ABSTRACT
The rise of social media and explosion in popularity of apps has been noted by marketing practitioners and scholars alike. As consumers increasingly amass apps and spend more of their waking hours using digital media, people need rigorous research on the potential of social media for building brand equity. It is reasonable to consider that consumers have different expectations of a brand friend than they do of a brand business acquaintance, and that this could have implications for the type of marketing communication that is desired. Social media is most effective in strengthening consumer-brand relationships (CBR) when consumers are able to enhance the digital extended self by engaging in identity work that reflects a desired social identity. Identity work enables this process and mediates the relationship between the app-based independent variables, and the resulting CBR strength. In CBR, a continuum ranging from more formal interactions to more personal relationships draws inspiration from research on human-to-human interpersonal relationships.
