The Value of Followers on Social Media

Social media transformed how customers interact with brands. This article utilizes social capital theory and examines how the followers on the brand social media influence on tangible outcomes, such as sales performance. Brand followers on social media often engage in support activities such as via sharing or generating brand contents and spreading positive Word of Mouth about the brand throughout their peer networks. In this aspect, the followers on the brand social media are considered digital social capital of the brand, and their brand support activities on social media are likely to have significant contributions to brand sales. Also, we utilize brand attachment theory to predict that the follower effect will be larger for niche brands. We implemented fixed-effect models and examined the dynamic trends in the number of followers and ticket sales performances of all 31 teams in the National Football League while controlling for team-level heterogeneities. The results suggest that the followers on brand social media contribute significantly to sales outcomes. Also, the effect is stronger for niche brands compared to mass brands. © 1973-2011 IEEE.