Research show that social media are effective channels to use in branding, at the same time Swedish municipalities are increasingly starting to see the importance of branding and reports show that  they are using social media channels for branding purposes. Even though reports show that the municipalities are using social media channels in branding there is a lack of studies done on how they are using social media in branding. To examine this two research questions is developed; (1) What is branding for a municipality and (2) How are municipalities using social media in branding. To examine the research questions different theories are applied and a conceptual framework is developed based on theories from branding, social media and branding in social media. To collect data for the research a qualitative study with three case studies (three Swedish municipalities) is conducted. The primary data from the three cases is collected through face to face interviews with employees responsible for the social media channels. Secondary information is gathered through observations of the municipalities social media channels examined in this thesis, and documents found on internet concerning the municipalities’ use of social media. The analysis of the data is done based on the conceptual framework presented in the theoretical chapter and consists of both within case studies and cross case studies in order to identify similarities and differences among the cases. The findings from this study show that both corporate, employee, and place branding is applied in the municipalities overall branding goals and strategies. Even though the municipalities are examined as organizations in this study employee and place branding goals are identified in order for the municipalities to reach their overall wanted position and image. A further conclusion is that social media has been effective in branding. Social media has enabled the municipalities to reach their branding goals through being transparent, informing, engaging and creating dialogues with their inhabitants and other publics. Through social media the municipalities have managed to establish, influence and create perceptions that have positively influenced their position and image. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have shown to be efficient social media channels to use in branding and has enabled the studied municipalities to change their perceived image from being unknown organizations to becoming more personal, transparent and increasing the public`s knowledge about the municipalities.

Social media have transformed business commerce and consumer communication, yet organizational leaders lack clear strategies for using social media platforms to their advantage. The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to explore social media marketing strategies for increasing sales. The relationship marketing conceptual framework grounded this study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 5 organizational leaders from 5 different organizations in the San Francisco, California, Bay Area and a review of participants’ documents including marketing materials, social media posts, and published sales reports. Data analysis included coding, categorization, and identification of major themes. The thematic assessment approach revealed 5 major themes from participants’ responses that aligned with findings from the literature review. Themes included identifying the target audience, developing a customer roadmap to convert prospects to consumers, managing customer relationships to increase brand loyalty, and developing key performance indicators to measure the success of social media campaigns. Study findings may increase local organizational leaders’ knowledge of social media strategies that they can use to increase brand awareness, brand loyalty, and sales for their organizations. Implications for social change include the opportunity for local leaders to increase sales, which could lead to more jobs and improved economies in local communities.

The study examines the role of social media in non-profit organizations using the case study from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand Country office. As Social media become a significant channel to raise the visibility and promote the work of the organization. The focus of this research examines what drives organizations adopting social media through a model built round four key factors, 1.) The importance of social media, 2.) The impact to image of the organization, 3.) Communication strategies and, 4.) Characteristics of content on social media channels. The research aims to analyze mediums that affect the behavioral transformation of the four factors by integrated with the existing theoretical perspectives. The research was conducted in the UNDP country office social media channels mainly on Facebook from December 2013 to February 2014, using content analysis and interviewing as main methods. With the adoption of social media, the main conclusion of the study: gradually impact of social media in the enhancement of NGOs images, the changes in the construction of the content, the popularity of the themes in social media influenced by the domestic environments in the country and yet a substantial potential of social media in organizational advocacy.

The purpose of this research was to understand the creation of a brand composed of four individual elite athletes and how stakeholders involved used social media to co-create the brand. The study examined the unique context of the FAB_IV; four individuals divers branded as a team. Semi-structured interviews were performed with participants from Diving Canada, its athletes, member of the COC and sponsors. The sample was built through a purposeful and snowball sampling method that added to stakeholders identified from the literature. Archival data of organizational documents, FAB_IV microsite, social media accounts, news outlet content and online content were also gathered in order to complement the data from the interviews. The deductive and inductive data analysis highlighted four main themes: brand strategies and implementation - sponsorship and sponsorship activation - media and fan interest - stakeholder’s relationship. Specifically regarding social media, the research showed that in order to use social media as a brand co-creation tool, organizations and athletes need to have a strategy in place, use them with consistency and be creative in what they publish. Additionally, fostering relationships with followers was identified as a key contributor of building a brand on social media. Researchers and future researches should focus on organizations who, along with their stakeholders, are using social media as the main tool to co-create their brand. Moreover, having the fan or follower perspective, when doing a research pertaining to brand and value co-creation on social media, would also be a possible avenue for future researches.

This project researches on the efficient use of social media for start-ups. Despite the fact that start-ups are considered to be an important part of the business world, social media strategies for start-ups is an area that has not been widely researched. Therefore, this project focuses on developing and presenting social media strategies and guidelines that can enable the businessgrowth of a start-up through networking. This thesis researches on the efficient use of social media for start-ups through the case studyof Sharplet, a start-up which operates in the e-learning industry. It should be noted that thedata are collected through qualitative interviews and benchmarking. The key findings of this research show that the efficient management of social media for startupsinvolves a strategizing procedure. Based on the analysis of the results of this research, asocial media strategy model is developed, consisting of four simple steps: researching,developing the strategy, realizing it, and evaluating the social media efforts. Since this model is simplified and it includes the most important steps of the strategizing procedure, it isconsidered to be appropriate and useful for start-ups that are willing to use social media,because it will enable them to be more effective on managing their social media accounts. Furthermore, this research provides some guidelines to start-ups. It is argued that start-upsshould use social media in order to network, and more specifically to build and maintainrelationships with various types of stakeholders that can enable the business growth. In termsof networking, the results suggest that Twitter is an appropriate social medium for start-ups tofocus their efforts on, because it is easy to connect with other users - while other social mediabuild on pre-existing relationships. In addition, according to the analysis of the resultsFacebook and LinkedIn could also be appropriate networking tools for start-ups. Moreover,the results suggest that start-ups can use social media tools that are available for free on theweb and that can enable the specific company to be more effective when managing their socialmedia accounts. Last but not least, the key findings of this research suggest that postingrelevant comments, engaging in discussions, and trying to build and maintain relationshipswith stakeholders that are important for the business development of the company are amongthe efficient social media practices for start-ups. In summary, based on the findings of this research a social media strategy model andguidelines for start-ups are proposed in order to enable start-ups to efficiently use social media. / Det här arbetet undersöker hur nystartade företag kan använda sociala medier på ett effektivtsätt. Trots att nystartade företag anses vara en viktig del av näringslivet så är sociala medierstrategier för nystartade företag ett relativt outforskat område. Det är därför detta projektfokuserar på att presentera sociala medier strategier och riktlinjer som kan hjälpa nystartadeföretag att skapa nya kontakter, expandera sina sociala nätverk och på detta sätt göraföretagstillväxt möjligt. Det här projektet använder fallstudie som forskingsmetod för att undersöka effektivaanvändningar av sociala medier för nystartade företag. Det bör noteras att Sharplet användtssom fallstudie och att Sharplet har med e-learning industrin att göra. Uppgifter samlats in ochanalyserats genom kvalitativa intervjuer och benchmarking/ prestandajämförelse. De viktigaste resultaten av denna forskning visar att en av de effektivaste användningen avsociala medier för nystartade företag innebär att formulera en strategi. Den socialamediestrategi modellen för nystartade företag som har utvecklats i denna projekt, är baseratpå resultatens analys. Modellen består av fyra enkla steg: forskning, strategiens formulering,att realisera den strategien, och att utvärdera den. Modellen har förenklats och den innehållerde viktigaste stegen i den strategiska processen. Eftersom modellen är simplicierad, så är detenkelt för nystartade företag att bli mer effektiva när de använder sociala medier. Det är därförmodellen anses vara passande och användbar för nystartade företag. Analysen av de viktigaste resultaten från denna forskning tyder på att nystartade företag skaanvända sociala medier för att utveckla och expandera deras nätverk, dvs att bygga ochuppehålla relationer med olika typer av intressenter som kan göra det möjligt för företagenstillväxt. När det gäller nätverk tyder resultaten på att nystartade företag ska fokusera på attanvända Twitter, eftersom på Twitter är det lätt att få kontakt med andra användare. Enligtanalysen av resultaten så kan Facebook och Linkedin också vara lämpliga verktyg förnystartade företag. När det gäller effektiva sociala mediemetoder för nystartade företag såtyder resultaten på att nystartade företag ska använda sociala medieverktyg som är passandeför det specifika företaget. Avslutningsvis, de viktigaste resultaten av denna forskning medavseende på de effektivaste metoderna tyder på att nystartade företag ska publicera intressantakommentarer, ska delta i diskussioner och ska försöka att bygga och underhålla relationer medintressenter som är viktiga för affärsutvecklingen. Sammanfattningsvis, en sociala mediestrategi modell och några riktlinjer för nystartadeföretag föreslås i denna uppsats, som kan göra det möjligt för nystartade företag att användasociala medier på ett effektivt sätt.