An Attitudinal Impacts Analysis of Social Media Platforms And Brand Relationship Quality at Music Festivals

Abstract

The purpose of this study is determination of ways in which music festival organizers can target their social media communication with greater certainty toward younger generations (i.e., Generation Z, also called "digital natives"). This research has two core purposes: the first is to investigate how music festivals' use of social media can affect their brand relationship quality (BRQ) with their audience, and the second is to determine how connecting to online brand communities prior to, during, and after a music festival affects the satisfaction and loyalty of attendees. The research follows a positivist epistemological framework and a deductive research approach. The research design grew from a collected body of e-research and uses asynchronous data from the social media platform Twitter to understand consumers' perception of brands in a music festival context. A social network analysis framework is applied. The findings show that social media does affect brand experience, brand image transfer, and BRQ in a positive way and that social media can, therefore, strengthen BRQ with Generation Z music event attendees. The results indicate that music festivals can strengthen BRQ with young consumers through social networking platforms if digital marketing strategies are utilized to their full potential. Reflection is made of the psychosocial value of this networking for young people at a time of socioeconomic turbulence. The practical implications for these findings are also discussed.