Abstract:
Social media platforms can be used by both consumers and brands to improve and
enhance two-way communication within a digital environment (Wilson 2016). Today, these
platforms are used by consumers to express their opinions and beliefs or experiences with
brands. Brand managers do not utilize social media strategies as effectively and efficiently
as they could in order to build brand equity (Tsimonis & Dimitriadis, 2013). This may be
due to a lack of understanding of how social media strategies can be successfully
implemented to build brand equity amongst consumers (Fournier & Avery, 2011).
Following an interpretivist investigation paradigm, with a qualitative approach, using an
exploratory design the researcher aimed to explore how social media strategies can be an
asset to build brand equity. The study focused Quick Service Restaurant consumers who
engage with the Nando’s social media strategies. Nando’s has been selected as a brand
to research in this study as it implements successful integrated social media strategies to
build brand equity. The researcher used availability sampling and snowball sampling to
gather data from an online questionnaire that was posted on Facebook to understand the
online behavior of South African consumers aged 25-35 years. The researcher’s key
findings were that the social media strategies of Nando’s are not valued as much by the
participants because they do not have a behavioral attachment to the posts, images or
videos. Most of the participants do not feel that Nando’s are special to them but do
acknowledge the fact that Nando’s is a South African grown brand and is therefore more
than just a product. The participants can associate with other users of the brand because
they relate to where they live, their personality style and sense of humor as well as their
love for food.
