e-mentor, no. 2 (59), pages 77–85, April 2015
Note: the original article was published in Polish, under the title Badanie aktywności online polskich konsumentów dotyczącej marek. This page presents it in English. The English title is the journal’s own; the activities and tables were translated from Polish for this page. The citation below gives the original title followed by its English translation in square brackets.
- Open access
- 2,253 Polish Internet users
- Online survey
- 31 brand-related activities
- Gender differences
- Article in Polish
- consumer’s online brand-related activities
- COBRAs
- consuming, contributing and creating brand-related content
- social media
- brand engagement
- user-generated content
- gender differences
- Polish consumers
- Polish Internet users
- Web 2.0
- online survey
- Mann–Whitney U test
- Poland
Polish Internet users mostly consume brand content online, such as looking at brand photos and ads and reading reviews; far fewer comment, like or create content about brands. In a survey of 2,253 users, men created and contributed more brand-related content than women, while women read more promotional emails and looked at more ads.
Key findings
- Consuming brand content is far more common than creating it. Among 2,253 Polish Internet users, consuming activities (mean scores up to 4.3 on a 1–7 scale) were more frequent than contributing (up to 3.6) and creating activities (2.0 to 2.2), and for every creating activity more than half of respondents answered “never” (Schivinski & Brzozowska-Woś, 2015).
- Photos, ads and reviews draw the most attention. The most frequent consuming activities were looking at brand photos and graphics (mean 4.3), looking at the brand’s ads such as banners (4.2) and reading product reviews (4.1) (Schivinski & Brzozowska-Woś, 2015).
- “Liking” is the main way consumers contribute. Among contributing activities, “liking” the brand’s fan pages (mean 3.6), videos and posts (3.2) was most frequent; commenting on brand content was rare (2.3 to 2.5) (Schivinski & Brzozowska-Woś, 2015).
- Men create and contribute more brand content than women. Men scored significantly higher than women on all eight creating activities and on most contributing ones, for example commenting on brand videos (2.57 vs 2.07), while women read more promotional emails (2.94 vs 2.73) and looked at more ads (4.37 vs 4.04) (Schivinski & Brzozowska-Woś, 2015).
At a glance
- Design
- Exploratory online survey of Polish Internet users, advertised on websites and social networking profiles (5 March to 4 June 2014), with two screening questions; each respondent named a brand they are active about online
- Participants
- 2,253 valid questionnaires from 2,678 respondents (55.7% women; 61.1% aged 22–29); 311 brands
- Measures
- 31 online brand-related activities: 12 consuming, 11 contributing and 8 creating, rated from 1 (never) to 7 (very often)
- Analysis
- Frequency distributions, means and Mann–Whitney U tests for differences between women and men
- Language
- The article is in Polish; the English abstract is on the journal’s site. The activities and tables on this page are translated from Polish.
- Funding
- National Science Centre (NCN), Poland, PRELUDIUM project UMO-2012/07/N/HS4/02790
Most frequent online brand-related activities, by COBRA type
Tables
Table 1. Level of consumers’ brand-related activity: consuming COBRA type
| Activity | 1 (never) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (very often) | Mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I read reviews of products of the chosen brand. | 14.7 | 10.6 | 12.7 | 15.5 | 18.3 | 16.3 | 11.9 | 4.1 | 1.9 |
| I read promotional emails related to this brand. | 35.5 | 17.4 | 12.6 | 12.3 | 9.7 | 7.4 | 5.1 | 2.9 | 1.8 |
| I read other people’s comments about this brand on social networking sites. | 15.7 | 12.3 | 15.2 | 15.9 | 17.3 | 12.9 | 10.7 | 3.9 | 1.9 |
| I read posts published by this brand on social networking sites. | 17.6 | 12.9 | 13.5 | 15.4 | 16.6 | 12.8 | 11.2 | 3.9 | 1.9 |
| I watch videos related to the chosen brand. | 20.4 | 15.7 | 13.3 | 15.4 | 14.2 | 12.1 | 8.9 | 3.6 | 1.9 |
| I view this brand’s fan page (e.g., on Facebook). | 19.3 | 13.5 | 13.2 | 11.9 | 15.2 | 13.8 | 13.1 | 3.9 | 2.0 |
| I look at this brand’s ads (e.g., banners). | 9.6 | 10.0 | 14.0 | 19.7 | 18.6 | 15.8 | 12.3 | 4.2 | 1.8 |
| I visit this brand’s website to follow news. | 17.7 | 13.9 | 11.9 | 14.6 | 14.8 | 13.4 | 13.7 | 3.9 | 2.0 |
| I look at photos and other graphics related to the chosen brand. | 11.0 | 10.9 | 12.0 | 16.7 | 18.7 | 15.6 | 15.1 | 4.3 | 1.9 |
| I download applications (e.g., widgets) related to this brand. | 36.2 | 14.6 | 10.3 | 12.5 | 10.4 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| I follow blogs related to the chosen brand. | 38.4 | 18.4 | 10.8 | 11.1 | 9.3 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 1.9 |
| I follow this brand on social networking sites. | 20.0 | 14.3 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 14.5 | 12.0 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.0 |
Percentage of respondents at each level of the 7-point scale (1 = never, 7 = very often); mean and SD computed on the 1–7 scale; n = 2,253. Activities translated from Polish.
Table 3. Level of consumers’ brand-related activity: contributing COBRA type
| Activity | 1 (never) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (very often) | Mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I comment on videos related to this brand. | 51.6 | 15.4 | 10.6 | 9.2 | 6.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 1.7 |
| I comment on posts related to this brand. | 48.2 | 15.4 | 11.1 | 10.5 | 6.8 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 2.4 | 1.8 |
| I post comments on this brand’s fan page. | 52.2 | 15.6 | 9.1 | 9.6 | 6.6 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 2.3 | 1.7 |
| I comment on photos and other graphics related to this brand. | 45.7 | 16.5 | 11.4 | 9.9 | 7.1 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| I rate products of the chosen brand (e.g., giving stars or points, leaving opinions). | 34.3 | 15.0 | 12.8 | 12.7 | 10.5 | 8.3 | 6.4 | 3.0 | 1.9 |
| I “like” pictures of the chosen brand. | 27.6 | 14.5 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 13.0 | 9.6 | 10.1 | 3.0 | 1.9 |
| I “like” fan pages related to this brand. | 25.6 | 11.3 | 13.3 | 12.6 | 12.2 | 11.2 | 13.8 | 3.6 | 2.1 |
| I “like” videos of the chosen brand. | 31.5 | 13.9 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 11.5 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 3.2 | 2.0 |
| I “like” posts of the chosen brand. | 29.7 | 14.4 | 13.9 | 12.5 | 11.5 | 9.2 | 8.8 | 3.2 | 2.0 |
| I click on this brand’s ads. | 30.5 | 17.2 | 13.8 | 13.8 | 12.3 | 7.0 | 5.4 | 3.0 | 1.9 |
| I add videos related to this brand to my “favourites”. | 54.9 | 17.1 | 8.5 | 7.7 | 4.9 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.7 |
Percentage of respondents at each level of the 7-point scale (1 = never, 7 = very often); mean and SD computed on the 1–7 scale; n = 2,253. Activities translated from Polish.
Table 5. Level of consumers’ brand-related activity: creating COBRA type
| Activity | 1 (never) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (very often) | Mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I write reviews of this brand’s products. | 60.9 | 13.8 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 4.7 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.6 |
| I post photos of myself with a product of the chosen brand. | 55.3 | 12.6 | 10.2 | 8.8 | 5.9 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| I post photos of the chosen brand’s products. | 56.3 | 14.6 | 9.5 | 7.0 | 5.9 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 1.7 |
| I share posts about this brand. | 55.3 | 16.0 | 9.1 | 7.3 | 6.2 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| I share videos that show this brand. | 57.4 | 13.7 | 10.1 | 8.4 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| I share entries about this brand. | 56.3 | 15.9 | 9.0 | 7.8 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| I share photos or graphics that show the chosen brand’s products. | 53.0 | 14.8 | 10.5 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| I post entries about this brand on blogs and/or discussion forums. | 60.3 | 13.4 | 8.3 | 7.4 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.6 |
Percentage of respondents at each level of the 7-point scale (1 = never, 7 = very often); mean and SD computed on the 1–7 scale; n = 2,253. Activities translated from Polish.
Table 2. Average level of consumers’ online brand-related activity by gender: consuming COBRA type
| Activity | Men: mean | Men: SD | Women: mean | Women: SD | z | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I read reviews of products of the chosen brand. | 4.24 | 1.90 | 3.98 | 1.95 | −3.02 | < .001 |
| I read promotional emails related to this brand. | 2.73 | 1.83 | 2.94 | 1.92 | −2.50 | < .01 |
| I read other people’s comments about this brand on social networking sites. | 3.94 | 1.90 | 3.84 | 1.93 | −1.20 | 0.23 |
| I read posts published by this brand on social networking sites. | 3.87 | 1.95 | 3.82 | 1.98 | −0.58 | 0.56 |
| I watch videos related to the chosen brand. | 4.07 | 1.95 | 3.26 | 1.90 | −9.51 | < .001 |
| I view this brand’s fan page (e.g., on Facebook). | 3.77 | 2.05 | 3.88 | 2.07 | −1.22 | 0.22 |
| I look at this brand’s ads (e.g., banners). | 4.04 | 1.77 | 4.37 | 1.82 | −4.36 | < .001 |
| I visit this brand’s website to follow news. | 3.88 | 1.96 | 3.91 | 2.09 | −0.36 | 0.71 |
| I look at photos and other graphics related to the chosen brand. | 4.36 | 1.91 | 4.24 | 1.90 | −1.50 | 0.13 |
| I download applications (e.g., widgets) related to this brand. | 3.03 | 2.02 | 3.02 | 2.04 | −0.16 | 0.86 |
| I follow blogs related to the chosen brand. | 2.98 | 1.96 | 2.61 | 1.84 | −4.49 | < .001 |
| I follow this brand on social networking sites. | 3.76 | 2.02 | 3.67 | 2.00 | −1.04 | 0.30 |
Mann–Whitney U test; n = 2,253 (women = 1,343, men = 909); means on the 1–7 scale. Values as printed. Activities translated from Polish.
Table 4. Average level of consumers’ online brand-related activity by gender: contributing COBRA type
| Activity | Men: mean | Men: SD | Women: mean | Women: SD | z | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I comment on videos related to this brand. | 2.57 | 1.79 | 2.07 | 1.58 | −7.20 | < .001 |
| I comment on posts related to this brand. | 2.62 | 1.82 | 2.26 | 1.70 | −4.94 | < .001 |
| I post comments on this brand’s fan page. | 2.53 | 1.79 | 2.09 | 1.63 | −6.57 | < .001 |
| I comment on photos and other graphics related to this brand. | 2.72 | 1.86 | 2.34 | 1.76 | −5.32 | < .001 |
| I rate products of the chosen brand (e.g., giving stars or points, leaving opinions). | 3.14 | 1.94 | 2.92 | 1.96 | −2.73 | < .01 |
| I “like” pictures of the chosen brand. | 3.44 | 2.02 | 3.36 | 2.08 | −1.03 | 0.30 |
| I “like” fan pages related to this brand. | 3.56 | 2.07 | 3.68 | 2.18 | −1.15 | 0.25 |
| I “like” videos of the chosen brand. | 3.37 | 2.00 | 3.01 | 1.97 | −4.26 | < .001 |
| I “like” posts of the chosen brand. | 3.26 | 1.98 | 3.24 | 2.04 | −0.42 | 0.67 |
| I click on this brand’s ads. | 2.94 | 1.84 | 3.09 | 1.89 | −1.82 | 0.06 |
| I add videos related to this brand to my “favourites”. | 2.39 | 1.76 | 1.98 | 1.56 | −6.22 | < .001 |
Mann–Whitney U test; n = 2,253 (women = 1,343, men = 909); means on the 1–7 scale. Values as printed. Activities translated from Polish.
Table 6. Average level of consumers’ online brand-related activity by gender: creating COBRA type
| Activity | Men: mean | Men: SD | Women: mean | Women: SD | z | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I write reviews of this brand’s products. | 2.13 | 1.64 | 1.90 | 1.50 | −3.41 | < .001 |
| I post photos of myself with a product of the chosen brand. | 2.39 | 1.78 | 2.11 | 1.65 | −4.04 | < .001 |
| I post photos of the chosen brand’s products. | 2.40 | 1.75 | 1.97 | 1.58 | −6.39 | < .001 |
| I share posts about this brand. | 2.40 | 1.78 | 1.96 | 1.50 | −5.84 | < .001 |
| I share videos that show this brand. | 2.34 | 1.71 | 1.91 | 1.48 | −6.24 | < .001 |
| I share entries about this brand. | 2.32 | 1.70 | 1.93 | 1.49 | −5.90 | < .001 |
| I share photos or graphics that show the chosen brand’s products. | 2.45 | 1.80 | 2.11 | 1.62 | −4.28 | < .001 |
| I post entries about this brand on blogs and/or discussion forums. | 2.30 | 1.76 | 1.83 | 1.44 | −6.40 | < .001 |
Mann–Whitney U test; n = 2,253 (women = 1,343, men = 909); means on the 1–7 scale. Values as printed. Activities translated from Polish.
The question
Social media let consumers consume, contribute to and create content about brands, but no study had systematically measured how often consumers in Poland engage in these consumer’s online brand-related activities (COBRAs). We asked how Polish Internet users divide their engagement across consuming, contributing and creating brand-related content, and whether this differs between women and men.
Implications
Practical implications
Brand managers should publish attractive visual content on their own sites and across social media and keep using display advertising, which Polish consumers still notice. Campaigns can be targeted by gender (graphic and email advertising for women; videos and blogs for men), and brands should add “like” and sharing tools, run crowdsourcing initiatives and work with their most active consumers as ambassadors.
Theoretical implications
The results support Muntinga, Moorman and Smit’s view that COBRAs run from consuming through contributing to creating, with engagement falling at each level, and show gender differences at all three levels.
Limitations and future research
- Social media channels (social networks, microblogs, blogs, forums) were not analysed separately.
- The sample included only Polish consumers, and some brands operate only on the local market.
- The study is exploratory; the next steps were a COBRA measurement instrument and the effect of COBRAs on brand equity.
Questions this paper answers
What do Polish consumers do online with brands?
Mostly consume brand content: they look at brand photos and ads and read product reviews. Liking brand content is less common, and creating brand-related content is rare (Schivinski & Brzozowska-Woś, 2015).
Are men or women more active with brands online?
In 2,253 Polish Internet users, men created and contributed more brand-related content, while women read more promotional emails and looked at more ads (Schivinski & Brzozowska-Woś, 2015).
What are COBRAs?
Consumer’s online brand-related activities: consuming, contributing to and creating brand-related content online (Muntinga, Moorman & Smit, 2011).
Is this article available in English?
The article is in Polish, with an English abstract on the e-mentor website. This page summarises it in English, with the activities and tables translated.
Key concepts
- COBRAs
- Consumer’s online brand-related activities, grouped into consuming, contributing and creating brand-related content.
- Consuming COBRA type
- The lowest level of brand-related activity: passively reading, watching and following brand content.
- Contributing COBRA type
- A medium level of activity: interacting with existing brand content by liking, commenting or rating, without creating original content.
- Creating COBRA type
- The highest level of activity: producing and publishing brand-related content that others consume and share.
Open science and materials
- Published version (in Polish) e-mentor 2(59), free PDF on the journal’s website
- English abstract e-mentor English page
Study materials
- Activities measured
- All 31 activities (translated from Polish) with the distribution of answers, means and standard deviations are in Tables 1, 3 and 5; the comparisons between women and men are in Tables 2, 4 and 6.
How to cite
Schivinski, B., & Brzozowska-Woś, M. (2015). Badanie aktywności online polskich konsumentów dotyczącej marek [The study of Polish consumer’s online brand-related activities]. e-mentor, 2(59), 77–85. https://doi.org/10.15219/em59.1174