Relational Benefits and Costs in Social Media Brand Pages Georgios Tsimonis Phd Student Athens University of Economics and Business Department of Marketing & Communication Athens, Greece Sergios Dimitriadis Associate Professor Athens University of Economics and Business Department of Marketing & Communication Athens, Greece

The Idea Literature & Study 1 Research Questions Long term customer-brand relationships Competitive advantage Profitability How can a brand build and maintain an effective relationship? Most promising conceptual approach: Relational Benefits & Relational Costs Literature & Study 1 Social Media are a powerful tool for brand-consumer relationship building (Borle et., 2012; Dholakia and Durham, 2010; Jahn & Kunz, 2012) Brands use popular Social Media to create & enhance relationships with consumers Research Questions How can a brand build and maintain an effective relationship in the context of Social Media? What Relational Benefits & Costs customers perceive in Social Media Brand Pages?

Relational Benefits & Costs What customers expect and perceive from a relationship with a firm has been measured as relational benefits. (Bendapudi and Berry, 1997; Gwinner et al., 1998; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002, 2005; Reynolds and Beatty, 1999). Gwinner et al. (1998): Several authors have confirmed these benefits or proposed the existence of new ones in online virtual communities, brand communities or e-business environments Social benefits, Special treatment benefits, Confidence benefits Most of the studies examine benefits as expectations and motives/factors for participation in communities. Relational Costs… Customers’ sacrifices both monetary and non-monetary (psychological) arising from the maintenance of a relationship with a firm. (Bendapudi and Berry, 1997; Grönroos, 1997, 2000; Jones et al., 2007; Morgan and Hunt, 1994) Switching Costs Difficulty of use Privacy Cost Termination Costs Time & monetary Costs

The Social Media Phenomenon Increased used from Internet users… Facebook Twitter Instagram Brands are utilizing Social Media… Facebook Brand Pages Twitter Accounts YouTube Channels Interact with consumers Build relationships Engagement

Originality & Objectives To the best of our knowledge… Lack of studies to simultaneously examine perceived relational benefits and costs in the context of social media. The objectives are… Examine Facebook & Twitter Brand Pages use from brands’ fans & followers, and discover Perceived Benefits Perceived Costs

Methodology Qualitative Study Population of the Study Sample Social Media users who use both Facebook & Twitter > 2 years, Follow at least 10 popular brands in Facebook & Twitter (Socialbakers, 2013) > 1 year, Recruitment– Research company “Focus Bari” Sample 4 focus groups 32 participants Ages 18-24, 25-31, 32-38 and 39-45 4 women, 4 men in each group

The Study Interview guide – Open-ended questions Use of SM and Brand Pages Perceived Benefits-pleasant experiences Perceived Costs- unpleasant/annoying experiences Pilot test – Readjustment of some questions’ expressions September 2013 4 groups, 90’ duration each Video & audio recording. Transcript & data procession Answers were grouped according to literature definitions An open-ended question is designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer using the subject's own knowledge and/or feelings

Results Perceived Benefits Social Benefits Information Benefits Time & Effort Benefits Economic Benefits Special Treatment Benefits

Results Perceived Costs (Information) Overload Annoyance (Ad Intrusiveness/Post Intrusiveness) (Loss of) Privacy

Conclusion & Implications Adjust Social Media Strategy +Relational Benefits Interact & Communicate with fans Encourage customer-customer communication Provide Useful content Contests, Gifts, Discounts, Free Coupons Personalized service and communication -Relational Costs Avoid too many posts Avoid advertisements or promotional content Clear policies about personal data handling

Limitations & Further Research Exploratory Study Preliminary Data Results cannot be generalized on all Social Media platforms Extension on more Social Media Twitter-Facebook have different characteristics as platforms and different audiences as users Quantitative examination - effect on behavioral intentions - Different user segments according to different participation motives and page characteristics that value most Continuous monitoring – Longitudinal study - Social Media are a rapidly changing environment – New changes & added features Mobile Technologies

Email: georgetsimonis@gmail.com Georgios Tsimonis