Factors Influencing Users' Satisfaction and Intention to Continue Following Brand Accounts on Instagram

Abstract

In this digital society, social networking sites (SNS) is integrated into people's daily lives. SNS such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are used for sharing and obtaining information, connecting and maintaining social relationships, entertainment and self-expression. Moreover, brands and businesses also utilize SNS as marketing channel to connect, interact and reach out to consumers online. Instagram, a photo sharing SNS, has reached 1 billion monthly active users in 2018, and is the fastest growing SNS with higher user engagement compared to other SNS. With the increasing popularity of Instagram, many brands have taken advantage of this platform to achieve their marketing goals in online environment.

This study aims to examine the factors affecting satisfaction and intention to continue following brand accounts on Instagram by investigating the relationships between perceptions of brand account, attitude toward brand account, usage behavior, satisfaction and intention to continue following brand accounts. Data was gathered through an online survey from 321 respondents in Malaysia who are Instagram brand accounts followers.

The findings of this study are as follows. First, the study found that perceptions of brand account (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment) have positive effect on attitude toward brand account. Among the three perceptions, perceived enjoyment is found to have the strongest effect, followed by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Second, attitude toward brand account was found to have positive effect on usage behavior. Third, this study confirmed that usage behavior positively influences satisfaction and intention to continue following brand accounts on Instagram. Fourth, the study found that satisfaction has significant positive relationship with intention to continue following brand accounts on Instagram. Additionally, satisfaction was also found to be mediating the relationship between usage behavior and intention to continue following brand accounts on Instagram. This research has contributed to an understanding of how informative, easily accessible and entertaining content can enhance users' positive attitude toward brand account, which in turn will increase their usage of brand account on Instagram. Ultimately, higher usage level will lead to higher satisfaction and higher possibility to continue following brand accounts on Instagram. It has provided an insight that will be helpful for brands in strategizing their content to retain their brand account followers on Instagram. Implications and limitations have been discussed.