Social media (SM) has changed the traditional communication between brands and consumers and enabled consumer to make positive as well as negative influence on brand equity (BE). Therefore, it is important for companies to know, how to manage communicate in social media seeking to build brand equity. The first part of the article defines the conceptual essence of communication in social media for brand equity building: the communication between brand and consumer, the communication consumer-to-consumer and consumer's feedback to brand. The theoretical model of brand equity building by employing communication in SM has been proposed. The eight stages of the model were distinguished: environment and competitors analysis, brand equity research, preparation of communication, selection of proper channels, implementation of the process of communication, monitoring of actions, responding to negative comments, assessment and comparison of results by linking it to brand equity analysis. The qualitative (structural interview) and quantitative (content analysis and questionnaire interview) research methods were used to show the applicability of theoretical model of the brand equity building by employing communication in SM in practice. This study proposes the approach of consumer involvement into brand equity building by invoking communication in SM which can provide the brands with more favourability. The type of the article: Empirical study.
Recently the increasing number of companies uses the social media for creation of positive image. But if the nature of social media communication and the possible risk for company's image is not assessed appropriately, companies could lose the positive image very quickly and for a long time. Communication in social media is much more complicated than traditional communication, because consumer response and intercommunication limits the possibilities for company to control and manage the content of communication. The success of social media communication for image formation depends on the preparation to communicate in social media. Management of new technologies and communication channels, management of trust and relationship in social media requires new skills.Participation of companies in social media and integration of social media to image formation only recently have got a particular attention in academic and practical field. There is still a lack of empirical evidences. The authors of the article present the study of the company's image formation within the context of communication in social media, which allows defining concrete requirements for effective communication in social media in developing the image of the company.The type of the article: Empirical study.
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