The role of social media on brand reputation, brand trust and customer equity in South Africa
Date
2015
Authors
Carstens, Caroline
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
The marketing and public relations world has gone digital and the Internet has
become a key resource for consumers to interact with brands, making online
channels a key tool for building businesses. In addition, South African social
media users are significantly increasing year-on-year, making it crucial for
marketing, public relations and business strategy decision-makers to understand
the impact of social media communications and activities on their businesses and
its ability to generate a return on investment. With this in mind, the purpose of this
study was to understand the role of social media in building brand reputation,
brand trust and generating customer equity in the consumer market in South
Africa.
The methodology used to gather data for this study was qualitative research
through cross-sectional research design, using semi-structured interviews based
on a discussion guide. The target population for this research was respondents
from South African consumer brands that employ social media as a channel for
communicating with consumers, as well as industry experts that provide expert
consultancy for social strategy and implementation of social media efforts for
various brands across the country.
A key finding of the research was that social media, if implemented and managed
effectively, does positively influence brands. However, various factors were
identified that enhance or limit the ability of brands to derive positive results from
social media communications. These factors include the level of social media
support from the business, the investment in social media resources and
activities, the existence of relevant social listening and content strategies, and the
ability to effectively measure results.
When addressing the role of social media in building brand reputation and brand
trust, a key finding was that social media does positively impact the brand. In
terms of brand reputation, key successes are derived from direct interaction
between brand and consumer, and creating a brand that is approachable, personable and available. For trust, the key success from social media efforts was identified as the creation of brand advocacy. This is, however, only possible if content created is credible, transparent, authentic and shareable. To address the role of social media in generating brand equity, a key finding was that brands in South Africa are not yet geared to effectively track results, and therefore the research addressing this was inconclusive.
The key message from the research is that, as social media is a growing communication and information sharing platform for consumers with high levels of engagement in South African, the channel needs to become a key focus area for brands and should be supported by business investment and focus - in return for social media supporting business objectives.
Description
MBA Thesis 2015
Keywords
Internet marketing ,Branding (Marketing),Customer relations -- Economic aspects ,Social media -- Economic aspects