Social Media Marketing Drives Brand Love and Customer Behavioral Engagement: Gender as a Moderator

This study investigates the impact of social media marketing activities on customers’ behavioral engagement with fashion clothing brands in Pakistan. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) framework, this study examined how social media marketing activities affect brand love and subsequent consumers’ behavioral engagement, and to what extent gender moderates the association between social media marketing activities and brand love. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey using convenience sampling, resulting in 297 valid responses. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling using SmartPLS 4 software was employed for the data analysis. The findings revealed that social media marketing activities have a substantial impact on brand love, and brand love, in turn, influences customers’ behavioral engagement. Specifically, social media marketing dimensions, such as entertainment, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth, emerged as statistically significant drivers of brand love, whereas interaction did not exhibit any effects. Furthermore, brand love also serves as a predictor of behavioral engagement. Regarding the moderating role of gender, the results confirm that the effect of customization on brand love is higher for females than for males. Similarly, gender acts as a moderator, indicating that the effect of word of mouth on brand love is stronger for males than for females. This study contributes to the literature by emphasizing the significance of brand love in formulating strategies to enhance consumer engagement in the digital landscape.