Effect of online social media marketing efforts on customer response

Abstract

AbstractIt has been a challenge to map the efficacy of marketing communications in building stronger brands on social media. Given the paucity of research in this area, the present study offers a holistic model that maps the effect of social media marketing (hereinafter SMMEs) on consumer response via building brand equity and brand trust. This study was conducted on customers of major brands of smartphones in India. The data were collected from 318 consumers who visited fan pages of the selected brands of smartphones. The current study examines how SMMEs influence customer behavior via brand equity and trust. Additionally, the study examines how brand equity and brand trust interact during the process. The current study's findings indicate that brand equity partially mediates the effect of SMMEs on customer response. On the other hand, SMMEs do not succeed in converting brand trust into customer response. Further, brand equity fully mediates SMMEs' effect on brand trust. Finally, the results also show that the effect of brand equity on customer response is partially mediated by brand trust. Toward the end, study dwells on its practical implications and limitations.