The formation of florists’ social media–based brand communities and its causal relationship with users’ knowledge, personal experience, and florists’ brand equity

Abstract

As social media penetration has reached more than half of the eligible populations for most of the countries in the world, many florists are thinking of ways of converting their social media fan base into a virtual brand community that can bring numerous benefits to the florists. As relevant topics are rarely investigated in the academic domain of floriculture, this study seeks to address this deficiency. The objectives of this study were 1) to examine the possibility of converting the florists’ social media fan base into a virtual brand community, and 2) to investigate the influence of users’ knowledge of and personal experience with the florist on the formation of the florists’ social media–based brand communities, as well as the subsequent influence on the florists’ brand equity. The statistical results of the descriptive statistical analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate that the florists’ social media fan base has revealed the markers of brand communities, demonstrating the potential that exists for building the florists’ virtual brand communities from their social media fan base. These statistical results also show that the users’ knowledge of the florist is one of the key elements assisting in the conversion of the florist’s fan base into a virtual brand community for the florist, and subsequently enhances the users’ commitment toward the florist’s brand. Even though the influence of the users’ personal experience with the florist on the formation of the florist’s social media–based brand community is not proved, it is found to be highly correlated with the users’ knowledge of the florist. Based on the study’s findings, strategies for driving the formation of florists’ social media–based brand communities are also provided.