Abstract
Positioned within digital marketing and organizational learning perspectives, this study addresses inconsistent findings regarding the direct effects of marketing activities and internal capabilities on brand outcomes. The study examines whether social media marketing and learning orientation enhance halal MSME brand performance and investigates the mediating role of brand trust. A quantitative survey was conducted among halal-certified MSMEs, with data analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). The results indicate that social media marketing and learning orientation significantly influence brand trust and brand performance. Brand trust exerts a strong direct effect on brand performance and partially mediates the relationships between the two antecedent variables and brand performance. The analysis demonstrates adequate explanatory and predictive power of the model, confirming that external digital marketing efforts and internal learning capabilities operate synergistically through trust-building mechanisms. These findings highlight that the effectiveness of social media strategies and organizational learning does not merely translate into performance directly but is reinforced through relational outcomes. The identification of brand trust as a mediating mechanism contributes to the literature on halal MSMEs. It provides empirical evidence of how digital engagement and a learning-oriented culture jointly strengthen sustainable brand performance.