Social media marketing is gradually replacing traditional marketing and becoming the primary marketing strategy for businesses. Paid and earned media have emerged as two major social media marketing forms that are important in business development research. China has more social media users than any other country in the world and is housing platforms such as Weibo, WeChat or Xiaohongshu, thus with an ever-increasing demand for social interaction between a company and a customer, the search for the optimal marketing strategies in a hyper-competitive apparel market in China is in effect. With there being a lack of research in the field, the main purpose of this study is to examine how paid and earned social media channels impact apparel customer behavior in China. Firstly, the study aimed to see to what degree paid and earned media influences apparel consumption, and, secondly, it intended to see how social media marketing strategy impacts consumers' views on brand loyalty, brand awareness and purchasing behavior. In order to do this, a quantitative study has been conducted - nine hypotheses were formulated after an extensive literature review, from which a research model has been derived and a questionnaire used to gather the opinions of local Chinese social media users has been employed. Convenience with a non-probability sampling method was adopted to collect quantitative data. A total sample of 400 respondents participated in an online questionnaire, ranging from the age of 18 to 34 and having a relatively high education level. The SPSS program was applied to analyze the collected data with multiple statistical analysis methods: Cronbach alpha reliability test, factor analysis, and linear regression analysis to test internal consistency - Cronbach alpha, construct validity, and the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The study revealed that both social media marketing types have a positive effect on apparel consumer behaviors, however, paid media only mostly influences brand awareness of apparel brands, and earned media is very effective when it comes to influencing purchasing behavior and brand loyalty of apparel brands. Moreover, the utmost importance of Word-of-Mouth marketing has come to light, as the need for increased social value urges Chinese to promote products by sharing.

We are a few years into a paradigm shift where mobile Internet usage around the world is increasing fast. Smartphones have in Sweden become the device a substantial proportion of the population have, and companies have seen them as a new way to communicate with consumers. This thesis is a case study of four smartphone applications issued by companies in brand building purposes. The applications are King of the slope by Vattenfall, Körklar? by SalusAnsvar, McWrap Go&Get by McDonalds and Många Sträckor Små by Lantmännen. Empirical materials are gathered through semi-structured interviews with people involved in the creation of each application. Results are then analysed based on what initial goals each issuer had set for the application with the aim of obtain learnings valuable to future application issuers. Findings have shown that the mindset when creating these applications has generally been short-term. This contradicts the nature of a mobile application and its purpose of strengthening a company’s brand, which usually is a long-term process. We advocate a more long-term mindset and a consumer-oriented standpoint instead of product- oriented when creating mobile applications for branding purposes.

Date: 2021/06/03 Level: Master Thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Shadi Botros, Yacoub Said (87/07/24) (95/01/01) Title: LUXURIOUS BRAND AND SOCIAL MEDIA Tutor: Edward Gillmore Keywords: Luxury brands, Social media marketing activities, Brand perceptions, Brand awareness, Purchase intention. Research questions: What are the outcomes of social media marketing used by luxury brands, brand awareness and brand perception, on purchase attention? Purpose: The purpose of this research is to study if social media marketing can have an effect on luxuries brands perception in consumers mind and if social media can influence consumers purchase intention. Method: This study is following a quantitative approach by using statistical methods to test the hypothesis. Conclusion: Luxury brands are considered as exclusive and expensive brands. Social media is a mass communication tool that is usually used to reach a broad segment of consumers. The authors found out through the gathered data that consumers are aware about the brand and they perceive the brand as a luxury brand. However, consumers were not only relying on the official home page of the brand to obtain information.

In today's society, influencers have grown and become much more common, thus marketing insocial media has increased drastically. Many companies today have influencer marketing aspart of their marketing strategy. With the help of influencer marketing, companies can increasetheir reach in campaigns and thus increase their brand awareness. The purpose of the study wasto create a deeper understanding of how food companies that work with influencer marketing,select their influencers to collaborate with. The main question was: "How do food companieschoose influencers to work with to strengthen brand awareness among the target group?". Thestudy was based on abductive reasoning with a qualitative method. Empirical data werecollected from interviews with two respondents from the food companies Zeta and Pändy. Thestudy showed that food companies see influencer marketing as an effective way to increasebrand awareness among the target group and that they want to be valued as top-of-mind.Furthermore, the study indicates that food companies value the influence of influencers higherthan the statistics regarding followers. / I dagens samhälle har influencers växt och blivit betydligt vanligare, därmed harmarknadsföringen i sociala medier ökat drastiskt. Många företag har idag influencer marketingsom en del av sin marknadsföringsstrategi. Företag kan med hjälp av influencer marketing ökasin räckvidd i kampanjer och på så sätt öka sin varumärkeskännedom. Syftet med studien varatt skapa en djupare förståelse för hur livsmedelsföretag som arbetar med influencer marketingväljer ut influencers att samarbeta med. Detta med hjälp av frågeställningen “Hur väljerlivsmedelsföretag influencers att samarbeta med för att stärka varumärkeskännedomen blandmålgruppen?”. Uppsatsen utgick från en abduktiv ansats med en kvalitativ metod. Empiriskdata samlades in från intervjuer med två respondenter från livsmedelsföretagen Zeta och Pändy.Studien visade på att livsmedelsföretag ser influencer marketing som ett effektivt sätt att ökavarumärkeskännedomen bland målgruppen och önskar på så sätt värderas som top-of-mind.Vidare pekade studien på att livsmedelsföretag värdesätter influencers image högre änstatistiken gällande följare.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of social media presence in thriving in and increasing brand awareness in the fashion retail industry of Sweden. The study investigates how social media usage affects brand awareness in the fashion industry of Sweden. The study also explored how respondents’ demographics influence the retail fashion brands' awareness campaigns/programs using various social media platforms in the fashion industry of Sweden. Method: This study has used exploratory research to examine the role of social media presence in increasing brand awareness in the Swedish fashion industry. The study used a qualitative method involving semi-structured interviews with the marketing, communication, and social media experts from the fashion retail brands of Sweden. The Swedish retail fashion industry was chosen as it is known for its minimalistic, functionality, and clean lines. The sampled retail fashion brands are chosen due to the nearby geographical presence of the researcher’s locality. Another factor that focused to interview the marketing, communication, and social media experts of these retail businesses was that they handle most of the social media activities within their businesses. Research findings: The study, through interviews with the digital marketers and social media experts of these brands as well as a review of related literature, concluded that social media marketing has a significant influence on fashion retail companies' efforts to build brand awareness. These retail businesses have benefited in terms of strong brand awareness, whether it be by simply having a social media platform presence or investing in social media paid ads. Most interviewees claimed to have seen an uptick in sales, and unquestionably a rise in customer interest. The study further concluded that demographics play a vital role in the brands' awareness campaigns/programs using various social media platforms in the fashion industry of Sweden. Theoretical Implications (Contributions): In the context of building brand awareness for fashion retail companies, this study has confirmed and added to existing marketing research. Based on the research's conclusions, it was concluded that social media marketing has a more positive impact on a company's exposure than other types of advertising. Additionally, the study's findings demonstrate the effectiveness of using free advertisements based on pages in social media networks like Facebook, and Instagram to engage users and keep them constantly aware of a brand's products online. Practical Implications: This study has positive ramifications for aspiring entrepreneurs who place a high priority on social media platforms. Additionally, it takes up less time and costs less money because it offers a selection of paid advertisements where you can choose how much money to spend. Other than that, having a free account and engaging in self-promotional activities like posting or keeping your online platform current with trends is a useful way to gradually increase the number of followers and customers while simultaneously raising brand awareness.

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Influencer marketing has in recent years developed as a new concept for both companies and individuals. Social media has presented a new way for companies to market themselves. The emerge has produced influencers and nowadays influencers need to be divided into different levels according to the number of followers. Companies have proven that they easily look blindly at the number of followers, which has meant that the emergence of micro influencers has not received the publicity it deserves. The purpose with this degree project is therefore to investigate micro influencers and see the brand awareness they create. The authors will apply the conducted research on startup companies.  The research was conducted through a qualitative study were semi-structured interviews created the empirical findings chapter. The data were later analyzed and discussed by the authors in the analyze part of the degree project. The analyze was compared with an early conducted literature review to find similarities and differences by the literature review.  The conclusion of this degree project is that micro influencer is a useful marketing method for startups. If micro influencers are used correctly, which means that the company has analyzed its target group, it helps startups to create brand awareness for a favorable price

The effects of social media on digital branding is analysed in this paper, to establish how to optimize brand awareness through non-administrated social media channels in a two-sided network. This is a relatively unexplored field which may prove to be important for future businesses. Different levels of cooperation between brands are increasing and the implementation of two-sided networks are becoming standardized. A new way of differentiation is needed for the ever changing field of social media. Social media changed the field of communications when its use in business started to grow exponentially in 2010. It has affected several digital business fields, as well as changing how companies interact with and appeal customers. Social media users have at the same time become more reluctant to following brands online since 2011, and their interaction patterns and behaviours have changed dramatically. Brands conducting businesses in the digital age are using social media as a standardized communications tool, but are not adapting as fast as their followers are to the rapidly ever changing digital environment. A quantitative method in the form of a case study of Urb-it and its partners’ social media and co-branding activities was conducted. Its purpose was to examine how a case would look like when it came to branding through non-administrated social media channels within a two-sided network. A qualitative method in the form of interviews with representatives from different companies in related business areas was conducted based on the data from the case study. With the purpose to examine why the acquired case data came out as it did. The results show that a higher rate of content interactivity or vividness does not increase the brands engagement rate, with the hypothesis that it is not a sufficient differentiator anymore. The results also show that social media have indirectly affected marketing and branding strategies by revolutionizing the field of communications. There are several problems when it comes to conducting a co-branding operation in a two-sided network, which is mainly due to lack of internal communications between the affected parties. They do not adapt their combined content enough to meet the standards and expectations of the combined target groups, and the field is suffering from a non-adaptive traditional approach when it comes to co-branding. Brands have to redevelop their customer approach on social media, and build more personal relationships with more narrow target groups to be able to stay relevant and differentiated against their competitors. Changing content to being more personalized is not the only necessary factor to succeed. Timing is as important as improved content. It is more important than a consistent posting frequency in the purpose too realize when, where and how your target group are receptible to your brands content. It is crucial when it comes to the creation of a sustainable business partnership within a two-sided network.

<p>Authors: Alexander Falck, 86-05-24, Economic program</p><p>Rasmus Bergqvist, 84-11-08, Marketing program</p><p>Course: International Marketing Strategy, 4FE02E (AF) and 4FE00E (RB)</p><p>Tutor: Anders PehrssonExaminer: Anders PehrssonTitle: Is There More to Merchandise Than Making Money? A comparative study of Scandinavian football clubs describing how they build Brand Equity through merchandise.</p><p>Background and problem discussion: Merchandise is one part of the product that a football club offers. Kapferer‟s (2008) Brand Identity Prism should be useful to map the relationship between product and Brand Equity. Merchandise attractiveness can affect consumers‟ perception regarding the product quality of the whole club. As little have been written regarding how Scandinavian football clubs use their products to build their Brand Equity we saw a relevance of further searching in to this subject.</p><p>Research question: How do Scandinavian football clubs use merchandise to build the club Brand Equity?</p><p>Purpose: The purpose is to identify what differences and similarities Scandinavian football clubs have in their development of fan merchandise and presenting successful methods to build Brand Equity, in terms of the percental contribution to the club‟s total turnover and the merchandise turnover contribution from each attending supporter.</p><p>Methodology: To study the subject thoroughly the study used in this thesis is qualitative. We have chosen to conduct a multiple case study with semi-structured interviews and content analysis of the physical artefacts, merchandise. Five Scandinavian football clubs took part in this research.</p><p>Findings: The Brand Equity component that the clubs are trying to affect the most through merchandise is brand association. Perceived quality and brand awareness are secondary focuses for the clubs to affect while brand loyalty couldn‟t be seen in this thesis.</p><p>Keywords: Brand, Brand Association, Brand Awareness, Brand Equity, Brand Identity Prism, Culture, Merchandise, Perceived Quality, Personality, Physique, Relationship</p>

Title: Marketing research on perception of brands of traditional participants of football Champions League Objectives: The objective of the thesis is a description of problems associated with the concept of brand and based on the collected data to make a marketing research of respondents' awareness of brand of selected football clubs taking regular part in Champions League. Methods: The research is making by a questionnaire economization focused on brand awareness and its specific features. In connection with the acquisition of the primary data was used method by online survey. To collect and storage data was used internet application Google Docs. Results: Results of the research showed that awareness of selected football clubs in Czech sports spectators is at a very good level. Furthermore, respondents expressed their opinions, knowledge and attitudes to individual characteristics of the brand of football clubs. Keywords: Brand, brand awareness. Champions League, marketing research, questionnaire