Understanding the Concept of Social Media Marketing: The Role of Marketing Dimensions Influencing Consumer Brand Loyalty

Abstract

Marketing through social media has become one of the largest platforms for human interaction in the past decade. The total number of social media users in Pakistan has crossed 35 million, which is 16% of the population. This research focuses on empirically testing a theoretical model having social networking, community engagement, and brand use as main antecedents impacting brand loyalty with brand trust as mediator. This research used a comprehensive model of brand loyalty for the development of social media strategy to influence consumer's brand perceptions along with brand trust. The population of the study consists of those 500 consumers belonging from public sector platforms who use social media channels to purchase the products. Moreover, a non-probability convenience sampling technique is applied to gather the data via the electronic survey method. Furthermore, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique, Reliability analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis techniques are applied to test the proposed hypothesis as proposed by Heir et al., (2013). The results show a significantly affirmative and direct effect of social networking on consumer brand loyalty. Community Engagement and Brand usage also substantially affects consumer loyalty with the mediating role of brand trust. The findings validate a significant role of community engagement and social networking in developing brand loyalty. Thus, the research findings are expected to be helpful for marketing firms in managing their social media communication tools.