1. How to create a successful Facebook
Brand Fan Page:
The effects of common-bond vs.
common-identity design on involvement
with the community and the brand
Dr. Sonja Utz1,2 & Linda van Engelen1
1VU University Amsterdam
2NHL Leeuwarden
Gor 2012, Mannheim

2. Social media and brands
Source: http://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/branding-and-how-it-
works-in-the-social-media-age/

3. Prior research on Facebook Fanpages
• Mostly case studies (e.g., Dholakia & Durham, 2010) or descriptive
• Evaluation of existing Facebook fan pages
– Buffardi (GOR 2011) – analysis of objective (e.g. number of
videos) and subjective (ratings of wallposts) characteristics of
Facebook fan pages
• Correlations with number of fans
• Conclusion: more features, more interactivity => more fans
• Especially subjective characteristics influence Brand
Facebook Page Love and Facebook Page Engagement
• No effects on behavior (word-of-mouth; site visits)
– Busse (Gor 2011), Veltins
– Effects on evaluation, but not on buying behavior

4. Theoretical background: Common bond vs. common
identity groups (Prentice, Miller, & Lightdale, 1994)
Prior research on online consumer communities
• social identification with the community important predictor
of engagement and brand evaluation
Common bond groups Common identity groups
• E.g., groups of friends • E.g., sport team, political party
• Attachment to the group based • Attachment to the group based
on interpersonal relationships on identification with the goal,
• Members leave if the most values and norms of the group
popular member switches to • Members stay even if the most
another group popular member switches to
another group

5. Design principes (see also Ren et al, in press)

6. Analysis of the most successful Dutch brand pages
• based on SocialBakers.com
• 2010: 19 Dutch brands listed (now 162)
– Often mix of both strategies (Top 5)
– 9 brands employ primarily a common-identity strategy
– None uses a pure common-bond strategy
– Interaction with customers important
– Number of pictures and videos made by fans correlates with
growth of the Fan page

7. Hypotheses
• General assumption: common bonds/pictures from fans good for
smooth interaction on fan page, but common identity/brand pictures
better for (transfer to) brand
Design strategy:
• H1: Common bond design better for community (attitude towards the
fan page, word-of-mouth (WOM) fan page) than common identity
design
• H2: Common identity design better for brand (engagement on fan page,
attitude towards the brand, brand loyalty, WOM brand) than common
bond design
Picture source:
• H3: Pictures uploaded by fans better for community (attitude towards
the fan page, WOM fan page) than pictures from brand
• H4: Pictures from brand better for brand (engagement on fan page,
attitude towards the brand, brand loyalty, WOM brand) than pictures
from fans

8. Experiment
• 2 (common bond vs. common identity) x 2 (picture source: brand vs.
fan) – design
• Dependent variables: attitude fan page, WOM fan page, intention to
follow (repeated visits)/participate, attitude brand, WOM brand,
brand loyalty
• N = 161
• Manipulation common bond vs. common identity: screenshots based
on design principles + fake pretest (people you could become friends with
based on interests and personality (common bond); people with similar age and
occupation (common identity))

9. Example stimulus material
Common identity, pictures from brand Common bond, pictures from fans

10. Resultats – the effects of design strategy
common bond common identity
6
5 *
4 * <.10
3 * *
2
1
0
attitude fan WOM fan intention to intention to attitude loyalty WOM
page page follow participate brand brand brand

11. Resultats – the effects of picture source
fans brand
6
5 <.10
4
*
3
* * *
2
1
0
attitude fan WOM fan intention to intention to attitude loyalty WOM brand
page page follow participate brand brand

12. Resultats – interaction effects design x picture source
intention to follow intention to participate
common bond common identity common bond common identity
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
fans brand fans brand

13. Resultaten – interaction effect design x picture source
loyalty
common bond common identity
5
4
3
2
1
0
fans brand

14. Conclusions
• Common bond design results in a more positive attitude towards the
fan page and more WOM for the fan page
• Common identity design stimulates active participation and results in
a more positive attitude towards the brand
• Pictures by fans result in a more positive attitude towards the fan
page and more WOM for the fan page => people look for social
relationships on SNS
• Pictures by the brand stimulate active participation
• Especially the combination common identity + brand pictures
stimulates active participation
• Mismatch common bond – brand pictures decreases loyalty

15. Discussion
• Different forms of attachment have different consequences
– Common bond: positive attitude and WOM towards the
community
– Common identity: positive for brand (active participation within
community as well as attitude)
– Similar pattern for picture source

16. Discussion
• Implication: optimal strategy depends on goal
– Awareness, attracting many visitors/light and medium buyers:
common bond design, fan pictures
– Active participation, transfer to brand: common identity + brand
pictures
• Again: weaker effects on buying intention
• Limitations: Experiment, only screenshots => effects stronger for real
communities?
• Strength: Experiment => independent influence of factors, causal
relationship, avoid selection effects
• Future research: generalizability to other products, role of interactive
apps
• Take home message: theory-based design works!