IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND COMMUNICATIONS ON CONSUMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY

The invent of Web2.0 technologies has resulted in the emergence of various social networking sites. And the usage of social media among youngsters can be seen growing at an exponential rate. They are using social media for communicating almost every aspect of their lives, be it socialising, travelling, partying or even shopping. Social networks can be seen flooded with various advertisements, which make people explore different purchase options in the virtual spaces. Companies are enthusiastically making use of such spaces to reach out to their customers and boost their brand communications. Though social media has been continually providing very effective ways to engage customers with brands, studies regarding how these affect people perception about the brands are scanty. The present study attempts to investigate how brand communication on Facebook affects people perception towards brands and hence brand equity. The constructs of brand equity have been taken from Aaker model of consumer-based brand equity. The study has been supported by 490 students/scholars of University of Jammu in the age between 20-40 years. The study is expected to develop a better understanding about effective utilisation of social media for marketing communication.