The effect of social media advertising on consumer-based brand equity and behavioral intension: A case of we chat news feed advertisements in China

With the popularity of social media, people increasingly spend a multitude of time using social media and regard it as a primary source of information and knowledge. Given the peculiarities of social media, marketers begin to seek revenue opportunities through delivering advertisements in the social platform. Based on social media news feed advertisements lately emerged in WeChat, this study chooses three aspects to analyze how different aspects of advertisements influence consumer-based brand equity and consumers' behavioral intention. The aspects of social media advertising in this research incorporate perceived advertising value, customized advertisements and advertising frequency. As for behavioral outcomes, interaction with brand, information sharing and purchase intention are included to parse consumer's reaction towards such advertising activities. This article hypothesizes that perceived advertising value and customized advertisements would enhance consumer-based brand equity, and correspondingly consumer-based brand equity positively affects consumers' behavioral intention. Considering users' personal privacy in social media environment, the study puts forward that the higher advertising frequency, the lower possibility for users to build brand equity, thus less likely to conduct behavior marketers expect. The notable insights proposed by this paper have some implications for both academics and practitioners.