Abstract Title: If it doesn’t spread it’s dead - a qualitative study on how young entrepreneurs are positioning themselves in the marketplace and with the help of social media spreading their brand. (If it doesn’t spread it’s dead ­- en kvalitativ studie om hur unga entreprenörer positionerar sig på marknaden, med hjälp av sociala medier sprider sitt varumärke).   Number of pages: 48   Author: Sandra Ahlinder, Anna Hoffman   Tutor: Peder Hård af Segerstad Course: Media and Communications Studies C   Period: Fall 2013 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information   Purpose/Aim: The aim with this study is to investigate how companies use social media as a marketing tool. The study will investigate possible differences between two groups of newly started companies. The first group is companies that has recieved a relatively large amount of media attention and the second group is companies that has received less attention in media. The study will examine the usage of social media in the two groups.   Material/Method: A qualitative method has been used in this study in the the collection of data and in the analysis of the collected material. The collection of data is based on semi-structed interwievs as a qualitative method.  In the analysis of the data a content analysis was applied.   Main results: The study's main results shows that there is a difference between the two groups of companies use of social media as a marketing tool. The difference is evident in the respective phases the companies are subject to. The group of companies that receives a significant larger amount of media attention has a developed structure in their marketing strategies. In contrast, the group with less media attention are still in a startup-phase and do not have the same means to reach that level of awareness and development in their marketing.               Keywords: Sociala medier, Entreprenör, Traditionell marknadsföring, Icke-traditionell markandsföring, Word-of mouth (WOM), Relationship Marketing (RM), Storytelling, Relationsmarknadsföring.