Consumer identification with brands has received extensive attention in the fields of consumer behavior and psychology. Such consumer-brand identification is conceptualized through the term “brand community”. A brand community is formed when a group of consumers express their interest towards and communicate their identities through a specific brand. The current literature shows that existing research on brand communities appears to be dominantly oriented towards tangible products. Accordingly, this research aims to explore the impact of social media marketing on brand community membership related to an intangible aspect of the self. Contextually, the research seeks to examine the impact of social media marketing of higher education institutions in Kuwait on students’ relevant associations. Students are at the core of higher education institutions due to identifying as both consumers and creators of value. A mixed method approach to data collection and analysis will be employed in this research. The findings of this research are expected to provide important implications for theory and practice.

The main objective is to measure the difference in the perceptions of bank marketing managers and their customers regarding the likeability, readability and responsiveness of social media content

This research is in response to a Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) call for basic and applied research proposals in education for Kuwait. The Kuwait tertiary sector requires a better understanding of the role of educational technology and open access resources. This research proposal outlines the systematic collection of data from academics, students and administrators to enable better decision making within tertiary institutions and across the tertiary sector.

This study investigates the perceptions of thirteen bank marketing managers and selected bank consumers regarding Instagram posts, utilizing Rosenberg and Hovland's components of attitude (affect, cognition, behavior) and Lavidge and Steiner's Hierarchy of Effects model. Instruments were developed to measure and compare perceptions, using non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests. The findings reveal differences in perceptions between managers and consumers regarding emotional appeal and the likelihood of reading, liking or commenting on these posts. Furthermore, differences in perception were noted for video content and commenting behavior, Instagram Reels for likes, and positive messages for reading and commenting. These findings provide valuable insight to bank marketing managers in Kuwait for creating effective Instagram posts that resonate with their customers and enhance engagement and interaction.