Engaging consumers and building relationships in social media: How social relatedness influences intrinsic vs. extrinsic consumer motivation

An important component of the consuming experience is a consumer's sense of belonging or relatedness. This is true not only in traditional shopping contexts but also in a social media environment. Nonetheless, little empirical research has addressed how the sense of belonging that consumers experience during their brand-related activities in social media - feelings of "social relatedness" - influence the effectiveness of social media marketing programs. The present study explores, across various consumers who have different motivations to engage with brands, the mechanism that enables perceptions of social relatedness to contribute to consumer engagement and relationship building. The results of the study reveal that consumers' perceived social relatedness moderates the effects of consumer motivation on engagement, consuming intention, satisfaction, affective commitment, and trust. The findings highlight the importance of fulfilling consumers' need for social relatedness in the context of social media, especially for those who are motivated to engage in brand activities via extrinsic factors.