Social Media Performance as a Strategic Capability: Examining Its Impact on Customer Loyalty, Brand Awareness, and Marketing Performance in Indian E-tail

Abstract

In this era of the internet, social media performance (SMP) affects the performance of the firm, especially in the e-tail sector. SMP in our study is considered a second-order construct that influences brand awareness (BA), customer loyalty (CL), and marketing performance (MP). The data collected from digital marketing and social media practitioners were modelled using covariance-based structural equation modelling. The results show that SMP influences BA, CL, and MP positively, meaning that SMP can serve as a dynamic capability of e-tailers, which could be used to create customer relations, brand-related loyalty, and expansion. The article elaborates the theory by considering SMP as multidimensional and integrates social exchange theory and dynamic capabilities theory. From a practical perspective, e-tailers should pay more attention to personalized social media interaction, develop social media marketing strategies, and use analytics to enhance their marketing efforts.