Digitalization in the music industry and the emergence of social media, has created opportunities to reach more potential music consumers. Companies are increasingly integrating through visual media such as photos and videos into their social media marketing content. The study aims to provide an understanding of the major record labels use of Content Marketing and its role on social media in the marketing of music. To understand how the major record labels work with Content Marketing and marketing music on social media the empirical data and study is based on a qualitative research method with 8 interviews with people working in the Swedish music industry.  Based on the empirical material the study found adaptation, interaction, authenticity and relevance were key attributes when publishing content on social media. Segmentation, Influencer Marketing and Electronic Word of Mouth were the most relevant and important strategies used when marketing and launching new music through social media. Finally, we propose that future research should be conducted using a quantitative research method to study music consumer behaviour and attitudes surrounding  Content Marketing on social media.

Sociala mediers framskridande har förändrat hur vi ser på världen och hur samhället ser ut. I samband med att användningen av sociala medier har ökat har även kritiken riktad mot modeföretag ökat. Det har lett till ett maktskifte från företag till konsument, vilket i sin tur har gjort att företag har fått en minskat kontroll över vad som sprids och sägs om dem. Det som tidigare var word-of-mouth (WOM) har nu blivit en mycket snabbare variant: nämligen electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Med hjälp av eWOM använder konsumenter sin makt för att styra hur modeindustrin utvecklas och, till och med i vissa fall, vilka som blir “canceled”. I takt med att konsumenter har blivit mer kritiska, har de också blivit mindre källkritiska vilket leder till att de lätt tror på den kritik som de presenteras för, utan vidare åtanke. Det har därför blivit viktigt för företag att lära sig hur de ska bete sig i det nya klimat som uppstått på sociala medier och hur de ska bemöta negativ kritik. Denna studie undersöker hur sociala medieanvändare reagerar på negativ kritik mot modeföretag på sociala medier och hur det i sin tur påverkar deras inställning till företagen. Studien bidrar med information som kan hjälpa företag att bemöta den kritik som de får på sociala medier. Denna studie fyller ett gap då tidigare forskning främst undersöker hur konsumenter kritiserar företag och inte hur de ställer sig till kritik. Tidigare forskning undersöker inte heller hur konsumenters inställning faktiskt ändras i samband med kritik. Studiens syfte uppnås genom en fältstudie på sociala medieplattformen Instagram och intervjuer. Fältstudiens utgångspunkt är kommentarer tillhörande kritiska inlägg om olika modeföretag på Instagram. Intervjuerna baseras på samma inlägg som fältstudien där respondenternas inställning till företagen undersöks. Studien har funnit att negativ kritik har en negativ påverkan på konsumenters inställning till modeföretag. Däremot påverkar kritiken olika mycket beroende på grad av lojalitet och typ av kritik. Vidare är mindre väletablerade modeföretag mer sårbara i samband med kritik än de stora välkända modeföretagen. Företag kan påverka situationen genom att bemöta kritik på ett lämpligt sätt. Ett defensivt bemötande leder ofta till att konsumenter får en mer negativ inställning snarare än om företag svarar sårbart, alternativt inte alls. Sammanfattningsvis kan företag, trots att de förlorat en hög grad av kontroll, med rätt medel, styra konsumenters inställning. / The rise of social media has changed how we see the world and how society looks today. As the use of social media has increased, so has the criticism directed at fashion companies, which has led to a shift in power from companies to consumers—giving companies less control over what is said about them. As a result, what used to be word-of-mouth (WOM) has now evolved into a much quicker variant: namely electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Using eWOM, consumers use their power to control how the fashion industry develops and, in some cases, even which companies get "canceled." The amount of news circulating online and the low level of control that companies have, has led to the vast emergence of fake news. As consumers have become more critical of companies and their actions, they have also become less critical of sources, leading them to believe the criticism they are presented without further thought. Therefore, it has become essential for companies to learn how to behave in the new climate that has emerged on social media and respond to the negative criticism. This study examines how social media users react to negative criticism of fashion companies on social media and how this, in turn, affects their attitude towards these companies. The study contributes to the understanding that can help companies respond appropriately to their criticism on social media. This study fills a gap as previous research mainly examines how consumers criticize companies and not how they respond to criticism. Previous research also does not examine how consumers' attitudes change in response to criticism. The intent of this study is attained through a field study conducted on the social media platform Instagram in combination with interviews. First, the field study analyzes comments associated with critical posts about different fashion companies on Instagram. Then, the interviews are based on the same posts used in the field study, where the respondents' attitudes towards these companies are examined. The study has found that negative criticism hurts consumers' attitudes towards fashion companies. However, the impact of criticism varies depending on the degree of loyalty and the type of criticism. Furthermore, less established fashion companies are more vulnerable to criticism than the larger renowned fashion companies. The study concludes that companies can influence crises by responding to criticism appropriately. For example, a defensive response often leads to a more negative attitude of consumers rather than if companies were to respond vulnerably or not at all. In closing, companies can manage consumer attitudes with appropriate means despite having lost a high degree of control.

The result of the study has shown that a failed product placement does not affect a company's brand image in a negative way if the brand is well known and the consumers that take part off the product placement already has a good brand image. The study showed that if the brand is well known, their product placement only has a positive reaction to increased exposure which consequently can raise consumers' word-of-mouth (WOM) for the company. The results obtained also showed that the context, which the product placement took place in, was more important for the brand image to be retained by consumers than the profile associated with the product. The consequences for the company's brand image could only be positively influenced if the context in which the brand was placed demonstrated the company's values. However, negative consequences could arise for the character associated with the product if the character chooses to exhibit values that doesn´t correspond with the brand that had placed their product. Finally, the conclusion also showed a connection between how unsuccessful product placement leads to more publicity for a company in the media than a successful one. However, the media can create a perceived discrepancy between consumers and other stakeholders that is not true.This can lead to a brand's image being perceived as changing in a negative way, even though it really is unaffected or the same as before. The brand image that was with stakeholders to the company was, however, only shown to be positively affected or unchanged. Therefore, increased publicity in the media has only been shown to increase WOM to the company that performs unsuccessful product placement in a positive way, if the company is well known since before. Hence, the conclusion of the study proved that a company’s brand image was sustainable and unaffected, or positively affected, by their stakeholders if it was placed in the right context, even if external factors tried harming the brand’s placement. / Studiens resultat har påvisat att en misslyckad produktplacering inte påverkar ett företags varumärkesimage negativt om varumärket är välkänt och konsumenterna, samt aktieägarna som tar del av placeringen redan har en god varumärkesimage. Studien påvisade att om varumärket var välkänt var en tydlig produktplacering endast positiv för att möjligtvis öka exponeringen av varumärket och därmed öka intressenternas word-of-mouth (WOM) till företaget. Resultatet uppvisade att sammanhanget som produktplaceringen skedde i var viktigare för att varumärkesimagen skulle behållas hos konsumenter och aktieägare än den profil som associerades med produkten. Påföljden som företagets varumärkesimage fick kunde bara bli positivt påverkat om sammanhanget som det placerades i påvisade varumärkets värderingar. Negativa konsekvenser kunde dock uppstå hos den profil som associerades med produkten i sammanhanget om profilen valt att uppvisa värderingar som inte stämde överens med varumärket som produktplacerades. Slutligen påvisade slutsatsen också ett samband mellan hur misslyckad produktplacering leder till mer publicitet för ett företag i media än en lyckad sådan. Dock kan media skapa en upplevd diskrepans mellan konsumenter och andra intressenter som inte stämmer. Det kan leda till att ett varumärkes image uppfattas som förändrad på ett negativt sätt, fastän den egentligen är opåverkad eller densamma som innan. Varumärkesimagen som fanns hos intressenter till företaget påvisades dock endast vara positivt påverkad eller oförändrad. Ökad publicitet i media har därför endast visats öka WOM till företaget som utför misslyckad produktplacering på ett positivt sätt,om företaget är välkänt sen tidigare. Slutsatsen blir därmed att ett företags varumärkesimage är uthållig, opåverkad eller påverkad positivt, hos dess intressenter om det placeras i rätt sammanhang, fastän en extern faktor försöker skada varumärkets placering.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how attitude and credibility have an impact on consumers' buying behavior in connection with influencer marketing. Thus, the study aims to investigate which of the phenomena influencer marketing and WoM are reported to affect consumers' buying behavior to the highest degree. To investigate the study and answer the questions, this study has been based on a non-probability sample in the form of a purposive sample since a few predestined criteria were used in the selection of respondents. Furthermore, this study is based on a semi-structured interview because the interviews have taken place according to specific themes that have been addressed. These themes are attitude, credibility, and word-of-mouth (WoM) which are also used in the theoretical framework of the study.   The results of the study have shown that a positive attitude has a significant impact on consumers' buying behavior. The recommendations that influencers make are more genuine than the marketing posts that they present on social media. A positive attitude leads consumers to be inclined to buy what the influencer recommends or marketing. As a result, it has been shown that a negative attitude can reduce consumers' credibility towards influencers and affect their purchase decisions. Based on the results, it has emerged that credibility affects consumers' buying behavior. The credibility of the influencers decreases when they market a product / service, as consumers believe that they do so for financial reasons. It is important that the influencers convey the information in a unique way and show that they use the marketed product / service afterwards to generate credibility. It can be stated that scandals that the influencers are involved in, partly affect consumers' credibility towards them because consumers do not have a direct relationship with the influencer. The study has thus shown that consumers have greater confidence in their surroundings than influencers because they do not receive any payment when they recommend a product / service. But also, because consumers have a personal relationship with their friends and family. It has also emerged that consumers have greater confidence in influencers than those around them. However, it depends on whether the influencer is knowledgeable and educated in what he/she presents on social media. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur attityd och trovärdighet har en påverkan på konsumenters köpbeteende i samband med influencer marketing. Därmed syftar studien till att undersöka vilket av fenomenen influencer marketing och WoM påtalas påverka konsumenters köpbeteende i högsta grad. För att undersöka studien och besvara på frågeställningarna har denna studie grundat sig på ett icke-sannolikhetsurval i form av ett målstyrt urval, då ett antal predestinerade kriterier använts vid val av respondenter. Vidare grundar denna studie på semistrukturerad intervju eftersom intervjuerna har skett utefter specifika teman som har behandlats. Dessa teman är attityd, trovärdighet och word-of-mouth (WoM) som även används i uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk.   Studiens resultat har påvisat att positiv attityd har en betydande påverkan på konsumenters köpbeteende. Rekommendationerna som influencers gör anses vara mer genuina än marknadsföringsinläggen som de presenterar på sociala medier. En positiv attityd leder till att konsumenterna blir benägen att förvärva det influencern marknadsför eller rekommenderar. I och med detta har det påvisats att en negativ attityd kan minska konsumenternas förtroende till influencers samt påverka konsumenternas köpbeslut. Utifrån resultatet har det framkommit att trovärdighet påverkar konsumenternas köpbeteende. Trovärdigheten för influencerna minskar när de marknadsför en produkt/tjänst, då konsumenterna anser att de gör det av ekonomiska skäl. Det är viktigt att influencerna förmedlar informationen på ett unikt sätt samt visar att de använder den marknadsförda produkten/tjänsten i efterhand för att generera trovärdighet. Det kan konstateras att skandaler som influencerna är med om påverkar delvis konsumenters förtroende för dem eftersom konsumenterna inte har en direkt relation till influencern. Studien har därmed påvisats att konsumenter har större förtroende för sin omgivning än influencers eftersom de inte tar del av någon betalning när de rekommenderar en produkt/tjänst. Men även för att konsumenterna har en personlig relation med sina vänner och familj. Det har även framkommit att konsumenter har större förtroende för influencers än omgivningen. Dock, beror det på om influencern är kunnig och utbildad inom det den presenterar på sociala medier.

People's engagements in social communities online have over recent years proven to be of great importance on others' opinions when purchasing products. Word-of-Mouth (WOM) has been around since ancient times and is a concept about consumers communicating with each other about their experience about services and products. Over the last decades research on Word-of-Mouth has increased when it was discovered how it has the power to influence consumers' purchase behaviours. The modern era of the introduction of the internet gave Word-of-Mouth a new concept called Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) that has given people the opportunity to share their negative and positive experiences online with others by leaving reviews. These reviews can be read by customers with access to the internet and could change their purchase intentions and therefore affect the company's sales and reputation. It has given the companies the opportunity to read about customers reviews and the chance to respond to the reviews by leaving comments online. This gave this study the opportunity to research if companies in Luleå are responding to negative reviews. As well, if the customers believe that their purchase intention is being affected by other users' reviews, and if the customers believe the companies can change the outcome of a review by responding to them.  In this study, quantitative research was used to collect data through surveys in Facebook groups with questions limited to Luleå. The questions were divided into three sections: Reading reviews, Responding to reviews, and Purchase intention. The study found that there was a relationship between the variables reading reviews, responding to reviews, and purchase intention. Previous literature has meant that people write more negative reviews when they have the ability to complain and write reviews through the Internet. However, for this study in Luleå, it was shown that this is not the case. It was found that few of the respondents gave negative reviews about the businesses in Luleå and that the businesses in Luleå did not respond to them. It was also found that respondents read reviews before buying, which affected their intention to buy, with negative reviews being more important than positive ones. People in Luleå consider negative reviews trustworthy and believe that businesses can change the outcome of negative reviews by responding to them. Therefore, it is of interest for local businesses in Luleå to review and respond to negative online reviews as they will impact their business.

E-commerce is today a very attractive market with growth prospects and opportunities for new companies to establish themselves and start operations. Since the establishment of Internet and the evolution of how Internet is used today, there has been an increasing possibility for consumer’s to buy products online. The more expanding E-commerce business today makes companies and entrepenuers eager to establish markets online. There is though a opportunity with the expanding of E-commerce today and that is for companies to investigate how consumer’s values the risks of shopping online. This opportunity is something that companies should take in care before starting an E-commerce market. This study aims to identify consumers' perceived risk in purchasing decisions in relation to E-commerce. The study is intended to give a broader perspective to be helpful for companies who are in business with e-commerce or supposed to conduct and begin sales activities through Ecommerce. This will be achieved by showing which factors consumers find to be most affecting to their uncertainty and risk when buying online. The survey methodology used in this study was a quantitative method where we deduced hypotheses to ensure on previous research and theories that the results of our investigation was consistent with what we concuded in our study. To come up with the answers we received, we used questionnaires in which respondents were asked to answer on a seven-point scale how they felt the risk of shopping online today. The results of this study shows us that consumer’s perceived risk will grow if the purchase is of an high engagement product, we can also conclude that there will be a decline in perceived risk if the websites have good design, user friendly navigation, clear information about consumer’s warranty and right of return.

<p>In recent years, more and more people have started to live double lives. Blogs, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have created conditions so that we increasingly live virtual lives on the Internet. The gathering of people in this way entails both risks and opportunities for businesses. This study aims to explain how the phenomenon of social media has affected trade and service companies in a marketing and communication perspective. The idea for the essay came to us after we had observed how different behaviors in companies’ concerning social media could vary a lot, and how we felt that this affected our personal view of the brands. Through a qualitative approach, where we interviewed six people with different backgrounds, we have examined the subject in order to explain how companies can use the characteristics of social media; conversation and interaction. Our results are based on that the social media entails both opportunities and challenges for companies, which are presented in detail in Chapter five.</p>

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan WOM, förväntningar, attityder, upplevd kvalitet och kundtillfredsställelse. Metod: Den befintliga teorin har analyserats för att få en översikt av den tidigare forskningen inom området. Data har samlats in genom en enkätundersökning och sedan bearbetats med hjälp av en deskriptiv analys samt en korrelationsanalys. Resultaten har därefter diskuterats och mynnat ut i studiens slutsats. Slutsats: Studien visar att den viktigaste faktorn för hur tillfredsställd kunden blir är den upplevda kvaliteten av en tjänst. Studien visar även att WOM har en stor påverkan på kundtillfredsställelsen. Vidare konstaterar studien att kundens attityd har en större inverkan än kundens förväntningar på kundtillfredsställelsen. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens bidrag till teorin inom företagsekonomins och marknadsföringens forskningsområde är en ökad kunskap om WOM:s påverkan på kundtillfredsställelsen inom tjänstebranschen. Vidare bidrag till ämnet är hur attityder och förväntningar påverkar kundtillfredsställelsen. Studien visar att attityder väger tyngre än förväntningar i fråga om hur tillfredsställd kunden blir. / Title: The relationship between WOM and Customer Satisfaction - expectations, attitudes and perceived quality Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between WOM, expectations, attitudes, perceived quality and customer satisfaction. Method: The existing theory has been analyzed to get an overview of previous research in this area. Data has been collected through a survey and then analyzed by using a descriptive analysis and a correlation analysis. Furthermore, the results have been discussed and concluded in the study's conclusion. Conclusion: The study shows that the most important factor for how satisfied the customer will be is the perceived quality of a service. The study also shows that WOM has a major impact on the customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the study finds that the customer's attitude has a greater impact than the customer's expectations on the customer satisfaction.

This study investigates how hotels use social media marketing and electronic word-of-mouth to enhance hotel brand awareness and customer relations. The aim of this study is to examine how hotels use social media and electronic word-of-mouth to build and strengthen the hotel's brand awareness and the relationship between the hotel and customer. We conducted a multiple case study where we interviewed six hotels to find out how they use social media marketing and electronic word-of-mouth. The result shows that hotels use social media marketing in order to communicate and share information with customers and strengthen the customer commitment, but also to find out what customers think of the hotel. The result also shows that customer reviews have a great impact on the hotel's brand awareness and on the hotel's relations with customers. The result also shows that the hotel's brand awareness and customer commitment is strengthened when hotels actively use social media's various platforms and by responding to customer online reviews

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-04-17T12:18:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maíse Soares Pereira.pdf: 1072154 bytes, checksum: 1d57ed3cafa138c0d99a0265873c519b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-17T12:18:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maíse Soares Pereira.pdf: 1072154 bytes, checksum: 1d57ed3cafa138c0d99a0265873c519b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-16 / Nenhuma / Até algumas décadas visto como fenômeno sociológico, o boca-a-boca tem sido utilizado como tática de marketing para disseminação de informação, persuasão e conquista de novos clientes. De forma crescente, uma das estratégias que as empresas estão descobrindo para melhor aproveitá-lo se traduz na construção de programas de marketing boca-a-boca, que nada mais é do que a gestão de recomendações provocadas pela organização, via incentivo a um grupo de participantes. Essas iniciativas suscitam novas abordagens e questionamentos, considerando possíveis problemas éticos sobre a credibilidade deste tipo de recomendação, bem como trazendo o foco dos estudos sobre boca-a-boca para seu receptor, ao contrário do extenso corpo de pesquisa sobre seus antecedentes. Para tentar preencher estas lacunas de conhecimento do que faz alguém aceitar uma recomendação e qual o impacto dela fazer parte de um programa incentivado de marketing boca-a-boca é que esta tese se apresenta. Objetivando conhecer e mensurar as fontes de influência para a aceitação de uma recomendação boca-a-boca, este estudo, após revisão de pesquisas sobre o tema, propôs um modelo capaz de relacionar e mensurar o impacto de um conjunto de elementos influenciadores para a aceitação de uma recomendação, bem como o efeito específico da participação em programa incentivado de marketing boca-a-boca. Após investigação qualitativa, com 12 entrevistas em profundidade para compreensão e refinamento dos elementos, uma survey foi aplicada a 350 participantes, público em geral. O instrumento de coleta de dados aplicado continha uma abordagem retrospectiva - inquirindo sobre recomendações passadas recebidas - e uma apresentação de cenário hipotético - inquirindo sobre a participação da recomendação em programa incentivado de marketing boca-a-boca. Como resultados do modelo, destaca-se a expertise de quem recomenda, bem como a similaridade que este possui com quem recebe a recomendação, os elementos mais relacionados à mensagem recomendada e sua consequente predisposição a aceitá-la. Ainda, foi possível identificar que o incentivo não anula a predisposição de aceitação da recomendação, no entanto, provoca sua redução, sugerindo cautela em sua utilização. Outros resultados do estudo ainda foram discutidos, bem como suas implicações para a academia e comunidade empresarial. / Considered over the last decades as a sociological phenomenon, word-of-mouth (WOM) has been used as a marketing tool for information diffusion, persuasion and customer winning. One of the growing company strategies due to these activities are the word-of-mouth marketing programs, which offer a group of current customers incentives to talk positively about their products/services to others. Such initiatives raise new approaches and concerns, considering possible ethical dilemmas about WOM credibility and also changing its focus from WOM givers to those who receive it. Hence, this dissertation is presented in order to fulfill the knowledge gaps of what makes someone accept a WOM recommendation and the impact of it coming from a company organized marketing program. Aiming to identify and measure sources of influence for WOM recommendation acceptance, the present study proposes, after literature review, a relational model able to correlate and measure the impact of a group of elements on WOM acceptance willingness as well as the particular effect of it being part of a company designed marketing campaign. So as to identify new and refine theoretical elements, a qualitative inquiry of 12 in-depth interviews was held which results conveyed input to a survey applied to 350 interviewees. Data collection questionnaire presented a retrospective design – inquiring about past received recommendations – and also a hypothetical scenario presentation – implying the recommendation being part of a company designed marketing program. Main model results indicate provider’s expertise as well as its similarity with receiver most related elements to WOM message and its resultant acceptance willingness. Still, findings could show company incentive does not annul recommendation acceptance willingness, however causes its reduction, suggesting caution on its usage. More detailed findings were discussed in the study, as well as its implications to academy and business community.