Social media DNA: how brand characteristics shape COBRAs

As online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have greatly expanded people’s opportunities to communicate with each other about brands the social media phenomenon has established a new dynamic in the area of marketing communications (Dholakia and Durham, Kaplan and Haenlein,). Consumers have become a brand’s most important persuasion vehicle. Instead of passively receiving marketer-generated content consumers in social media era actively advocate (or, for that matter, thrash) brands by engaging in online activities centred around brands and brand-related content. For instance, they share the videos that other consumers have uploaded on Absolut Vodka’s YouTube channel, talk with other consumers about IKEA on Twitter, or upload pictures of their newly purchased Converse sneakers to Facebook, where their new pride is their peers to see and awe upon.