Social media has become a very useful tool for companies hoping to boost brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty among consumers. A study in the International Journal of Business Performance Management has looked at its role in detail and found that many companies are directly interacting with consumers, building stronger brand connections, and gaining a competitive edge.
Radhika Madan, a Soft Skills Trainer, in Gurgaon, Haryana and Manmohan Rahul of Sharda University in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, surveyed 350 internet users to help them establish a reliable scale for measuring the effectiveness of brand communication via social media. They used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to analyse their survey results and found that social media offers a more direct, cost-effective, and rapid means of reaching a wider customer base when compared with conventional media, such as television, papers and magazines, and even email.
The researchers emphasize that social media platforms allow businesses to undertake ongoing dialogues with consumers, which in turn boosts both brand visibility and loyalty. This is particularly important in hospitality, air travel, banking, telecommunications, and e-commerce.
One aspect of social media’s power is the potential to “go viral” when users share information about a brand or product with their networks, and the reach of that message expands quickly across the platform. Going viral can spread a brand message far wider and far more quickly than conventional advertising in many cases.
Of course, the concept of branding itself has evolved alongside the rise of social media. Traditionally, branding referred to creating a distinct identity for a company, highlighting its core values and differentiating it from competitors. Branding is no longer one-way traffic, the consumers themselves are part of the message and can have two-way, real-time conversations with businesses. This allows consumers to offer instantaneous feedback about products and services and gives businesses the means to respond to that feedback, whether positive or negative, just as quickly and to change their “offering” accordingly, if appropriate.
Madan, R. and Rahul, M. (2025) ‘The role of social media as a brand communication tool: an exploratory work’, Int. J. Business Performance Management, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp.228–249.