E-CRM Through Social Media Marketing Activities for Brand Awareness, Brand Image, and Brand Loyalty

Introduction

Branding is a crucial aspect of today's competitive economy since it distinguishes comparable goods and services supplied by various enterprises in customers' eyes and makes them preferred over one another. While representing authenticity, value, and devotion to the products and services given to customers by companies, the brand serves various functions, including decreasing consumer risks associated with goods and services and developing social relationships without revealing their identity. Firms that have gained brand status have been classified differently from other businesses regarding the product and services (Haudi et al., 2022). They have a unique position in customers' minds that help establish a brand identity. Communication between consumers and brands is directly related to brand identity formation. The stronger the brand preference and brand loyalty marketers can confirm, the stronger the communication strength between the brand and the customer. The most important aspect of branding is that a good relationship with customers may influence their purchasing decisions and commitment (Haudi et al., 2022). As a result, firms are doing research to catch customers' attention, stay in their thoughts, build a favorable brand image, and enhance brand loyalty by utilizing all available communication channels in brand communications to develop or defend brand value (Kakeesh et al., 2021).

Social media is one of the most prevalent avenues of communication that businesses have recently used in their marketing efforts. Social media is an online application program, mass media tool, or platform that allows users to communicate, collaborate or share material (Kakeesh et al., 2021). The impact of social media on consumer behavior spans a wide range of activities, including educating, sharing ideas and attitudes, gaining knowledge and understanding, and visualizing post-purchase behavior without actually making a purchase (Taylor & Hunter, 2002). As a result, businesses are becoming more engaged in their marketing communications and developing new apps to make items and brands cheaper through online marketing efforts via social media communication channels. The social media marketing practices encourage the customers to select brands and their products, sending messages to other online customers.

Businesses may use social media marketing to create their brand profiles and provide online customer support, product information, and special offers that are simple, inexpensive, and consistent (Taylor & Hunter, 2002). Furthermore, alerting clients about goods and brands of companies that appear on social networks where millions of people sign in is highly effective in terms of familiarity and brand recognition (Taylor & Hunter, 2002). Marketers are aware of the potential and appeal that social media has offered as part of the marketing plan for their organizations (Naim, 2021). According to a study, social media marketing activities are important aspects of firms' branding efforts (Naim, 2021). However, it has been discovered in this research that social media marketing operations are mostly focused on customer satisfaction and the consequences on consumers' behavioral intentions (Šerić & Gil-Saura,2012). Organizations use a brand awareness strategy for their various products, and figure 1 shows the cycle of components included in building the brand awareness strategies.

Figure 1.

Strategies to build brand awareness (Milović,2012)

The brand names need to be selected strategically as it gives a sense of positive associations. Also, it should be easy to pronounce and easy to remember. The brand name should be unique, indicating the benefits and USP of the product. Last but not least, it should not be similar to any existing registered brand names (Khanlari, 2015).