HOW CAN BRAND IMAGE BE COMMUNICATED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

MARKETING?

Student Name : Yifan Wu

Student ID：2006901
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Social Media and Marketing

Before understanding the importance of social media in marketing, it is essential to
develop an understanding about social media. Social media is an application available on the
internet and helps develop and share information (Vinerean, 2017). These applications are
beneficial and have created many opportunities for people in making personalised content and
sharing it. Filo et al. (2015) explained the concept of social media by the way of its interactivity
and helpfulness in creating user-generated content, and thus build a strong relationship between
organisations and customers. This relationship is now easier to be built through online
interactions. There has been a significant change in how customers gather information related to
any product or service in the last decade and how . There has been a change in which customers
make their decision regarding any product or service. The way customers use to buy and provide
feedback has changed (Li et al., 2021). For example….

For organisationsorganizations, it is essential to be competitive in the market; they should

adopt current marketing trends. One of the most critical parts of online and digital development
is the opportunity to communicate with customers positively and reach their target audience in
the best possible way. Social media concerning digital marketing has been a topic of research for
marketers (Cheung, 2019). Social media helps the brand in creating a positive image and create a
competitive advantage. In terms of brand management, social media has a strategic role in
providing information and entertainment to customers. According to a survey, 54% of decisions
made by customers are affected by what they see on social media(ref???). Therefore, social
media plays a significant role in effective marketing and provide the necessary resources to
manage online branding and communications.

Brand Image and Social Media Marketing

Brand image is explained as the sets of associations that are created in the minds of
consumers. This reflects a consumer's perception regarding a particular brand, which helps
analyse the competitive advantage in the marketplace (Bilgin, 2018). Social media is the best
channel for brands to create a strong brand image in the market. With the help of it, brands
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attract customers who are present at any corner of the world. In the current era, social media play
an essential role in building the brand image (Chang, 2020). Communication of brands on social
media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter through text or visual content
makes it easier for brands to create a positive image and awareness. Social media marketing
strategy plays a significant role in creating awareness and growth of a brand (Barreda et al.,
2020). To build a brand image, the brand must build a solid marketing plan. The world is a
global village, and it is connected through social media. This has made it easy to develop a brand
image with a successful marketing strategy. Small and medium organisations need a solid social
media presence to succeed in the marketplace (Liu et al., 2020). To promote brands, the most
important thing is to attract customers and justify why customers choose your brand. Social
media is a channel for brands to make their customers understand that what their product is
offering. In previous marketing, brands were not able to communicate with their customer
directly. Still, the introduction of social media in marketing has helped brands coordinate with
their consumers directly, resulting in getting feedback from consumers. Thus brands can take
corrective measures accordingly. Social media has given brands a platform to communicate with
customers and take disciplinary actions accordingly.

User-Generated Social Media Brand Communication

Brand communication is defined as activities that affect customers and perceptions
regarding the brand and the product and services. To develop an effective communication
strategy, a brand needs to develop a personality and define it. Consumers are concerned about
products or services provided by the brand and the benefits that the brand is offering (Mayrhofe
et al., 2020). Consumers value a brand based on its identification and if it helps in creating
customer loyalty. Considering brand communication on social media, brands need to study
which social media channel is essential for their presence. This is decided based on the target
audience of brands via social media channels, which will help communicate the messages with
customers (Davcik et al., 2021). Brands can also create cross-platform communication to target a
wider audience; however, this type of communication needs different approaches for different
social media networks. Brands can gain many benefits through social media channels such as
additional communication with users, cost reduction, as a tool to target customers, increase sales,
and develop customer satisfaction and a strong brand image (Safronova, 2020). The emergence
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of user-generated brand communication through social media marketing has shifted from
publisher to user-centric marketing. User-generated social media brand communication can be
defined as any content designed outside professional strategies and published online. User-
generated social media brand communication has many different forms, such as reviews and
recommendations created by customers. According to research, brand communication through
user-generated content on social media platforms has the edge over marketer generatedmarketer-
generated content. Furthermore, these social media platforms are easy to use (Agarval, 2020).
Thus customers have become authors of brand stories. This has resulted in the development of
marketing strategies based on user-generated data.
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Influence of Social Media Marketing on Brand Image
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness can be described as the capacity of a buyer or consumer to identify and
recall a particular brand that belongs to a product category. The brand awareness among
customers creates a strong brand image and helps the business maximise profit (Cheung et al.,
2019). Consumers are exposed to many brands and can quickly get information regarding the
benefit of a brand. Thus, a brand needs to be successful in the market. It creates brand awareness
for consumers to gain knowledge about the product and results in a competitive advantage.
Consumers are more likely to buy a brand with which they are familiar (Maria et al., 2019). The
brands which customers like are those which are easily recognisable and identify by consumers.
Different researches have suggested that it is essential for brands to create awareness because it
will help communicate. Thus, as a result, its brand equity will be increased. This helps increase
the probability of purchasing a brand and alter the recession-making process of consumers, thus
converting investment into a habit (Ansari et al., 2019). There is relationship between brand
communication and brand awareness. Organisations communicate the messages with the
customer with the help of social media networks, which creates brand awareness among
customers. Social media plays a vital role in creating brand awareness because it helps share
relevant content with target customers, and organisations can share their vision and values—this
results in building a positive image of the brand in the eyes of customers, and thus. As a result,
its customers are attracted to it and become loyal to the brand (Chierici et al., 2019).
Communication through social media has a positive impact on brand awareness, and user-
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generated brand communication also has a significant impact on creating positive brand
awareness.

Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty can be defined as a means for any brand to increase its market share with
the help of building a solid relationship with customers. This includes the loyalty and
commitment of consumers to the brand. Without any loyal customers, a brand is not able to grow
in the marketplace. Brand loyalty is the liking of customers of a particular product or service
over other brands. It can be defined as a strong loyalty of a customer to a brand. This can be the
judge of n the basis of how much consisorganizationtent aan customer is organization buying
from an organisation (Ebrahim, 2020). This can be explained based on four leading indicators
concerning customer perception: the intention of a consumer in purchasing a particular brand,
acceptance of the price offered by the brand, word of mouth and reviews from users, and the
purpose of buying. Social media channels help brands to build strong relationships with
customers. Through social media networks, brands can listen to their customers (Ibrahim, 2021).
There are many tools available for marketers which may help them in monitoring features and
approve additional feedback. These techniques allow customers to see posts that are essential for
the brand and avoid any clutter. It is necessary for the age of digital marketing that a brand hears
its customers. The comments and posts help brands learn customers’ perceptions of (RK and
Jiang, 2020). Brand association through social media marketing helps get feedback from cpost
allowsustomers, whether it is negative or positallows organizations ive. It allowsorganizations
organisations organizations to take corrective actions regarding any negative review from their
customers, and thus change management can be done in a better way. Brand communication has
a more significant impact on brand loyalty.

Brand Trust
Brand trust is defined as the willingness of a consumer to depend and believe in the
features offered by a brand, which is measured by the timely delivery of promises made by the
brandcustomers. Brand trust is a part of the relationship between customer and customers
(Ibrahim et al., 2021). This has an impact on determining the overall value of a brand. The
previous researches state that brand trust is developed with the help of interaction between brand
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and customers. Social media marketing has created an environment that helps in the direct
communication between customers and brands. Social media is play9ig a vital role in building
trust. It is a platform where organisations can work directly with their customers (Leite and
Baptista, 2021). On social media, brands can see now who their customers are and can speak
with them directly. It can be defined as a scalable version of human connection. Brands can build
brand trust through social media by sharing valuable content. With the help of sharing relevant
content, trust can be made in two ways by building a stronger brand-consumer relationship and
sharing the brand's expertise. To build a positive image of the brand, the marketing team must
positively respond to the customers. If customers’ reviews are ignored, it will create a negative
impression of the brand in customers’ eyes. Brands need to have a conversation with customers
to build trust. Customers in the age of digital marketing make their decision based on reviews
and recommendations from other users.

Technology Acceptance Model

Davis proposed the technology acceptance models in 1989. This has been the most
influential model concerning the acceptance of technology. This consists of two primary factors
influencing customers to use a new technology: perceived ease of use and usefulness. The goal
of this model was to explain the determinant of computer and technology acceptance, which
affects users’ behaviour (Al-Qaysi et al., 2020). Perceived ease of service can be defined as how
users expect the system under consideration as effortless. Perceived usefulness can be explained
as users' likelihood of a system. This module is used when businesses are implementing new
technologies in their processes. This helps in the study of user’s behaviours behaviors about the
changes in the brand. In the current era of the digital world, all brands need to adopt social media
marketing to ensure that their product and services reach customers (Vahdat et al., 2021).
According to this model, consumers are focus on the technology that is easy for them to use.
Everyone uses social media platforms, and thus, they are easy to use. Customers can quickly get
a review of any product or service. They are able to get relevant informatio0n very rapidly and
promptly (Fedorko et al., 2021). Thus brands use social media marketing because the new
generation has accepted it and use it for their benefit. Through social media, it is easy for brands
to grab the attention of consumers. This helped the brand in creating a positive image of a brand.
This adoption of technology by customers has helped in brand communication in the best
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possible way. Social media channels have a great acceptance from consumers, and therefore it is
an opportunity for brands to build a strong relationship with the customers.
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Might be good to have a visual representation of the key concepts and theories used
Also try to add more in-text references and you might also need a final section
summarising the literature and what has not been said in the literature (the research gap) –
you make the case of why your research is useful…

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