Impact of online advertising, online community, and electronic word of mouth on brand loyalty of Millennials and Gen Z generations in Vietnam

Abstract

This thesis addresses the subject of how Vietnamese customers' brand loyalty is influenced by Social Networking Sites (SNS). The issue is critical, since social media platforms, such as social networking sites (SNS), have received growing attention from businesses that want to exploit the rising popularity of these platforms, as well as more and more individuals all over the globe using them. In an annual study done by We Are Social (2020), Vietnam boasts having 71 million social network accounts, which has risen by 11% (or 7 million accounts) since January of the year. Among the most popular social networks in Vietnam, YouTube (Google) takes the lead with 92% of Vietnamese internet users, with Facebook at 91.7%, Zalo coming in at 76.5%, Instagram at 53.5%, and Tiktok at 47.6% For this reason, this analysis will concentrate on studying Vietnamese customers' activity on the SNS sites listed above. With the simultaneous growth of social networking in Vietnam and across the globe, corporate advertising on social networks grew substantially. Vietnam is projected to have digital advertising expenditure of $290 million USD in 2020, which is up 9.2% from 2019. (We are social, 2021). SNS ad expenditure was $58.9 million, an increase of 9.1% compared to last year (We are social, 2021). Hence, the study of how the following factors influence consumer behavior: Online Advertising, community groups on SNS platforms (Online Communities), and electronic word of mouth (eWOM). In this research, Vietnamese customers' brand loyalty behavior is discovered, which opens up avenues for business-to-consumer (B2C) communication efforts to be optimized. Previous study does not include an investigation of the whole picture, which is the overall impact of social networks on users. Individual components have so far only been the focus of study, but the whole user experience encompasses all the many SNS features, not just the individual ones. To close this gap, this thesis will adopt an exploratory approach and provide the first detailed exploration of this phenomenon. Ten semi-structural surveys have been performed, each with a varied sample of Internet users ages 16 to 45. Previous information has been taken into consideration when the findings have been examined. Aiding research in this area advances the theoretical and practical reasons for it. The results show that companies should take into consideration their activity on social networks as a whole, and that they must learn how their target audience interacts and experiences social networks in order to arrive at the best approach to exert influence. Some well-known companies should place more emphasis on delivering value by writing brand content and enhancing the development of eWOM, while other unknown brands benefit most from using online advertising to get the attention of consumers who are looking for it. "Brands are expected to have a presence in the aforementioned online communities as well as in their own brand communities."