The main problem in today's economies appears to be the overcapacity of most production sectors, where it is the customers, and not the products, that are in short supply; in other words, the real problem today is demand and not supply.

Savvy companies need to develop brands that precisely define promises and at the same time work to deliver and realise them, always looking for new value to add to what they deliver to the customer, thus fuelling customer satisfaction.

The brand strategies of companies operating in international markets today tend to be increasingly affected by the globalisation phenomenon. In the past, companies operating in such markets were inclined to develop different strategies in relation to the country in which they were called upon to compete. Today, however, they tend to develop marketing policies aimed at the growth of global brands, i.e. linked to the same positioning in all markets.

It is a matter of affirming and developing, on a global level, positive brand attitudes. All the activities that the company implements contribute to the creation of the brand image, not only actions strictly related to the corporate product, but also choices that closely relate to the corporate brand, such as, for example, corporate choices with a view to environmental sustainability and support for society.

The advantage of benefiting from a global image does not only refer to the important economies of scale that result from an integrated brand management. Managers regard the global image as an essential advantage for the brand management itself.

In recent years, the debate on the role of innovation in branding policies to interface with the market has been reinvigorated. In fact, it is precisely from the growing interest shown by both the academic and managerial worlds that various strands of study have taken off, from which emerges the attempt to integrate and criticise the founding theory.

The crowded commercial scenarios of the contemporary scene, together with intra-trade competition1 and the progressive spread of specialised production know-how, have led to a natural updating of the concepts of brand and quality.

Whereas until the 1970s the necessary and sufficient condition for trademark status lay in a generic concept of 'good performance', today the situation has changed.

The current change consists in the loss of ground of the mere coincidence between brand and objective performance, as the brand becomes a typical and singular trait, which is also characterised by intangible features that, moreover, allow management to globalise it through processes of cultural translation and reproduction of its philosophy and essence on a planetary level.

It is unlikely to clone or undermine a brand when it is correctly declined in the variety of its dimensions and master of a complex of values and evocations that go beyond the product. It merges with the product and becomes a true value multiplier both on the commercial front, when it generates profit for the company, and on the semiotic, symbolic and social front when it acts as a link between the company and its stakeholders. It cuts across the various target markets while also trying to accommodate the so- called local taste in order to respond appropriately to the various cultural nuances.

The field of action of the brand has gradually shifted from the physicality of goods to the garrison of the consumer's mind, in fact the share of mind has progressively replaced the imperative of the share of market.

Over the last decade, among the issues related to brand value , increasing attention has been paid to customer relationship management projects as a success tool for capitalising on brand value, distributing the benefits beyond the performance aspects.

Based on the renewed interest in this topic, the thesis supported in this paper is to assess the existence and, if applicable, extent of relationships between the construct of brand engagement and consumers' use of social media.

In fact, the aim is to find possible relationships between brand engagement and social media, especially considering how these tools are used to interface with brands, the importance of Web 2.0 tools for marketing, and how important it is to use social media to reach one’s audience. This consideration is important because it lays a foundation that serves as a solid justification for the theories one intends to prove. Only after being convinced of the fundamental role that social media plays now and will play in the future, of how revolutionary the coming of digital tools is, and of how traditional tools alone are insufficient, and will continue to be increasingly so, will one have the appropriate determination and information to enter this world effectively. It is therefore a matter of seizing the advantages of approaching the new digital tools available for the implementation of marketing strategies. It is important to focus on the reasons why enterprises embrace digitization, what they seek to achieve with these tools and what they want to do with them. 

Data indicating the increasing importance of social media will also be examined, providing reasons why a company should use them, primarily because of their enormous global penetration.

The work builds on the thesis of the previous edition in which it was shown that for the purpose of a constructive investigation of the brand/customer relationship, the tool of customer relationship management revisited in a holistic key is useful, which has already guided the management of several companies towards new corporate visions and the revision of strategic and conceptual principles for interfacing with the market.

Holistic marketing is an extension of marketing, made possible precisely by new technologies, shifting power from industry to consumers who are now able to decide not only which products to buy, but at what price, through which channels and with what level of personalization of the service.

The holistic concept of customer relationship management has two salient features: an integrated impact between the various levels of the enterprise and a global flexibility regarding the expansive scope of planned objectives. In order to exploit the opportunities arising from the consolidation of brand equity, as a greater expression of the organic value of a business, the holistic CRM-oriented enterprise must bridge the gap that exists between:

•     the cognitive sphere of the target;

•     corporate skills;

•     the resources contributed by each individual employee.

Subsequently, various aspects of brand engagement are examined in more detail by means of an analysis of the available literature, in order to spy on brand engagement and to at least identify the main drivers of this construct and its main consequences. As there is no unified definition of brand engagement, the different literature streams are mentioned.

It then turns to the relationship between brand engagement and consumers’ use of social media, especially considering how these tools are used to interface with brands.

Through the study of the marketing literature relating to the co-structure of brand engagement, it was possible to gain a general idea of the peculiarities of this construct, but no unified and categorical definition of its structure was arrived at.

It was therefore possible to consider brand engagement as a unitary construct, highlighting its multiple links with other constructs, links which, however, do not lead it back to a component of these, but only to correlations with such other constructs.

One can then get a more complete picture of what consumer-brand engagement is and which constructs it is most influenced by.

1                   It is one of the immediate consequences of the oversegmentation of supply. It involves in- novation in the distribution process, orienting strategies towards a qualitative and comprehensive service management policy.