Indian Journal of Commerce & Management Studies ISSN: 2249-0310 EISSN: 2229-5674 Volume VIII Issue 3, September 2017 124 www.scholarshub.net Introduction: Communication, these days, has been greatly affected by the internet and technology. The social networking platforms are influencing the interaction process among internet users via two-way participation channel rather than being a unidirectional, information tool. Social media, with the similar accelerated development in mobile technology, is now accessible anywhere, any time (Anzmac, 2010). Consumers, undoubtedly to a large extent, have adopted the social media. Facebook, for example, as of the first quarter of 2017, Facebook has gathered 1.94 billion monthly active users (Facebook, 2017). Twitter, at the same time, has got registered 313 million active users (Twitter, 2017). Consequently, brands have been forced to establish and maintain their existence on these social platforms. The upsurge of users on these communicative platforms impels the marketers to target social media platforms for communicating and creating an effective brand identity by reaching out to them and communicating more (Sri Jothi P., Neelamalar M., Shakthi Prasad R., 2011). Brand managers employ different strategies to communicate and interact with their target audience. Marketers keep striving hard in order to engage people on social networking sites with their brands. Consumers engage with brands not only by directly responding (commenting/re-tweeting) on an advertisement/post, but also communicating (forwarding the message) it to other consumers, who can further directly respond to the sender, show no reaction or forward it to others with their own inferences (Barwise & Meehan, 2010; Beuker & Abbing, 2010; Fournier & Avery, 2011; Patterson, 2012). These social networks have given a big boost to the already existing power of word-of- mouth. Traditional forms of brand communication via public relations, television advertising etc., have undoubtedly, achieved a considerable success, but in today’s customer-dominated business environment, their productiveness is decaying quite noticeably (Wright et al., 2010). Social media platforms are able to accommodate comparatively much more audience, at a lesser cost, and that too with customer DOI: 10.18843/ijcms/v8i3/14 DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18843/ijcms/v8i3/14 IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND COMMUNICATIONS ON CONSUMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY Ms. Iesha Khajuria, Research Scholar, The Business School, University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Dr. Rachna, Senior Assistant Professor, The Business School, University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. ABSTRACT 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. Keywords: Web2.0, Social Media, Aaker Model, Consumer-Based Brand Equity, Marketing Communication.