5.1 Overview of research finding
This paper aims to understand whether social networks can bring benefits to enterprises. We developed six hypotheses in our research that are listed below in table 66. In the first stage of our research, we use Spearman's rank correlation coefficient as our statistical method, and find three characteristics to help us conduct the following research. In stage two, we used linear regression as our statistic method and took 232 records from 58 global firms as our data. Our results encouraged us to continue our research in depth. In stage three, we used 11 firms in Taiwan as our research targets and tested hypothesis one. The results provided us with information to suggest to enterprises. Moreover, we collected monthly data from those 11 firms in Taiwan to analyze others hypotheses we addressed. Through step-by-step research, we gained more understanding about the benefits of enterprises using fan page.
Table 5.1-1. Finding of six hypotheses in this study
Hypotheses Contents Finding
H1 The better the fan-page managing capability, the higher the product sales
Rejected in global firms test, Accepted in airline, banking, and CVS industry test in Taiwan H2 The better the fan-page
management capability, the higher the customer satisfaction
Rejected in telecommunications and banking industry test
H3 The better the fan-page
management capability, the greater the customer growth
Rejected in telecommunications industry test
Accepted in airline and banking industry test
H4 The better the fan-page
management capability, the higher the brand awareness
Rejected in global firms test
H5 The better the fan-page
management capability, the better the customer loyalty
Rejected in telecommunications and airline industry test
Accepted in banking industry test H6 The better the fan-page
management capability, the more successful the product development
This study could not test it so far
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5.2 Verification of the fan-page effect by total revenue
5.2.1 Verification of the fan-page effect by total revenue from 16 global cases
Based on the stage 1 analysis of the 16 global fan pages (see Table 5.2-1), more than half the enterprises (11 enterprises) show a strong relationship between fan numbers and business revenue. The rest show a low relationship between the number of fan pages and business revenue. Investigating in greater depth, the 11 strongly related cases yielded a finding that shows that the enterprises share similar characteristics in their products, with short-product durability, low-product prices and low-customer involvement. Conversely, the five cases with the low relationships generally have a high-product price with long-product durability or with high-customer involvement.Table 5.2-1. Research results of 16 global firms
Positive Strong Relationship No relationship
11 5
It seems that customers of relatively low-priced and short-life cycle products are more likely to be impacted by a fan page. Based on these general findings, we selected cases from industries with multiple-product prices, different kinds of product durability, and varied customer involvement, and tested whether there were different statistical results between industries with different kind of characteristics.
5.2.2 Verification of the fan-page effect by total revenue from global firms
The findings of our stage 2 studies showed that there is no significant between the fan numbers of Facebook fan pages and yearly total revenue. There are many factors that affect the total revenue of enterprises but in some situations the fan numbers increase due to activities or advertisements, yet yearly revenue decreases due to economic reasons or other negative events in the industry.
In addition, we also studied the following industries: food and beverage, clothing and accessories, retail, technology, and automobiles. The findings of these statistical analyses also showed an irrelevance between the fan numbers and total revenue.
Based on these results, we have confidence that we can reject hypothesis 1: The better the fan-page managing capability, the higher the product sales
Although the public believes that managing fan pages can bring higher product sales and there are many enterprises that have invested many resources on running fan pages, the result is that investment does not really bring more sales and create more
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revenue because there is a barrier between how to transfer the fans on Facebook to real consumers. Enterprises cannot find a solution to overcome this gap, so the fan numbers on Facebook do not reflect on the total revenue in each industry. Enterprises should not expect to earn much more revenue from managing fan pages. However, social networks have a great influence on attracting users, delivering messages, and interacting with users; thus enterprises can make a long-term plan of managing fan pages for other proposes and targets.
Table 5.2-2. Research results of 58 global firms Industries With Three
Characteristics
Person Correlation
Adjusted R
Square Relationship Food and Beverage
(Global)
Y 0.385 0.12 N
Clothing and
Accessories (Global)
Y 0.123 -0.005 N
Retail (Global) Y 0.058 -0.0026 N
Technology (Global) N 0.046 -0.024 N
Automobiles (Global) N 0.355 0.1 N
5.2.3 Verification of fan-page effect by total revenue from firms in Taiwan
Although results showed that there is no significance between fan numbers and total revenue either from our worldwide observation of firms or in different industries, we can still find an interesting and useful finding from the analysis for four industries in Taiwan. From the research results, we can see that industries with one or more characteristics have a positive relationship between fan numbers and total revenue.
Therefore, we do not reject hypothesis 1: The better the fan-page management capability, the higher the product sales.
We separated the industries to analyze. In the telecommunications industry, the products include Internet services, mobile solutions, and others. Fans on Facebook are more complex than in other industries: they may be mobile subscribers, coming to a fan page maybe for mobile issues, or perhaps for other reasons. Because of the uncertainty of fans group, it is not possible to bring the total revenue under fan numbers.
In this stage, we collected more detailed data and reduced the error caused by mixing the data from different industries and companies. In the airline industry, the product durability is short (a trip, 40 to 50 minutes) and it is almost the same in the size of the seat and quality of facilities in domestic flights. As customers only care
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about the price of tickets, the customer involvement is relatively low; in the banking industry, it is free to apply for a credit card, and there are usually benefits to encourage customers paying by credit card; in the CVS industry, the product’s price is low (20 to 100 NTD), the product durability is relatively short (5 to 120 minutes) and customers do not spend too much time choosing which convenience store to patronize, therefore, customer involvement is related low.
Based on the reasons above and the statistical results, this provides encouraging evidence to enterprises in Taiwan. If they have one or more of the characteristics we mentioned, they can consider in investing resources to managing fan pages to bring in more revenue.
Table 5.2-3. Research results of firms in Taiwan
Industries With Three
Characteristics
5.3 Verification of the fan-page effect by customer satisfaction
We obtained public data from the telecommunications and banking industries to verify hypothesis 2, and the results showed a rejection of it: The better the fan page-
management capability, the higher the customer satisfaction.
Base on the results, no matter which industry you work in, we suggest enterprises in Taiwan do not run fan pages for the purpose of enhancing customer satisfaction. As Facebook is just other venue that is different from the original venue through to collect complaints from customers and create better user experiences, it is not a tool to solve a problem caused by products or services. The problem post on a fan page sometimes cannot be solved or enterprises do not take those problems too seriously. Due to the abovementioned reason, it is not so easy to achieve higher customer satisfaction only by running a fan page, and more efforts on other aspects like yield rate and problem solving should be explored.
Table 5.3-1. Research results about customer satisfaction by industry in Taiwan
Industries With Three
Characteristics
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(Taiwan)
Banking (Taiwan) Y 0.407 0.156 N
5.4 Verification of the fan-page effect by customer growth
The results of our research showed that the airline and banking industries in Taiwan had a positive relationship between two customer-growth variables. In these two industries, we do not reject hypothesis 3: The better the fan-page management capability, the greater the customer growth.
In addition, it gives us support to advise enterprises in Taiwan with one or more characteristics that they could consider by investing resources in managing fan pages for the purposes of reaching and attracting more customers. People are usually attracted by advertisements, product news, and price information, and do not think too much when buying, hence, customer involvement is low. Based on their background, enterprises should provide more product formula, price information and preferences with customers via Facebook. After receiving this information, customers could make a quick purchase decision without pondering too much over the details.
Table 5.4-1. Research results about customer growth by industry in Taiwan
Industries With Three
Characteristics
Person Correlation
Adjusted R
Squire Relationship
Telecommunication(Taiwan)
N 0.412 0.157 N
Airline (Taiwan) Y 0.667 0.432 Y
Banking (Taiwan) Y 0.528 0.270 Y
5.5 Verification of the fan-page effect by brand value
Our statistical results showed that there is no positive relationship between fan numbers and brand value. Hence, we can reject hypothesis 4: The better the fan-page management capability, the higher the brand awareness.
For the same reasons as described previously, many factors influence brand value.
In some situation, the fan numbers increase but the brand value lessens because of negative news, financial affairs, or public affairs. Those positive or negative variations could bring fans and determine the brand value, but may not in the same aspect.
5.6 Verification of the fan-page effect by customer loyalty
The results in our research showed that there is a positive relationship between fan numbers and the variables about customer loyalty in the airline and banking industries. In these two industries in Taiwan, we do not reject hypotheses 5: The better
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the fan-page management capability, the better the customer-relationship management.
Because the producer-to-consumer flow is relatively short in these two industries, and their products or services also have one or more characteristics we mentioned. It is very important to fulfill customer needs immediately and consolidate the customer relationship by contacting the customer via any channel. The Facebook fan page is a powerful channel in what enterprises in these two industries need. Enterprises could handle the problem about consumers promptly, provide the information with customer needs, and most important, focus their attention on what customer really worries about by building long-term relationships with customers by daily interactions and negotiations on the fan page. We encourage enterprises with one or more characteristics that we have mentioned in this research to invest the resources and time on managing fan pagess for building long-term relationships with customers and strengthening customer loyalty.
Table 5.6-1. Research results about customer loyalty by industry in Taiwan Industries With Three
Characteristics
Person Correlation
Adjusted R
Squire Relationship Telecommunications
(Taiwan)
N 0.454 0.194 N
Airline (Taiwan) Y 0.046 -0.022 N
Banking (Taiwan) Y 0.534 0.277 Y
For all the above explanations, products or services with low-priced, short- product durability or low-customer involvement are easily affected by the events, news, or activities on Facebook. But the effects do not apply to all enterprises. We can see the effects of managing fan pages in some specific regions in selected industries in Taiwan. There is also a positive relationship between fan numbers and customer- loyalty related indicators. In addition, there is a positive relationship between fan numbers and customer growth-related indicators. We encourage enterprises with one or more characteristics that we have mentioned to manage their Facebook fan pages for enhancing customer growth and intensifying customer loyalty. However, we suggest enterprises to estimate more factors and do more research if they run Facebook fan pages for other purposes.
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