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.

Brand awareness is important for a good market performance of a company. However, research on the contextual preconditions needed for the improvement of brand awareness is limited, particularly in specific service sectors such as employment agencies. We present the research results of the preconditions for the improvement of awareness (which is one of the dimensions of brand equity) in an employment agency. We also analyze the effects of the perceived trust of customers on the improvement of brand awareness in the employment sector. As a case study, we present an example of an employment agency in Lithuania. This research is particularly timely in the Lithuanian context, where high levels of emigration are having a considerable negative impact on companies and their major internal operations-human resource management, marketing, and strategic planning-challenging the aims of long-term socially sustainable development. This research paper has a high relevance for other high-emigration economies.

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New technologies penetrate into all spheres of our lives and shifts personal communication as well as traditional communication between customers and organizations; provide all the participants of communication with more possibilities. Economic crisis promotes internet-based communication and stimulates organizations to look for cheaper possibilities, i. e. to integrate social media into relations building, public relations and other activities. Recent theoretical and practical scientific studies emphasize the importance of the development of social media ideas and its integration into organizations' communication activities, which used in appropriate way, can help to reach the appointed results: to present and to sell services or goods, to build brand value or to maintain two-way relations with target audiences, etc. Social media is changing the traditional marketing paradigm and stimulates new attitudes toward relations between organizations and consumers, where information flows bilateral, direct and effectively, may be diffused in social networks by consumers' wishes and can help to strengthen organization positions in the market. Therefore scientists recommend organizations to appraise the value of every member of virtual communities and to communicate in correct way: adding value, helping to solve problems, educating and etc. The article concentrates on the attitude which organizations have to have for successful social media, implementation and achievement of organizational goals. Different departments of organization should be involved in more effective use of social media. Business organizations have to consider both positive and negative social media application aspects in order to avoid certain risks. The negative aspect of social media that is mostly appointed by scientists is the lack of control mechanism: message content, timing and frequency. In order to avoid the risks related with communication in social media organizations have to plan social media implementation process. The main objective of this research is to build up the structural model of communication in social media and to test the application perspectives of the model for study promotion in public higher education institutions. The result of theoretical analysis is an original model of communication in social media. The steps of the model implementation are: environment and competitors' analysis preparation of communication strategy, selection of appropriate channels, communication process, monitoring, assessment and comparison of results. The theoretical model of communication in social media includes not only the process of communication between the organization and consumers, but also the stages of preparation and assessment that are also important in the evaluation of implementation of the overall communication strategy. A case study of Lithuanian state higher education institutions was used to reveal the possible application of the suggested model of communication in social media in the promotion of higher education studies in soc...