#Me and brands: understanding brand-selfie posters on social media

Abstract

Marketing scholars and consumer psychologists are turning their attention to the increasing proliferation of selfies. This study investigates a new type of electronic word-of-mouth, namely, selfies with brands/products (brand-selfies'), on social networking sites, and considers three factors as predictive of brand-selfie posting behaviour: narcissism, materialism, and beliefs that social networking sites are sources of brand information. Data from an online survey were analysed using discriminant analysis to identify characteristics of consumers that do or do not post brand-selfies. The results found that narcissism, materialism, and the belief that social networking sites were brand/product information sources meaningfully related to social networking sites' users' brand-selfie posting behaviour and that they differentiated between brand-selfie posters and non-brand-selfie posters. Consumers' perceptions of social networking sites as sources of brand/product information were most strongly predicted by their brand-selfie posting behaviours. Areas for future research are discussed.