How digital branding enhances digital trust: a case study of three msmes in Medan
Article Sidebar
digital trust,
brand trust,
content marketing,
msmes
Main Article Content
Abstract
The rapid growth of digital technology has transformed how Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) build relationships with consumers through social media. This study examines the influence of Social Media Marketing on Digital Brand Trust through the mediating roles of Content Marketing and Digital Trust among three MSMEs in Medan: Miricare Oil, Syakir Collection, and Cemilan Kanaya. A quantitative approach was employed using a survey of 252 respondents selected through purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS. The findings reveal that Social Media Marketing has a positive and significant effect on Content Marketing, Digital Trust, and Digital Brand Trust. Digital Trust emerged as the strongest predictor of Digital Brand Trust, highlighting the importance of security, credibility, and reliability in digital interactions. Content Marketing significantly enhances Digital Brand Trust but does not directly influence Digital Trust. Furthermore, both Content Marketing and Digital Trust serve as significant mediating variables in strengthening the relationship between Social Media Marketing and Digital Brand Trust. These findings provide practical insights for MSMEs in developing effective digital marketing strategies that prioritize trust-building to improve brand competitiveness and long-term consumer relationships in the digital marketplace.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
AlMalki, H. A., & Durugbo, C. M. (2023). Evaluating critical institutional factors of Industry 4.0 for education reform. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 188, Article 122327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122327
Alrawad, M., Lutfi, A., Alyatama, S., Al Khattab, A., Alsoboa, S. S., Almaiah, M. A., ... & Al-Khasawneh, A. L. (2023). Assessing customers' perception of online shopping risks: A structural equation modeling-based multigroup analysis. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 71, Article 103188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103188
Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-020-00749-4
Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., ... & Wang, Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, Article 102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168
El Fikri, M., Nasir, M., & Poluan, N. A. E. (2024). Digitalization of village tourism marketing in sustainability. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Finance, Economics and Business (ICOFEB) (Vol. 2). https://doi.org/10.29103/icofeb.v2i-.1072
El Fikri, M., Pane, D. N., & Safitri, F. (2020). Factors influencing the tourist decision to visit natural attractions: A case of Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Province, Indonesia. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 8(12), 212–226. http://ijecm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/81212.pdf
Fikri, M. E., Andika, R., Febrina, T., Pramono, C., & Pane, D. N. (2020). Strategy to enhance purchase decisions through promotions and shopping lifestyles to supermarkets during the coronavirus pandemic: A case study of IJT Mart, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatera. Saudi Journal of Business and Management Studies, 5(11), 530–538. https://doi.org/10.36348/sjbms.2020.v05i11.002
Fikri, M. E., Prayogo, R. R., Nasir, M., & Sihombing, R. P. (2025). Effectiveness of content marketing in sustainable tourism destinations in digital marketing. International Journal of Environmental Sciences, 11(7), 837–848. https://doi.org/10.64252/t3tgd868
Fikri, M. E., Santana, R. A., Putri, C. D., Pane, D. N., & Rahmadani. (2025). Menciptakan nilai dan memasarkan literasi masyarakat secara digital Desa Sugau. Citakarya, 3(3), 72–80. https://doi.org/10.63922/citakarya.v3i03.2382
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2017). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). Sage.
Sahir, S. H. (2022). Metode penelitian. KBM Indonesia.
Sharma, S., Singh, S., Kujur, F., & Das, G. (2020). Social media activities and their influence on customer-brand relationship: An empirical study of apparel retailers' activity in India. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(4), 602–617. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16040036
Soundappan, S. J. (2025). Next generation AI-enabled holistic cognitive platform for secure cloud network intelligence enterprise systems and digital trust optimization. International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Communication, 8(5), 11534–11542. https://doi.org/10.15680/IJCTECE.2025.0805031
Sugiyono. (2019). Metode penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan R&D (2nd ed.). Alfabeta.
Zachlod, C., Samuel, O., Ochsner, A., & Werthmüller, S. (2022). Analytics of social media data: State of characteristics and application. Journal of Business Research, 144, 1064–1076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.02.016