The Impact of Social Media Marketing Communications on Consumer Response During the COVID-19: Does the Brand Equity of a University Matter?

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The main objective of the current study is to investigate the impact of social media marketing communication on the consumer response to University in UAE during COVID-19. In addition to that, the study has also examined the mediating role of brand equity of university in the relationship between social media marketing communication and consumer response during the COVID-19. The schedule for the academic session of an academic year, their starting and ending dates, schedule for vacations all vary from country to country; as a result, the conditions were not similar and varied due to the same reason. However, few countries suspended their classic room lectures from March or April 2020 up to further notification. We employed a combination of inferential and descriptive analyses to carry out the data analysis. For this purpose, the PLS-SEM approach was integrated, which is a second-generation technique for structural equation modeling. PLS-SEM is a relatively new approach and provides reliable results when coupled with SEM models. The response rate is above 50%. Customer-Based Brand Equity illustrated the significant indirect impacts of these significant indirect effects on the association among Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) and social media marketing communications. As a result, this research further added the perception of Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) in the perception of UNIVERSITY perception through endorsing the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE), which estimates the brand sustainability, explicit consumers associations, functional brand image, perception, hedonic brand image and experiences with UNIVERSITY brands by brand awareness. This research work also positioned the two levels of social media communication, such as UGC and FCC, into marketing communication through endorsing the degrees of social media advertising, social media promotions, and social media interactive marketing. Hence, the research was capable of discussing the various roles of these social media marketing communications on the consumer response and the growth of Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE). Moreover, Customer-Based Brand Equity was illustrated to have significant influences on consumer responses.