In marketing literature, the consumer engagement concept has gained the significant attention of researchers. Based on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, current research proposed to analyze the association between consumers' perception of characteristics of firm-generated content (FGC) on Instagram and positive electronic word of mouth by consumers through affective consumer engagement. The quantitative research technique was employed to evaluate the hypotheses and theoretical framework, and an online survey was developed for this research. The backdrop for this study is Pakistan’s restaurant Instagram accounts due to the importance of engagement in the food sector. To test the hypotheses, SPSS software is used. From the analysis and results generated from different tools, it is found that Customer engagement is significantly affected by perceived enjoyment which they get from original Instagram post of the brands they follow. Additionally, it is found that if a firm or brand puts in effort in enhancing their content catering to better perceived enjoyment and perceived originality for improving customers’ engagement, then they are more likely to improve the WOM numbers which can bring in more followers and evidently more business.

A firm’s brand image has to stand the test of time and be durable through different trends and changes, which emphasize the importance of following developments in the marketplace such as the emerging relevance of firm generated content on social media. With attitudes towards a product being lower in relation to the involvement regarding a product, the importance of establishing brand image for low-involvement product brands increases. With this in mind the purpose of this thesis was to explore how consumers’ brand image of low involvement products was affected by firm generated content on social media. This research provides insights on how brand image of a brand of a low involvement products is affected by firm generated content on social media. The study is based on existing research within brand image and was conducted through the use of a qualitative research approach using in-depth interviews as data collection method. The findings of this thesis suggest that consumers brand image is influenced by symbolic benefits where the benefits around the product are emphasized. A pattern could be seen where consumers emphasized symbolic benefits communicated through firm generated content on social media in a higher regard when the perceived functional benefits between brands were similar. This suggests that firm generated content of brands of low involvement products communicated on social media often seem to influence consumers perception of symbolic benefits in regards to favorability, strength and uniqueness of associations which in turn influence brand image.

The increasing threats to the environment have led the consumers to enhance their concern for environment. As a result, consumers nowadays intend to purchase environmentally friendly products as part of showing their concern for environment. This changing trend of consumer behavior has also driven the businesses to act accordingly and introduce sustainability within business process including production, offerings and distribution with an objective of protecting environment. Apart from the environmental benefits, getting involved in the environmentally friendly activities also enable the businesses to enjoy higher profit margins, positive brand image, higher employee commitment and above all competitive advantage. Current literature shows that, because of enormous benefits businesses are also getting involved in transforming sustainable consumption through different marketing activities to avoid poor sales of green products. Brand generated contents, defined as contents shared and controlled by the business itself on its owned or earned platforms, is often used by the marketers and businesses to share information or justifying premium pricing of green products. The primary purpose of this study is to develop insights and understand the relationship between different factors driven by brand generated contents and green purchase intention. The study is implemented by a quantitative study where 156 respondents have shared their perceptions and thoughts related to different factors of brand generated contents on social media platforms that they perceive to influence their purchase intentions to green products. Even though green consumerism and green purchase intention is not a new concept within field of research, connecting it with brand generated content is a completely new phenomenon. Existing literature suggests that researchers have tried to measure the green purchase intention mostly based on uncontrollable factors by marketers or different traditional consumer theory. Some other researchers have also tried to connect green purchase intention with user-generated content completely overlooking its counterpart, brand generated content. Five constructs have been developed based on existing literature: knowledge awareness, perceived concern for environment, perceived product value, attitude and trust of contents. A survey questionnaire was developed with three sections- demographic section to comprehend the respondents, behavioral section to understand purchase behavior of respondents related to green products and final section to understand the perception of consumers. The finding demonstrates interesting insights with perceived concern for environment and attitude to be positively significant and trust of content to be negatively significant to green purchase intentions. However, the finding is believed to assist the marketing practitioners and businesses to develop marketing strategies for green products and develop contents accordingly. Furthermore, the study aims to contribute theoretically within the field of brand generated content and green purchase intention by filling the gap and linking each other. Finally, the study has significant potential of contributing to society by helping in promoting environmentally friendly products and protecting the environment.

Frågeställningar: Hur ser företags processer ut för att skapa innehåll till sociala medier? Hur engagerar sig konsumenter till innehåll som företag publicerat på sociala medier? Syfte: Det huvudsakliga syftet med studien är att beskriva och förklara företags processer för att skapa innehåll till sociala medier och analysera konsumenters engagemang till innehåll som företag publicerat. Studien syftar även till att tillhandahålla en konceptuell figur för hur förloppet att skapa, publicera och följa upp innehåll mellan ett företag och ett konsultbolag ser ut. Det avslutande syftet är att kunna ge rekommendationer till företag om hur de kan utveckla sitt användande av sociala medier som ett marknadsföringsverktyg. Metod: Studien hade en induktiv ansats med ett explorativt syfte. Undersökningen genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod. Data samlades in genom personliga intervjuer och genom en observationsstudie med en kompletterande intervju. En kvalitativ dataanalys utfördes för att analysera insamlad empirisk data. Resultat: Företags processer till att skapa innehåll är otillräcklig och det finns utrymme för förbättring. Det framkom även att konsumenter har ett större engagemang till innehåll som företag publicerat om konsumenternas vänner rekommenderat innehållet, om det är humoristiskt eller har ett välgörande ändamål. Teoretiskt och praktiskt bidrag: Det teoretiska bidraget är att utveckla processen till att skapa innehåll på sociala medier. Praktiska bidrag är i form av rekommendationer till företag angående hur de kan utveckla sitt användande av sociala medier som ett marknadsföringsverktyg. / Research questions: Do companies have processes to create content for social media? How do consumers engage in content that companies have published on social media? Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to describe and explain companies’ processes to create content for social media and analyze the consumers’ commitment to the content that companies have published. Another purpose is to provide a conceptual model for the course of creating, publishing and following up content between a company and a consulting firm. Finally we aim to give recommendations to companies about how they can develop their use of social media as a marketing tool. Method: The study has an inductive approach with an explorative purpose. The survey was performed using a qualitative method. The data was collected by means personal interviews and an observational study with an additional interview. This empirical data was analyzed using a qualitative data analysis. Results: The companies’ processes to create content are insufficient. The study also revealed that consumers have a greater commitment to content published by companies if their friends have recommended the content, if it is humoristic or related to charity. Theoretical and practical contributions: The theoretical contribution is to develop the process to create content on social media. The practical contribution is in the form of recommendations to companies about how they can develop their usage of social media as a marketing tool.