Abstract:
This study focuses on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan’s metropolitan cities, investigating the role of Visual-Centric Social Media Marketing (VCSMM) in driving Consumer-Brand Engagement (CBE). The vast body of literature in the field has overlooked the specific visual dimensions of social media marketing within the resource-constrained, culturally distinct context of emerging market SMEs. This research tries to fill that gap while proposing and testing a novel model where Visual Trendiness (the stylishness of content) and Visual Electronic Word-of-Mouth (customer-shared photos/videos) are antecedents to Brand Engagement. Conceptualized as a triad of Cognitive Processing, Affection, and Activation. Crucially, the model positions Visual Interaction (liking, commenting) not merely as an outcome but as the central mediating mechanism. The study follows a quantitative, cross-sectional design grounded in an integrated theoretical framework of Media Richness Theory and the Consumer-Brand Engagement framework. A structured online survey was used to collect data from 296 social media users in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad/Rawalpindi who follow local fashion SMEs. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression in SPSS were used to analyze the data leading to robust findings. The results supported the claim that both Visual Trendiness and Visual EWOM are significant positive predictors of all three engagement dimensions. However, the paramount importance of Visual Interaction was only revealed once it was introduced into the regression models. It significantly increased each model's explanatory power and attenuated the direct effects of the primary visual stimuli, emerging as the strongest predictor (β = .426 to .494). Specifically, it was also revealed that trendy visuals drive consumer actions only by first stimulating interactive engagement while the path from Visual Trendiness to Activationbecomes non-significant. This delineates a clear engagement pathway: visual stimuli (Trendiness, EWOM) → interactive Visual Interaction → multidimensional Brand Engagement. Theoretically, the study contributes significantly by deconstructing VCSMM into specific constructs, using an underexplored context to validate them, and identifying Visual Interaction as a critical mediator, thereby refining the CBE framework. Practically, for SME marketers, it provides an actionable blueprint that shifts the strategic imperative from production of high-quality visuals to content with interaction-provoking designs that leverage cultural resonance and user-generated proof to activate community dialogue. The findings highlight that in Pakistan’s digital fashion economy, competitive advantage lies not in polished aesthetics alone but in mastering the psychology of visual interaction to build sustainable brand relationships.
