Share:


How hotel companies can foster customer sociability behaviour on Facebook?

    Eglė Vaičiukynaitė Affiliation
    ; Rimantas Gatautis Affiliation

Abstract

Social network sites (hereinafter, SNSs) have become extremely popular, playing an important role in consumers’ every day lives. Empowered by SNSs, the customer becomes more active and spends more time with their family, friends or companies online. Therefore, companies seek to encourage online conversations for several beneficial reasons such as maintaining relationships with their customers and achieving customer loyalty. There are no widely accepted characteristics of company messages that foster customer sociability behaviour regarding likes, comments, shares and emotion expressions on Facebook in literature. The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics of company messages that facilitate customer sociability behaviour on Facebook. The current study integrates content analysis and text analysis with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Software (LIWC). The data were obtained from two five-star hotel brands on Facebook from 18th October 2016 to 18th October 2017. A total of 306 messages were collected. The results indicated that social messages generated more consumer likes, comments and emotional expressions on Facebook. The number of likes, comments and emotion expressions can be facilitated by images with humans. Messages accompanied with social words exhibit customer comments and emotion expressions.

Keyword : customer engagement behaviour, customer sociability behaviour, content type, emotionally rich messages, Facebook, social language

How to Cite
Vaičiukynaitė, E., & Gatautis, R. (2018). How hotel companies can foster customer sociability behaviour on Facebook?. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 19(4), 630-647. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2018.5691
Published in Issue
Dec 11, 2018
Abstract Views
1549
PDF Downloads
985
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: an exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20761

Bakhshi, S., Shamma, D. A., & Gilbert, E. (2014). Faces engage us: photos with faces attract more likes and comments on Instagram. In Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557403

Bazarova, N. N., Taft, J. G., Choi, Y. H., & Cosley, D. (2012). Managing impressions and relationships on Facebook: self-presentational and relational concerns revealed through the analysis of language style. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 32(2), 121-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X12456384

Beckers, S. F., van Doorn, J., & Verhoef, P. C. (2017). Good, better, engaged? The effect of company-initiated customer engagement behavior on shareholder value. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(3), 366-383.

Berg, H., Söderlund, M., & Lindström, A. (2015). Spreading joy: examining the effects of smiling models on consumer joy and attitudes. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 32(6), 459-469. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-03-2015-1356

Berger, J., & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What makes online content viral?. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192-205. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.10.0353

Bouchillon, B. C., & Gotlieb, M. R. (2017). Making them count: Facebook sociability for optimizing the accumulation of social capital. Social Science Computer Review, 35(3), 299-318. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439315626422

Chaffey, D. (2017, September 9). Global social media research summary 2017 [Web log post]. Smart Insights. Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/

Chan, N. L., & Guillet, B. D. (2011). Investigation of social media marketing: how does the hotel industry in Hong Kong perform in marketing on social media websites?. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28(4), 345-368. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2011.571571

Chang, C. T., & Chen, P. C. (2017). Cause-related marketing ads in the eye tracker: it depends on how you present, who sees the ad, and what you promote. International Journal of Advertising, 36(2), 336-355.

Coelho, R. L. F., Oliveira, D. S. D., & Almeida, M. I. S. D. (2016). Does social media matter for post typology? Impact of post content on Facebook and Instagram metrics. Online Information Review, 40(4), 458-471. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-06-2015-0176

Cvijikj, I. P., & Michahelles, F. (2013). Online engagement factors on Facebook brand pages. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 3(4), 843-861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-013-0098-8

De Vries, L.,Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: an investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26(2), 83-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2012.01.003

Dimitriu, R., & Guesalaga, R. (2017). Consumers’ social media brand behaviors: uncovering underlying motivators and deriving meaningful consumer segments. Psychology & Marketing, 34(5), 580-592. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21007

Dolan, R., Conduit, J., Fahy, J., & Goodman, S. (2017). Social media: communication strategies, engagement and future research directions. International Journal of Wine Business Research, 29(1), 2-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWBR-04-2016-0013

Dolan, R., Conduit, J., Fahy, J., & Goodman, S. 2016. Social media engagement behaviour: a uses and gratifications perspective. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 24(3-4), 261-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2015.1095222

EkStyvén, M., & Foster, T. (2018). Who am I if you can’t see me? The “self ” of young travellers as driver of eWOM in social media. Journal of Tourism Futures, 4(1), 80-92. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-12-2017-0057

Gamboa, A. M., & Gonçalves, H. M. (2014). Customer loyalty through social networks: lessons from Zara on Facebook. Business Horizons, 57(6), 709-717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.07.003

Gavilanes, J. M., Flatten, T. C., & Brettel, M. (2018). Content strategies for digital consumer engagement in social networks: why advertising is an antecedent of engagement. Journal of Advertising, 47(1), 4-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1405751

Guerini, M.,Staiano, J., & Albanese, D. (2013, September 8-14). Exploring image virality in google plus, In Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Social Computing (SocialCom). Alexandria, VA, USA. https://doi.org/10.1109/SocialCom.2013.101

Ha, Y. I., Kwon, S., Cha, M., & Joo, J. (2017, 15-18 May). Fashion conversation data on Instagram. In Proceedings of 2017 ICWSM International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. Montreal, Canada.

Harmeling, C. M., Moffett, J. W., Arnold, M. J., & Carlson, B. D. (2017). Toward a theory of customer engagement marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(3), 312-335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-016-0509-2

Hollebeek, L. D., Glynn, M. S., & Brodie, R. J. (2014). Consumer brand engagement in social media: conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(2), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2013.12.002

Hsieh, S. H., & Tseng, T. H. (2017). Playfulness in mobile instant messaging: examining the influence of emoticons and text messaging on social interaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 405-414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.052

Izard, C. E. (2010). The many meanings/aspects of emotion: definitions, functions, activation, and regulation. Emotion Review, 2(4), 363-370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073910374661

Kabadayi, S., & Price, K. (2014). Consumer–brand engagement on Facebook: liking and commenting behaviors. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 8(3), 203-223. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-12-2013-0081

Keenan, A., & Shiri, A. (2009). Sociability and social interaction on social networking websites. Library Review, 58(6), 438-450. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910969794

Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54(3), 241-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005

Kim, C., & Yang, S. U. (2017). Like, comment, and share on Facebook: how each behavior differs from the other. Public Relations Review, 43(2), 441-449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.02.006

Kim, D. H., Spiller, L., & Hettche, M. (2015). Analyzing media types and content orientations in Facebook for global brands. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 9(1), 4-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-05-2014-0023

Kwok, L., & Yu, B. (2013). Spreading social media messages on Facebook an analysis of restaurant business-to-consumer communications. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54(1), 84-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965512458360

Kwok, L., & Yu, B. (2016). Taxonomy of Facebook messages in business-to-consumer communications: what really works?. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 16(4), 311-328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1467358415600214

Labrecque, L. I., & Swani, K. (2017). Does linguistic style in social media communications impact consumer engagement? An abstract. In M. Stieler (Ed.). Proceedings of the 2016 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future Marketing Trends, 18-21 May 2016, Orlando, Florida (pp. 597-598). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45596-9_112

Laros, F. J., & Steenkamp, J. B. E. (2005). Emotions in consumer behavior: a hierarchical approach. Journal of Business Research, 58(10), 1437-1445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2003.09.013

Leek, S., Houghton, D., & Canning, L. (2017). Twitter and behavioral engagement in the healthcare sector: an examination of product and service companies. Industrial Marketing Management. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019850117301128 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2017.10.009

Leung, D., Law, R., Van Hoof, H., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Social media in tourism and hospitality: a literature review. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2013.750919

Leung, X., Tanford, S., & Jiang, L. (2017). Is a picture really worth a thousand words? An experiment on hotel Facebook message effectiveness. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 8(1), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-08-2016-0039

Lewinski, P. (2015). Automated facial coding software outperforms people in recognizing neutral faces as neutral from standardized datasets. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01386

Luangrath, A. W., Peck, J., & Barger, V. A. (2017). Textual paralanguage and its implications for marketing communications. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 27(1), 98-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2016.05.002

Luarn, P., Lin, Y. F., & Chiu, Y. P. (2015). Influence of Facebook brand-page posts on online engagement. Online Information Review, 39(4), 505-519. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-01-2015-0029

Marketing Science Institute (MSI). (2016). Research Priorities 2016–2018. Marketing Science Institute, Boston, MA. Retrieved from http://www.msi.org/uploads/articles/MSI_RP16-18.pdf

Meshi, D., Tamir, D. I., & Heekeren, H. R. (2015). The emerging neuroscience of social media. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(12), 771-782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.09.004

Nobre, H., & Silva, D. (2014). Social network marketing strategy and SME strategy benefits. Journal of Transnational Management, 19(2), 138-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475778.2014.904658

Sabate, F., Berbegal-Mirabent, J., Cañabate, A., & Lebherz, P. R. (2014). Factors influencing popularity of branded content in Facebook fan pages. European Management Journal, 32(6), 1001-1011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2014.05.001

Schivinski, B., Christodoulides, G., & Dabrowski, D. (2016). Measuring consumers’ engagement with brand-related social-media content: development and validation of a scale that identifies levels of social-media engagement with brands. Journal of Advertising Research, 56(1), 64-80. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2016-004

Settanni, M., & Marengo, D. (2015). Sharing feelings online: studying emotional well-being via automated text analysis of Facebook posts. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01045

Sheth, J. N. (1976). Buyer-seller interaction: a conceptual framework. Advances in Consumer Research, 3, 382-386.

Sosik, V. S., & Bazarova, N. N. (2014). Relational maintenance on social network sites: how Facebook communication predicts relational escalation. Computers in Human Behavior, 35, 124-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.044

Stepaniuk, K. (2017). Blog content management in shaping pro recreational attitudes. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 18(1), 146-162. https://doi.org/10.3846/16111699.2017.1280693

Su, N., Reynolds, D., & Sun, B. (2015). How to make your Facebook posts attractive: a case study of a leading budget hotel brand fan page. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(8), 1772-1790. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2014-0302

Tafesse, W. (2015). Content strategies and audience response on Facebook brand pages, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 33(6), 927-943. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-07-2014-0135

Tafesse, W., & Wien, A. (2017a). A framework for categorizing social media posts. Cogent Business & Management, 4(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2017.1284390

Tafesse, W., & Wien, A. (2017b). Using message strategy to drive consumer behavioral engagement on social media. SSRN Electronic Journal. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3025392

Tausczik, Y. R., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2010). The psychological meaning of words: LIWC and computerized text analysis methods. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29(1), 24-54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X09351676

Turnbull, S., & Jenkins, S. (2016). Why Facebook Reactions are good news for evaluating social media campaigns. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 156-158. https://doi.org/10.1057/dddmp.2015.56

Tussyadiah, I. P., Kausar, D. R., & Soesilo, P. K. (2015). The effect of engagement in online social network on susceptibility to influence. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 42(2), 201-223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348015584441

Van Doorn, J., Lemon, K. N., Mittal, V., Nass, S., Pick, D., Pirner, P., & Verhoef, P. C. (2010). Customer engagement behavior: theoretical foundations and research directions. Journal of Service Research, 13(3), 253-266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670510375599

Yang, S., Lin, S., Carlson, J. R., & Ross, J. W. T. (2016). Brand engagement on social media: will firms’ social media efforts influence search engine advertising effectiveness?. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(5-6), 526-557. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2016.1143863

Yoon, G., Li, C., Ji, Y., North, M., Hong, C., & Liu, J. (2018). Attracting Comments: digital engagement metrics on Facebook and financial performance. Journal of Advertising, 47(1), 24-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2017.1405753