THE EFFECTS OF VALUE CREATION PRACTICES ON BRAND TRUST AND BRAND LOYALTY IN ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITY

Abstract

Increasing customer loyalty, to the company, should be the primary objective in today’s increasingly competitive business environment. Every company relies mainly on its fixed customers and endeavors to increase the number of such clients as many researches confirm that loyal customers will generate lucrative returns. With the help of the advanced technology and the internet, customer relationship management technique is implemented through more diverse media channels including the newly popular social networking portal - Facebook. The paper is aimed to examine the performance of Facebook as an effective relationship strengthening tool to create brand loyalty among target audiences in the cosmetic industry. Like other businesses, beauty brands have started to create the online presence on Facebook with the purpose of reaching out for amassing numbers of potential customers and tightening relationship with their fan base. To provide answers to the prime research question, the research is carefully planned and various data collection methods are employed to obtain relevant information. This research used quantitative (questionnaire survey) method to retrieve reliable outcomes. The study is general on brand community and respondents are asked to assume the brand they follow of their choice to feel in the questionnaires. The findings have shown interesting results. Facebook’s unique features offer both simplicity and flexibility to connect and communicate with their audiences and can obviously be another good relationship building tool, yet companies are not able to manage to reach their ultimate goal, the loyalty. One key problem highlighted here is that what companies currently offer to their targets is irrelevant to their preference, thus they fail to keep ongoing engagement with their fans. Based on the research conducted, it is imperative for companies to set a clear objective before implementing any marketing campaigns on Facebook so as to ensure the content relevance for their target audiences. Continuous interaction between fans and brands is vital but it is important not to bombard fans with unnecessary information.