SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES: A RESEARCH STUDY ON BRAND ENGAGEMENT, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, AND BUSINESS GROWTH

Abstract

This study specifies and tests a post-level pathway linking social media marketing (SMM) strategies content type, paid promotion, and posting time to brand engagement, customer experience (CX), and growth in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and local-government contexts. Using a 20-post Facebook dataset constructed with Kaggle-style metrics, operationalize engagement as likes, comments, shares, and engaged users; CX depth as consumers and consumptions; and growth as exposure outcomes (reach, impressions). The empirical approach combines descriptive statistics, correlations, and staged regressions to evaluate direct and indirect effects along the strategy → engagement → experience → growth chain. Findings show that strategic levers significantly predict behavioral engagement; higher engagement aligns with deeper consumption behaviors; and CX and, to a lesser extent, engagement itself relate to exposure-based growth, supporting a partial-mediation architecture. Paid posts reliably widen visibility, while content mix and timing modulate interaction intensity and composition. Practically, managers should design for experiential depth beyond vanity metrics, deploy paid support selectively for content with intrinsic interaction potential, and track a compact dashboard of sanity metrics (interaction, depth, exposure) for continuous optimization. For municipal communicators, the same pathway applies with added guardrails for trust, inclusivity, and responsible AI use. The study provides a concise, replicable diagnostic that connects actionable SMM decisions to engagement, experience, and growth outcomes, extending engagement theory to resource-constrained public and SME settings and outlining priorities for causal tests and outcome linkage in future work.