La contribución de las redes sociales online a la construcción de la marcaun modelo de medición basado en el capital de marca y su aplicación empírica

Resumen

The doctoral thesis that is submitted to obtain the degree of Philosophy Doctor in Management, seeks to progress in the measurement of the marketing actions executed in the Online Social Networks. The objective is to develop a Synthetic Index of Contribution of Social Networks to the Brand Building (which we call CORSO Index) The index is based on the theoretical framework of the strategic measurement of Brand Equity. It bases the measurement on the perceptions declared spontaneously in Online Social Networks. We adapt measurement indicators that academy traditionally draws from consumer surveys, so that they can be directly observed in consumers' comments in Online Social Networks through text mining and automated semantic analysis. In the theoretical model, the measurement indicators are formulated to allow to evaluate the evolution over time of the different dimensions in a continuous way. The CORSO Synthetic Indicator is constructed following the processes proposed by the OECD to develop indices that describe complex economic realities. The CORSO index would allow managers of marketing actions in the RSO to evaluate marketing actions in social networks with a long-term vision related to Brand Equity and compare the evolution with competitors. After rewiewing more than forty research documents on Brand Equity measuremente, we chose the strategic brand building model proposed by Professor Kevin L. Keller (2001) and adapted the measurement of Brand Capital to the peculiarities of the activity in the Online Social Networks. By Brand Equity (BE), we understand the differential effect that brand awareness adds to consumer memory in response to the company's marketing actions (Keller 1993). Partial Indicators are presented that would allow monitoring the details of the different dimensions of Brand Equity generated in the Online Social Networks and moderated by the Communication Effort perceived by the consumer. It illustrates application of the methodology with the analysis of more than one million eight hundred thousand comments issued by consumers on two pairs of brands of two categories of consumer products, leaders in Spain and during a two years period. It shows how the process of formation of the CORSO Index would be developed using Principal Components Analysis to reduce the data and to arrive at the formation of the Synthetic Index of Contribution of the Social Networks to the Brand Building. The illustrative application to the set of brands shows how the indicators summarize in a simple and understandable way the consumers' perception about the marketing actions in the Online Social Networks in terms of increasing or decreasing the formative dimensions of Brand Equity (Prominence, Significance, Responses and Brand Resonance) and perception of the Communication Effort (Volume and Feeling of Communication). The interpretation of the indices in the context of the marketing actions executed by the brands is illustrated for the analyzed period. The work has academic relevance because it proposes and illustrates the applicability of a model and methodology oriented to measure the construction of the brand in the long term that complements the existing measurement of the marketing actions in the Online Social Networks. It would also provide brand managers with a solid theoretical foundation that would help to meet the need for strategic metrics to evaluate marketing actions in Online Social Networks and their role within brand strategy.