The usage of social media in terms of brand personality: A research on comparison between the brand personality presentations of brands in social media and the brand personality perceptions of target groups

Technological improvements, along with an increasing number of brands and a vast array of products have started to have an important role in the decision making process of the buyers. Consumers make their decisions based on social media'a effect, brand personality and their emotional bond with the brand. In the first two parts of this work literature reviews on brand, brand management, social media and brands was viewed. In the first phase of the third part of the work first five brands from the Brand Finance's Turkey's Most Valuable Brands Report (2018) was analyzed through content analysis technique. In the second phase of the third part new scales were developed and a questionnaire was conducted with 418 participants to measure brands' personality perception through brand dependency and brand personality. The results were croschecked with Cronbach's Alpha reliability test. Factor analysis was conducted on the scales and with every factor found Kaiser–Meyer Olkin (KMO) ve Barlett tests were conducted so the data set was checked to see if it were suitable for factor analysis. Mann Whitney U Test was conducted to understand whether the answers depended on the demographical of the participants. This test was used to determine whether gender, marital status and following certain social media outlets affect the level of agreeing with the question asked. Kruskal Wallis H Test was used to understand whether the answers depended on education level, profession age and time spent online. Later on, Spearman Correalation analysis was undertaken in order to understand the relationship between the developed scales. At the last part of the research, 5 Most Valuable of Turkish Brands were compared in terms of the personality types they present on social media and their perception as a personality was compared. According to the data obtained, two of the 5 brands examined on the social media platforms, the brand personalities and the target audience's perception of the personality overlaps, whereas three of them did not. Among the scales developed within the scope of the research, the expectation of brands to be active in social media platforms vary according to gender, time spent on social media and whether the brands are actively followed whereas the marital status, age and profession does not display any change. Consumer loyalty created by brand personality which leads to brands being followed in social media varies according to age and educational status, while gender, marital status, profession and average time spent on social media do not change the situation according to the variable. As a result of the analysis carried out through the relationship between the scales, it is observed that there is a positive and a moderately significant relationship between the brand personality and consumer loyalty. The findings also state that there is a positive and a moderately significant relationship between the expectation that the brands are active in social media platforms and the brand personality and brand preference. And finally, it was found that there is a positive and a highly significant relationship between the brand personality and the brand identity and brand preference.