The effect of social media marketing on brand equity and consumer purchasing intention

Social media is one of the internet-based innovations that reach millions of users around the world with its dynamic and mutually interactive structure. Social media is defined as the digitalization of traditional media channels, and has changed the way of interpersonal communication. Social media applications that provide communication and interaction between people have become an important competitive tool for businesses over time. Users of Social Media Applications are increasing day by day and this increase has caused businesses a rush to communicate with their consumers continuously and quickly through social media channels. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of social media marketing on consumer purchase intention. In this study, the affect of social media marketing activities on perceived brand equity and purchasing intention has been examined through the developed model. Within the scope of the study, an online survey was conducted with 227 users who have a Facebook account and actively follow any brand profile on Facebook. The data obtained were analyzed through the SmartPLS program. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that there is social media marketing has positive influence on brand equity and purchasing intention. In the light of the findings obtained from the study, it could be said that businesses can increase their brand value perception with planned and well-defined social media marketing strategies. With social media marketing, businesses can gain significant advantages in many areas such as brand loyalty, reduced advertising expenses and increased profitability, access to a large consumer audience and altered brand attitudes into purchasing behavior.