Consumers and Companies on Facebook Fan Pages: An Analysis of Online Communication Strategies for Small Companies

Abstract

Online social media has created new opportunities for communication strategies (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). In virtual community environments, consumers express themselves and interact, both with each other and with companies (Fuller, Jawecki and Muhllbacher 2007; Kozinets, De Valck, Wojnicki and Wilner 2010; Schau, Muñiz and Arnould 2009). The collaborative environment of online social networks (Kozinets, Hemetsberger and Schau 2008) has led companies to invest in online brand communities (Muniz and O’Guinn 2001). Facebook, particularly, is serving as a fruitful place for the emergence of brand-related spaces, despite the different degrees of communal characteristics on many fan pages. However, many companies have failed the task of engaging consumers in these online spaces (Fournier and Lee, 2009).