Samenvatting

Social media have become a large part of nowadays companies’ marketing strategy, but how does this impact the customers’ perception of a brand? The aim of this dissertation is to research the influences of social media advertisements on consumer based brand equity in the travel industry. To this end, the research question is as follows: What is the influence of social media advertisements on customer based brand equity in the travel industry? In order to answer the central research questions both desk- and field research has been applied. The desk research included books and online sources, such as articles and papers.
The field research included quantitative research, in the form of a survey. Brand building expert Keller provided a list of Candidate Measures of Brand-Building Blocks, which was used as a base for the survey. Between two identical lists of questions a social media advertisement was shown, in order to measure the change. The survey was conducted among 203 respondents.
The key concepts related to this study include: advertising, social media, and (customer based) brand equity. Advertising is defined as all communication towards consumers; social media is described as online social platforms for communities of people that share similar interests.

CBBE is outlined via Keller’s model. The model involves four steps, consisting of six brand building blocks: brand identity (brand salience), brand meaning (brand performance and brand imagery), brand responses (consumer judgments and consumer feelings), and brand relationships (consumer brand resonance).
The results of the survey showed that the advertisement had no influence on brand salience and brand imagery; a positive influence on consumer judgments; and a negative influence on brand performance, consumer feelings and consumer brand resonance. Moreover, the advertisement had a negative influence on the rational side of brand meaning and the emotional side of brand responses. In conclusion, social media advertisements have a negative influence on customer based brand equity in the travel industry. Further research should involve a more representative sample of the population. Moreover, it is recommended to investigate how social media advertisements influence CBBE in the long run, and what the social medium platforms’ role is in this.

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