Master of Science / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / Garden centers are facing increasing market pressure from big-box retail stores that offer similar products at more competitive prices but lack a quality produce and exceptional service. In order to differentiate themselves from big-box stores, garden centers must build relationships with their customers which can increase marketing reach. Marketing ability and reach is limiting the expansion of Kansas garden centers which spend the majority of their advertising dollars on traditional media. However, social media can be an effective method for not only understanding consumers but also developing profitable relationships with customers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of stakeholders of metro and non-metro garden centers as they use new media to market their business. Findings indicate garden center stakeholders prefer to use traditional media channels to market to their customers, lack a clear strategy and objectives related to new-media marketing, and are not effectively implementing relationship marketing principles.

The main goal of this thesis is to analyze possibilities of social media marketing and its use for the purposes of FIS VŠE. The analysis covers social networking sites and their evolution, including description of current major social networking sites. The marketing potential of social networking sites is analyzed in the second part of general analysis with special attention to specifics of Czech market and use of social networking sites in Czech republic. There was a competitive analysis done as a base for the formulation of social media marketing strategy of FIS VŠE. The competitive analysis compares other Czech technical universities and describes the position of FIS VŠE in comparison with those. Another analysis was made comparing foreign top technical universities to find and describe best practices in social media marketing that could be used in the strategy for FIS VŠE. Findings of both analyses were used in formulation of Social media marketing strategy of FIS VŠE which offers a framework for the work of social media team. The strategy is prepared in a brief form of 6 documents. The basic documents and processes are covered by an interactive tool prepared using Google Spreadsheet. This tool is ready to use by the social media team. Other parts of the strategy cover Rules, Metrics and Content tips. The strategy can be adopted as a whole or used to inspire and adopt only smaller parts.

Background: The development of social media brings traditional marketing into a newera - social media marketing - which offers new platforms through which brands cancarry out marketing activities and connect with their customers. Thus, social mediamarketing has become important for brands and marketers to reach their customers andsocial media marketing activities (SMMAs) include entertainment, trendiness,customisation, interaction, and word of mouth (WOM). Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of social media marketingactivities (SMMAs) on customer satisfaction.  Methodology: A quantitative method and deductive research approach were adopted inthis research as a means of gathering data. Through a cross-sectional research design, anonline self-completion questionnaire was created and conducted with consideration ofethical and societal issues; as a result, 165 valid responses were collected. The collecteddata from the respondents were analysed through frequency analysis, descriptiveanalysis, explore analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis as well as multipleregression analysis. Findings: The results of this research revealed that both H3 and H4 were accepted,meaning that customisation and interaction have a significant positive impact oncustomer satisfaction. Conversely, H1, H2, and H3, i.e., entertainment, trendiness, andword of mouth (WOM), were rejected. Conclusion: This study concluded that customisation on social media (H3) positivelyinfluences customer satisfaction which can be understood as customised content isaimed in a way to suit the customers’ own preferences. Furthermore, interaction onsocial media (H4) was revealed to have a significant and positive impact on customersatisfaction. As firms and businesses interact with their customers on social media, theyallow for communication between a brand and the customer. Whereas, entertainment(H1), trendiness (H2) and WOM (H5) on social media do not significantly impactcustomer satisfaction.

Background: Social media marketing has been used to facilitate communications and interactions between customers and brands and is considered as the effective driver to influence the customers’ buying behaviours and loyalty. Since its emergence in Vietnam market, Samsung smartphone brand has secured a considerable market share in this country and has activated some social media platforms to stay connected with its customers. Though the social media marketing activities and their impacts on brand loyalty have been studied by a number of researchers, the specific case of the smartphone industry has not been eyed enough.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how social media marketing activities influence brand loyalty with the specific case of Samsung smartphones in Vietnam.  Method: The chosen approach to address the purpose of this study is deductive. Descriptive design and quantitative technique are purposefully selected to form a structure of methodology of this study. Specifically, the data collected via the tool of survey questionnaires which were delivered to respondents through social media platforms to yield out 197 usable answers.  Conclusion: The results show that the six elements of social media marketing activities, namely: Entertainment, Interaction, Trendiness, Customization, Word of Mouth and Promotion have positive correlations with Brand loyalty. With some differences in terms of responses from different age groups and genders in each category towards the dimensions being utilized on social media sites, the brand is suggested to give a better focus on the importance of Entertainment and Promotion. Also, the platforms of Instagram and Youtube should be better managed to attract and satisfy a larger number of followers.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and to explore how B2C e-commerce businesses could use social media marketing strategies to increase their consumers purchase intentions on their sites. Findings enabled the development and research of a comprehensive social media marketing system which includes a general set of components and tools aiming at increasing purchase intentions on such sites. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on literature as well as previous studies of Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing System, E-commerce, B2C, Social Commerce, S-commerce, Online Purchase Intentions, Trust and Social Trust. A conceptual framework was created and led the research method which used a convergent parallel mixed method design that includes gathering and analysing both qualitative and quantitative data. The data is gathered from potential users and clients of the system and led by the user-centered design (UCD) process. The obtained qualitative and quantitative data was analysed separately and then merged together by a side-by-side comparison. With the use of this approach, several ways businesses can increase consumers purchase intentions towards their B2C e-commerce site were discovered. Social media presence, published content, publishing frequency, content type, special sale promotions and social media friends are variables that have been found to be influential upon purchase intentions. The integration of a social media marketing system combined with these variables was found to be a successful tool for B2C e-commerce businesses wanting to increase consumers purchase intention through social media networks.

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, welche Motive Konsumenten dazu verleiten, soziale Medien im sogenannten "Web 2.0" aktiv oder passiv zu nutzen. Hierbei liegt das Augenmerk insbesondere auf soziodemographischen und psychologischen Merkmalen der Nutzer. Als zentrales Ergebnis der Arbeit kann herausgestellt werden, dass sich die befragten 188 Personen insgesamt anhand von zwei Dimensionen: Aktivität vs. Passivität und soziale Motivation vs. individuelle Motivation in 5 Gruppen beschreiben lassen. Mithilfe klassischer und neuer Marketing-Instrumente (z.B. Virales Marketing) lassen sich diese Gruppen zielgenau ansprechen.

The goal of this master's thesis is to analyse current communication of Huawei on social media and to compare it with its competitor Samsung. Subsequently, the communication strategy will be created, which might be used as a guideline for Huawei's social media communication. The thesis is divided into two main parts - theoretical and practical. The importance of Internet marketing and social media marketing are described in the theoretical part as well as characteristics of selected social media. The practical part contains the analysis itself, comparison with Samsung and the recommended communication strategy to improve the current state of Huawei's social media presence.

Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, welche Motive Konsumenten dazu verleiten, soziale Medien im sogenannten "Web 2.0" aktiv oder passiv zu nutzen. Hierbei liegt das Augenmerk insbesondere auf soziodemographischen und psychologischen Merkmalen der Nutzer. Als zentrales Ergebnis der Arbeit kann herausgestellt werden, dass sich die befragten 188 Personen insgesamt anhand von zwei Dimensionen: Aktivität vs. Passivität und soziale Motivation vs. individuelle Motivation in 5 Gruppen beschreiben lassen. Mithilfe klassischer und neuer Marketing-Instrumente (z.B. Virales Marketing) lassen sich diese Gruppen zielgenau ansprechen.

Titel: Influencer marketing på Instagram: Påverkan på konsumenters attityd och köpintention utifrån trovärdighetsfaktorer, opinionsledarskap, follower/followee-ratio och sympati Nivå: C-uppsats, examensarbete inom företagsekonomi Författare: Madeliene Hedin & Selicia Strindlund Handledare: Jonas Kågström & Martin Ahlenius Examinator: Lars-Johan Åge Datum: 2022 - Maj Syfte: Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om hur influencers trovärdighet påverkar konsumenters köpintention. Mer specifikt undersöks huruvida konsumenters attityd mot influencers påverkas utifrån follower/followee ratio, trovärdighetsfaktorer (trovärdighet, expertis och attraktivitet), opinionsledarskap samt sympati. Metod: Studien är en replikering av tidigare forskning av De Veirman m. fl. (2017) och har sin utgångspunkt i en kvantitativ forskningsdesign med en deduktiv ansats. Data insamlades med hjälp av en webbaserad enkätundersökning som besvarades av 290 respondenter.  Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av denna undersökning påvisade att ett högt följarantal inte nödvändigtvis har en positiv effekt på konsumentens köpintention. Det är dock av vikt att en influencers konto känns äkta genom att inte dölja följare/följer-antal, då denna information har en positiv påverkan på konsumenters attityd mot influencern. Resultatet visar därutöver att en microinfluencer har störst positiv påverkan på konsumentens köpbeteende. Studiens bidrag: Då denna studie konstaterar att microinfluencers har större inverkan på köpbeslut än macroinfluencers är det därav mer effektivt och lönsamt för företag att marknadsföra sig genom microinfluencers.  Förslag till vidare forskning: Då influencer marketing är ett fortsatt växande begrepp som tar allt större plats inom marknadsföring är det väsentligt att forskning inom området fortsätter bedrivas. Denna studie, som är baserad på en kvantitativ metod, besvarar om men inte varför statistiken ser ut som den gör. För att få en djupare förståelse för sambandet mellan den upplevda trovärdigheten och motivationen till köpbeslut hos respondenter är därmed en kvalitativ undersökning att rekommendera. / Title: Influencer Marketing on Instagram: Influence on consumers’ attitude and purchase intention based on credibility factors, opinion leadership, follower/followee-ratio and sympathy Level: Final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration Authors: Madeliene Hedin & Selicia Strindlund Supervisors: Jonas Kågström & Martin Ahlenius Examiner: Lars-Johan Åge Date: 2022 - May Aim: The purpose of this research is to contribute knowledge about influencers credibility affects consumers’ purchase intentions. More specificially examine wheter consumers' attitudes towards influencers are influenced on the basis of follower/followee-ratio, credibility factors (trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness), opinion leadership and likeability.  Method: The study is a replication of previous research by De Veirman et al. (2017) and is based on a quantitative approach. Data were collected using a web-based survey answered by 290 respondents.  Result and conclusion: The results of this study showed that a high number of followers does not necessarily have a positive effect on the consumer's purchase intention. However, it is important that an influencer's account is genuine by not hiding information about followers / number of followers, as this information has a positive impact on consumers' attitudes towards the influencer. The results also show that a microinfluencer has the greatest positive impact on consumer buying behavior. Contribution: As this research finds that microinfluencers have a greater impact on consumers purchase intentions than an macroinfluencer, it is therefore also more effective and profitable for companies to market themselves through microinfluencers.  Suggestions for future research: As influencer marketing is a continuing growing concept that is taking up more and more space in marketing, it is essential that research in the area continues to be conducted. This study, which is based on a quantitative method, answers whether but not why the statistics look the way they do. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the connection between the perceived credibility and the motivation for purchasing decisions among respondents, a qualitative survey is therefore recommended.

Companies may need an infusion of capital for a multifold of reasons. The importance of capital needed for innovation applies not only to large companies but also to start-ups. In recent years crowdfunding has evolved and become a common alternative for entrepreneurs to finance their start-up. Research about crowdfunding is still in its infancy, and few articles about crowdfunding has yet been published. The purpose of this paper is to examine how social media influences crowdfunding as a communication and marketing channel. The paper is based on a quantitative research strategy, with data regarding 156 campaigns, featured on Kickstarter.com. The outcome of this paper shows that many campaigns used social media to market the campaign. On the contrary not all campaigns used all examined social media. Some social media were more commonly used than other, such as Facebook or Twitter. The outcome of the paper however shows that the number of updates made on the campaigns site does not have any connection regarding the funding level. It can furthermore be other factors that play a crucial role whether or not a campaign reaches its funding goal.