Role of Social Media Communication in Brand Equity Creation

Abstract

The decision of consumers in buying process is being largely affected by the number of ways of marketing and communication done by a particular brand. An increasing number of consumers are embracing the internet and spend more time searching for information as well as shopping online. Social media marketing has emerged as the most popular and effective tool of marketing and communication. The companies are using social media campaigns to attract the prospects and making the existing customers brand loyal. As the usage of social media is increasing at a fast pace, in addition to existing social networkers, private business firms and government bodies are also using the platforms as communication tools (Kim and Ko, 2012). Now, firms are not the only source of brand communication as social media allows the consumers or prospects to communicate with many other consumers from all corners of the world. More importantly, consumers are losing their interest from traditional media such as TV, radio, or magazines and are increasingly using social media platforms for searching the information (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).