The Psychology of Digital Silence: How Brand Inactivity Affects Consumer Trust on Social Media

Abstract

The speed at which social media has been developed has transformed the way that companies relate with their consumers. The consumers in the new business world require the brands to be active and dynamic on the web. They become trustworthy, transparent and customer relationship involves when they are updated often, responsive and interested information. Conversely, where brands do not exist or the brand is continually silent in the social media platform, the consumers may impart the negative perception of the brand by not being attentive and reliable. It is the so-called digital silence phenomenon which became a very acute problem particularly in the sector that is highly dependent on trust and closely connected with the hygiene, consistency, and quality. This project will concentrate on the psychology of digital silence and the impacts of the same on consumer trust on the social media with case study in Savour Foods. Savour Foods is one of the oldest traditional Pakistani food chains which had a strong off-line image and possessed a loyal client base. The popularity of the brand and the success that has been attributed to it over time suggests that people are not very active on the official social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram. The un Williams-Sonoma postings, the absence of communications, and the slow pace of helping customers on the site depicts the absence of a sense of profound connectedness between the physical place of the brand and the digital communication actions of the brand. The main purpose of the study will be the assessment of the impact of digital silence of Savour Foods on customer confidence, the degree of involvement, and purchase intentions. The nature of the research will be an applied nature since the researcher will utilize primary data collected through structured questionnaires, which he will distribute to users of social media who have already used the brand. The theoretical foundation of the research was also credited by the secondary data in the sense of academic journals, industry reports, as well as, online sources. According to the project results, the less active the online activity, the less the consumer trust regardless of the younger and digitally active populations. Brand inactivity is one aspect that has been identified by the consumers, and it leads to the uncertainties that surround the quality of the services offered and customer care. Moreover, the study indicates that engagement satisfaction is mediating in terms of its relationship between online silence and consumer trust that bad interaction with online sources lowers consumer satisfaction and hence consumer trust. Based on these findings, the project implies that Savour Foods can adopt a proactive and frequent social media policy. The number of updates to the material, the prompt solution to the request of the customers, and the dialogic communication can help to raise the level of the consumer trust without the inability to keep the brand image. The study confirms that it is high time to build upon digital presence in Savour Foods despite enjoying good offline equity to preserve its trust and relevancy in a constantly digital food industry.