Internet has led to an exponential growth in communication through social networking media which has numerous advantages over the traditional mediums like print media, TV and radio. As the number of people engaging online keeps growing rapidly, social networking sites are increasingly being used by marketers for their brand building activities. There have been many questions on the use of social media for brand building activities. This article summarizes an attempt to study the impact of social networking sites as a marketing tool for building brand equity within the automobile sector. Here brand communications on the top three platforms namely Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been studied through a survey on users who have liked, followed or subscribed to any automobile brand on these social media. Overall satisfaction with social media brand communications, brand equity variables, purchase intention and recommendation have been studied. Analysis shows a marked preference for social media which is proved to be a valuable a tool for brand building activities.
Social Networking Sites, Brand building, Brand equity, Branding, Automobiles, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube
