Presentation of a Brand Equity Model Influenced by Social Media Marketing Activities

The present study aims to present a brand equity model under the influence of social media marketing (SMM) activities. This study is qualitative research in terms of objective and nature, which was conducted based on the grounded theory (GT) approach. The data collection tools included in-depth interviews. To do this, using the purposeful sampling, 12 experts familiar with the subject (SMM experts and managers of companies active in the area of marketing and virtual companies in Tehran, Iran) were chosen and interviewed. Data were analyzed in the three open, axial, and selective coding stages. The results indicated that there are more than 260 initial codes or concepts from the interviews, 53 concepts, and 26 categories laying in the model, including SMM activities (main phenomenon), transparency of existing rules and standards (ruling bed), support (causal conditions), social responsibility of companies (strategies), managerial-promotional activities, customer-related factors (intervening conditions), and brand equity (outcomes).