Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

AbstractThe digital Media landscape of today has brought new marketing possibilities. For the creation of radical advertising, a fashion company may take advantage of those new tools. The nature of the fashion industry is volatile and a fashion brand’s to be or not be depends on having a feel for the right trends as well as the marketing of the brand through the right channels. Fashion marketing of today is about spreading the word of brand through popular Social Media channels such as networks like fashion blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The most frequent way of marketing a brand by using Social Media is through viral marketing.The purpose of the study is to analyse the viral marketing and its effects - like frequency in Swedish fashion blogs for example – related to the Swedish fashion brand Burfitt. The survey is made by mapping and describing the virtual network of Burfitt. Besides the empirical material collected, the thesis consists of relevant theories on Social Media and viral marketing.Observations made and collected from the Internet is often thick and unstructured material. The main challenge is therefore to bring order into the material. There are no yet any specific methods developed for how to conduct an online survey, although the term virtual ethnography defines the work consisting of scanning the Internet and tracking links for the collecting of material. In addition I have made a semi-structured interview with Kajsa Leanderson, representative for Burfitt.The results from the survey show that a small sized fashion brand, like Burfitt, is likely to gain advantages by creating viral marketing campaigns. For example virtual footprints made by mutual linking between different websites in a creative network of fashion business partners are significant for the nature of viral marketing. Moreover, almost all publicity (online) concerning fashion seems to be written with uncritical intentions. In addition most of the publicity, particularly what is published online, tends to be highly visual. The lack of critique together with the visual nature of online messages makes a great basis for viral marketing communications. There are also some restrictions with the nature of viral communications. The unpredictable nature of the Medias, as well as that of the fashion world, is not to rely on. In addition, due to the enormous information-flow on the Internet as well as the uncontrollable nature of viral communications it is probably for the brands best to limit the marketing efforts to channels and campaigns that are manageable. Another dilemma with the viral marketing is that the effects are hard to measure. Thus it could not be stated if the campaigns were really worth the efforts made. For summarizing, viral marketing is a smart, low-budget opportunity for a fashion brand to be seen and published online, but its character makes it difficult to control and the effects are hard to measure. / Program: Magisterutbildning i fashion management med inriktning modemarknadsföring

Det här examensarbetet utfördes från februari till mitten av april, våren 2010 på företaget Junebud. Jag arbetade efter hypotesen att en stark närvaro på sociala medier har en positiv effekt på aktiviteten på spelets hemsida samt för att få nya spelare att hitta till spelet. Spelet som marknadsfördes heter MilMo och är ett socialt massivt multiplayer spel för barn och ungdomar, som är gratis att spela. Om spelaren vill få tillgång till extra material kan han/hon betala en mindre summa pengar men något köptvång föreligger ej för att endast spela. För att genomföra marknadsföringen på de sociala medierna valdes fyra stycken nätverk på Internet ut; Facebook, Deviantart, MySpace och Youtube. Det som skapades var en fangrupp, en sida för konst, en profilsida och en kort film som visar spelet. Till detta kom även tre stycken nyhetsbrev, att strukturera upp och underhålla ett forum för spelare samt att emaila traditionella medier som nyhetssidor om spel och se vilken effekt det fick. Resultatet visar att många företag idag har en profil på sociala medier, men att de ofta bäst utgör ett komplement till produktens egen hemsida. Det som drev upp spelaraktiviteten mest var omnämnande på externa sidor om spel, samt det första nyhetsbrevet ut till spelarna

<p>Det här examensarbetet utfördes från februari till mitten av april, våren 2010 på företaget Junebud. Jag arbetade efter hypotesen att en stark närvaro på sociala medier har en positiv effekt på aktiviteten på spelets hemsida samt för att få nya spelare att hitta till spelet. Spelet som marknadsfördes heter MilMo och är ett socialt massivt multiplayer spel för barn och ungdomar, som är gratis att spela. Om spelaren vill få tillgång till extra material kan han/hon betala en mindre summa pengar men något köptvång föreligger ej för att endast spela. För att genomföra marknadsföringen på de sociala medierna valdes fyra stycken nätverk på Internet ut; Facebook, Deviantart, MySpace och Youtube. Det som skapades var en fangrupp, en sida för konst, en profilsida och en kort film som visar spelet. Till detta kom även tre stycken nyhetsbrev, att strukturera upp och underhålla ett forum för spelare samt att emaila traditionella medier som nyhetssidor om spel och se vilken effekt det fick. Resultatet visar att många företag idag har en profil på sociala medier, men att de ofta bäst utgör ett komplement till produktens egen hemsida. Det som drev upp spelaraktiviteten mest var omnämnande på externa sidor om spel, samt det första nyhetsbrevet ut till spelarna</p>

The “connection generation” craves interaction with and connection to vast social networks through the sharing of information, photos, opinions, entertainment and news. This sharing comes in the form of electronic word-of-mouth or eWOM, and provides marketing and communication managers with an unparalleled opportunity to reach a large number of consumers quickly. With the ever increasing growth of the internet and the rise of social media and social network sites, viral marketing has cemented itself in the marketing and corporate agenda. However, while there has been a shift in marketing budgets towards online and social media, little is known about how to successfully leverage viral marketing. Consequently, understanding why some videos go viral and others do not is becoming an increasingly popular focus of academic research. This study aimed to answer the following research question: What are the factors that drive the virality of online content?   In an attempt to answer this exploratory research question, four papers were used to look at its constituent parts. In the first paper, the role of emotion in the sharing of online content was investigated. Rime’s social sharing of emotion theory was used to explain why emotion could drive the spread of content online. We suggested that people’s propensity to share viral content was a function of the intensity, sociality and complexity of the emotion elicited by the viral content.   The following two papers further investigated the role of emotion in viral marketing by looking at the relationship between content and emotion. Paper 2 used interviews in a qualitative research design to propose a decision-tree of the interplay between content and emotion in viral marketing. This paper showed that the relevance of the content has an influence on viewers’ emotional response. Paper 3 took a closer look at the relationship between content and emotion by using a two-stage design: First, content analysis was done on the comments of selected YouTube videos. Second, an experiment was used to test the emotions that these videos elicited in respondents, the valence of those emotions, the intensity with which they were felt, as well as various content-related factors (e.g. the creativity and humor used in the videos). This paper looked specifically at the use of political communication in viral marketing and showed that creativity, valence and the intensity of the emotions elicited by the content are key drivers of viral success.   The final and fourth paper culminates in a model for the sharing of content online. This paper built on the findings from the previous papers, but also made use of interviews, and the analysis of a longitudinal dataset to propose a comprehensive model for the spread of content online. The longitudinal dataset was compiled using the top 10 posts from Reddit.com, a viral aggregator website, over the period of 25 days. The comprehensive model shows that there are external, intrapersonal and interpersonal drivers of viral content. The external drivers of viral content are the viral videos themselves (content) and its popularity. The content construct refers to various aspects related to the content itself, for example how informative, creative, humorous etc. the content is. Its popularity, on the other hand, was driven by both WOM and mainstream media reports. The intrapersonal drivers of viral content refer to the emotions that the content elicited in viewers. Viewers’ emotional response to the content was influenced by its relevance, but also by the valence and intensity of the emotion that they felt. Even though some content elicited intense emotions in viewers, some viewers did not share the content and interpersonal drivers of viral content was introduced to the model. These drivers recognise the social aspect of social media, and that content gets shared with large social networks. The model contends that people share viral content with their social networks as a form of online gift giving, out of altruism, or simply to build their own reputation. Finally, we contend that, in this content à emotion à social sharing chain, people share viral content both online and offline, as many respondents simply told their friends about the content (thus prompting them to go and watch the content themselves) or showed them the content themselves. This online and offline sharing of content increased the popularity of the content and a self-reinforcing chain was created, increasing the exponential growth typically associated with viral content.   As consumers are exposed to an increasing amount of marketing messages, and marketing budgets shrink, marketing managers could greatly benefit from better understanding how to more effectively make social media part of their marketing strategy. Viral marketing allows for a low-cost way of communicating marketing messages with great potential for impacting the market. This study ultimately shows what marketing managers can do to increase their chances of viral success, and ends off with a list of managerial recommendations to leverage the external, intrapersonal and interpersonal factors present in viral campaigns. / <p>QC 20140911</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on September 15, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Mass marketing techniques have dominated the marketing strategies implemented by companies worldwide. Media such as radio, television, newspapers, direct mail etc. were the ones carrying out the message to the large audience. The rapid growth of digital media opened new marketing possibilities for businesses, now the masses can be reached faster and more efficiently. The digital media capabilities can help businesses to spread viral messages to the mass market; like viruses. It is very powerful technique to be used to increase brand awareness of the organization.</p><p><strong>Problem:</strong> As Berthon, Ewing and Napoli (2008) stated in their work that the band awareness literature has focused almost only on large multinational brands, where SMEs were not taken into consideration. Therefore, it is interesting in current study to address the lack of research focused on the use of viral marketing by SMEs to increase their brand awareness. Thus this thesis aims to fulfill this gap in the academic research.</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how Small and Medium-size Enterprises use Viral Marketing and what impact it has on their brand awareness, moreover, thesis also aims to identify how SMEs create successful Viral Marketing campaign.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> The empirical data was collected through three interviewa with the CEOs and owners of organizations located in USA, Belgium and Sweden. There were two phone interviews with representatives of USA and Belgium companies and one face-to-face interview with the respondent from Swedish company.</p><p><strong>Frame of Reference:</strong> Frame of references used in this thesis consists of theories regarding Viral Marketing, Branding and Brand Awareness. The authors have summarized the frame of reference by developing a model that integrates viral marketing and brand awareness. The model will help us out when formulating questions and when analyzing the empirical findings.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The authors have come to the conclusion that viral marketing does have an effect on brand awareness, but to different extend for different SMEs. In some SMEs the increased brand awareness is more clear and can be seen immediately, such as increased sales, increased frequency on the webpage and billions of viewers on their video campaign on Youtube, while others only got more friends on Facebook and small increase in sales then before the viral marketing campaign. This study points out that SMEs need to implement as many strategies as possible (slogan, jingle, symbols, slogan), but that is not enough. They also need to be unique, creative and clever when implementing a viral marketing campaign.</p>

Introduction: Mass marketing techniques have dominated the marketing strategies implemented by companies worldwide. Media such as radio, television, newspapers, direct mail etc. were the ones carrying out the message to the large audience. The rapid growth of digital media opened new marketing possibilities for businesses, now the masses can be reached faster and more efficiently. The digital media capabilities can help businesses to spread viral messages to the mass market; like viruses. It is very powerful technique to be used to increase brand awareness of the organization. Problem: As Berthon, Ewing and Napoli (2008) stated in their work that the band awareness literature has focused almost only on large multinational brands, where SMEs were not taken into consideration. Therefore, it is interesting in current study to address the lack of research focused on the use of viral marketing by SMEs to increase their brand awareness. Thus this thesis aims to fulfill this gap in the academic research. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how Small and Medium-size Enterprises use Viral Marketing and what impact it has on their brand awareness, moreover, thesis also aims to identify how SMEs create successful Viral Marketing campaign. Method: The empirical data was collected through three interviewa with the CEOs and owners of organizations located in USA, Belgium and Sweden. There were two phone interviews with representatives of USA and Belgium companies and one face-to-face interview with the respondent from Swedish company. Frame of Reference: Frame of references used in this thesis consists of theories regarding Viral Marketing, Branding and Brand Awareness. The authors have summarized the frame of reference by developing a model that integrates viral marketing and brand awareness. The model will help us out when formulating questions and when analyzing the empirical findings. Conclusion: The authors have come to the conclusion that viral marketing does have an effect on brand awareness, but to different extend for different SMEs. In some SMEs the increased brand awareness is more clear and can be seen immediately, such as increased sales, increased frequency on the webpage and billions of viewers on their video campaign on Youtube, while others only got more friends on Facebook and small increase in sales then before the viral marketing campaign. This study points out that SMEs need to implement as many strategies as possible (slogan, jingle, symbols, slogan), but that is not enough. They also need to be unique, creative and clever when implementing a viral marketing campaign.

The new social media sites - blogs, micro-blogs, and social networking sites, among others - are gaining considerable momentum to facilitate collaboration and social interactions in general. These sites provide a tremendous asset for understanding social phenomena by providing a wide availability of novel data sources. Recent estimates suggest that social media sites are responsible for as much as one third of new Web content, in the forms of social networks, comments, trackbacks, advertisements, tags, etc. One critical and immediate challenge facing the MIS researchers then becomes - how to effectively utilize this huge wealth of social media data, to facilitate business knowledge discovery and decision making.Among these available data sources, social networks constitute the backbone of almost all social media sites. These network structures provide a rich description of the social scenes and contexts, which is helpful for us to address the above challenge. In this dissertation, I have primarily employed the probabilistic network models, to study various social network related problems arose from the use of social media services. In Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, I studied how information overload can affect the efficiency of information diffusion in online social networks (Delicious.com and Digg.com). Novel diffusion model were proposed to model the observed information overload. The models and their extensions are thoroughly evaluated by solving the Influence Maximization problem related to information diffusion and viral marketing applications. In Chapter 4, I studied the information overload in a micro-blogging application (Twitter.com) using a design science methodology. A content recommendation framework was proposed to help micro-blogging users to efficiently identify quality emergency news feeds. Chapter 5 presents a novel burst detection algorithm concerning identifying and analyzing correlated burst patterns by considering multiple inputs (data streams) that co-evolve over time. The algorithm was later used for discovering burst keywords/tag pairs from online social communities, which are strong indicators of emerging or changing user interests.Chapter 6 concludes this dissertation by highlighting major research contributions and future directions.

Le marketing viral sur les réseaux sociaux en ligne représente un enjeu de taille pour les entreprises. Aussi est-il nécessaire de comprendre ce qui anime l’activité virale des utilisateurs. En s’appuyant sur des données quantitatives extraites sur Facebook grâce à une application spécifique, nous modélisons les différentes actions virales de l’utilisateur (partages sur son mur, partages sur les murs de ses amis, commentaires, J’aime sur les posts, J’aime sur les commentaires). Nos analyses mettent en lumière trois familles de variables explicatives de son activité : l’activité de ses amis envers lui (effets de réciprocité), leur position dans la structure de son réseau d’amitié (effets structuraux) et le renseignement de ses informations « profil » (motivation à se dévoiler). Une approche qualitative complémentaire nous amène à identifier quatre postures des utilisateurs sur Facebook (engagement exposé, engagement protégé, évitement exposé, évitement protégé). Celles-ci s’inscrivent au croisement de deux axes. L’un concerne la façon dont l’utilisateur règle la zone de confidentialité dans laquelle il est amené à s’exprimer (verrouillage vs ouverture). L’autre concerne la façon dont sa « face » et celles de ses amis sont engagées par son activité en ligne (engagement vs évitement). Nous croyons que les entreprises peuvent tirer profit de l’identification des postures de leurs consommateurs sur Facebook. Nous présentons nos contributions de recherche et leurs implications managériales. / On social networks, viral marketing represents a key issue for companies. By logical extent, it appears necessary to understand what drives a user's viral activity. Quantitative data crawled from Facebook with an application allowed us to define various viral actions (sharing in one's news feed, on friends' walls, commenting, liking posts or comments). Our analysis highlighted three groups of action-explaining factors: [1] friend interaction (reciprocating effect), [2] the structural position in a user's friendship network (structural effect) and [3] the level of profile information detail (indicating willingness to show one's actual identity). In a complementary qualitative study, we identified four user positions - exposed involvement, protected involvement, exposed avoidance and protected avoidance. These positions underscore two major behavioral criteria. The first criterion addresses users' onlin visibility adjusments (displaying or protective). The second criterion defines the user's friend's level of engagement as a subsequent result of his activity (involvement or avoidance). We believe companies could benefit from identifying their consumers' behavioral stances on Facebook. Here we will demonstrate our contributions to research and their managerial implications.