Influence of Social Media Based Brand Communities on Brand Trust

Abstract

The advantages of social media as a highly efficient communication and distribution channel is motivating brand managers to participate in social media they try to bring together different or likeminded people in virtual brand communities. A brand community based on social media provides benefits to its members, to facilitate information sharing and to enhance customers’ bonds to each other; it cements the customers’ relationships with the brand, the product, the company and other customers (Laroche, Habibi and Richard, 2013). These enhanced relationships result in enhanced brand loyalty, and brand trust as an antecedent of loyalty has a key role in this process. Our findings explain that social media based brand communities have positive effects on the customer/product relationship; the customer/brand relationship; the customer/company relationship; and the customer/other customer’s relationships and also all these relationships have a positive effect on brand trust.

Keywords: Social Media Based Brand Communities, Brand Trust, Social Media