Who “Likes” You … and Why? A Typology of Facebook Fans

By E. Wallace, Isabel Buil, L. de Chernatony, Michael J. Hogan. Journal of Advertising Research, 2014

148 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT Although many managers recognize that Facebook Fans represent a marketing opportunity, there has been little research into the nature of different Fan types. This study explores a typology of Fans, drawn from a sample of 438 individuals who “Like” brands on Facebook. Fans' brand loyalty, brand love, use of self-expressive brands, and word of mouth (WOM) for Liked brands were used to suggest four Fan types: the “Fan”-atic, the Utilitarian, the Self-Expressive, and the Authentic. The results of this exploratory study highlight the value of cluster analysis as a strategy for identifying different Fan types and provide insights to prompt further research into Facebook Fan types.

Subfields: Gender Studies, Marketing, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/71f4f97e12e6388987416d3ab75e795f29b82d10

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Citations in the corpus

Why Nonprofits Are Easier to Endorse on Social Media: The Roles of Warmth and Brand Symbolism (2016, background): “Although some previous work (Hollenbeck and Kaikati 2012; Wallace et al. 2014) has provided a first investigation of these drivers, our paper is the first to examine these drivers in an experimental context, and shed light on the underlying psychological processes.”
Narrative Transportation and Paratextual Features of Social Media in Viral Advertising (2018, background): “They differentiate between “fan”atics, utilitarians, self-expressives, and authentics, who display divergent perceptions regarding brand loyalty, brand love, and e-WOM intentions when they decide to “like” a brand on social media (Wallace et al. 2014).”
The future of social media in marketing (2019, background): “…al. 2017; Villarroel Ordenes et al. 2018), and on the motivations that drive consumer posting on social media, including considerations of status and self-presentation (e.g., Grewal et al. 2019; Hennig-Thurau et al. 2004; Hollenbeck and Kaikati 2012; Toubia and Stephen 2013; Wallace et al. 2014).”
What messages to post? Evaluating the popularity of social media communications in business versus consumer markets ☆ (2017, background): “Research suggests that marketers can strategically design messages that motivate viewers to share them (Swani et al., 2014; Lothia, Donthu, and Hershberger, 2003; Wallace et al., 2014).”
Consumers' self-congruence with a 'Liked' brand: cognitive network influence and brand outcomes (2017, background): “For example, as noted earlier, consumers may ‘Like’ brands for several reasons; utilitarian reasons such as to receive a discount or to enter a competition, or because they wish to express genuine love for the brand (Wallace et al., 2014).”