The Influence of Social Media Marketing Activities on Brand Equity; With Mediating Role of Brand Image

Abstract

The use of social media is becoming trendy among the people day after the day. More and more people are adopting it and at a very fast pace. Which is why brands and businesses are also adopting it for the sake of social media marketing and to use it as a medium to promote themselves in the market place. Several studies from the past have already revealed the imp01iance of the social media as marketing platform for the brands and businesses. Where the recent outbreak of COVID-19 has further revealed its imp01iance for the businesses. This study aims to explore that whether social media marketing activities, both directly and indirectly, influences brand equity positively or not. Social media marketing activities positively enhances brand image which further influences brand equity and it creates an indirect positive impact over brand equity with the mediating role played by brand image. This study is conducted on a sample size of 275 individuals from the selective urban cities of Pakistan. A quantitative research approach and survey strategy through online questionnaires is adopted for this study, and assessed with structural equation modeling (SEM). Moreover, fashion industry as a business sector and Facebook as a social media platfonn was opted in this study. The data was collected fonn the respondents based on their experiences related with the fashion industry they had by following Facebook pages of brands and businesses. The results of this study shows positive direct influence of social media marketing activities on brand equity and indirectly influence brand equity mediated by brand image. The study emphasis the role of brand equity and provides guidance toward measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing.