Brand Management in the Era of Social Media: Social Visibility of Consumption and Customer Brand Identification

Abstract

Despite consumers’ increasing use of social media channels to make their travel experiences more visible to people within their social networks, brand management research in the tourism literature lacks a clear understanding of how social visibility of consumption affects consumer perceptions of their relationships with the brand. Drawing upon social identity theory and the theory of conspicuous consumption, this study extends the current brand management literature by investigating the role of consumption’s social visibility in the formation of customer brand identification in the era of social media. Using the airline industry as the study context, this study suggests that social visibility of consumption leads to cognitive, affective, and evaluative identifications. The results also indicate that the three components of customer brand identification interact with each other in realizing positive word of mouth communication. The findings highlight the significant benefits of making customers’ travel experiences socially visible to people around them.