CONCEPTUAL MODEL REGARDING THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING COMMUNICATION ON BRAND TRUST, BRAND AFFECT AND BRAND LOYALTY

Knowing that nowadays many companies are integrating social media in their online marketing communication strategies, it is important to determine whether its usage, has the ability to influence the consumers' perceptions towards brands. Starting from the assumption that social media marketing communication can influence the consumers' trust, affect and loyalty towards brands, this article aims to investigate the relationships between these four main concepts. The research developed for this purpose was conducted on a sample of 314 respondents and in order to validate the proposed conceptual model, the data analysis used structural equation modeling, based on variance method The results point out that the importance given to the characteristics of social media marketing communications are directly related to brand trust and brand affect, the two main determinants of brand loyalty, as shown in the conceptual model.