The impact of brand communities based on social media on community elements and brand trust and loyalty (case study: Adidas brand)

The development of social media is a global phenomenon in the current generation, as consumers engage in social media platforms and develop relationships with brands. Therefore, social media applications consider new marketing concepts as vital for thematic development. For this reason, this research was conducted with the aim of the impact of brand communities based on social media on the elements of society and trust and loyalty to the Adidas brand.

The statistical population of this research was 400 people of Instagram social network and the questionnaire of brand communities based on social media was used (Larouch et al., 2012) and Pearson's correlation coefficient and path analysis were used to analyze the data using SPSS and LISRELL was done.

Based on the results, social communication network practices on brand trust (14/46), social interaction methods on brand trust (14/86), perception management on brand trust (15/68), brand usage has a positive effect on trust in brand (15.39) and brand trust and brand loyalty (13.43) were obtained, which shows that there is a statistically significant relationship between the research variables (p˂0.001).

The results of the research indicated that social media marketing activities both directly and indirectly affect brand loyalty and trust. The effect of brand communities based on social media on the elements of brand community and brand loyalty through brand trust was shown.