Consumer Engagement Behaviors on Facebook Pages: How Likes and Comments are Different

Abstract

With the rise of social media, particularly Facebook, brands have started engaging with consumers in this digital space. Facebook pages have become an additional communication channel that could be integrated with the traditional ones, and a key challenge for marketers is how Facebook pages can be leveraged to engage consumers and enhance their relationship with brands. However, little academic research has been done on consumer engagement behaviors on Facebook pages. Through a questionnaire survey of 1,094 Facebook users, this study investigates whether and how the unique characteristics (such as benefits, trust, commitment, interactivity and brand loyalty) of Facebook pages affect consumer engagement behaviors. Consumer engagement behaviors are measured by intention to “like”, comment on and share Facebook pages. The findings of the empirical analysis are as follows:

“Like” intention: Hedonic benefit, trust, commitment, recommendation, and “like” experience have a positive influence on “like” intention. Hedonic benefit is significant only for “like” intention.

Comment intention: Social benefit, interactivity, commitment and recommendation have a positive effect. Social benefit is significant only for comment intention. “Like” experience is not significant and comment experience has a positive influence. In addition, men have a greater influence than women.

Share intention: Trust, interactivity, commitment, and recommendation are significant predictors. Comment experience also has a positive effect.