Social media marketing and consumer buying intentions; mediation of brand Image and awareness

With the generalization of social commerce and the rapid growth of diverse social commerce markets, marketers must look for a variety of strategies to adapt to the tight competitive conditions in these networks and gain market share. Social media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. Customers are already interacting with winners through social media, and they will be lost if they do not communicate directly with their audience through social media. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of social media marketing on purchasing intention with the mediating role of brand image and brand awareness. The statistical population of the study consisted of dairy customers, which 384 people were selected based on Morgan table and by available sampling method to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire used was standard and its formal and content validity was confirmed by a survey of university professors and managers of the dairy marketing department. Also convergent and divergent validity, and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess the validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate its reliability. The results of structural equation modeling test using PLS software showed that all research hypotheses have been confirmed. In other words, social media marketing has a direct effect on customers purchasing intention and through the mediator role of brand image, and brand awareness affects customers' purchasing intention.