A qualitative exploration of factors influencing customer equity in social media platforms

A growing body of literature has examined the influence of social media upon customer equity. Stemming from a social customer relationship management perspective, this research aims to find factors which could be relevant to customer equity in the area of online fashion brand’s social media through qualitative inquiry. Focus group research reveals a number of factors which may influence value equity, brand equity, or relationship equity including culture, whether the media is user or marketer generated content, the social media platform being used, openness to advertising, and the consumers’ level of fashion involvement. Suggestions for future research are made in terms of investigating these factors in with surveys. Implications for both practitioners and academics are discussed in relation to managing these influential factors.