Contrary to the past, today marketing has shifted towards a trajectory where branding is being used for instance as a way of gaining a competitive advantage, creating customer loyalty, adding value to what the firm offers to the market, for product and service differentiation, communicating value and long-term strategy as well as building brand equity. Consequently, to achieve all these, firms or brands must find a way of communicating and reaching out to their customers either through traditional communication channels or using digital platforms to build awareness and eventually achieve brand equity. However, social media as a digital platform has recently emerged as one of the strong forces through which brands reach out to the market to build brand awareness and eventually achieve brand equity.

Upon this background, this paper has investigated how social media as a digital platform influences brand awareness and brand equity and thereafter use the CBBE model to suggest how firms can establish themselves as a strong brand. This topic was investigated qualitatively using a single case study approach of Bravo shoes Uganda (Ltd). First, the relevant pieces of literature were reviewed and mainly focused on the keywords branding, brand awareness, brand equity, and social media. Primary data was obtained through a semi-structured interview with the CEO of Bravo shoes and the customers. To triangulate the process, primary data was further obtained from online observation. The paper also adopted social constructionism as a philosophy of science and a deductive method as a research approach.

The findings indicated that social media influences brand awareness through its ability to capture and reach more audiences, generating content that appeals to a different type of people or group, through reviews, comments, sharing, and resultant effects, and finally through co-creation. On the other hand, social media influenced brand equity through positive brand association, increased sales, price premium, and acting as an additional touch point. Finally, to build a strong brand, using the CBBE model, it was important for Bravo shoes to build resonance with the customers through establishing a strong identity, establishing brand meaning, eliciting a positive brand response, and eventually building a strong brand relationship.