Page 402 - MARSIUM'21 COMP OF PAPER

2022

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO INCREASE BRAND

EQUITY AND PURCHASE INTENTION OF RED FUTURE NETWORK
ENTERPRISE

LIM SEOW YING, THOO AI CHIN

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: seowying@graduate.utm.my

Abstract

Telecommunication has become an essential component of the modern lifestyle and significantly impacts economic development. However, the Covid-19
pandemic has shattered every industry in Malaysia, including the telecommunication industry. Many firms have transformed into an online business model
because many industries are not allowed to operate during Movement Control Order (MCO). As a result, social media marketing is increased significantly
for every business. However, one of the telecommunication service providers which is Red Future Network Enterprise faces problems such as no active social
media presence, sales from walk-in customers, and low sales due to MCO and Covid-19 pandemic. Social media marketing significantly increases online
social interaction, brand equity, and customer purchase intention. As such, this study aims to identify the relationship between social media marketing efforts,
consumers’ engagement with brand-related social media content, brand equity, and purchase intention of telecommunication services provided by Red Future
Network Enterprise. A quantitative method was used to distribute the online survey to respondents using purposive sampling technique. The target population
was the individuals who liked and followed any of a telecommunication brand on social media platforms. The sample size for this study was 209. Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used for data analysis. The findings found that there are positive and significant relationships between
the social media marketing efforts, consumers’ engagement with brand-related social media content, brand equity, and purchase intention of the
telecommunication service. The findings of this study were used for the intervention of Red Future Network Enterprise by creating a Facebook page and
updating the engaging social media posts and contents frequently to enhance its online presence and engagement with the consumers. Finally, the Facebook
page of Red Future Network Enterprise successfully increased the brand equity and purchase intention of Red Future Network Enterprise with customers'
enquiries. In conclusion, this study can contribute to the telecommunication industry such as telecommunication service providers by offering them better
insight on implemented social media marketing efforts and consumers’ engagement with brand-related social media content that can enhance their brand
equity and purchase intention.

Keywords: Telecommunication, Brand equity, Purchase intention, Consumers’ engagement with brand-related social media content, Social media marketing
efforts

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, the Malaysian telecommunication industry has experienced a tremendous expansion and is predicted to achieve huge
expansion throughout the projection period until 2025 (Global Monitor, 2020). For example, cable companies, internet service providers,
satellite companies, and phone companies are formed of the telecommunications industry. Besides, long-distance communication is also
described as telecommunications (Corporate Finance Institute, 2020). Telecommunication is a crucial component of the modern lifestyle and
significantly impacts economic development (Sharif, 2017). The origin of the industry can be traced to postal courier services (Corporate
Finance Institute, 2020). The telecoms sector has developed from providing voice services to broadband data services (Chouhan et al., 2021).
However, as seen in other countries, only a small number of businesses offer services in the sector with an oligopoly market structure. In
addition, the operators' services are different in terms of pricing and service quality (Chouhan et al., 2021).
In Malaysia, innovation is the primary cause of sustainable development, and rapid growth has been primarily dependent on the
telecommunication sector. According to Hajar et al. (2018), telecommunications companies improve their performance and achieve
profitable growth by delivering a wide range of highly innovative products and services. For instance, the development of modern

381