The effect of social media marketing on word-of-mouth communication and purchase intention in food and beverage establishments: The mediating role of brand awareness

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of brand awareness in the effect of social media marketing activities on word-of-mouth communication and purchase intention in food and beverage businesses. The population of the study, in which quantitative research method was used, consists of users who actively follow Turkish food and beverage businesses on Instagram. Convenience sampling method was used in the study and research data were obtained from 511 participants via online survey. SPSS 18.0 and Structural Equation Modelling (AMOS 24.0) were used to analyse the data obtained. As a result of the analysis, it was found that social media marketing activities in food and beverage businesses have a significant effect on consumers' word-of-mouth communication, purchase intention and brand awareness. In addition, brand awareness has a significant effect on consumers' word-of-mouth communication and purchase intention. Finally, word-of-mouth communication was also found to have a significant effect on consumers' purchase intention. Another important result of the study is that brand awareness has a mediating effect on consumers' purchase intentions.