Synergistic Influence in Social Media Marketing: Integrating Interactivity and Personalization to Build Consumer Trust and Brand Engagement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/Keywords:
Social Media Marketing, Interactivity, Personalization, Synergistic Influence, Digital Trust, Brand EngagementAbstract
This conceptual paper introduces Synergistic Influence as a new theoretical construct that explains how interactivity and personalization jointly enhance consumer trust and brand engagement in social media marketing. Drawing upon the Stimulus-Organism-Response(S-O-R) paradigm (Sultan, Wong, & Azam, 2021; originally conceptualized by Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) and Trust Transfer Theory (Stewart, 2003; Hsu, Hung, & Chiu, 2022), this study synthesizes insights from 58 peer-reviewed articles to develop a refined conceptual framework. While interactivity and personalization have been examined as distinct constructs (Kim & Ko, 2012; Soares et al., 2019; Hirna et al., 2022), their convergence forms a more powerful psychological stimulus that evokes perceived authenticity and digital trust (Rossanty et al., 2024; Rico et al., 2024). This synergy, termed Synergistic Influence, represents consumers’ holistic perception of responsive and relevant brand interactions. The model conceptualizes interactivity and personalization as dual digital stimuli forming a higher-order construct influencing trust, which subsequently drives brand engagement and loyalty. Theoretically, this paper extends Kim and Ko’s (2012) classical SMM model by reframing digital dimensions as co-active rather than additive factors. Managerially, it suggests that brands should design integrated experiences combining responsiveness and personalization to build long-term trust and relationship quality in digital environments.
References
Acatrinei, C., Apostol, I. G., Barbu, L. N., Chivu, R. G., & Orzan, M. C. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in digital marketing: Enhancing consumer engagement and supporting sustainable behavior through social and mobile networks. Sustainability (Switzerland), 17(14). https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146638
Althuwaini, S. (2022). The effect of social media activities on brand loyalty for banks: The role of brand trust. Administrative Sciences, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci12040148
Andrade, J., & Oliveira, P. (2025). eWOM and content marketing strategies maximizing brand engagement. International Journal of Innovation and Education Economics, 9(1), 100293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2025.100293
Barger, V., Peltier, J. W., & Schultz, D. E. (2016). Social media and consumer engagement: A review and research agenda. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 10(4), 268–287. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-06-2016-0065
Bashir, M. A., Saraih, U. N. B., Gundala, R., Ansari, J., Qureshi, M. A., & Ahmed, S. (2024). Digital influence: Examining social media marketing dynamics and how they affect consumer brand loyalty. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 21, 1571–1583. https://doi.org/10.37394/23207.2024.21.128
Bozkurt, S., Gligor, D. M., & Babin, B. J. (2021). The role of perceived firm social media interactivity in facilitating customer engagement behaviors. European Journal of Marketing, 55(4), 995–1022. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-07-2019-0613
Gaber, H. R., Wright, L. T., & Kooli, K. (2019). Consumer attitudes towards Instagram advertisements in Egypt: The role of the perceived advertising value and personalization. Cogent Business and Management, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2019.1618431
Haudi, Handayani, W., Musnaini, Suyoto, Y. T., Prasetio, T., Pital-Oka, E., Wijoyo, H., Yonata, H., Koho, I. R., & Cahyono, Y. (2022). The effect of social media marketing on brand trust, brand equity and brand loyalty. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 6(3), 961–972. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2022.1.015
Hirna, O., Haivoronska, I., Vlasenko, D., Brodiuk, Y., & Verbytska, A. (2022). To the issue of the improvement of Ukrainian entrepreneurial strategies: Digital marketing as a modern tool for promotion of goods and services in social media. Financial and Credit Activity: Problems of Theory and Practice, 2(43), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.55643/fcaptp.2.43.2022.3752
Islam, J. U., Hollebeek, L. D., Rahman, Z., Khan, I., & Rasool, A. (2019). Customer engagement in the service context: An empirical investigation of the construct, its antecedents and consequences. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 50, 277–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.05.018
Kim, A. J., & Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1480–1486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.014
Khoa, B. T., & Huynh, T. T. (2023). The influence of social media marketing activities on customer loyalty: A study of e-commerce industry. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 7(1), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2022.11.005
Lin, X., Al Mamun, A., Masukujjaman, M., & Yang, Q. (2024). Unveiling the effect of social media marketing activities on logistics brand equity and reuse intention. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04022-0
Mehrabian, A., & Russell, J. A. (1974). An approach to environmental psychology. MIT Press.
Nguyen, C., Tran, T., & Nguyen, T. (2024). Factors affecting users’ brand awareness through social media marketing on TikTok. Innovative Marketing, 20(1), 122–131. https://doi.org/10.21511/im.20(1).2024.11
Omeish, F., Alrousan, M., Alghizzawi, M., Aqqad, A., & Daboub, R. Al. (2024). Social media marketing elements, purchase intentions, and cultural moderators in fast fashion: Evidence from Jordan, Morocco, and Spain. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 8(3), 1613–1624. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2024.3.005
Rawangngam, N., Pongsakornrungsilp, P., Siriwong, C., Ketkaew, K., Tonsakunthaweeteam, S., & Kumar, V. (2025). Social media and consumer engagement: A bibliometric analysis and future research directions. Innovative Marketing, 21(3), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.21511/im.21(3).2025.15
Rehman, F. ur, Zahid, H., Qayyum, A., & Jamil, R. A. (2025). Building relationship equity: Role of social media marketing activities, customer engagement, and relational benefits. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 20(3), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer20030223
Requez-Cipriano, I., & Mauricio-Andía, M. (2025). How social media marketing drives e-learning platform adoption: A multigroup approach. Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 23(2), 46–63. https://doi.org/10.34190/ejel.23.2.3595
Rico, H., de la Puente, M., Mahecha, J. D. R., & Perez, H. (2024). Social media, brand loyalty and the banking industry in Colombia. Innovative Marketing, 20(1), 31–39. https://doi.org/10.21511/im.20(1).2024.03
Rossanty, Y., Rini, E. S., Sembiring, B. K. F., & Silalahi, A. S. (2024). Social media marketing and consumer brand engagement: Elevating luxury perfume brand equity. International Review of Management and Marketing, 14(6), 239–254. https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.17229
Soares, J. C., Sarquis, A. B., Cohen, E. D., & Soares, T. C. (2019). Social media marketing communication: Effect of interactivity and vividness on user engagement. Revista Brasileira de Marketing, 18(4), 244–268. https://doi.org/10.5585/remark.v18i4.14321
Stewart, K. J. (2003). Trust transfer on the World Wide Web. Organization Science, 14(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.1.5.12810
Sultan, P., Wong, H. Y., & Azam, M. S. (2021). How perceived communication source and food value stimulate purchase intention of organic food: An examination of the stimulus-Organism-Response(SOR) model. Journal of Cleaner Production, 312, 127807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127807
Tam, L. D., Tuu, H. H., & Cong, L. C. (2024). The effect of social media marketing on tourist loyalty: A mediation–moderation analysis in the tourism sector under the Stimulus-Organism-Responsemodel. Journal of Tourism and Services, 15(29), 294–319. https://doi.org/10.29036/jots.v15i29.914
Vinerean, S., & Opreana, A. (2021). Measuring customer engagement in social media marketing: A higher-order model. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(7), 2633–2654. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16070145
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Akhmad Zulkifli
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
