Rational or emotional posts on Facebook brand communities -The Mexico Starbucks Case

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that emotions are essential elements of participation between members of a brand community in a social networking site. Emotional expressions were studied within an online brand community through a mixed method approach based on a content analysis with two coders of the same cultural origin. 77 posts and 13,043 comments were analyzed from members of the brand community "Starbucks Mexico" on Facebook, reported between January and June 2014. It was found that people participate more in the presence of hapiness related emotions such as love, passion, and desire. This paper is interested in positive and negative emotions expressed in a Brand Community on Facebook. Additionally, the level of participation that emotions generate is presented, as well as the distinction of emotional elements applied in the communication between a company and the members of a brand community. This paper contributes to the literature by pointing out that more than the expression of emotions, it is the combination of emotional and promotional elements from the brand page that triggers more communication volume.