Research On The Motivation And Behavior Patterns Of Social Media Users And Brand Message Content Strategy

The emergence of social media has changed the lifestyle of many Internetusers. More and more organizations and individuals are using the social mediato achieve marketing goals. This study focuses on the motivation and behaviorpatterns of social media users, and what brand message content strategy can beused to target users with different motivations for long-term brand management.We studied two types of mainstream users of social media, social networkservices (SNS) and micro-bloggingsystems.In Study1, a survey was conducted to collect motivation and behavior datafrom users of SNS and micro-blogging systems. Based on analysis of literature,we used the exploratory factor analysis approach to devide the motivation intofive categories, including information, entertainment, self-expression, socialinteraction and impression management. The result of comparison showed thatSNSscan better meet users’ social interaction motivation, while micro-bloggingsystemscan better meet users’ information motivation.Cluster analysis ofusers’behavior data on the social media divided them into three typicalusergroups.The first objective of study2isto validate the motivation frameworkproposed in study1. The second objective is to explore that for userscharacterized by different motivation, which conetent strategy is better forbrand management.A two-week experimentwas conducted at the same time on aSNS and a micro-blogging system, respectively. Confirmative factor analysis ofmotivation data validated the motivation framework proposed in study1.Regression analysisshowed that on SNS, for users with strong informationmotivation, posting brandcontent and brand-extended content can made usersget a better attitude toward the brand; for users with strong social interactionmotivation, posting non-branded content in addition to brand content and brandextended content can give the users a better understanding of the brandpersonality. On the micro-blogging system, for users with strong informationmotivation,posting only brand information can enhance brand awareness, andposting brand content and brand-extended content canenhanceusers’participation intention. Hence, brand management effort on social media should use the appropriate brand message content strategybased on theusers’motivation and the purpose of brand management.