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Author's signatureDate: 30/08/2019

SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT: A REVIEW RESEARCH OF FASHION BRANDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

byDissertation

AbstractSocial media has become a driving force and a game changer for many players within different sectors. With the advances in technology and the increasing penetration rates of the internet, social media platforms are now not just being used for personal connections but also by organisations and corporates for customer engagements. It is now being realised the enormous power that social media has in enhancing interactions and in utilising influence within markets.

Purpose of the Research: This paper takes a closer look to the fashion brand industry of the United Kingdom and how social media is being used in consumer engagement. This paper will highlight interesting insights on how web tools such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are now being adopted by fashion brands in the UK to engage and develop brand loyalty among potential clients.

Design of the Research: In addressing the aim of the research, the researcher will examine how social media users are influenced by commercials on fashion brands, explores how UK fashion brands attract consumers and accomplish customer satisfaction, discovers how consumer engagement is being evaluated through digital media sites, and examines the precise customer engagement actions in branded social media sites.

A mixed methods strategy will be utilized while, the researcher will use both quantitative and qualitative research analysis methods. This study will use the quantitative analysis tool of questionnaires in gathering quantitative data. However, based on the information gathered in the literature review, the study also uses a source of qualitative data. The researcher put up a questionnaire on an online survey platform.

In this online survey platform, participants were required to respond by answering several questions presented. The survey targeted students at Loughborough University and it formed the primary quantitative data collection source for this aspect of the study.

Key Findings: Social media has redefined the whole scope of the modern enterprise, where organisations are now re-adjusting their budgets as sponsors are slowly but steadily moving away from conventional media outlets such as fashion magazines to digital advertising and social media. More and more brands, not only in the fashion industry but also in other sectors in the world are now enrolling to social media sites and adopting these technologies in their marketing and relation strategies.

The study found that a majority of people, if not all, use social media platforms. These platforms can range from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, and LinkedIn, among others. A majority of the population believe that social media is a positive force in e-commerce by vibrant, visual and interactive sectors such as the fashion industry.

It is because of this positive influence that has consequently resulted in organisations such as those in the fashion industry to adjust their communication and consumer engagement budgets towards social media platforms. There is no doubt that social media has enormous abilities in influencing peoples tastes, desires and preferences. It is because of this reason that fashion brands need to engage their audiences more on social media.

Practical implications/limitations: The study has a few limitations; among them was the lack of previous statistical data on consumer engagement through social media fashion brands in the United Kingdom. The research did not have previous studies that gave specific quantitative data on how fashion brands engage with their audiences online, the number of people who use social media in acquitting themselves with the fashion industry as well as the various platforms that individuals use to engage with fashion brands.

Another limitation to this study was the lack of a significant number of participants (or the desired number) in comparison to the study area, which were Loughborough University students.

Originality and value: The researcher in this study analysed the relationship between fashion brands in the United Kingdom and their customers in a way that has not been fully exploited yet - social media. Although the technologies for social media are well established, there have not been studies that specifically address the use of social media by fashion brands in the UK to engage their customers online. The researcher used previous publications as the basis of the discussions in the literature review; while further, data collected from the online survey were original and relevant to the research objectives and questions.

Keywords: Social media, Consumer engagement, fashion in the UK, brand communities

AcknowledgmentI would like to express my deepest appreciation to all those who helped me in the completion of this dissertation. I would want to convey special gratitude to my lecturer and mentor throughout this project Professor Louise Cooke whose contribution; insightful suggestions and encouragement helped me to complete this research. I would also like to acknowledge the crucial role that the committee members, department staff and university played in facilitating the completion of this dissertation. I am also very grateful to my colleagues and friends with whom I held numerous discussions and deliberations that brought great insight to this research paper.

Table of Contents

TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Certificate of Originality PAGEREF _Toc18679595 \h 1Dissertation Access Form PAGEREF _Toc18679596 \h 2Abstract PAGEREF _Toc18679597 \h 5Acknowledgment PAGEREF _Toc18679598 \h 8Table of Figures PAGEREF _Toc18679599 \h 11Chapter One: Introduction PAGEREF _Toc18679600 \h 121.1 Research Aims and Objectives PAGEREF _Toc18679601 \h 121.1.1 Research Aims PAGEREF _Toc18679602 \h 121.1.2 Research objectives PAGEREF _Toc18679603 \h 121.2 Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc18679604 \h 131.3 Research Outline PAGEREF _Toc18679605 \h 13Chapter Two: Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc18679606 \h 152.1 E-Commerce PAGEREF _Toc18679607 \h 152.2 Web 2.0 PAGEREF _Toc18679608 \h 182.3 Enterprise 2.0 PAGEREF _Toc18679609 \h 192.4 Evolution of Media PAGEREF _Toc18679610 \h 202.5 Social Media PAGEREF _Toc18679611 \h 222.6 Social Media Brand Communities PAGEREF _Toc18679612 \h 232.7 Social Networking Sites PAGEREF _Toc18679613 \h 242.8 Gaps in Social Media Fashion Brands PAGEREF _Toc18679614 \h 252.9 Consumer Engagement PAGEREF _Toc18679615 \h 262.10 Consumer Brand Communities PAGEREF _Toc18679616 \h 272.11 Consumer Engagement Value PAGEREF _Toc18679617 \h 28Chapter Three: Methodology PAGEREF _Toc18679618 \h 303.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc18679619 \h 303.2 Research to be undertaken PAGEREF _Toc18679620 \h 303.3 Research Design PAGEREF _Toc18679621 \h 313.3.1 Quantitative Approach and Strategy PAGEREF _Toc18679622 \h 313.3.2 Mixed Methods Strategy PAGEREF _Toc18679623 \h 323.4 Selecting a Research Design PAGEREF _Toc18679624 \h 333.5 Summary PAGEREF _Toc18679625 \h 34Chapter Four: Questionnaire Results and Findings PAGEREF _Toc18679626 \h 354.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc18679627 \h 354.2 Questionnaire Administration PAGEREF _Toc18679628 \h 354.3 Questionnaire Results and Findings PAGEREF _Toc18679629 \h 364.3.1 Respondents Personal Data PAGEREF _Toc18679630 \h 364.3.2 Social Media Use PAGEREF _Toc18679631 \h 394.3.3 Social Media Use in Fashion Industry PAGEREF _Toc18679632 \h 424.3.4 Engagement with fashion brands on Social media PAGEREF _Toc18679633 \h 464.3.5 The Use of social media in fashion brands PAGEREF _Toc18679634 \h 574.4 Summary PAGEREF _Toc18679635 \h 58Chapter Five: Discussion PAGEREF _Toc18679636 \h 595.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc18679637 \h 595.1 Discussion of Findings PAGEREF _Toc18679638 \h 595.2 Summary PAGEREF _Toc18679639 \h 63Chapter Six: Conclusions and Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc18679640 \h 646.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc18679641 \h 646.2 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc18679642 \h 646.3 Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc18679643 \h 676.4 Limitations of the Study and Avenues for further research PAGEREF _Toc18679644 \h 68References PAGEREF _Toc18679645 \h 70Appendices PAGEREF _Toc18679646 \h 75Appendix I: Ethical Approvals (Human Participants) Sub-Committees PAGEREF _Toc18679647 \h 75Appendix II: Questionnaire - Consumer Engagement through Social Media fashion Brands in the United Kingdom PAGEREF _Toc18679648 \h 81

Table of Figures TOC \h \z \c "Figure" Figure 1 The Number of Online Shoppers in the UK and Future predictions (Statista Research Department UK, 2018, n.p) PAGEREF _Toc18572191 \h 16Figure 2 Online Purchases by Category (Ecommerce News, 2018, n.p) PAGEREF _Toc18572192 \h 17Figure 3 Differences between Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 (Speicher, 2016, n.p) PAGEREF _Toc18572193 \h 19Figure 4 Most Successful High Streets Brands in the UK on Social Media (Elven, 2018, n.p) PAGEREF _Toc18572194 \h 22Figure 5 Most trusted source of information on products and services (Deloitte Insight Report, 2014, n.p.). PAGEREF _Toc18572195 \h 28 TOC \h \z \c "Chart" TOC \h \z \c "Table"

Table 1 Age of Respondents PAGEREF _Toc15144932 \h 37Table 2 Gender of Respondents PAGEREF _Toc15144933 \h 38Table 3 Use of Social Media PAGEREF _Toc15144934 \h 40Table 4 No. of Social media platforms respondents' use PAGEREF _Toc15144935 \h 41Table 5 No. of fashion influencers followed on social media PAGEREF _Toc15144936 \h 43Table 6 Influence of Social media in the fashion industry PAGEREF _Toc15144937 \h 45Table 7 Purchasing items following a social media post by a fashion brand PAGEREF _Toc15144938 \h 47Table 8 Purchased items following a social media post by a fashion brand PAGEREF _Toc15144939 \h 48Table 9 Time spent on fashion-based social media pages PAGEREF _Toc15144940 \h 50Table 10 Interaction with fashion brands on social media PAGEREF _Toc15144941 \h 52Table 11 Interaction tool with fashion brands on social media PAGEREF _Toc15144942 \h 54Table 12 Importance of Fashion brands interacting with customers. (Ranking of 1-5) PAGEREF _Toc15144943 \h 56Chart 1 Age of Respondents PAGEREF _Toc15144914 \h 38Chart 2 Gender of Respondents PAGEREF _Toc15144915 \h 39Chart 3 No. of Social media platforms used by respondents PAGEREF _Toc15144916 \h 42Chart 4 No. of Fashion Influencers followed on social media PAGEREF _Toc15144917 \h 44Chart 5 Influence of Social media in the fashion industry PAGEREF _Toc15144918 \h 45Chart 6 Purchasing items following a social media post by a fashion brand PAGEREF _Toc15144919 \h 48Chart 7 Purchased items after social media post by fashion brand PAGEREF _Toc15144920 \h 49Chart 8 Time spent on fashion-based social media pages PAGEREF _Toc15144921 \h 50Chart 9 Time spent on fashion-bas...