The impact of the social media activities on brand equity as a promotion tool: A survey on the category of carbonated drinks in Turkey

In this thesis study, the relative impacts of the social media activities on brand equity as a promotion tool was examined and a survey was conducted on the category of carbonated drinks in Turkey. Within this period, the perspective and the approach of theoretical frame proposed by Aaker (1991) were particularly addressed. The data of the research was collected using survey method. Surveys were handed out to 1.300 people among whom 1.072 people participated in the survey. In the model formed within the scope of cola, while advertising, sponsorship, sales promotion which are placed in the traditional promotion activities and social media activities were handled as independent variables, the hypothesis related to the effects of these variables on brand equity (perceived quality, brand association, emotions with respect to the brand, brand loyalty ) were also tested. As a result of the hypothesis testing conducted by means of the statistical software, AMOS 16, it was observed that the impacts of the social media activities on brand equity as a promotion tool have significance in terms of statistics. The results showed that the social media activities play an important role regarding brand equity, particularly perceived quality and emotions with respect to the brand as well as brand loyalty, albeit indirectly. As for the contribution of this study to the literature, it tested the model within the framework of drinking cola in Turkey and evaluated the results obtained. For the next research, it would be informative to test the effectiveness of the model in relation to the consumption sector in Turkey and other related different products so as to draw a general conclusion.