The Impact of Social Media on Brand Loyalty: Airline Industry in Turkey

Abstract

Within the developing technology, the number of promotion alternatives has increased and thus the competition has reached a wider area in airway markets. Keeping the traditional methods in the market prevents a company from the competition. Therefore, the role of social media in new trends is a curiosity for today’s marketing approaches. The paper aims to research the impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty. Airline industry in Turkey was chosen as sample study. Factors such as trust, satisfaction and expectation that affect brand loyalty in social media were evaluated. The findings provided a great number of marketing methods which airline company should take into account. Basically, the study demonstrated that updating social media frequently with the relevant contents, providing satisfaction and meeting brand expectations through social media are significant factors in creating brand loyalty.The research was conducted on airline companies in Turkey. The sample group was chosen from people using an airline company at least once in Turkey. The questionnaire was prepared through Google Form and sent to respondents via email and Facebook. Random sampling method was used in the research and analysis was made by One-Way Anova test, Chi-Square test and T-test. The research shows that brand loyalty factors in social media are related with trust, service satisfaction, interactive communication and benefit from company. It is observed that interactive communication and meeting brand expectations in social media are also important.

Keywords

• soyal medya
• marka sadakati
• sosyal ağlar
• havayolu endüstrisi
• social media
• brand loyalty
• social networks
• airline industry