In small businesses in the United States, specifically those with fewer than 10 employees, leaders may be skeptical of and resistant to the use of social media in their management operations. Management literature does not indicate clear and effective guidelines and policies detailing small marketing firms use of social media. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of small marketing firm leaders about the resources and knowledge needed for effective use of social media as a management tool. Emerson's social exchange theory grounded the study. The study targeted owners and managers of small marketing firms in Dallas, Texas, with three to five years of experience and firms who use social media in their firm management or operations. Twenty-three participants satisfied the criteria. Data were collected through interviews, questionnaires, and document reviews. Yin's 5-phase analysis was used to analyze the data. The primary result of the study is that small businesses that use social media in the Dallas, Texas, area reported various gains, including increased awareness about their business, valuable customer feedback, and customer retention. The study may have a positive social change impact by providing information on strategies and benefits of using social media as a management tool not only to small marketing firms in Texas, but also to very small businesses in other sectors.

<p>Social media is by many believed to be the core of a new type of Public Relations. This new PR is called PR 2.0. Most larger companies today are to be find using dif- ferent types of social media to interact with their publics. Each year companies invest more money in this type of digital public relations. Social media is a relatively new online phenomenon and still used at a very early stage. Today there are a lot of differ- ent ideas and theories’ coming from many directions on how to use social media in PR and also what comes out from doing so. Companies invest a lot of money in it, but how’s it done and what’s the return on investment (ROI) in using social media? PR 2.0 is said by its advocates to be a step away from a type of PR that is built on messages to a PR built on two-way communication, dialog and equally beneficial rela- tionships. This essay aims at exploring what PR 2.0 is when practiced, what makes it different from the old PR and how it can be used to manage relations with publics. The focus lies on how the relationships between a company and its publics have developed in the digital world. As a more separate matter of research we have studied how effects from PR in social media can be measured . The essay is based on qualitative interviews performed with Swedish PR communica- tion and social media marketing practitioners. The result from the interviews in com- bination with relevant literature makes the foundation for the conclusions made in the essay. The literature and articles used in the essay is a mix of more general PR theo- ries, theories about PR in practice, social media marketing and digital PR, PR 2.0. The conclusion of this essay is that social media constitutes great opportunities for companies to listen and talk to its publics in a way not possible before. However, the relationships created aren’t always the result of a symmetric two-way communication. Companies use social media to monitor and register what people think about them, which is the characteristic for a form of communication that is asymmetrical. But it is also important to notice that companies that share more and create value for those they are communicating with will build stronger relationships. Social media also makes it possible to identify publics and important individuals by using the medium itself, in a way that is both easy and cost-efficient. The problem with measuring effects from communicating in social media is of a methodological nature. A lot of what happens when communicating in social media is possible to measure and quantify, but the problem lies in explaining what the result means. To set up clear and realistic goals and to do research before engaging in social media is a prerequisite for measuring ef- fects at all.</p>

<p><em>It is in the interest of organizations to understand that the public demand for quick and easy accessibility is growing at a rapid pace. However, the transition from traditional marketing strategies to social media marketing is not a straightforward process, but more complex.The aim of the thesis is to, from a bottom-up perspective, draw conclusions from a comparative study of the social media praxes of Umeå-situated businesses and organizations.The study indicates that the transition into social media still continues, but that there has been a change in organizations’ mindsets. It also shows that the application of a bottom-up approach provides new ways of viewing and understanding activities within social media.It is in the interest of organizations to understand that the public demand for quick and easy accessibility is growing at a rapid pace. However, the transition from traditional marketing strategies to social media marketing is not a straightforward process, but more complex.The aim of the thesis is to, from a bottom-up perspective, draw conclusions from a comparative study of the social media praxes of Umeå-situated businesses and organizations.The study indicates that the transition into social media still continues, but that there has been a change in organizations’ mindsets. It also shows that the application of a bottom-up approach provides new ways of viewing and understanding activities within social media.</em></p>

Background In Sweden almost 90% of businesses are micro in nature which plays a pivotal role in the economy by generating employment opportunities as well as serving a source of instilling entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. Due to their invaluable contributions to the economy, their survival through revenue generating marketing practices has become an area of much more interest than ever realized before. A common misconception prevalent is that marketing in micro businesses is just a miniature of larger enterprises. This is why earlier researchers have paid scarce treatment to marketing practices in micro businesses as evident from the scant published material on the topic, making it an intriguing area to study. Currently much hype has been created about social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and their marketing value for small businesses. It is therefore, in this thesis we study social media and prevalent marketing practices in the context of micro business. Purpose Micro firms are often cash-strapped which limits their revenue generating ability through prevalent marketing practices which are resource intensive. In the back drop of all the hype about social media as a marketing tool we got the clue to find the right marketing approaches for these businesses regarding the choice of prevalent practices and social media as a new marketing tool. To achieve this purpose, we have formulated the following research questions.RQ1.Which of the two types of marketing is more effective in terms of targeted segment coverage and expenditures? RQ2.Which marketing approach enables micro firms to maintain better relationships with customers? RQ3.Whether or not it is the right time for micro firms in Sweden to adopt social media marketing practices? Method A qualitative approach has been used to achieve the exploratory purpose of the thesis. Overall; eight micro firms were chosen from a convenience sample, representing different regions and industries of Sweden. In the first phase, two pilot semi-structured interviews were conducted to attain a better understanding of the phenomenon under study. Later, six more semi-structured interviews were carried out from micro businesses representing different sectors in Skövde, Mariestad and Jönköping Counties. Conclusion This thesis suggests that micro businesses are mostly marketing weak organizations (MWO) as they are sales oriented and see marketing as more of a luxury. Micro businesses in the sample reveal a tendency to carry out marketing activities in a haphazard manner which limits their likelihood of achieving their targets. It has also been indicated that conventional approach to reach target segments, still has a strong effect on micro firms in Sweden and is therefore more appropriate for them as majority of their customers are geographically concentrated as well as a major strata of these are yet to start active participation on the social media landscape. In terms of costs social media Given, the small population of Sweden, it has also been showed that micro businesses are keeping good customer relationship with customers via word-of-mouth marketing which is considered as instrumental for success of majority of micro business. At the same time, this finding does not indicate any clear picture as to which form of marketing is doing better for these businesses. In terms of social media adoption the findings indicate that micro businesses see social media as a great marketing opportunity in which micro businesses can compete on a level playing field with their larger counterparts. This study also concludes that social media is in infancy stages of its development in Sweden as people though they are present on the social media landscape, but have not yet, thought of it as a mainstream marketing channel. Therefore, it is suggested that micro firms in Sweden need to adpot a (high volume, low expense) is more effective only when used in tandem with conventional marketing (low volume, high expense) approaches. It is therefore suggested that micro businesses can use a blend of social and conventional marketing practices till the time that the social media network externalizes to a greater extent. wait and see approach for the time being and start preparing to capitalize on social media soon when it becomes ripe and ready for marketing.

Social media is by many believed to be the core of a new type of Public Relations. This new PR is called PR 2.0. Most larger companies today are to be find using dif- ferent types of social media to interact with their publics. Each year companies invest more money in this type of digital public relations. Social media is a relatively new online phenomenon and still used at a very early stage. Today there are a lot of differ- ent ideas and theories’ coming from many directions on how to use social media in PR and also what comes out from doing so. Companies invest a lot of money in it, but how’s it done and what’s the return on investment (ROI) in using social media? PR 2.0 is said by its advocates to be a step away from a type of PR that is built on messages to a PR built on two-way communication, dialog and equally beneficial rela- tionships. This essay aims at exploring what PR 2.0 is when practiced, what makes it different from the old PR and how it can be used to manage relations with publics. The focus lies on how the relationships between a company and its publics have developed in the digital world. As a more separate matter of research we have studied how effects from PR in social media can be measured . The essay is based on qualitative interviews performed with Swedish PR communica- tion and social media marketing practitioners. The result from the interviews in com- bination with relevant literature makes the foundation for the conclusions made in the essay. The literature and articles used in the essay is a mix of more general PR theo- ries, theories about PR in practice, social media marketing and digital PR, PR 2.0. The conclusion of this essay is that social media constitutes great opportunities for companies to listen and talk to its publics in a way not possible before. However, the relationships created aren’t always the result of a symmetric two-way communication. Companies use social media to monitor and register what people think about them, which is the characteristic for a form of communication that is asymmetrical. But it is also important to notice that companies that share more and create value for those they are communicating with will build stronger relationships. Social media also makes it possible to identify publics and important individuals by using the medium itself, in a way that is both easy and cost-efficient. The problem with measuring effects from communicating in social media is of a methodological nature. A lot of what happens when communicating in social media is possible to measure and quantify, but the problem lies in explaining what the result means. To set up clear and realistic goals and to do research before engaging in social media is a prerequisite for measuring ef- fects at all.

Background Social media have changed the way of communication and interaction between the organizations and the costumers. The huge merge of social media has led the companies to change their current marketing strategies into the use of social media marketing during the last years. An increasing number of companies adopt this kind of performance and there is a need to study this phenomenon more in depth and explore it through the perspective of strategic renewal. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and explore to the phenomenon of strategic renewal through social media marketing. The authors will explore into the challenges and opportunities of strategic renewal through social media marketing in companies located in Swedish rural areas. Method Social media marketing is considered a new phenomenon. The studies held, do not examine social media marketing through a strategic renewal perspective and how rural area companies located in rural areas in Sweden face the challenges and opportunities occurred. Therefore, an abductive approach and case study method were chosen for this research. 7 companies were chosen as the interviewed companies. Within this research primary data were collected through semi- structured interviews with the investigated companies. Conclusion The authors have found that, the interviewed companies pursue strategic renewal through social media marketing, but they do not consider this strategy as the main one but as a complementary one. As a result, certain challenges are emerged, and the investigated companies should face and integrate them to the opportunities generated from this kind of strategic renewal. This will lead to a better performance of the companies since pursuing strategic renewal through social media marketing can help in every factor of the company making them competitive and able to stand out.

Social medias användningsområde har under de senaste åren ökat. Från att till enbörjan användas av privatpersoner till att nu även vara en del av flertalet företag.Tekniken kan skapa nya tillfällen att synas, skapa kundrelationer samt kommunikationsmöjligheter. Det finns olika syften med att använda social mediamen värdet kommer inte från plattformen i sig utan från hur den används. För attett företag ska använda social media kan det finnas anledning att acceptera och varamedvetna om att kritik riktat till företaget offentliggörs. Forskning pekar på attföretag förväntas bemöta åsikter, uppfattningar och upplevelser från konsumenter.Dock saknas tydlig vetskap om hur eller på vilket sätt. Vi har genom en kvalitativstudie, intervjuat representanter från olika företag gällande deras sätt att bedrivakritikhantering på social media. Studien resulterade i tre övergripande teman medunderliggande exempel som beskriver hur företag hanterar kritik på social media. / The use of social media has increased in recent years. Individuals used it first, andnow it has become a part of multiple companies. Technology can create newopportunities for companies to show them self publicly, create customer relations aswell as communication opportunities. The purposes of using social media arevarious, but the value it brings is not from the platform itself, but from the ways it isbeing used. In order for a company to use social media, there may be reason toaccept and be aware of that criticism addressed to the company will be public.Research indicates that companies are expected to respond to opinions, perceptionsand experiences from customers. However, clear knowledge of how or in what wayis missing. We have through a qualitative study, interviewed representatives fromvarious companies regarding their way of conducting criticism management onsocial media. The study resulted in three overarching themes with underlyingexamples illustrating how companies manage criticism on social media.

Syfte: Användningen av internet växer snabbt och många väljer att spendera mycket av sin tid i den virtuella världen. Detta är anledningen till att vi föreställer att det är viktigt för företagen att överväga att använda Internet som ett redskap för att nå sina kunder. Idag är många företag som har erkänt detta och använder sig av internet marknadsföring för att kommunicera med existerande och eventuella kunder. Vårt syfte är att i samband med detta examensarbete undersöka och skaffa oss mer kunskap om sociala mediers påverkan i Felix och Fazer marknadsföring i synnerhet Facebook. Metod: Uppsatsen har en kvalitativ ansats som baseras huvudsakligen på litteraturstudie och brevenkät. Genom att använda kvalitativ metod, anser vi att beskrivning och utforskning av egenskaper underlättas. Studien kompletterar befintliga kunskaper och förståelse för tillämpningen av sociala medier i ett marknadsföringsperspektiv. Datainsamlingen har skett genom kvalitativa intervjuer och observationer. För att kunna genomföra intervjuerna vi skrev ner frågorna och sände dem till de personer som ska svara. Det vill säga att vi har använt oss av en brevenkät. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studien visar att Sociala medier som Facebook och Twitter har öppnat nya dörrar för företagen och är ett följsamt sätt att nå ut med information till en stor mängd läsare. Vi har konstaterat att för våra respondenter är kommunikation via Facebook en betydande del i företaget och vi anser att anledningen till det är för att deras mål uppnås med det de vill göra på Facebook. Båda företag kan informera kunder om nya produkter och tjänster samt kampanjer via Facebook. Förslag till fortsattforskning: Eftersom marknadsföring via Facebook är ett nytt fenomen, det betyder att det fortfarande finns många aspekter kvar att utforskas närmare när det gäller strategier, riktlinjer och modeller som företag kan anpassa till sina uppsatta mål. Därför vill vi rekommendera en fortsättning i kommande studier med fokus på utveckling av strategier och riktlinjer. Uppsatsens bidrag: Social media marknadsföring står för försök att använda sociala medier för att övertyga konsumenterna om att ett företag, produkter eller tjänster är värdefulla. Problemet med sociala medier marknadsföring ur ett affärsmässigt perspektiv är att det kan vara väldigt tidskrävande. Vi anser att marknadsföring i sociala medier handlar om att positionera ditt varumärke genom tvåvägskommunikation med konsumenter och kontakter. Det är inte en plats för reklam och marknadsföring i traditionell mening, däremot kan ses som en modernare plats för relationsmarknadsföring. Många företag bör vara beredda att avsätta tid och engagera medarbetare för att fullfölja respons och kontakter. Som i all marknadsföring är rätt form av kommunikation viktig för att lyckas. / Aim: Internet use is growing rapidly and many choose to spend much of their time in the virtual world. This is why we imagine that it is important for companies to consider using the Internet as a tool to reach their customers. Today many companies have recognized this and use internet marketing to communicate with existing and potential customers. Our view is that in the context of this thesis study, and gain more knowledge about social media's impact in the Felix and Fazer marketing in particularly Facebook Method: The thesis has a qualitative approach based mainly on literature review and letter survey. By using qualitative methods, we believe that the description and exploration of characteristics is facilitated. The study complements existing knowledge and understanding of the application of social media from a marketing perspective. Data has been collected through qualitative interviews and observations. To carry out the interviews, we wrote down the questions and sent them to the people who will respond. That is to say that we have used a mail survey. Result &amp; Conclusions: The study shows that social media like Facebook and Twitter has opened new doors for businesses and is a flexible way to get information out to a wide range of readers. We have found that for our respondents are communication through Facebook a significant part of the company and we believe that the reason for that is because their goals with what they want to do on Facebook. Both companies can inform customers about new products and services, and campaigns through Facebook. Suggestions for future research : Since advertising through Facebook is a recent phenomenon, it means that there are still many aspects left to be explored in terms of policies, guidelines and models that companies can adapt to their goals. Therefore, we to recommend an extension in future studies focusing on the development of policies and guidelines. Contribution of the thesis: Social media marketing is to attempt to use social media to convince consumers that a company, product or service is valuable. The problem with social media marketing from a business perspective is that it can be very time consuming. We believe that marketing in social media is about positioning your brand through two-way communication with consumers and contacts. It is not a place for advertising and marketing in the traditional sense, however, can be seen as a more modern space for relationship marketing. Many companies should be prepared to devote time and engage employees to complete the feedback and contacts. As in all marketing is the right form of communication vital for success.

The rise of social media has brought an increasingly open and transparent environment, where everyone can share thoughts and opinions with other people. This new transparent world creates new challenges in many fields. One of these is in the field of crisis management. The question is how companies should handle a crisis in social media. The thesis starts by investigating theory regarding areas affecting crisis management in social media. From this theory; a quantitative survey, qualitative interviews and investigation of secondary data are conducted. This resulted in findings, regarding what is important for companies, concerning crisis management in social media. It is important for companies to monitor social media, to be quick in replying in social media and to reply in a human, non corporate, voice. It is as well important to have a crisis plan, a crisis response team and a main responsible for crisis management in social media. We have seen that it seems like larger companies generally are more prepared for crisis management in social media and that they consequently are better in handling a crisis in social media.

Föreliggande studie syftar till att öka förståelsen för sociala mediers (Facebook, Twitter, bloggar, forum) roll bland ungdomar i vård och behandling genom intervjuer med yrkesverksamma personer som arbetar på HVB-hem (hem för vård eller boende). Vidare är syftet att undersöka om de sociala mediernas användning inverkar på arbetssituationen och arbetsmetoder bland de yrkesverksamma. Undersökningen byggde på en kvalitativ forskningsansats med en tematisk analysmetod. Resultatet bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem informanter vars yrkesprofession är behandlingsassistent. I resultaten framkom att informanterna upplevde sociala medier som en frizon som skapar både problem men också en känsla av gemenskap. Sociala medier ses som en negativ trend som kan orsaka hälsorisker. Yrkesrollen har påverkats i och med tillgången av sociala medier, där personalen anser att ungdomarna kan bli utsatta för mobbing och få tillgång till droger. Enligt behandlingsassisterna kunde man utifrån studiens resultat även se att ungdomarna försökte höja sin självkänsla genom hur de framställer sig på de sociala medierna. Förslag på framtida forskning är en fördjupning i hur social medier används av ungdomar vid organisering och mobilisering i olika kontext exempelvis idrottssammanhang, demonstrationer m.m. Detta ur ungdomarnas synvinkel eller andra yrkesverksamma personer som kommer i kontakt med ungdomar så som lärare, fritidsledare m.m. / This study purposed to increase the understanding of social media’s (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums) role of young people in care and treatment through interviews with professionals who work at HVB-homes (homes for care or residence). An additional purpose was to investigate whether the use of social media affects the work situation and work methods among the professionals. The study was based on a qualitative research approach with a thematic analysis. The result is based on semi structured interviews with five informants whose profession is care assistants.  The results showed that the informants experienced social media as a free zone, which creates problems, but also a sense of community. Social media is seen as a negative trend that is believed to lead to health risks and access to crime, but still gives them a sense of participation. By the results of the study we can see that young people are trying to increase their self-esteem and status by how they’re presenting themselves through social media. Suggestions for future research are a continuation of how social media are used by young people in the organization and mobilization in different contexts such as sports, demonstrations, and others; this from the young people’s point of view or other professionals who are in contact with young people.