The Effect of Social Media Marketing on Brand Loyalty

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effect of social media marketing on brand loyalty among students of private universities in Medan. It seeks to understand how students’ perceptions of brand-related marketing activities on social media platforms influence their loyalty attitudes toward brands in an increasingly competitive digital environment. The research adopts a quantitative explanatory design using a survey method. Data were collected from 250 undergraduate students enrolled in private universities in Medan who actively follow commercial brands on social media platforms. A structured questionnaire was used to measure social media marketing perceptions and brand loyalty. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling with a partial least squares approach to assess the reliability, validity, and structural relationships among the constructs. The results reveal that social media marketing has a positive and significant effect on brand loyalty. Students who perceive social media content as engaging, informative, interactive, and credible tend to exhibit stronger emotional attachment, brand preference, and commitment. The findings indicate that social media marketing explains a substantial proportion of variance in brand loyalty, highlighting its strategic importance in influencing student consumers’ long-term brand relationships. This study contributes to the marketing literature by providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of social media marketing in fostering brand loyalty within a student segment in an emerging urban context. It also offers practical insights for brand managers to develop relationship-oriented social media strategies that strengthen loyalty beyond short-term engagement metrics.