Branding is an influential aspect a company can have to gain the attention of their customers. It is often said that, “Your brand is your promise to your customer”, because the brand is a confirmation that the product or service you are selling matches the expectations of the customer and their wants or needs (Grosdidier, 2012). From a consumer perspective, branding helps direct customers in choosing what they want to buy (Tarnovskaya and Bertilsson, 2017). This way, they spend less time focusing on the type of product and its qualities, because they can instead look at the products they are already familiar with instantly and purchase with little processing time (ibid). Not all companies are successful with branding and even successful companies run into issues. Customers usually determine if they like or dislike a brand, which means a brands main purpose should be to make their customers happy. It is important for businesses to give their customers a promising message and stay consistent to their brand.  Facebook and Instagram are both influential brand names to the face of consumers in the area of social networking. Both companies have over a billion site visits per day and their consumer usage has rapidly grown since Facebook’s first opening in 2004 and the grand opening of Instagram in 2010. In 2012, Kevin Systrom sold Instagram to Facebook for $1 billion dollars. Since the sales, both companies now average around the same market share and took place for the largest social media sites with the highest number of users, now above competitors Snapchat and Twitter (Barr, 2018). The purpose of this research is to identify and describe key factors that has made Facebook and Instagram successful in the perspective of university students. In addition, the findings will aim to discover key factors of success in branding that continually influence them to use social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram daily.  Conclusions of the study were that Facebook and Instagram both have success factors that are the same and some factors that are different. Facebook and Instagram’s success factors based on the research include an easy to use platform and the ability to connect with friends and family. Instagram had a few other strong success factors including its visual display of pictures instead of word content and their smoothly designed mobile app. Facebook lacked in both of these areas that Instagram excelled in. This made Facebook the weaker social media site when compared with Instagram.

Title: Better products,   better world, better image: A study on the   interaction of corporate social responsibility, new product development and   brand image in the B2B sector Authors: Soraya Lima Silva & Noora Irina Miettinen Course: Marketing master programme final thesis, 30 ECTS, spring semester 2012,LinnaeusUniversity Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, sustainability, new product development, innovation, B2B brand image, B2B brand perception Purpose: Investigating how customer’s perception of brand image is affected by corporate social responsibility (CSR) and new product development (NPD) in the business-to-business (B2B) sector in the telecommunication and chemical industries. Method: Mixed methods research, cross-sectional research design Interviews with 4 supplier companies Qualitative content analysis on documents of 40 supplier companies Questionnaire to customer companies with 99 responses Findings: CSR and NPD were usually seen as separate and detached activities. Companies integrated CSR into their NPD process mainly for creating sustainable products helping their customers to minimize their impact on the environment without including the societal aspect of CSR. NPD affected the brand image perception in the telecommunication industry to a high degree by improving the perception of the quality of products, and   in the chemical industry to a low degree by motivating the companies to recommend their suppliers. The interaction of CSR and NPD had an effect on the brand image by creating reputation and competitive advantage. Companies that were seen as environmentally responsible were often also seen as technologically advanced. Being perceived as sustainable was very important to the chemical   companies, whereas being perceived as innovative was vital in the telecommunication industry. CSR affected the brand image perception in the chemical industry by enhancing customer satisfaction and reputation, but in the telecommunication industry the CSR of suppliers was important only when the demand for sustainability came from the customers’ own customers / Otsikko: Parempia tuotteita, parempi maailma, parempi imago: Tutkimus yritysten   yhteiskuntavastuun, tuotekehityksen ja brandi-imagon vuorovaikutuksesta   B2B-sektorilla Tekijät: Soraya Lima Silva & Noora Irina Miettinen Ohjaaja: Sarah Philipson Tarkastaja: Sarah Philipson Kurssi: Markkinoinnin maisteriohjelman päätöstyö, 30 opintopistettä, kevätlulukausi 2012, Linnaeus University Hakusanat: Yrityksen yhteiskuntavastuu, kestävä kehitys, tuotekehitys, innovaatio, B2B brandi-imago, B2B brandivaikutelma Tarkoitus: Tutkia miten yritysten yhteiskuntavastuu ja tuotekehitys vaikuttaa asiakkaiden kokemaan brandi-imagoon B2B-sektorilla telekommunikaatio- ja kemianteollisuudessa Metodi: Poikkileikkaava mixed methods -tutkimus 4 toimittajayrityksen haastattelua Laadullinen sisältöanalyysi 40 toimittajayrityksen dokumenteista Kysely asiakasyrityksille, jossa 99 vastausta Löydökset: Yritykset näkivät yhteiskuntavastuun ja tuotekehityksen erillisinä aktiviteetteina. Yritykset integroivat yhteiskuntavastuun osaksi tuotekehitysprosessia lähinnä luodakseen kestävää kehitystä tukevia tuotteita auttaakseen asiakkaita   minimoimaan ympäristöön kohdistuvaa vaikutusta, mutta eivät ottaneet   yhteiskunnallista aspektia huomioon. Tuotekehitys vaikutti suuressa määrin imagokäsitykseen telekommunikaatioalalla parantamalla käsitystä tuotteiden laadusta. Kemianteollisuudessa tuotekehitys vaikutti   vähäisessä määrin motivoimalla yrityksiä suosittelemaan toimittajia. Tuotekehityksen ja yhteiskuntavastuun suhde vaikutti imagoon lisäämällä mainetta ja  kilpailuetua. Yritykset, jotka nähtiin ympäristöystävällisinä, koettiin usein myös teknisesti kehittyneiksi. Kestävän kehityksen imagolla oli keskeinen merkitys kemianteollisuuden   yrityksissä, kun taas miellettävyys innovatiiviseksi oli oleellista   telekommunikaatioalalla. Yhteiskuntavastuu vaikutti imagokäsitykseen kemianteollisuudessa lisäämällä asiakastyytyväisyyttä ja parantamalla mainetta. Telekommunikaatioalan toimittajien yhteiskuntavastuu oli tärkeää vain, jos asiakkaat olivat kiinnostuneita siitä omien asiakkaidensa vaatimuksien motivoimana. / Titulo: Melhores produtos, melhor mundo, mellhor imagem: Um estudo sobre a interaçäo da responsabilidade social coperativa, desenvolvimento de novos produtos  e imagem de marca no setor de de negócios. Autores: Soraya Lima Silva & Noora Irina Miettinen Tutor: Sarah Philipson Examinador: Sarah Philipson Curso: Dissertaçäo final do programa de master em Marketing, 30 ECTS, semester da   primavera de 2012, Linnaeus University Palavras-chave: Responsabilidade social coperativa, desenvolvimento de novos produtos, innovaçäo, imagem de marca no setor de de negócios.  Objetivo: Investigar como a percepçäo de clients sobre a imagem de marca é afetada pela responsabilidade social coperativa (CSR) e o desenvolvimento de novos produtos (NPD), no setor de negócios (B2B). Métodos: Métodos de pesquisa misturados, design de pesquisa com setores interligados Entrevistas com 4 empresas fornecedoras Análise qualitative de documentos de 40 empresas fornecedoras Questionário com 99 clientes de empresas fornecedoras Resultados: CSR e NPD vistos como atividades separadas. Empresas integram CSR nos processos de NPD, especialmente para a criaçäo de produtos   sustentáveis, ajudando assim os clients a minimizarem seus impactos no meio   ambiente sem incluir aspectos sociais de CSR. NPD afeta muito a percepçäo da imagem de marca na indústria de telecomunicaçöes quando melhora a percepçào dequalidade. Na indústria química NPD afeta muito pouco a percepçäo de marca, ajudando somente recomendaçöes. A interaçäo de CSR e NPD afeta a percepçäo de marca criando efeitos   de reputaçäo e vantagem competitiva. Empresas vistas como responsáveis pelo meio ambiente, também säo vistas como tecnologicamente avançadas. Ser visto como sustentável é muito importante   entre empresas químicas, enquanto ser visto como inovador é vital na   indústria de telecomunicaçöes. CSR afeta a percepçäo da imagem de marca na indústria química, reinforçando satisfaçäo do consumidor e reputaçäo, mas em telecominicaçöes, CSR praticados por fornecedores somente é importante quando a demanda de sustenabilidade veem dos consumidores dos clientes.

近年來，全球女性保養品市場呈現穩定成長，雖然保養品以往都被視為屬於「女性領地」的產品，但全球男性保養市場不僅從2012年起就持續成長，未來前景也是相當看好。 有別於以往以性別（sex）做為市場區隔，消費者的性別認同及性傾向，已逐漸被用於區隔目標消費者，且同性戀消費者更因為其相較於一般異性戀男性的消費能力較強，而被視為「夢幻市場 （Dream Market）」。然而，現今台灣在該領域相關的研究文獻，卻往往只探討生理性別，忽略生理性別和性別認同之間的落差，如此將導致與性別相關的行銷研究有扭曲或偏頗的現象。 因此本研究希望能將性別認同與性傾向等因素，納入研究消費者購買保養品行為之考量因素，彌補理論和實際狀況的落差，期能研究出不同性別認同、性傾向的消費者，對不同定位保養品購買意願的差異，並根據該研究結果，給予保養品廠商一些行銷上的建議，讓其在釐清品牌定位時更有方向，並以更有效率、更適切的方式與顧客溝通。 本研究將影響保養品的購買意願從「性別認同」、「性傾向」、「獨特性需求」、「從眾行為」、「產品涉入」、「在意社會觀感程度」、「品牌知覺」、「品牌性別」、「品牌態度」等九大方面著手。 本研究以問卷方式獲取初級資料，收獲有效問卷共 375份，經過統計迴歸分析後發現，「性別認同」、「在意社會觀感程度」、「品牌知覺」和「品牌態度」此四項，最顯著影響消費者購買保養品意願。另外，雖然「性傾向」並沒有對購買意願產生影響，但卻有可能透過「在意社會觀感程度」干擾購買意願。而還有其他顯著影響因素待於研究中一一闡述。 / Recently, the global market of female skin care products has grown a steady pace. Although, the skin care products are usually regarded as female products, the global market of male skin care products has grown fastly since 2012 and market analysts are optimistic about its future. In the past, we usually only use “sex” to segment a market, but gender identity and sexual orientation are gradually used to target customers now. Moreover, gay customers are regarded as a “Dream Market” because they have greater purchasing power than heterosexual men do. However, existing studies still tend to probe into sex and neglect the differences between sex and gender identity. Therefore, this research takes gender Identity and sexual orientation into consideration when conducting the behavior of purchasing skin care products, and the dependent variable” purchase intention” is leveraged by “Gender Identity”, “Sexual Orientation“, “Product Involvement”, “Need for Uniqueness”, “Conformity Behavior”, “the Degree of Concerning with Social Perception”, “Brand Attitude”, “Brand Gender”, “Brand Perception”. Among influential factors, “Gender Identity”, “the Degree of Concerning with Social Perception”, “Brand Attitude”, and “Brand Perception” contribute significantly to purchase intention. Although sexual orientation does not lead to purchase intention, it may affect purchase intention through influencing the factor of “the degree of concerning with social perception”. Other factors affecting the behavior of purchasing skin care products will be further discussed in this research.