International Journal of Management

Volume 11, Issue 04, April 2020, pp. 244-254. Article ID: IJM_11_04_025
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijm/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=4
Journal Impact Factor (2020): 10.1471 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

POWER OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN

BUILDING BRANDS: A REVIEW OF SOCIAL
MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT
Rammohan Sundaram
Business Administration Department, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

Dr. Rajeev Sharma

Institute of Business Management, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

Dr. Anurag Shakya

Institute of Business Management, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT
The brand management landscape has changed due to the digital media platforms
which provide real-time interaction and high dynamism. Furthermore, the emergence
of social media has left a profound impact on the procedure adopted by companies to
maintain a relationship with the customers. However, the industries have not been able
to explore the field of social media marketing to its full potential and their
understanding of digital marketing strategies for the purpose of branding has been
limited. It is crucial to gain a deep understanding of the transformation in the field of
marketing as it exercises direct influence on the sustainability of the brand. However,
the literature in the field of social media advertising and impact on the brand
management is still in the nascent stage. Therefore, present study will aim at reviewing
all the digital platforms, with special focus on the social media advertisement which are
utilised for brand advertisement. The success of the social media advertisement will be
measured by reviewing the behaviour of millennials towards the digital media and
brands. The results will extend to the current knowledge in the field pertaining to the
digital advertising tools, social media advertisement, and brand management.
Moreover, the study will provide insight to the brand managers regarding the power of
digital marketing and social media advertisement.
Keywords: Digital Marketing, Building brands, Advertisement, Social Media and
Millennials

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 244 [email protected]

 Rammohan Sundaram, Dr. Rajeev Sharma and Dr. Anurag Shakya

Cite this Article: Rammohan Sundaram, Dr. Rajeev Sharma and Dr. Anurag Shakya,
Power of digital marketing in building brands: A review of social media advertisement,
International Journal of Management, 11 (4), 2020, pp. 244-254.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=4

1. INTRODUCTION
The internet has transformed the way customers engage with the brands they use, along with
the traditional marketing techniques in the economy. The existing ways of engaging with brands
have become obsolete and are not sustainable anymore as today’s consumer tries to establish a
relationship and connection with the brand. Consumers look for a promise from the brand in
terms of values offered. The touch-points have changed from investing lion’s share with the
aim to increase brand awareness and increase sales to places where actually invest their time
and funds, that is, digital space (Edelman, 2010). Brands are intangible assets of the firm and
firms aim at constructing a strong brand name which can create strong consumer’s memory by
providing clarity in the information (Gensler et al., 2013). Digital marketing has replaced
traditional marketing strategies, and has been widely adopted by firms to promote their brand
and reach the wider consumers. Digital marketing includes tools which do not require internet
facility and therefore, extend beyond social media marketing. It incorporates mobile marketing,
display advertisement, social media, search engine and other forms of digital marketing. With
digital media, convenience is provided to consumers to gain access to information from any
place and at any time. The reliability and validity of brands’ claims is cross-checked from the
media, associations, experts and peers. Digital marketing deploys a range of promotional
activities which are transferred with the help of digital media. Companies are channelizing their
efforts to bring brand and consumer closer (Yasmin, Tasneem & Fatema, 2015).
Digital media landscape has been redefined and reconfigured with the emergence of social
media and transformed the way information is disseminated as it has helped in incorporation of
innovation and creativity in information and increased sharing within the social network
(Lipsman et al., 2012). Social media has achieved popularity in recent years, and almost half of
the internet users are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram users are active on these platforms on a
daily basis. Currently, Facebook is the most used social media platform with around 750 million
users, who invest a significant amount of daily time on Facebook. Before Facebook, Google
was the most visited site on the Web. The popularity of social media encouraged firms to shift
towards social media and adopt novel strategies in order to reach the masses. At present, more
than 7 million sites have integrated themselves with social media as a branding strategy
(Trattner & Kappe, 2013). Brands are interested in engaging with the followers and modulating
their experience and voice them to gain greater impact from marketing. As the field of social
media advertisement unfolds itself, new potentials are discovered and the challenge is to exploit
them to their full potential. Co-founder of Intuit, Scott Cook remarked that Brand is not
dependent upon what company communicates to its consumers but ist is dependent upon what
consumers talk among themselves. Company has only one power which is controlling the
information (Lipsman et la., 2012).
Despite an increase in the scholarly attention towards social media and brand integration in
a range of industries, studies were not efficient in presenting an understanding of different
digital marketing tools on the brand management, even in the dynamic environment conditions.
Therefore, present study aims at gaining understanding of digital tools, especially social media
advertisement to create value from the brand. Since, the millennials exert tremendous pressure
in the market movement (Newman, 2015), the study will examine the impact of social media
in the behaviour of millennials and millennial changing perception towards brands with the
introduction of social media advertisement. The study will be efficient in identifying

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 245 [email protected]

 Power of digital marketing in building brands: A review of social media advertisement

characteristics of social media advertisement and establishing a link with the essence of brand
management.

2. RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES

Digital marketing has transformed the way brands are marketed and become accessible to more
eyes. The present review paper will aim at identifying the reason which attracts brands to utilize
digital platforms to communicate with a wider audience and the role played by the social media
platforms in advertising brands. The impact of the brand advertisement through social media
platforms will be examined by reviewing the behavioral change of millennials. To achieve the
aim, the following objectives will be taken care of:
• To evaluate digital platforms utilized for advertising brands.
• To assess the power of social media advertising in brand communication.
• To examine the change in behavior of millennials towards brands after utilization of
social media advertisement.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1. Digital platforms utilised for brand advertisement
Digital marketing tools are considered as the best way to interact with the customers and sustain
the reliability of the organisation as it matches the pace of dynamic needs of customers (Wymbs,
2011). Digital marketing is an umbrella term which includes all the digital techniques which
are efficient in acquisition, relationship building, brand promotion and retention of customers
and in effect boost the sales. The advantages of the online marketing have not been limited to
the small companies but is utilised by the brands like Louis Vitton, Amazon to name a few.
These companies use online marketing platforms to communicate about the history of the brand,
employees and their upcoming events. The major role is to convince customers to be a part of
the journey by the medium of storytelling (Greenhill, 2011).
Blogs has become the important communication medium and used by big corporates for
brand advertisement as this tool has ease of use, knowledge sharing component and identifies
a community (Ho et al., 2015). A study by Vrana and Zafiropoulos (2010) suggested that instant
messaging, blogs, recommendations and online reviews has replaced word-of-mouth. Xiang
and Gretzel (2010) indicated that blogs are useful in sharing experiences and adding
trustworthiness and are therefore, considered as the most efficacious marketing intelligence
technique.
Hartemo (2016) documented in the study that e-mail marketing is a tool which allows
personalised communication and empowers consumers by converting consumers into active
consumers. However, the study indicated that currently markets are not updated and does not
exploit e-mail marketing to its full potential. “Beyond the Rack” is an e-commerce retail
company which drives its 16.2% of the traffic from the e-mail marketing campaign as the
content is resonating enough to attract consumer’s attention.
Consumer and brand relationships are important to reinforce participation of communities
and embark their presence. Mobile marketing focuses on relationship building as it reciprocates
communication among the brand and consumer. Furthermore, it is not affected by the location
and time barriers. It is also referred to as wireless advertisement. It incorporates “opt-in”
services and SMS alerts. The study highlighted that SMS has a positive impact on the brand
personality and brand involvement. People who received SMS alerts of “pret a porter” clothing,
created a perspective towards the brand and enhanced their experience with the brand (Bouhlel
et al., 2011).

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 246 [email protected]

 Rammohan Sundaram, Dr. Rajeev Sharma and Dr. Anurag Shakya

In context of luxury brands and digital media platforms, Jain and Schultz (2016) conducted
a study which concluded that to increase the sales of a luxury brand, it is necessary to understand
the consumer’s behaviour and it can be only achieved through digital platforms. Furthermore,
consumers use digital media extensively with the sole purpose of comparison among the brands
and evaluating the alternative brands available.
Search engine is used widely for information search and online shopping. The display
results of the search engine are categorised into keyword ads and organic ads. Many businesses
are integrating keywords search ads into their business model to reach targeted audiences
(Ghose & Yang, 2009). Yoo (2014) concluded in the study that keyword search ads are effective
tools in creating brand recognition and also assimilates the brand image.
Another digital marketing tool which has gained considerable attention is viral marketing,
which is used by brands to circulate information by creating buzz, network marketing and
leveraging the media. By exploiting social media channels, awareness about the brand or
business can be leveraged along with an increase in the brand visibility (Raja, 2012).
With the expansion of the social media channels, the influencers community is able to
communicate more and holds significant power over creation of brand perception. The study of
Booth and Matic (2011) contemplated that the influencer community is effective in targeting
traditional audiences and its integration with social media is a marketing strategy adopted by
companies to optimise brand equity. The study also suggested that just the companies do not
control their brand as it belongs to customers. However, the brand presentation can be
controlled by the companies, so a presence over Facebook or twitter would not produce
optimum results, however complete control over these platforms is required. Internet-based
activities which have high influence over the brand perceptions are banner advertising, viral
marketing, SEO, widget development to name a few. The success of these platforms is
dependent upon the quality of relationship maintained between the consumer and brand.
E-commerce has influenced the brand equity and justifies profit margins. The internet has
transformed the way information is assessed and consecutively influences the buying
behaviour. Mohapatra (2012) pointed out that companies which deal in computers such as IBM,
Apple and Dell will have upper hand in e-commerce in comparison to Tesco and Big Bazaar.
The success of e-commerce sites is dependent upon the reputation of the company or any
creative strategy adopted. Moreover, the success of a brand is affected by the degree of the
consumer’s involvement, which highlights the success of Amazon. Com. Brand names like
Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki have created a domain name and offer discounts if the purchase is
made from online sites, with the aim to leverage brand equity.

3.2. Social media advertisement to communicate brand

Last decade, remarkable appearances had been made by the Web 2.0, especially in the field of
social networks. The social network has a large number of users which attracted many industries
to use it as a marketing tool. The benefits are extended in terms of the free services, and the
revenue generation is dependent upon the content and the advertisement. Web 2.0 fulfills the
purpose of information exchange between the website and the user and social platforms are
attracting attention from many scholars as it defines the profile of an individual, social
information about the consumer is available and information is useful in understanding their
behaviour. Platforms are used for creation and dissemination of information to a larger
consumer base. Moreover, social media creates numerous opportunities for brand promotion
and transforming the consumer’s perspective towards a particular brand (Mata & Quesada,
2014).
Chua and Parackal (2009) suggested in the study that blogs are majorly used for
understanding the philosophy of the leaders, however in this era of cut-throat competition,

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 247 [email protected]

 Power of digital marketing in building brands: A review of social media advertisement

Facebook, twitter and Instagram have become crucial instruments of branding. Twitter and
Facebook have helped brands in maintaining a robust connection with consumers and fosters a
sense of belongingness among them. They fulfil the human desire of engagement, and
associating themselves with the brand they are using presently (Yan, 2011).
Lipsman et al. (2012) investigated the power of social advertisement on branding and
contemplated that social media can help in performing various functions from brand perspective
such as content sharing, connections re-sharing the content and “sponsored stories”, which is
an advertisement unit of Facebook (FB). The branded content is extensively consumed in the
new feed’s category of FB. It majorly covers two type of audience, which is fans and
connections of the fans. FB platform gives opportunity to brands to realise the benefits from
untapped consumer segments.
Social media has altered the marketing in the marketplace, and especially the social network
such as groups of users and blogs. Hutton & Fosdick (2011) projected in the study that brand’s
official websites were losing their audience in 2009 due to emergence of social media
marketing, which is seen as a pervasive marketing technique. Social media has improved the
overall capability of a brand in context of sharing images and content. Blogs have taken special
place and microblogging evolved as a fuel which flourishes the phenomenon of media meshing.
Media meshing stands for the event, when the consumer utilises two platforms to generate
required information. It helps in the enhancement of overall media experience. Due to extensive
opportunities presented by the social media advertisement, brands were forced to join the wave.
Brand communities are established by the brands and its users, which expresses the expression
and needs of end consumers. The brands are advocated by the consumers and likely to increase
the sales ultimately.
Brand narration has gained significant importance in the current market to create clear
consumer memory by compelling stories or content. Brand narration helps in building
awareness, empathy, brand-consumer relationship, recall and specific meaning to a brand.
Illustration of firms which generated brand advertisement through brand story campaigns such
as the ‘Real Beauty’ campaign by Dove and the website of Ben & Jerry’s stresses on the
company’s origin (Singh & Sonnenburg, 2012). The study by Gensler et al. (2013) documented
that control of the brand does not reside within the company, but within the hands of consumers.
In this paradigm, it is necessary for the brands to protect their reputation and make the brand in
line with the consumers expectations. Study had suggested three ways through which brands
can be managed, firstly, listening to the customers, optimum understanding of online culture
and lastly, creation of artefacts, icons and social rituals, which would let consumers play with
the brand name.
Twitter is seen as a prominent tool which helps in brand awareness and affects the brand
value (SyncForce, 2013). Twitter is also described as a micro-blogging platform and has over
300 million users (Weinberg, 2009). The customer engagement is ensured by the medium of
comments, retweet and favourite function. Now-a-days it is also used to poll the opinions of
users. Across all the industries, Twitter has taken the place of a valuable marketing tool
(Hambrick et al., 2010 and Pegoraro, 2010). Popular brands like Apple and Starbucks have
pages on Twitter with 7 million followers approximately.
Parganas et al. (2015) investigated the sports brand management through twitter. Athletes
and clubs use Twitter with the aim to disseminate news and communicate with the fans.
Professional teams of North America use Twitter to interact with their passionate fans which
look for insider information. Sports brands make their place on twitter by the medium of
winning teams and starting players. These players or teams endorse the brand, and it is used for
product related advertisement. Moreover, team logos are promoted which is a non-product
related item and ensures that teams get appropriate funding. The study revealed that product-

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 248 [email protected]

 Rammohan Sundaram, Dr. Rajeev Sharma and Dr. Anurag Shakya

related tweets were higher in off season. Conclusion indicated that Twitter has efficiency for
promotion of all types of brand attributes, and maintain communication with the fans in the
context of the sports product category. Real-time facility is provided by twitter and helps
companies and brands to protect their brand image.
Trattner and Kappe (2013) presented a case study in which the capabilities of Facebook
marketing through exploiting a web-based medium called VirWOX. The ROI from the Google
AdWords had reduced significantly over the few years, due to which scholars had conducted a
collaboration between FB and VirWOX for undertaking -media advertisement. The results
implied that the effectiveness of FB lies in the total friends, ads during streaming and activity
level. If a brand is promoted through these users, then the brand success can be ensured. A study
in the similar field indicated that adoption of instant messenger networks would be an efficient
approach to advertise a product. The information spread about the product is leveraged with the
presence of an influence in the network and peer-pressure.

3.3. Social media advertisement’s impact on Millenials

In recent years, the influence of the millennial generation has grown tremendously which has
urged the marketers to develop productive and unique methods and techniques in order to
approach this demographic category (Newman, 2015).
Brown (2016) conducted a study to analyze the extent to which the brands can productively
approach the millennials using conventional marketing techniques and further traverse the
demand for digital marketing in the swiftly altering advertisement industry. For this purpose, a
critical review of literature and interviews with the millennial customers and industry experts
took place. The results of the study revealed that millennials as compared to other generations
have a short span of attention. They are found to be tech-savvy and fickle-minded and thus seek
answers to all of their questions at the click of a button. This has generated a need for
modification of the advertisement practices. In order to target the millennials, the advertising
must be intended to a unique objective and must provide the right information at the right time
and place to the consumers.
The opinions regarding advertisement have changed immensely for the millennial females.
This has forced various brands to take up innovative and new techniques of advertisement
(Yusuf & Busalim, 2018). Baker (2018) tried to examine the impact of Social Media
Advertisements in the Beauty Industry from the perspective of Irish women. The opinions of
the target population were gathered regarding stealth marketing, photo editing and placement
of potential products. An inductive and interpretivist approach was adopted. From the findings,
it was observed that to ascertain relatability, brands should portray the lives of the influencers
within the advertisements similar to that of the Millennial customers. Moreover, this practice
of advertisement was acknowledged by the female millennials. Although most of the
respondents were unsatisfied with the editing of the images published.
An enormous increase in information and communication technologies and Internet has
been noticed in the previous ten years that have led to a prodigious usage and spread of social
media sites (El-Haddadeh, Weerakkody, & Peng, 2012). This has also opened new avenues for
marketers who have introduced more cost-effective advertising strategies that involve the use
of blogs, social networking sites, websites advertisements, email marketing and more (Saxena
& Khanna, 2013). Arora and Agarwal (2019) developed an extensive model of advertising that
explored the influence of several factors like informativeness, entertainment, credibility,
irritation, personalization and incentives on social media advertising value (SMAV) and
additionally comprehend the influence of SMAV on the perceptions and attitudes of millennials
concerning social media advertising (ATSMA). A deductive approach was adopted and
quantitative data was collected through questionnaire surveys circulated to the users of Social

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 249 [email protected]

 Power of digital marketing in building brands: A review of social media advertisement

Media in India. This developed model was then subjected to exploratory and confirmatory
factor analysis to check its validity. Furthermore, SEM modeling was conducted to examine the
relationships between different factors. The results revealed that there existed an interrelation
between SMAV and the factors identified. Moreover, a positive correlation also existed
between ATSMA and SMAV.
Jambulingam, et al., (2019) examined the factors that govern the involvement of ‘Like
Clicks’ within the Facebook advertisements. Additionally, the researchers tried to understand
the link between the product purchasing decision and the ‘like clicks’ among millennials. A
quantitative study was undertaken and data was collected from 250 millennials using a survey
questionnaire. From the results of the study, it was clear that information about economic value
and quality of the product affected the ‘Like clicks’ on Facebook advertisements. In addition,
the comments and the like clicks pertinent to a product to a great extent impacted the product
buying decision among millennials.
Online communication and the interpersonal association has become a significant
characteristic of social media, particularly among the individuals belonging to the millennial
generation. According to Barenblatt (2015), although the continent of Africa is not on par with
other countries concerning internet facilities, advancement in mobile technology has motivated
the tremendous use of social media. Rodney and Wakeham (2016) investigated the attitudes of
millennials in relation to social media advertisements. Surveys were conducted for this purpose
to examine the impact of marketing communications using social media, especially Mxit and
Facebook on the attitudes of South African millennials. From the results, it was confirmed that
social media advertisements had a notable impact on the millennials. Moreover, various
demographics and features of online usage affected this unique Information and
Communication Technology conduit.
Pandey, Sahu, and Dash (2018) in their research tried to study the influence of Social Media
Marketing on the intention of purchasing products and services among millennials. From the
critical review of previous literature, three constructs viz electronic peer communication,
electronic Word of Mouth and the attitudes toward social media advertising were recognized.
All the variables identified were found to have a remarkable impact on millennial's purchase
intention.

3.4. Millennial buying behaviours towards brand

The behavior of a customer is significant for all Customer Relationship Programs. The
generation of Millennials is often considered as social, open-minded, energetic, innovative,
confident, ambitious, smart and motivated. Shopping is recognized as the core characteristic of
this generation, thus it is important to discern their shopping attitudes and motives and find
whether these patterns of shopping are distinct from the other generations (Ordun, 2015).
Vaara and Zahiraldinni (2019) comprehended how online communication influences the
attitudes of the millennials towards brands. The main objectives of the study were to find the
ways in which one can describe the factors that affect the eWOM of millennials and the way in
which eWOM affects the brand attitudes of millennials. Interviews were conducted with the
millennials and the data was analyzed using the method of a case study. The findings revealed
that eWOM played a critical role in influencing or developing attitudes of the millennials
towards brands. Other than that, exposure to a digital advertisement, need of belonging and
good content generated by the firm affect the buying decision drastically. Strategies of social
interaction and personalization also lead to the development of positive eWOM that finally
promotes brand loyalty.
Stewart and Carey (2020) investigated the relationship between luxury brands of perfume
and Millennial consumers. Various aspects like Consumer Brand Relationship (CBR), brand

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 250 [email protected]

 Rammohan Sundaram, Dr. Rajeev Sharma and Dr. Anurag Shakya

loyalty connections and symbolism of luxury brands were explored. The study concluded that
lifestyle tribes including hedonic and emotional factors proved to be the key elements that
influence the buying behavior of luxury perfume brands in millennial customers.
According to Keller (2013), brand equity can be considered as one of the most significant
and popular concepts in the domain of marketing. Brand equity assists the consumers in
distinguishing their desired brand from all the other brands. In this context, Muigai (2017)
conducted research to test the effect of brand equity on millennials’ buying behavior in the
smartphone industry. From the results, it was observed that brand awareness enhanced the
likelihood of millennial's brand choice. Additionally, in the case of millennials, the
conventional belief that perceived quality may persuade consumers to buy one brand over the
other was dismissed. It was also found that prior experience and purchase quality also
influenced brand loyalty among customers.
Marketers have formulated yet another innovative technique to persuade millennial
consumers to purchase a brand using celebrity endorsements. Various studies have revealed
that a familiar celebrity-endorsed product/ brand has a positive impact on the millennial
audience whereas an unfamiliar celebrity endorsement indicates a little intent to buy a product
(McCormick, 2016).
Turley, (2014) examined the influence of social media brand interactions on the buying
decision of Gen Y. This was done using a questionnaire survey with the millennials. Findings
of the research revealed that social media brand engagement was popular among this
generation. This interaction with the brands included using social media for communication of
brand perception, brand information, and recommendation of brands to friends. Generation Y
was crucially influenced by this engagement to buy the brands. Moreover, the key factor was
positive recommendations from peers.
Another important aspect of marketing that is known to affect the buying decision of
individuals is the concept of product placement. A similar study was taken up by Kit and P'ng
(2014) to comprehend the effectiveness of product placement in the buying behavior of
millennials. It was observed that beliefs regarding product placement of an individual can to a
great extent impact his/her attitude. Moreover, a notable association was found between the
subjective and normative norms. Both the subjective norms and attitudes directly influence the
buying intention. This buying intention tends to affect the consumer behaviors of the
millennials.
Arminen (2017) examined the factors that motivate the millennial generation or the
generation of young consumers to purchase luxury brands. It was indicated that while
developing attitudes regarding the luxury brands, ideal self-congruity affected the millennial
consumers rather than the actual self-congruity. This effect is increased further when a customer
points significance on status value and materialistic values.
It is important for marketers to comprehend the characteristics of the millennial generation
while developing the guidelines of a brand. Capelo (2014) investigated the characteristics that
affect the brand purchasing behaviors of the Portuguese millennials. A critical literature review
regarding brand awareness and millennials assisted in identifying the core aspects that
marketers should consider while targeting millennials. These were summarized as 3 Cs namely,
Cause-related marketing, engagement of customers and content and creativity. From the results,
it was validated that millennials pay more attention to the recommendations and the opinions
of other buyers while making a purchase decision. Additionally, millennials were more
encouraged to be related to a brand that was associated with a social cause. The aspects such
as price, personalization, online content and process of co-creation were found to have an
impact on the non-millennials.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 251 [email protected]

 Power of digital marketing in building brands: A review of social media advertisement

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

With the advent of the internet, corporates and individuals are experimenting to utilise it to
further customer loyalty and sales. However, companies faced failure because consumers use
these platforms as per their convenience and alter the buying decision accordingly. Now,
companies are carefully examining the pattern of consumers and evolving their digital strategies
accordingly. Louis Vitton and Amazon are few examples which have achieved success with the
utilisation of online marketing. These brands are able to engage their customers and enhance
their experience by sharing information and in effect, increasing trustworthiness. Personalised
communication and empowerment is extended to the consumers by indulging in e-mail
marketing. Mobile marketing has also proved efficient in reciprocating communication between
consumer and brand by the medium of SMS. Digital marketing strategies as it helps in
understanding the consumer’s behaviour and modulate the product accordingly. To extract
organic customers, keyword search ads have also shown immense potential, as they aid in the
creation of brand recognition and assimilating brand image. Influencer community on digital
platforms has power to create brand perception and maintain it. Profit margins and brand equity
are significantly influenced by the e-commerce platforms, and brand names like Apple, IBM,
Dell, Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki are exploiting these platforms to increase their sales. With
the appearance of social media, the market has transformed tremendously and created enormous
opportunities such as brand promotion, customer management, protecting brand reputation and
benefits from network marketing. The previous literature suggests that brands are not controlled
by the companies but by the consumers and their perception. Companies can only manage the
information transmitted through various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Media meshing
and Blogs.
With the tremendous growth of the millennials, big companies are focusing on the strategies
which are targeted towards them. The analysis of the previous literature indicates that a positive
relationship persists between the millennials buying and decision-making behaviour and the
social media advertisement. Social media played a crucial role in entertaining, informing,
personalisation incentives and irritation among the millennials of India. Product buying
decision was seen positively associated with the FB advertisement. The communication
function if social media advertisement was observed to be the most crucial factor which
impacted millennials decision making. The popular marketing strategies to endorse brands
among the millennials were e-WOM, celebrity endorsement, brand engagement, content,
creativity and cause-related marketing leveraged the brand loyalty among Millennials.
However, there are other factors also which influenced the behaviour of millennials such as
experience with the brand, perception, peer recommendation, product placement, status values,
to name a few.

5. CONCLUSION
The present study aimed at reviewing the reasons which attract brands to utilise digital
marketing, especially social media advertisement. The effectiveness of new advertisement
techniques was measured by evaluating change in the behaviour of millennials. With the
introduction of social media, challenges have been presented to firms to manage their brands.
The brands are shifting towards maintaining communication with the users and increasing the
interaction within the network by the medium of storytelling as study indicated that these factors
influence the brand image. Brands are not controlled by the firm but the branding lies in the
hand of its consumers, which adds further complication and firms aim at protecting its
reputation. Email marketing, mobile marketing, bogging, keyword search advertisement, e-
commerce platforms, influencer marketing and social media advertisement are few digital tools
utilised by organisations. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and media-meshing are the platforms

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 252 [email protected]

 Rammohan Sundaram, Dr. Rajeev Sharma and Dr. Anurag Shakya

exploited by firms to deliver information and boost customer engagement. The literature
projected that social media advertisement is positively related to the millennial behaviour as it
ensures personalisation of content, empowerment, engagement, entertainment, expert opinion,
and informative content about the brand. Moreover, there are several other behavioural factors
which are not incorporated in the present study such as values, norms, experience, peer
recommendation and status. Therefore, this limitation can be addressed in the future studies.
REFERENCES
[1] Arminen, L. (2017). Motivational factors influencing millennials to purchase and consume
luxury brands: the influence of actual and ideal self-congruity on brand attitude (Master's thesis),
Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Spring 2017, pp. 1-76.
[2] Arora, T., & Agarwal, B. (2019). Empirical Study on Perceived Value and Attitude of
Millennials Towards Social Media Advertising: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach.
Vision, 23(1), 56-69.
[3] Arora, T., & Agarwal, B. (2019). Empirical Study on Perceived Value and Attitude of
Millennials Towards Social Media Advertising: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach.
Vision, 23(1), 56-69.
[4] Baker, D. S. (2018). The Impact of Social Media Influencers as an Advertising Source in the
Beauty Industry from an Irish Female Millennials’ Perspective (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin,
National College of Ireland).
[5] Barenblatt, C. (2015). Marketing to millennials. Cape Town. Sudáfrica: Bizcommunity.
Recuperado de.
[6] Booth, N., & Matic, J. A. (2011). Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape
corporate brand perceptions. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(3),
184–191.
[7] Bouhlel, O., Mzoughi, N., Hadiji, D., & Slimane, I. B. (2011). Brand personality's influence on
the purchase intention: A mobile marketing case. International Journal of Business and
Management, 6(9), 210.
[8] Brown, S. (2016). Marketing to millennials: Improving relationships with millennial consumers
through online advertising and social media networking, California Polytechnic State University,
San Luis Obispo.
[9] Capelo, I. R. D. S. (2014). Millennials brand awareness (Doctoral dissertation), Erasmus School
of History, Culture and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam, MA Media and
Business Master Thesis, pp. 1-78.
[10] El‐Haddadeh, R., Weerakkody, V., & Peng, J. (2012). Social networking services adoption in
corporate communication: the case of China. Journal of Enterprise Information Management,
Vol. 25 No. 6, pp. 559-575
[11] Ghose, Anindya, and Sha Yang (2009), “An Empirical Analysis of Search Engine Advertising:
Sponsored Search in Electronic Markets,” Management Science, 55 (10), 1605–22
[12] Greenhill, D. (4). Pillars of Digital Marketing for luxury brands.
[13] Hartemo, M. (2016). Email marketing in the era of the empowered consumer. Journal of
Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 212-230.
[14] Ho, C.-H., Chiu, K.-H., Chen, H., & Papazafeiropoulou, A. (2015). Can internet blogs be used
as an effective advertising tool? The role of product blog type and brand awareness. Journal of
Enterprise Information Management, 28(3), 346–362.
[15] Varsha Jain & Don E. Schultz (2019) How digital platforms influence luxury purchase behavior
in India? Journal of Marketing Communications, 25:1, 41-64, DOI:
10.1080/13527266.2016.1197295.
[16] Jambulingam, M., Dorasamy, M., Balasundrasun, N. L., & Matiah, J. (2019). The Structural
Relationship Between Like Clicks and Purchase Intention on Facebook Advertisements Among
Millennials. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp. 1-10.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 253 [email protected]

 Power of digital marketing in building brands: A review of social media advertisement

[17] Kit, L. C., & P'ng, E. L. Q. (2014). The effectiveness of product placement: The influence of
product placement towards consumer behavior of the millennial generation. International Journal
of Social Science and Humanity, 4(2), 138.
[18] Mata, F. J., & Quesada, A. (2014). Web 2.0, social networks and e-commerce as marketing tools.
Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research, 9(1), 56-69.
[19] McCormick, K. (2016). Celebrity endorsements: Influence of a product-endorser match on
Millennials attitudes and purchase intentions. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 32, pp.
39-45.
[20] Mohapatra, S. (2013). E-commerce Strategy. In E-Commerce Strategy (pp. 155-171). Springer,
Boston, MA.
[21] Muigai, C. N. (2017). Impact of Brand Equity on Consumer Buyer Behaviour of Smartphones
among Millennials: A Case Study of the United States International University (Doctoral
dissertation, United States International University-Africa).
[22] Newman, D. (2015). Research shows millennials don’t respond to ads. Retrieved May, 11, 2017.
[23] Ordun, G. (2015). Millennial (Gen Y) consumer behavior their shopping preferences and
perceptual maps associated with brand loyalty. Canadian Social Science, 11(4), 40-55.
[24] Pandey, A., Sahu, R., & Dash, M. K. (2018). Social media marketing impact on the purchase
intention of millennials. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 28(2), 147.
[25] Raja, V. (2012). The study of e-commerce service systems in global viral marketing strategy.
Available at SSRN 2190787.
[26] Rodney, G., & Wakeham Dr, M. (2016). Social media marketing communications effect on
attitudes among millennials in South Africa. The African Journal of Information Systems, 8(3),
2.
[27] D. Prasanna Kumar, K. Rajyalakshmi and SS. Asadi, Digital Marketing Strategical Role to
Promote Technical Education In Andhra And Telangana: An Exploratory Study, International
Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(10), 2017, pp. 197–206
[28] Stewart, A., & Carey, L. (2020). Luxury Perfume Brands and Millenial Consumers. In
Understanding Luxury Fashion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (pp. 147-173).
[29] Turley, A. (2014). Millennial's, brands and social media, Dublin Business School, pp. 6-70.
[30] Vaara, L., & Zahiraldinni, S. (2019). Online Communication and Brand Attitudes: A Millennial
Perspective, Luleå University of Technology
[31] Dr. S. Yuvaraj and R. Indumathi, Influence of Digital Marketing on Brand Building,
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 9(7), 2018, pp. 235–243
[32] Vrana, V. and Zafiropoulos, K. (2010), “Locating central travelers’ groups in travel blogs’ social
networks”, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 595-609.
[33] Wymbs, C. (2011). Digital marketing: The time for a new “academic major” has arrived. Journal
of Marketing Education, 33(1), 93-106.
[34] Xiang, Z. and Gretzel, U. (2010), “Role of social media in online travel information search”,
Tourism Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 179-188.
[35] Yasmin, A., Tasneem, S., & Fatema, K. (2015). Effectiveness of digital marketing in the
challenging age: An empirical study. International Journal of Management Science and Business
Administration, 1(5), 69-80.
[36] Yoo, C. Y. (2014). Branding Potentials of Keyword Search Ads: The Effects of Ad Rankings on
Brand Recognition and Evaluations. Journal of Advertising, 43(1), 85–99.
[37] Savitha Nair and S Shobana, Measuring Digital Marketing Performance: Key Performance
Indicators and Metrics, Journal of Management, 5(6), 2018, pp. 89-95.
[38] Yusuf, A. S., & Busalim, A. H. (2018). Influence of e-WOM engagement on consumer purchase
intention in social commerce. Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 493-504

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 254 [email protected]