Are social media brand advocates the better customers?

What is it about?

Across a field study and an experimental validation, we find that customers who advocate for a brand on social media tend to purchase less, while those who criticize the brand tend to purchase more — challenging the widely held belief among marketers that advocates are more loyal customers than critics.

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Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The results of a field study and an experiment indicate that customers who advocate for the brand tend to purchase less often, while customers who criticize the brand tend to purchase more often. While advocactes primarily seek social value through community bonding, critics aim to extract transactional value, either by maintaining a balanced brand relationship or prompting improvements in the brand’s offerings. Overall, this research challenges the assumption that advocacy fosters more loyal behaviors than criticism.