Social media marketing and customers' passion for brands

Purpose The modern-day digital marketers use social media as a tool for brand awareness and customer engagement. However, whether social media marketing can actually impact deeper into the users' emotional level and instigate purchase intention is a popular moot point. The purpose of this paper is to investigate as to whether social media marketing is effective in inciting a sense of arousal or passion for the advertised brands and finally generate a purchase intention in the minds of the social media users. Design/methodology/approach A convenient sampling procedure was followed to collect relevant data using a structured questionnaire. The technique of structural equation modelling was used for model building using the software, AMOS 18. Findings The study reveals that efficient use of social media for marketing communications can generate a passion for the advertised brands in the social media users' minds, as well as instigate a brand purchase intention. Research limitations/implications The study has been restricted to Indian smartphone customers who also spend a substantial amount of time on social media. Practical implications The use of social media for online customer engagement is a smart strategy that can be employed by digital marketers in order to emotionally connect the advertised brand with the users of social media. Originality/value This study is probably the first to investigate the direct impact of social media marketing on users' brand passion.