Unmasking the power of social media marketing activities in cultivating customer equity, loyalty, and repurchase intention

Abstract

ABSTRACT The literature has shown a growing interest in investigating the factors that drive customer equity and its consequences for maintaining customer-brand relationships, specifically in the context of social media commerce. Despite this, the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMAs) on customers’ equity, loyalty, and repurchase intentions needs further investigation. This study explores the impact of SMMAs (including perceived interactivity, informativeness, word-of-mouth (WOM), personalization, and trendiness) on repurchase intention through customer equity drivers and brand loyalty. The data for this study was collected from 971 customers and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that SMMAs significantly influence customer equity drivers, except perceived WOM, which influences value equity only. Further, customer equity drivers mediate the effects of SMMAs (except perceived WOM) on brand loyalty and indirectly influence repurchase intention through brand loyalty. This study adds to the understanding of how SMMAs influence social media customers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions. Thus, its findings would help researchers, marketers, and stakeholders understand how to foster social media customers’ equity, loyalty, and repurchase intentions.