Me and my brands: drivers and outcomes of 'brand selfies'

Borel, Laurence (2021) Me and my brands: drivers and outcomes of 'brand selfies'. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Abstract

With millions of selfies posted daily, including with brands, the selfie phenomenon has unsurprisingly gained considerable academic and practitioner attention in recent years. Despite a plethora of studies on selfies stemming from several fields of scholarly inquiry, research on brand selfies has in contrast remained scant, and presents several shortcomings. This study aims to address a research gap by establishing what motivates individuals to post brand selfies. Based on the Uses & Gratifications theory, three studies were conducted. Firstly, an exploratory content analysis(study 1)of 2,000 brand selfies was developed to establish their visual and textual characteristics. A conceptual model of drivers and outcomes of brand selfies was subsequently developed using a two-step approach of 20 semi-structured interviews (study 2), and an online survey of n=511 participants recruited from an online panel (study 3).Study 1 revealed that brand selfies’ characteristics are not homogeneous, and helped identify 8 categories of consumer-generated hashtags. Study 2 helped uncover four consumer motives for posting brand selfies,(1) attention seeking, (2) status seeking, (3) social interaction, (4) archiving, and two brand-led drivers, (5) actual and (6) ideal self-congruence. Brand attachment and narcissism were inferred as moderators, while solicited WoM and unsolicited WoM were inferred as outcomes of posting intent. In study 3the conceptual model was tested using SEM, with the results largely supporting the hypotheses. The data show that status seeking, social interaction, archiving, and actual self-congruence positively influence posting intent. Brand attachment and narcissism were found to weaken posting intent when selfies were posted as a result of actual self-congruence, to archive the self, or to seek status. Lastly, the data indicate that solicited WoM and unsolicited WoM are mediated through posting intent. Overall, the thesis contributes to the burgeoning literature on the brand selfie phenomenon and offers additional contributions to the brand UGC, hashtag, psychology, and WoM literature. The findings provide important strategic implications for social media marketers involved in the development of brand selfies campaigns.

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