CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKET RESEARCH

CIA-3

A STUDY ON HOW SOCIAL MEDIA FACILITATES BRAND

ENGAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY
KUSHAL G 1910148

PRAVEEN R 1910152

YASHAS 1910156

MANOJ R 1910178

ANANYA S 1910180

ABISHEK S 1910184

ADITHI S 1910188
 A STUDY ON HOW SOCIAL MEDIA FACILITATES BRAND ENGAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 3
3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY 4
4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 4
5. RESEARCH MODEL 5
6. LITERATURE REVIEW 5-7
7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 8
8. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 9-16
9. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION 17-18
10. REFERENCES 19
11. ANNEXURE 20-23

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 A STUDY ON HOW SOCIAL MEDIA FACILITATES BRAND ENGAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Brand engagement plays a vital role in the marketing strategy of businesses. Social media
engagement is a measure of how people interact with a brand's social media accounts. It can
include likes, comments, shares, DMs, adding to favourites, saving posts, etc., based on different
features available on various social media platforms. Engagement helps brands analyse if the
content they are creating is appealing to the customers. Some of the ways in which brands try to
increase engagement are through creative taglines, entertaining and humorous posts based on
recent trends, etc. Social media engagement builds a relationship between the brand and
customers. This relationship has a positive effect on how brands can improve to serve customers
better by understanding the needs of customers by developing empathy. When customers engage
more with a brand's social media accounts, it tends to create a sense of brand loyalty among the
customers. Apart from brand loyalty, the brand recommendation is another aspect that helps
brands capture more customers in the market. Our study will look at how brands can utilise
social media to their fullest to improve engagement and, in turn, grow business from it. We will
also analyse and interpret data to highlight some of the key outcomes of our study.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

● To study how social media impacts, influences or facilitates the efforts made by brands to
engage their target audience.
● To explore the scope and limitations of our study on how social media facilitates brand
engagement.
● To clearly understand the customers' views on how social media facilitates brand
engagement.
● To ascertain whether social media has created an impact on brand engagement.

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 A STUDY ON HOW SOCIAL MEDIA FACILITATES BRAND ENGAGEMENT

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study includes customers in and around Bangalore. Our study focuses on deriving
customers' views in the city on the impact of social media on brand engagement. Our study
concentrates on customers only those we have considered under our investigation, comprising
Bangaloreans, Students from Christ, Regular customers of specific brands, reviews from the
consumers and store owners about the impact of social media on their brands or brands they
consume. Our study includes offline/ online reviews. The analysis might be accurate as it focuses
on customers based on various factors such as geography, demography, age groups, etc. Thus the
study explores the entire population based on multiple parameters. First of all, this study aims to
learn and understand the advantages and disadvantages of social media over brand engagement
which is more important for various brands.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study covers only customers from Bangalore, ignoring the other cities in India. The study
focuses only on customers in certain parts of Bangalore, and it does not cover customers from all
the areas of Bangalore. Thus this might be a significant drawback as the study focuses only on a
specific group and not the rest. Even the others omitted might have a different view towards
social media over brand engagement. Next comes the age group. The study considers only a
limited age group between 15 to 30 years. Even customers below 15 or above 30 may have a
different opinion over brand engagement. They might even have an advanced approach to this as
they might be consuming certain brands for so long. The study is confined only to the sample
size, which we have taken as 20. People beyond the sample may also have some ideas on social
media over brand engagement. Thus our overall research may not be accurate as it focuses only
on a particular group distinguished based on geography, age group, location, demography, etc.

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RESEARCH MODEL

Mass Media

Brand
Print Media
Engagement
Impact Created
by Brands
Social Media
Impact on
Consumer
Behaviour

LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Some consumers use social media platforms to share their personal experiences, and
product users exert more influence than other social media users. Estrella-Ramón and
Ellis-Chadwick (2017) indicated that harmful UGC damages brand engagement and
impact the level of trust in brands. Many other studies showed that social media users and
these negative comments also create the reliability of User-generated content in a
consumer's mind.
2. According to Hollebeek et al. (2014) and Altschwager et al. (2018), social acts
encompass values, language, meaning, and culture to create Social Brand Engagement.
Recent developments in the literature offer an expansive view of engagement and suggest
that engagement is not limited to a dyadic communication between a person and a brand.
Instead, it includes a network of interactions with others, and all of these aspects can
socially influence brand engagement.
3. The authors, Man Lai Cheung, Guilherme Pires and Philip J. Rosenberger III, have
investigated the impact of social media marketing like entertainment, customisation,
interaction, and electronic word of mouth on consumer brand engagement and its

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knowledge. Surveying 214 active social media users revealed that interaction, electronic
word of mouth and trendiness are the main key elements that directly influence consumer
brand engagement and strengthen brand awareness and brand knowledge among
consumers.
4. Authors Civilai Leckie, Abhishek Dwivedi, and Lester Johnson did a study on an
empirical examination of a set of drivers of consumers' social media brand engagement.
This study subsequently influences the consumer outcome. Using a survey with 340
social media users, they collected the data. The results showed that the consumers' social
media involvement and firm image are the significant drivers of SMBE. This study also
impacts consumer satisfaction, brand trust and perceived value.
5. Vohra & Bharadwaj conducted research on social media and customer engagement in a
brand. They focused on Twitter and Facebook. According to the study, social media
channels offer a wide range of features that brands can use to engage with their
customers. Social media is a source of mass communication, one-to-one communication
between stakeholders and firm-to-firm and customer-to-customer communication.
6. According to Peter C, Werner & Manfred, 2010; Brands are engaged in setting strategies
for non-transactional customer behaviour by asking customers to provide ratings and
being involved in their new ventures. Consumer engagement behaviours go beyond
monetary benefits and can be defined as customer manifestations having a brand or firm
focus.
7. Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited. The article primarily emphasises the customer-
brand relationship of how businesses and consumers need to satisfy their individual needs
and wants.

The article highlights it is important to note all the business success is intensely stood by
bringing up effective strategies to establish brand satisfaction, brand loyalty and brand
relationship management through attracting and treating the customers.

8. Optipedia: It speaks about creating an attachment between a brand and its customers.

It provides insight into how the brand engagement process is classified into an internal
and external brand engagement.

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 A STUDY ON HOW SOCIAL MEDIA FACILITATES BRAND ENGAGEMENT

Internal brand engagement states engaging business with the stakeholders of the
enterprise. External brand engagement means plans and execution to keep the brand and
consumers together.

9. Agnès Helme-Guizon and Fanny Magnoni, in their work, dived deep into how brand
hosted social media impacted consumer brand engagement. It highlights the behavioural
and affective dimensions of consumer-brand interactions and how interactions on social
media among consumers lead to brand loyalty. A survey conducted about the favourite
brands on Facebook revealed that social brand engagement and self-brand connections
were the key factors behind brand loyalty.
10. In their work, Justina Malciute and Polymers Chrysochou investigate and perform an
empirical analysis based on a quantitative consumer study. Further, they propose a
conceptual model of consumer brand engagement on various social media. The study
shows that brand relationship-related factors influence customer engagement, affecting
brand recommendation and loyalty.
11. Article by – Robert V Kozinets

In terms of understanding customer engagement of products, they just focused on two

limited media platforms. They could also incorporate Instagram because Instagram is
more used for brand endorsements & promotion.

12. Article by – Ian Buckingham

Palgrave Macmillan, 2007

Usage of the nominal or star centred ratings is the way of promoting the products. It's not
just the monetary value that the customers get through the scrutinisation. They also look
at how other customers have reviewed. Moreover, the ratings are better by affirming the
quality of the product and vice versa. The ratings show the online way of
recommendation.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

● Data Collection Methodology: The data collected for facilitating the study is primary
data (first-hand). For this purpose, a survey has been conducted among the consumers.
This survey has collected information regarding brand engagement on social media from
the perspective of consumers. The data collected is qualitative.
● Data Collection Tool: Survey questionnaire
● Sample Size: 20
● Sampling Method: The method used for selecting the respondents is Snowball sampling.
The survey questionnaire was passed around among people in the age group of 15-30.

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The following are the responses collected from the survey, their analysis and interpretation. The
data collected is qualitative, and hence, the statistical tools used here to analyse the data are:
● Pie Chart
● Bar Graph
*All the respondents are users of social and are active on at least one of the many social media
platforms.

Question 1

Interpretation: The graph shows that 95% of the respondents believe that social media helps
brands create a great impact on engaging the target audience. This proves that the majority of
social media users have been impacted and engaged by the brands on social media. The rest are
unsure about the impact because of reasons such as ineffective strategies by brands or the natural
human tendency to skip advertisements.

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Question 2

Interpretation: The respondents have selected numerous options from the above based on their
experience. Out of these, advertisements based on recent activities such as trends, events,
sensations or crises have been most witnessed by a major portion of the social media users, 90%.
Direct messages (DMs) are the least seen by the consumers/users. This is because brands would
find it difficult (both in terms of cost and effort) to reach out to a larger audience individually.

Question 3

Interpretation: 80% of the users feel that social media is an effective channel for brand
engagement. This may be because the brands they came across positioned themselves

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innovatively and effectively. The rest are unsure as they might not have come across such brands
or brands/products that they seek.

Question 4

Interpretation: This question recorded the agreeability of the consumers where the scale ranges
from 1 being ‘Strongly disagree’ to 5 being ‘Strongly agree’. The users were questioned whether
they get engaged by all the brands that communicate with them (in a single product line) on
social media. Half of the respondents agreed that they got attracted to the brands, which means
they have been quite effective in engagement. Whereas 10% of the respondents strongly agree,
another 10% disagree that they got attracted to the brands that tried to engage them.

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Question 5

Interpretation: This question recorded the agreeability of the consumers where the scale ranges
from 1 being ‘Strongly disagree’ to 5 being ‘Strongly agree’. The users needed to take a stand on
whether social media successfully helps news brands engage their target audience. Half of the
respondents strongly agree that it does help. The other half shows a declining trend, with 30%
agreeing with the statement, 15% being neutral, and the rest 5% disagreeing with it.

Question 6

Interpretation: This question recorded the frequency of purchases made by the consumers
where the scale ranges from 1 being ‘Not at all’ to 5 being ‘Very frequently’. The respondents
were asked how frequently they purchase products influenced by social media. 40% of the

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respondents occasionally make such purchases. There is 10% of the respondents making very
frequent purchases, and 5% of the respondents never made purchases of products influenced by
social media.

Question 7

Interpretation: All the respondents take the same side, stating that customer reviews play an
essential role in brand engagement and endorsement and, thus, their decision to purchase. It
emphasises that the respondents highly rely on customer reviews of a product after being
engaged by a brand, and hence, these two go hand-in-hand.

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Question 8

Interpretation: This question recorded the effectiveness of customer reviews of a product where
the scale ranges from 1 being ‘Least effective’ to 5 being ‘Highly effective’. None of the
consumers/users feels that customer reviews or ineffective. The respondents place themselves
between ‘Somewhat effective’, ‘Effective’ and ‘Highly effective’, with the majority (45%)
proposing that it is highly effective.

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Question 9

Interpretation: The respondents have selected numerous options from the above based on their
experience and knowledge. Out of these, 70% of the respondents feel or proclaim that social
media is a good platform for entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to engage their target audience.
The majority think it is not a good platform for existing brands with existing products to use
social media to engage customers.

Question 10

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Interpretation: The respondents have selected numerous options from the above based on their
experience and knowledge. 80% of the respondents believe that the ability to reach a large
audience at minimal/optimal cost is why brands prefer social media to engage customers.
Another main reason is the innovative tools these platforms offer to help brands effectively
communicate and personalise customer experiences.

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FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

● Social media is omnipresent and any information can be shared through it to the destined
individual or audience quickly. It is in fact a great channel for brands to reach and induce
the target market to become the end-users.
● The study reveals the various aspects of social media that are helpful or not for brands to
engage their target audience and induce them to make a purchase or avail their services. It
mainly focuses on the understanding the consumer behaviour over brand engagement
through social media.
● When compared with the previous researches, it was evident that our study goes hand-in-
hand with them and helps understand a slightly different perspective. For instance, the
question about customer reviews playing a role in brand engagement in the survey
conducted has been addressed in detail in the work done by Estrella-Ramón and Ellis-
Chadwick (2017).
● The respondents felt that social media is good platform for facilitating brand engagement,
especially for innovative products and services. And a good portion of respondents
strongly believe in it because the new products (here, by entrepreneurs) seek to provide a
solution to something and can be advertised using the same, if it’s currently on the go.
For example, digital payment platforms like Paytm, Google Pay facilitates instant
cashless payments. They came to market on the verge of demonitisation and thus, helped
many people handle transactions during the cash crunch crisis that followed.
● According to the study conducted by Man Lai Cheung, Guilherme Pires and Philip J.
Rosenberger III, social media plays a major role in creating awareness in the minds of
consumers who are active social media users. Social media influences brand engagement.
The same is derived from our study so our interpretation matches with this particular
study (95%) of the respondents say that social media has impacted them, they being the
target audience.
● According to study conducted by Man Lai Cheung, Guilherm Pires and Philip J
Rosenberger, survey was conducted with 214 social media users and it revealed that
social media plays a major role in brand engagement and creates brand awareness among
consumers. According to our study where 20 was our sample size, we got the same result
but it might not be accurate as our sample was small (80% of the users feel that social

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media is effective for brand engagement). So it is uncertain to determine whether both the
results match or not.
● According to an article by Robert V Kozinets, they just focused on 2 media platforms.
But according to our study we have considered it as social media as a whole. So our study
doesn’t match the previous study from this perspective.
● According to study conducted by Vohra & Bharadwaj, brands use various features of
social media to engage its customers. In the same way our study has revealed that
customers view more ads which come on Instagram and other social media channels.
Brands don’t use direct messages to customers as it becomes difficult for them to reach a
large target audience. Otherwise they use features such as advertisments, events,
sensations, trends, etc to engage their customers.

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REFERENCES
 Agnès Helme-Guizon & Fanny Magnoni (2019) Consumer brand engagement and its
social side on brand-hosted social media: how do they contribute to brand loyalty?,
Journal of Marketing Management, 35:7-8, 716-741, DOI:
10.1080/0267257X.2019.1599990
 Malciute, J., & Chrysochou, P. (2013). Like it or not? Customer brand engagement on
online social media platforms. Abstract from 18th International Conference on Corporate
and Marketing Communication, Italy.
 http://www.unisa.it/centri_e_vari/cmc2013/index
 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://
tianjindaxuexuebao.com/dashboard/uploads/
34.%2520EHFMQ.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiv09zBpIr3AhXZSWwGHeGICM4QFnoECBY
QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2W003pJkqII2MDOUnL4B1O
 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/APJML-07-2020-0488/full/html
 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/APJML-04-2019-0262/full/
html#abstract

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ANNEXURE
1. Survey Questionnaire

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