Following the Fashionable Friend: The Power of Social Media

Does a Virtual like Cause Actual Liking? How following a Brand's Facebook Updates Enhances Brand Evaluations and Purchase Intention

“…Several other studies have shown that the interactivity that brings about the perception of a conversational human voice is an important driver of positive effects of exposure to brands in social media (e.g., van Noort & Willemsen, 2011;Park & Lee, 2013;Sweetser & Metzgar, 2007;Yang, Kang, & Johnson, 2010). Some authors (Colliander & Dahlen, 2011;Labrecque, 2014) have found similar effects but refer to theories on parasocial interaction to explain the effects. The concept of parasocial interaction has previously been developed to explain the relationship people experience with TV characters, which in some ways resembles the relationships people experience with real people (Horton & Wohl, 1956).…”

The influence of user participation in social media-based brand communities on brand loyalty: age and gender as moderators

“…Social mediabased brand communities play a crucial role in influencing sales and retaining existing and new customers (Adjei et al, 2010). Several researchers have also proved the impact of social media on brand performance (Colliander and Dahlén, 2011;Floreddu et al, 2014).…”

Unleashing corporate communications via social media: A UK study of brand management and conversations with customers

“…Interaction with customers in a less scripted way is welcomed and often has a positive effect on brand image (Colliander & Dahlén, 2011). Practitioners are beginning to speak of the 'human brand' or of being a 'human era brand' (Chahal, 2014).…”

“…Other studies have recognised the organisation's effort to cultivate trust and harvest added value via virtual communities (Ngai, Tao, & Moon, 2015). Colliander and Dahlén (2011) contribute to this discussion with their study of brand publicity versus traditional digital media and found that blogs generate brand loyalty and increased sales. While this new platform of engagement with customers went some way towards changing the company-customer discourse, communication remained scripted and promotion centric and stopped short of any 'real' interaction with customers (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).…”