Abstract

Instagram’s growth has drawn the interest of many corporations that are searching for new ways to boost their customer relationships. Given the rapid adoption of Instagram marketing and the inadequate research in that field, the objective of this paper is to examine whether “following” brands on Instagram fan pages enhances consumer–brand relationship from the consumer perspective. The data were collected from consumers who follow Instagram fan pages of the four telecommunication companies that are operating in Egypt using an online questionnaire. The telecommunication industry is one of the major industries that rely heavily on Instagram marketing in Egypt. The results indicated that fan page following positively and significantly influences the consumers’ brand love and sense of brand community. Also, the findings indicated the consumers’ brand love positively impacts consumers’ purchase intention and word of mouth. Finally, it showed that consumers’ sense of brand community impacts their purchase intention and word of mouth positively. This article contributes theoretically by expanding the focus of brand community literature to fan pages as an innovative form of social media brand communities. Furthermore, it provides recommendations to practitioners to follow when managing Instagram fan pages.

摘要

Instagram的发展吸引了许多寻求新方法来增进客户关系的公司的兴趣。鉴于Instagram营销的迅速采用以及该领域的研究不足，本文的目的是从消费者的角度研究Instagram粉丝页面上的“关注”品牌是否能增强消费者与品牌的关系。数据是从消费者那里收集的，他们使用在线调查表追踪了埃及四家运营电信公司的Instagram粉丝页面。电信行业是埃及严重依赖Instagram营销的主要行业之一。结果表明，粉丝页面的追踪对消费者的品牌热爱和品牌社区感产生了积极而显着的影响。还，调查结果表明，消费者对品牌的喜爱会积极影响消费者的购买意愿和口碑。最后，它表明消费者的品牌社区意识对他们的购买意愿和口碑产生了积极的影响。本文在理论上做出了贡献，将品牌社区文献的重点扩展到粉丝页面，作为社交媒体品牌社区的一种创新形式。此外，它为从业者提供了管理Instagram粉丝页面时的建议。本文在理论上做出了贡献，将品牌社区文献的重点扩展到粉丝页面，作为社交媒体品牌社区的一种创新形式。此外，它为从业者提供了管理Instagram粉丝页面时的建议。本文在理论上做出了贡献，将品牌社区文献的重点扩展到粉丝页面，作为社交媒体品牌社区的一种创新形式。此外，它为从业者提供了管理Instagram粉丝页面时的建议。