Engagement and brand loyalty through social capital in social media

Abstract

This paper examines the process of brand-customer engagement based on the establishment of social capital through social media - Facebook. An online survey of 576 Facebook users in Saudi Arabia was conducted to examine customer engagement in Facebook. Although individuals indicated that they are more likely to engage in brands' Facebook pages if the posts offer more hedonic benefits (e.g., socialising and entertainment) than utilitarian benefits (e.g., coupons and discounts), they are more likely to become loyal to the brand if they receive utilitarian benefits from the brand's Facebook page. Many marketers depend on engagement metrics found in the common social media such as likes, shares and comments. But using only those engagement measures will be misleading because the effectiveness of utilitarian content might not be visible as hedonic content for marketers because it tends to generate less likes. Utilitarian content is the one that directly drives brand loyalty.