The impact of social media marketing activities on student desires: analysing the mediating role of brand identity, perceived value, and satisfaction

With the increasing competitive circumstance in higher education, universities need to identify tools to increase student satisfaction and retention. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMA) on students' willingness to participate and pursue higher education through the mediating role of brand identity (BI), perceived value (PV), and satisfaction (SAT). The population of the study includes the top four universities in Kabul that use social media to do their marketing activities. For data collection, 373 questionnaires were distributed among the students of these universities. The research model was tested using structural equation modelling technique. The findings show that SMMA's have a positive impact on BI, PV, and SAT. The results of data analysis also show that SMMA's through BI and PV indirectly affect SAT. Also, BI and PV through consent indirectly influence the continuance intention and the participation intention.