The Role of Trust in Understanding the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Equity and Brand Loyalty

Part of: Digital Marketing Topic 5 — Content Marketing · Reading Citation: Ebrahim, R. S. (2020). The role of trust in understanding the impact of social media marketing on brand equity and brand loyalty. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 19(4), 287–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332667.2019.1705742 Key concepts: Social Media Marketing, Brand Trust, Brand Equity, Brand Loyalty, SMM Activities

TL;DR

An empirical study (online survey of 287 telecom-following social media users in Egypt, analysed with structural equation modelling) testing how social media marketing (SMM) activities drive brand loyalty through brand trust and brand equity. Although the literature usually identifies five SMM dimensions, here only three load — trendiness, customisation and word-of-mouth. SMM has a direct positive effect on brand trust and brand loyalty, but not directly on brand equity; its effect on equity is fully mediated by brand trust, and its effect on loyalty is partially mediated by trust. The headline message: trust is the focal mechanism translating SMM effort into brand value and loyalty.

Why It's on the Reading List

It is the quantitative, content/social-media reading for the course: it operationalises "what good social content does" (the SMM activity dimensions) and shows the causal chain SMM → trust → equity → loyalty. Ideal for exam questions on measuring SMM effectiveness and the role of trust.

Background & Research Question

Social media is now integrated into marketing strategy (marketers expect 71% of budget growth in social spend), but measuring the impact of these practices on brand value and customer relationships remains under-studied — especially from the perspective of branding literature. Prior work clusters into brand communities, e-WOM, network analysis and product-harm crises, and tends to study luxury fashion or tourism.

The study addresses this gap: investigate the effect of SMM activities on positive consumer behavioural responses toward the brand — specifically brand equity and brand loyalty — and the mediating role of brand trust.

Key Concepts & Definitions

Definition — Social media marketing (SMM)

The process that utilises social media technologies and channels to create, communicate and deliver marketing offerings that enhance stakeholders' value (Tuten & Solomon; Yadav & Rahman). It is an augmentation to traditional/tradigital tools — built on pull/attraction messaging, not the interruption-disruption model.

Definition — SMM activities (the five dimensions)

Effective communication methods capturing engaged consumers' perceptions of marketers' practices on social media (Kim & Ko, 2010/2012):

Dimension	Meaning
Entertainment	The hedonic aspect — fun and pleasure from social media use
Interaction	Users' contribution to brands; two-way conversation
Trendiness	Information is new and up-to-date
Customisation	Extent the service satisfies different customer tastes/demands
Word-of-mouth	Informal opinion exchange and recommendation among users

Definition — Brand equity

The incremental / added value of the brand (Srivastava & Shocker). Customer-based brand equity = "the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand" (Keller, 1993). The study uses overall brand equity (Yoo & Donthu).

Definition — Brand trust

The willingness of a consumer to rely on the ability of a brand to perform as entitled, involving the firm's benevolence to act in the customer's best interest (safety, reliability) — Chaudhuri & Holbrook. Especially important online where "workable rules" are absent.

Definition — Brand loyalty

A deeply held commitment to rebuy the brand regardless of situational factors (Chaudhuri & Holbrook). Has a behavioural facet (repurchase → market share) and an attitudinal facet (preference/commitment → higher relative brand value).

Main Arguments / Findings

Hypotheses tested (6 paths):

The mediation result (the heart of the paper)

• SMM → Brand Equity is insignificant directly, but the indirect path SMM → Trust → Equity is significant (≈ 0.15, p = .009) → full mediation by brand trust.
• SMM → Loyalty is significant directly but drops (from 0.17 to ~0.12) once trust is controlled → partial mediation by brand trust.

Only three of five SMM dimensions survived

Exploratory + confirmatory factor analysis dropped entertainment and interaction (poor standardised loadings). Only trendiness, customisation and word-of-mouth remained — i.e. users engage to get tailored services, the latest information, and to share experiences/recommendations.

Why trust is central: because of privacy concerns and information sharing, trust governs use of and participation in social media. Trust is the catalyst establishing long-term relationships and the proxy to equity that carves a unique, differentiated brand value into consumers' minds. Firm- or user-generated communications increase trust; brand communities can be perceived as more trustworthy than traditional PR (Schmidt & Iyer).

Methodology

• Design: self-administered online questionnaire (SurveyHero), items adapted from prior literature; face/content validity via expert + pilot panel.
• Sample: 287 valid responses (157 male, 130 female) from Egyptian users following one of four telecommunications companies; 69.5% under 40; mostly Facebook/Twitter (70.7%). Non-probability sampling.
• Measures: 7-point Likert. SMM = Kim & Ko's 11-item scale; brand trust 5 items (Chahal & Rani); brand equity 4 items (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán); loyalty 4 items (Chaudhuri & Holbrook). Cronbach's α 0.78–0.93.
• Analysis: EFA (PCA, VARIMAX) → CFA (maximum likelihood) → SEM with 6 structural paths. Model fit acceptable (e.g. CFI ≈ 0.94, GFI ≈ 0.92, RMSEA ≈ 0.08); convergent and discriminant validity supported (AVE > squared inter-construct correlations).

Framework / Model

The proposed conceptual model places brand trust as the mediator between SMM activities and the two outcome constructs:

SMM activities ──► Brand Trust ──► Brand Equity
       │                 │              │
       │                 └────────────► Brand Loyalty ◄──┘
       └──────────────────────────────►

In words: SMM activities feed brand trust; trust drives both brand equity and brand loyalty; brand equity itself feeds brand loyalty. The direct SMM → equity link is absent — equity is reached only through trust.

Implications for Marketers

• Lead with the three working levers: keep content fresh and up-to-date (trendiness), personalise service to customer tastes (customisation), and fuel WOM (let customers share experiences, exchange opinions and recommend).
• Trust is the engine: SMM effort only converts into brand equity through trust — so cultivate credible, controlled digital content and authentic brand communities.
• Invite customers to share why they chose the brand to raise the trustworthiness of generated content.
• SMM sits within relationship/customer-relationship marketing — its payoff is loyalty, more sales and profit, but its effectiveness should be measured via users' behavioural responses.

Exam Takeaways

Likely exam points

• Causal chain: SMM → Brand Trust → Brand Equity / Brand Loyalty (trust = mediator).
• Full mediation of SMM→equity by trust; partial mediation of SMM→loyalty by trust; no direct SMM→equity effect.
• The five SMM dimensions (entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customisation, WOM) — but here only trendiness, customisation & WOM held.
• Definitions: brand trust, brand equity (Keller's customer-based equity), behavioural vs. attitudinal loyalty.
• Method label: online survey, n = 287, Egypt telecom, SEM.
• Social media = pull/attraction messaging vs. traditional interruption-disruption.

Summary

• SMM activities measured on Kim & Ko's scale; only trendiness, customisation and WOM loaded reliably.
• SMM has direct positive effects on brand trust and brand loyalty, but not directly on brand equity.
• Brand trust fully mediates SMM→equity and partially mediates SMM→loyalty.
• Brand equity in turn drives brand loyalty.
• Trust is the key mechanism converting social media effort into brand value and loyalty.

Related Notes

• Digital Marketing — subject hub
• Social Media Marketing, Brand Trust, Brand Equity, Brand Loyalty
• 04b-Aime - The Dynamic Construction of Brand Storytelling — co-creation / UGC link to trust and loyalty