#Me and brands: understanding brand-selfie posters on social media

ABSTRACT

Marketing scholars and consumer psychologists are turning their attention to the increasing proliferation of selfies. This study investigates a new type of electronic word-of-mouth, namely, selfies with brands/products (‘brand-selfies’), on social networking sites, and considers three factors as predictive of brand-selfie posting behaviour: narcissism, materialism, and beliefs that social networking sites are sources of brand information. Data from an online survey were analysed using discriminant analysis to identify characteristics of consumers that do or do not post brand-selfies. The results found that narcissism, materialism, and the belief that social networking sites were brand/product information sources meaningfully related to social networking sites’ users’ brand-selfie posting behaviour and that they differentiated between brand-selfie posters and non-brand-selfie posters. Consumers’ perceptions of social networking sites as sources of brand/product information were most strongly predicted by their brand-selfie posting behaviours. Areas for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Electronic word-of-mouth
• brand-selfie
• narcissism
• materialism
• social networking sites

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea [grant number NRF-2016S1A3A2924760].

Notes on contributors

Yongjun Sung

Yongjun Sung is a professor of psychology at the Department of Psychology, Korea University. His research focuses on brand personality, self-concept,consumer-brand relationships, brand placement, and consumer psychology. He has authored or co-authored over 70 articles in leading refereed journalsincluding International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Marketing Letters, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, among others.

Eunice Kim

Eunice Kim, PhD is an assistant professor of advertising in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on marketing and persuasive communications in digital media environments, consumer-brand relationships, media psychology, and consumer psychology. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the International Journal of Advertising, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Personality and Individual Differences, Journal of Promotion Management, among others.

Sejung Marina Choi

Sejung Marina Choi is a professor of advertising at School of Media and Communication, Korea University. Her research interests include advertising in new media, branded entertainment, and consumer-brand relationships. Her work has appeared in International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Personality and Individual Differences, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Journal of Global Marketing, Computers in Human Behavior, New Media & Society, Information, Communication and Society, among others. In addition to her academic work, she has several years of professional experience working at an advertising agency.