Publication - Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Brand Consciousness

Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Brand Consciousness

Iftikhar Hussain; Qazi Mohammed Ahmed*; Ahmed Qazi; Shahid Ahmed

Abstract:

The evolution of social media as an interactive technology has empowered and influenced the lives of millions; on personal, organizational and global level. Its impression within the field of marketing also remains unprecedented and is regarded as a basic ingredient of enhancing consumer engagement online. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of branding within a social media marketing (SMM) perspective. The study explores how social media marketing activities build brand loyalty and how this relationship is mediated through brand consciousness. The empirical investigation involves a self-administered and a structured questionnaire, distributed through a convenience sample of 320 under-graduate and graduate students. Data analysis was conducted through SPSS 23.0 for demographic comparisons and SmartPLS 3 for evaluating the measurement and structural model of the study. The findings show that social media marketing has a significant positive influence on brand loyalty but this relationship is partially mediated by brand consciousness. In the same manner, social media marketing exerts a significant positive impact on brand consciousness and resultantly, brand consciousness also exerts a significant positive impact on brand loyalty. The results provide valuable insights for marketers in integrating social media as a driving tool for developing brand engagement strategies that not only provide awareness about products/services but also generate a cult following for them. Although the study faced limitations of choosing a specific demographic segment and issues pertaining to generalizability, the proposed model directs towards additional moderators and context based variables which could provide more fruitful insights into consumer associations within brand communities. The paper contributes to the literature pertaining to social media through a branding

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