study is to explore advertising from the perspective of brands

online. It will be examined through the lens of Theory of Planned Behavior to determine answers

to the research question: What benefits do consumers derive from following brands on social

media?
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Literature Review

“Between 2011 and 2015, revenue from digital advertising in the United States is

expected to grow by 40% and to overtake all other platforms by 2016” (​Matsa​, ​Olmstead,

Mitchell and Rosenstiel, ​2013).

Social media sites have become a center point for of advertising. Often times, people

scrolling through social media are distracted by the advertisements shared by brands. It has

become a place for brands to communicate with consumers. “Social networking sites, SNSs, are

becoming an important marketing media nowadays. It is commonly believed that the use of

SNSs can enhance the two-way communication between users and firms, and facilitate

communications through a bottom-up approach in an online community” (Ho and Chiu, 2013,

p.19).

Shopping via social media has gained popularity among users. This trend has impacted

the brand influence and the brand experience. “American teens have long been the country’s

most-wired (and increasingly wireless) age group, with 95% saying they go online. But contrary

to the stereotype of hyper-connected teens, they say some things are better done in person”

(Desilver, 2013, p.1). With the increase in the use of social media, brands are taking to the

Internet to advertise. Brands are able to advertise on social media platforms and easily reach

multiple users throughout the web.

“In the context of media use, motivations are understood as the incentives that drive

people’s selection and use of media and media content. They have been shown to influence

website effectiveness, attitudes towards brands and advertisements, and purchase behaviour”
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(Muntinga, 2011, p.14). Consumer motives are important when understanding the reasons that

consumers follow specific brands on social media.

There are also important motivations from McQuail's study that are applicable with social

media. These second-order motivations are most important when understanding the feeling a

consumer has and why they follow a specific brand. Entertainment, integration and social

interaction, personal identity and information are all motives that are going to drive a consumer

to act.

By using The Planned Behavior Theory, researchers can more clearly understand why

people follow specific brands. “According to the theory, intention is the immediate antecedent of

behavior and is itself a function of attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived

behavioral control; and these determinants follow, respectively, from beliefs about the behavioral

likely consequences, about normative expectations important others, and about the presence of

factors that control behavioral performance” (Wolfe and Higgins, 2008, p.103). The idea that

people are driven from their behavior also connects to the motives that drive a person to act in a

specific way. Perceived behavioral control is based on different controls within a specific person.

The Planned Behavior Theory is a way to understand why consumers behave a specific way.

People are influenced by the outcome of a situation and to act based on the consequence of the

outcome. Online users going to follow a brand on social media if they feel they will benefit from

engaging with the brand. People are also influenced by the peers and culture that surround them

and act based on these persuading factors.

People act based on the peer influence. “Almost six in ten U.S. social media users will go

on to make a purchase based on a friend’s social media post, with more than one quarter (28
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percent) of 18-34 year-olds ‘fairly’ or ‘very likely’ to buy following social recommendations of

friends” (​Bennett​, 2014). People look to their friends for security when making a purchase.

Knowing the consequences of their action gives them comfort in making the decision. Seeing

their friend make a purchase from a brand not only influences them to do so, well but it also

influences their further connection with the brand. "Overall, 20% of social media users say

they’ve modified their stance on a social or political issue because of material they saw on social

media” (Anderson, 2016). People change their stance on issues based on social media. People

often time read articles, see advertisement or friends post and alter their views based on these

post.

“There is evidence to suggest that the influence of emotions on purchase intention

can have a delayed response as the feelings associated with the brand through the use of

advertising are linked and stored in memory. Stayman and Batra found individuals in a

positive affective state when watching a brand related advertisement evoked the same

emotional state when later encountering the brand name. This suggests the positive

association between emotion experienced from the advert and purchase intention is not

limited to short-term consumer behaviour as positive emotions facilitate the effect of

memory, creating a lasting consumer response. This effect is exclusive to positive

emotions” (Scally 2010, p. 9).

Consumers have emotions that affect the way they act when making a decision.

Advertisements often lead to a stronger effect than a consumer might see. When people see

advertisements while scrolling through their social media accounts they might not realize how

the advertisement impacts them based on situational emotions. This is important because the
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time a user spends on their social media accounts can affect the emotions towards brands

differently. This affects the gratification that one has with a brand.

People base their actions on other’s experiences. When people share their experiences

online it will often affect their online following. Consumers use the web to share about their

experiences as well as gain information on other people's experiences. “Some consumers are

doing more than sharing purchase experiences and following brands; they are also purchasing

items they see on social media sites” (Coker, Boostrom and Altobello, 2014, p. 67). People are

being influenced by advertisements on social media sites to buy. This connects with the idea that

people act based on advertisements.

Since almost 75% of people have begun to use social media it is an ideal platform to

advertise and market. “Social media are now generally considered to have entered the

mainstream media landscape and cover a broad demographic spectrum with 75 percent of

Internet-using adults in the United States using social media regularly” (Xie and Lee, 2015, p.

205). There is actively 75% of the population currently on social media and over one-half of

adults follow more than one brand. “As social media has become more integrated into daily life,

people are starting to use more than one network. According to​ Pew Research Center​, more than

one-half of adults use more than one social network” (​Morrison, 2015).

Now that social media is the main source of communication, brands have made their way

to the web as well. Consumers can utilize the Internet to stay updated with brands. Social media

has expanded the opportunities for consumers to feel more connected to a brand through

engagement.
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“People who consume, watch the brand-related videos that companies or other people

create, and view the product ratings and reviews that others post, and the dialogues between

members of online brand forums. In addition, they download branded widgets, play branded

games and send branded virtual gifts” (Muntinga, 2011, p.16). Consumers use these

brand-related videos as a motive to consume. By investigating a product a consumer is going to

feel more motivated because of this sub-motivation. This reflects the Theory of Planned

Behavior as well, showing people will not act until they know the consequences.

When it comes to why a consumer follows a specific brand on social media there are

many different incentives a consumer might have to follow a brand. “Comfort in thinking about

the brand not as a passive object of marketing transactions but as an active, contributing member

of the relationship” (Fournier, 1998, p. 344). Consumers want to feel they have a personal

connection with the brands they are following. They want to feel like the brand itself cares about

their service as much as they care about the brand.

“Social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter provide

unlimited means for Internet users to interact, express, share and create content about

anything, including brands. Such consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRAs)

have significant consequences for firms. To effectively anticipate and direct these

consequences, understanding people’s motivations to engage in brand-related social

media use is imperative” (Muntinga, 2011, p.13).

Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Instagram are all popular websites for consumers to

follow brands. While all of these seem to be popular places for consumers to search, Facebook

reigns as the most popular among the sites (​Morrison, 2015)​. “Facebook is also where marketers
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seemed to have the largest average following. By contrast, on YouTube, the average follower

count was lowest” (​Morrison, 2015). ​Consumers enjoy using Facebook oppose to Youtube

because of the experience they have while using the site. Facebook is user friendly and allows

users to access more across the web than YouTube. Teens were reported as using facebook the

most with, “76% of all teens using social media. Facebook is the dominant platform, with 71%

of all teens using it” ( Lenhart, Smith, Anderson, Duggan and Perrin, 2015, p. 53).

“Facebook was unsurprisingly the most popular network across categories, with 100

percent saturation of home goods, apparel and big box brands. Twitter came in second with more

than 90 percent saturation in four out of five categories, and​ YouTube​ came in third. While 82

percent of apparel brands have adopted Instagram,​ adoption was much slower​ in other

categories” (​Morrison, 2015).​ When consumers scroll through their feed on social media sites,

they are flooded with advertisements. This affects their experience not only with social media,

but with the advertised brands as well. As addressed earlier, people might not pay attention to

these advertisements, but their mind is subconsciously aware of them. More time spent on social

media will then affect the overall experience, as people become aware of more brands through

time spent on social media.

The secondary research above, which grew from this study's research question; What

benefits do consumers derive from following brands on social media? Leads to the following

hypothesis that respondents will report having acted as a result of both online and peer activity.

Methodology

There were 74 people surveyed, with 35 surveys taken online and 34 surveys taken on

paper. The respondents included a majority Spring Hill College students as well as other
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respondents. Sampled through convenience sample. The surveys were distributed throughout

Spring Hill College campus as well as shared through Facebook. The students were asked to

complete the survey individually in one sitting, to avoid peer influence and less biased responses.

The questions mainly focused on how people are influenced by both their peers and

advertisements. There were also questions focused on incentives online users have to follow a

brand. The questions focus on the idea that consumers are affected by the consequences of their

actions. Social media users are also easily swayed by social pressure and social norms. Users are

more likely to follow a brand that a peer follows because of the influence of the peer. Actions

based on social constructions (Q6). Respondents were asked about their overall social media

usage inQ1, Q2, Q7, Q8, and Q14.. The participants were also asked about how their behavior is

influenced by their peers and their surrounding in Q9 and Q10.

Questions were asked in a scale, ordinal and nominal format. The scale ranged from 5-1

and represented the following feelings: strongly agree (5), agree (4), neutral (3), disagree (2) and

strongly disagree (1). Respondents were asked through ordinals their age as well as the amount

of time they spend on social media with four different age and time increments. The nominal

questions asked the respondents their gender and if they owned a smartphone. Using three

different question formats allowed for a stronger set of responses from the participants for the

study.

After all the surveys were gathered and counted, the data was then input into SPSS. The

test run included frequencies, descriptive, crosstabs and reliability analysis - Cronbach’s Alpha

coefficients. Frequencies are the number of responses count for each variable input in SPSS. It

test the data and check to see if any questions went unanswered and the number of respondents
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who selected each response option. The responses to each of the questions are tallied and shown

in percentages and numbers to show an overall response. Descriptives show the minimum and

maximum responses selected to insure the data was input properly. The minimums and

maximums are run and checked at to make sure their are no minimums lower than 1 and no

maximums higher than 5. If there are minimums lower than 1 or maximums higher than 5 the

data has not been entered correctly. These test serve as quality checks. Descriptives also output

the standard deviation, which measures the variation in the responses. Standard deviation shows

how respondents answered each question and if the respondents answered similar or different to

one another based on how high or low the deviation number is. The higher the number, the

higher the variation, and the lower the number, the lower the variation. Crosstabs are used to see

the relation between specific questions used in the research. It test the relation between the

questions and the affect the questions have one another. Finally, the researcher runs Cronbach’s

Alphas which is run to determine how the survey correlates . This allows the researcher to group

the questions together properly.

Data Analysis

The data was collected through convenience sampling. The participants surveyed

included mainly Spring Hill College students as well as other respondents. The participants

surveyed were mainly between the ages of 19 to 25. 91.9% of the respondents reported they were

between the ages of 19 to 25, 2.7% of the respondents reported they were between the ages of 26

to 35, 2.7% of the respondents reported they were between the ages of 36 to 45 and 2.7%

respondents reported they were 46 and older. Respondents were female dominant with 74.3% of

respondents being female and 25.7% of respondents being male. Half, 50% of respondents
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reported that they spent between two to three hours a day on social media, 33.8% of the

respondents reported they spent 30 minutes to one hour a day, 12.2% of the respondents reported

they spent four to five hours a day and 4.1% of the respondents reported they spent six or more

hours a day on social media. All respondents reported that they owned a smartphone. The

demographics of the respondents varied.

A majority of the questions asked had a wide variety of responses yielding a high

standard deviation. Reviewing the frequencies showed that 36.5% of the respondents said they

strongly disagree or disagree to following brands to receive rewards, while 43.2% of the

respondents said they strongly agree or agree to following brands to receive rewards.

Respondents also reported that they follow brands based on incentives. With 75.7% of the

respondents reporting that they strongly agree and agree and 13.6% stating that they strongly

disagree or disagree. The respondents also reported that they often act based on advertisements

with 36.1% of the respondents answering strongly agree or agree and 35.2% responded that they

strongly disagree or disagree. Respondents also reported following brands based on their online

friends with 43.35 of the respondents stating they strongly agree or agree, while 35.2% stating

they strongly disagree or disagree.

Descriptives show that eight out of ten questions had a minimum response of one

(meaning strongly disagree), while ten out of ten questions had a maximum response of five

(meaning strongly agree). One question stating that a respondent uses social media to gather

information had a minimum response of two meaning disagree. Another question asked the

respondent if they follow one or more brands on social media which had a minimum as two

(meaning disagree). This means that none of the respondents strongly disagreed with these
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questions. The questions ranged between the same high and the same low one and five, except

for the two questions above which also ranged from a low two to a high five. The standard

deviation for the eight out of the nine questions ranged from 1.293 to 1.001.

Crosstabs were run using actions based on advertisements, follow brands based on

friends, follow brands to receive rewards and not influenced by friends to act on social media.

There were three different crosstabs run. The first crosstab that was run was the incentives to

follow a brand and follow brands to receive rewards.This crosstab yielded a .000 chi-square

number. The second crosstab run was act based on advertisements and follow brands to receive

rewards. This crosstab yield a .042 chi-squared number. The third crosstab that was run was

follow brands on social media platforms and follow brands to receive rewards. This crosstab

yield a .013 chi-square number. All of these numbers are below .050 which means there is a

mathematical connection. Which means it is unlikely that an error will occur.

The final test run was Cronbach’s Alphas which is used to determine the relationship

between the questions. After running the test on the scale question respondents results yielded a

.734 alpha coefficient, reporting the relation between my questions all supported and related one

another. Alpha coefficient should be at least a 0.7 to show the relation of the scale questions

responses when measuring them as a whole. This confirmed that the .734 alpha coefficient

reported in the data analysis that the scale was relatable to the whole.

Results

The purpose of this research was to explore the behavior of consumers on social media

with brands, and advertisements. The hypothesis: under study was as follows respondents will

report having acted as a result of both online and peer activity. The hypothesis was partially
Running heading: GRATIFICATION OF FOLLOWING BRANDS ONLINE Nelson 14

confirmed after the research, surveys and data analysis were reviewed. The hypothesis was

supported by questions three through six as well as eight and nine. The data analysis from the

surveys showed that consumers can often be influenced by brands and their peers, which

supports the reported research found in the literature review.

Questions three and four asked the respondents if incentives and rewards had an affect on

their actions. The reported data indicates that people do act based on their consequences. The

rewards and incentives are positive outcomes which makes a person what to act with 86.5% of

respondents reporting they strongly agree, agree or are neutral when asked about incentives, and

63.5% reporting they strongly agree, agree or are neutral when asked about receiving rewards.

This confirms people are more likely to follow a brand when rewards and incentives are offered.

Questions five and six indicates 64.9% of people strongly agree, agree or are neutral

towards actions based on advertisements while only 54% or people strongly agree, agree or are

neutral towards clicking on brand advertisements when scrolling through their social media feed.

This indicates that while people are more likely to act based on an advertisement they see, they

might not always click on an advertisement to explore it.

Questions eight and nine were asked to examine the influence a friend has on a person

while using social media. Results reported that people are more likely to follow a brand that their

friends follows with 64.9% of the people reporting they strongly agree, agree or are neutral while

68.9% of people strongly disagree, disagree or are neutral.. This contradicts part of the

hypothesis stating people act based on their peers influence. People do not feel as if their friends

influence them to act on social media, but in a way they do because the respondents also reported

they are more likely to follow a brand based on a friend.

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By concluding the test with a reliability analysis, the questions showed a strong relation

between one another. With this being reported, it can be said that the measure of these questions

based on the relation to the hypothesis, that the hypothesis is supported by the questions asked.

Therefore, it can be said that the questions and the survey support the hypothesis drawn from this

study.

Conclusion

Overall, this pilot study can be confirmed as a success. The hypothesis that was drawn

based on the information gathered in the literature review was also supported by the questions in

the survey. The frequencies showed that people act based on peer influence and brands online

activity.

Through reviewing the data from this pilot study, the data reported strongly supports the

research and the hypothesis. The test run on the respondents data shows that the data collected

was relevant to the research and corresponds with the literature review. The questions asked

yielded a .734 alpha coefficient which, stated earlier, indicates the relation of the questions asked

throughout the survey. The alpha coefficient supports the hypothesis along with the questions

asked to conclude it.

While there are steps that could have been taken to improve the results of the research,

the overall results were expected. While the conclusion cannot be fully determined, the research

shows the right track in order to prove a final conclusion.

Through these test and data analysis, it is feasible to say that the hypothesis, respondents

will report having acted as a result of both online and peer activity, can pertain to certain aspects

of the survey. While the hypothesis cannot be verified as a whole based on some of the response
Running heading: GRATIFICATION OF FOLLOWING BRANDS ONLINE Nelson 16

it is still a possibility. While there is no confirmed conclusion at this time based on the results

further research can be done in order to confirm a conclusion. Social media is a place to share,

follow, influence and explore. The social media world will continue to grow and people will

continue to act based on brands and peers.

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Muntinga, D. G., Moorman, M., & Smit, E. G. (2011). Introducing COBRAs. ​International

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exposures to earned and owned social media activities in a two-stage decision making

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store.​Retracted from Pew Research Center

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Running heading: GRATIFICATION OF FOLLOWING BRANDS ONLINE Nelson 18

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