Consumer-Brand Relationships in the Era of Social Media and Big Data

Dear Colleagues,

Recent technological advancements related to social media and big data are changing how consumers communicate, interact, and co-create with brands and other consumers (Blasco, Hernandez and Jimenez, 2016; Kumar et al., 2016; Ruiz-Mafe and Veloutsou, 2017). Social media play an essential role during the customer journey, improving the information obtained about products and services, reducing the perceived risk in brand choice, and increasing the value of the overall consumer experience (Bigne, Ruiz and Curras, 2019; Ketter, 2016). In this context, recent studies have argued that the major challenge in developing exceptional experiences lies in creating connections among different touchpoints within the customer journey to achieve positive outcomes (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Moreover, automated forms of interaction, such as artificial intelligence and robotics, are generating new dynamics in consumer experiences with brands. As a result, brands face several challenges in applying, leveraging, and optimizing the benefits of using social media in combination with other technologies to engage consumers and establish long-term relationships. 

Due to the novelty of these technologies, several gaps remain to be addressed. For example, the multidimensional nature of consumer experiences has led researchers to focus primarily on cognitive and affective dimensions (Mody, Suess and Lehto, 2018; Servidio and Ruffolo, 2016), with few studies examining social and sensorial dimensions. This Special Issue welcomes conceptual, methodological and empirical contributions in the areas of consumer experiences with brands and the customer journey in social media. Possible topics might cover (but are not limited to) the following:

- Consumer experiences with brands in social media: chatbots, eWOM, online reviews

- Conceptualizations of the customer journey in social media

- Social commerce

- Key drivers and outcomes of consumer-brand experiences in social media

- Cognitive, affective, sensorial and social dimensions of consumer experiences with brands on social media

- Brand engagement in social media

- Artificial intelligence (AI) and consumer-brand relationships

- Authentic consumer experiences with brands in social media

- Big data and consumer-brand relationships

- CSR and social media

- Co-creation in social platforms 

Prof. Dr. Blanca Hernandez Ortega
Prof. Dr. Carla Ruiz Mafe
Guest Editors

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