The role of demographic factors in consumer perception of value from brand communication on facebook

Abstract

With a growing interest in social media, social networks have been discussed largely in brand management and marketing communications literature. Specifically, Facebook, as the leading brand in social networks, is increasingly popular both for users and companies. However, it is not entirely clear what differences occur among Facebook users regarding their attitudes toward brand profiles. The goal of the research is to identify which demographic factors are related to the functional and hedonistic attitude towards the brand fan page and the overall social value of the page on Facebook. A quantitative survey was conducted on a representative sample of 454 users. The concepts of functional, hedonic and social value were measured using Likert-type questions (four for each of these concepts). Using cluster analysis, homogeneous groups were identified in the data set, resulting in two main segments for the functional and hedonic concept and three for social value. Subsequently, these groups were compared with selected demographic characteristics using Chi-square statistics. Implications for Central European audience: Results of the analysis showed that there is no evidence that gender or age relates to any attitudinal measures towards brand pages on Facebook. The paper ends with a conclusion about the usability of the results for further research and business practice.