Formula 1 is one of the worlds biggest sports, and in the recent years they as a sport has had one of the biggest upswing in the world in their viewership and activity on social media. Instagram has played a big part in this recent success and is the sporting organisations fastest growing social media. Formula 1 themselves claims that their marketing and engagement strategy is focusing on the digital mediums and that engagement from their fans has been achieved. The purpose of this study is to look at what extent Formula 1’s marketing strategy can be defined as customer engagement marketing and what specific characteristics can be identified as engagement marketing. This study has looked at Instagram posts published by Formula 1 during specific time periods each year from the year 2015 to 2021. Instagram is Formula 1’s fastest growing social media forum, and was therefore chosen to be studied. The time period covers the before and after the American media company Liberty Media bought Formula 1 in 2017, giving an interesting insight on the consequences of the media company’s marketing strategy. Using content analysis the posts have been coded into variables and then categories, determining which marketing strategy that is present in each post. The content analysis was designed according to a theory defining what customer engagement is and what different marketing strategies a firm can use to achieve it, customer engagement marketing. The result shows a strong presence of customer engagement marketing, and in many variables show an increasing trend from the years after Liberty Media bought the sporting organisation. The findings from the content analysis can therefore affirm that Formula 1’s own claim about focusing on fan/customer engagement is true on the social platform of Instagram. The findings further show that creating engagement marketing with a strategy of building relationships between fans, drivers and teams of the sport has been the most important for Formula 1. Further, feeding information towards the fans and making it easier for them to keep exploring and venture deeper in to various parts of the sport have shown to be important. This study aims to be a contribution both as a methodological resource and example for research using content analysis on social media, especially on a sporting organisation. But also as a contribution to the fairly new research area of engagement marketing on digital platforms by sporting organisations. Therefore it could be of interest to researchers that wishes to study the subject, or people working with marketing. The case of Formula 1’s recent success could be looked further into by other sporting organisations, with this report as a way for deeper understanding on parts of the process.

Advertising through smart phone applications is one of the fastest growing categories in advertising nowadays. Branded game-apps on mobile phones have several very innovative and attractive aspects, they physically engage their customers into a game, creating on a first level an entertainment but mainly they are advertising their products and the brand’s name. Many studies have been written on gaming, customer engagement and marketing strategies, but only few studies has been written on the convergence of mobile phone technology, gaming and marketing. This research is investigating to which extend this innovative way of marketing can be considered as an efficient marketing strategy. In order to get an insight from both sides of the market, semi-structured interviews have been lead with phone-app experts and users. Similar answers were formulated by both the producers and the users, leading me to the conclusion that a game-app is engaging the users into an overall positive dialogue with the brand. The contribution of this exploratory study is a greater understanding of the phenomenon of branded game-apps, in relation to previous studies on marketing, game mechanisms and brand-consumer relationships.

Businesses have recognized that customers provide value to the firm beyond transactions, and leveraging this value through relationships in social media is a new area of interest for both academics and practitioners. Recent research has investigated how businesses can best manage their online presence on platforms not fully under their control, such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TripAdvisor, and Yelp, among others. This dissertation extends the literature of customer engagement in social media through four contributions. First, we propose a framework that foregrounds the textual artifacts involved in online communication. Second, we develop a novel method for discovering the elements of successful Business to Customer (B2C) messages in online communities. Third, we propose a method, validated through experimentation, for finding critical product feedback in Customer to Customer (C2C) communications. Finally, we demonstrate that a set of novel numerical features can enhance the discovery of product defect mentions in C2C communications. We conclude by proposing a research agenda suggested by the framework that will further enhance our understanding of the complex customer interactions that characterize business in the era of social media. / Ph. D.

Yes / Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of mobile interactivity dimensions (active control, personalization, ubiquitous connectivity, connectedness, responsiveness, and synchronicity) on customer engagement. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative field survey study was conducted to collect the required data from actual users of mobile shopping in three countries: Jordan, the United Kingdom (UK) and Saudi Arabia. Findings – The results are based on structural equation modelling and support the impact of five dimensions of mobile interactivity: active control, personalization, ubiquitous connectivity, responsiveness, and synchronicity. Research limitations/implications – This study only considered the shopping activities conducted by mobile channels, while other channels (e.g. online channels, traditional channels, and social media shopping channels) are not considered. Furthermore, the current model does not consider the impact of personal factors (e.g. technology readiness, self-efficacy, user experience). The results of the current study present a foundation that can guide marketers and practitioners in the area of mobile shopping. Originality/value – This study enriches the current understanding of the impact of mobile interactivity on mobile shopping, as well as how mobile interactivity can enhance the level of customer engagement.

Abstract Purpose - The purpose of this study is to extend the current understanding of NCE and its antecedents. Design/methodology/approach - A deductive approach was used to confirm the proposed model of NCE using structural equation modeling. Data was collected online using self-selection questionnaires, resulting in 252 responses used in the quantitative analysis. Seven hypotheses were tested in the analysis.  Findings - The primary findings of the study is that perceived injustice acts as an antecedent of cognitive and affective NCE, which in turn drive behavioral NCE. Accordingly, the proposed tri-dimensional framework of NCE, consisting of a cognitive, affective, and behavioral component, was supported. Negative service quality disconfirmation was not supported as an antecedent of NCE.  Originality/value - The originality of the paper lies in the testing of NCE and the proposed drivers as a unique construct, which has not previously been tested in quantitative research.

Abstract : The use of social media tools to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to support their business activities throughout the product life cycle (PLC) phases represents an interesting opportunity. SMEs operate in very competitive environments, and face significant challenges primarily caused by their size disadvantage. By nature, social media tools and platforms can enable them to overcome some of these challenges, as they are often very inexpensive, familiar and easy to use, allowing them to reach large audiences they would not be able to reach with traditional and expensive marketing initiatives. To provide solutions to this problem, this research identified three main objectives. The first objective was to draw a picture of the existing academic literature on the use of social media tools in the PLC context to better understand how these tools were studied and used in businesses, and for what purpose. Second, this research aimed at understanding how SMEs actually use social media tools to support their different business activities to identify the gap between academic research and actual business practices. Finally, based on the findings highlighted from the previous objectives, this research aimed at developing theory on this topic by proposing a conceptual framework of customer engagement enabled by social media. The conceptual framework aimed at answering general questions that emerged from the initial two objectives: Why do some SMEs use social media to support customer engagement, while others do not? Why do firms use different social media tools to support their customer engagement initiatives? Why does the scope of customer engagement initiatives (i.e., across different PLC phases) vary between SMEs? What are the potential outcomes of conducting customer engagement initiatives for the organizing firms? In order to achieve these research objectives, the methodology employed for this research is threefold. First, a systematic literature review was performed in order to properly understand how the use of social media tools in the PLC context had been studied. The final results consisted of 78 academic articles which were analyzed based on their bibliometric information and their content. Second, in order to draw the contrast between the academic publications and managerial reality of SMEs, six semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand how these firms actually use social media to support different activities in each of the PLC phases. Third, five additional semi-structured interviews were performed to gather a deeper understanding of this phenomenon and generate theory to support the proposed conceptual framework. The conceptual framework focuses on the degree of customer engagement, which is comprised of the scope (PLC phases) of customer engagement and the technology (social media tools) employed to support these initiatives. Two sets of antecedents were examined, firm motivators and firm impediments, as they could both potentially affect the scope and the social media tools used to support customer engagement initiatives. Finally, potential customer engagement outcomes for SMEs developing these initiatives were also examined. The semi-structured interviews lasted approximately 25-35 minutes, and were performed using an interview grid consisting of 24 open-ended questions. The interview grid was developed based on the findings of the systematic literature review, and this qualitative approach allowed for a rich understanding of the interviewed SMEs’ use of social media tools to support and engage customers in their different PLC activities. The main results highlighted by this project demonstrate that this field is relatively recent and sees constant increase in research interest since 2008. However, most of the academic research focuses on the use of social media tools to support innovation activities during the new product development process, while the interviewed firms almost exclusively used the tools to engage customers in the later phases of the PLC, primarily for promotion, customer service support, and business development activities. Interestingly, the interviewed firms highlighted several benefits of using social media tools to engage customers, some of which could help them overcome certain size disadvantages previously mentioned. These firms are in need of further guidelines to properly implement such initiatives and reap the expected benefits. Results suggest that SMEs are far behind both large companies and academic research in their use of social media to engage customers in different business activities. The proposed conceptual framework serves as a great tool to better understand their reality and eventually better support them in their social media and customer engagement efforts. However, this framework needs to be further developed and improved. This research project provides a 360-degree view of the phenomenon of the use of social media to support customer engagement for SMEs, by providing both a thorough systematic review of the academic research and an understanding of the managerial reality of SMEs behind this phenomenon. From this analysis, a conceptual framework is then proposed and serves as a stepping stone for future researchers who are interested in developing theory in this field. / Résumé : L’utilisation des médias sociaux en support aux activités d’affaires dans chaque phase du cycle de vie des produits et services des petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) représente une excellente opportunité pour les entreprises cherchant à se différencier du marché et se rapprocher de leur clientèle. Les PME œuvrent dans des milieux extrêmement compétitifs et doivent faire face à cette concurrence avec des ressources généralement inférieures aux grandes entreprises qui œuvrent dans la même industrie. L’idée d’identifier comment les technologies peuvent soutenir les PME et réduire l’écart qui les sépare de certains joueurs dans leurs milieux respectifs est apparue comme un sujet pertinent, ayant le potentiel d’amener une contribution académique et managériale. Les médias sociaux ont, par leur nature, le potentiel de permettre aux PME de rejoindre les masses, démontrer de la créativité et ainsi être plus compétitifs que jamais. Les médias sociaux s’avèrent d’autant plus pertinents puisqu’ils sont accessibles à relativement moindre coût, nous sommes familiers avec ces outils et ils sont généralement faciles à utiliser. Ils peuvent ainsi permettre aux entreprises d’accomplir des choses que leurs ressources ne pourraient normalement pas leur permettre. Afin de soutenir les PME dans leurs efforts pour réduire cet écart face aux grandes entreprises, ce projet de recherche identifie trois principaux objectifs. Le premier objectif était de dresser un portrait de la littérature scientifique sur l’utilisation des outils de médias sociaux dans le contexte de cycle de vie des produits afin de mieux comprendre comment ces outils ont été étudiés et utilisés en entreprises. En second lieu, cette étude avait comme but de comprendre comment les PME utilisent les médias sociaux pour supporter leurs différentes activités d’entreprises afin d’identifier l’écart entre la littérature scientifique et la réalité de monde des affaires. Finalement, cette recherche vise à développer de la théorie sur ce sujet en proposant un cadre conceptuel sur l’engagement des consommateurs soutenu par les médias sociaux. Le cadre conceptuel a comme objectif de répondre aux questions qui ont émergé en analysant les réponses aux deux premiers objectifs: pourquoi certaines PME utilisent les médias sociaux pour soutenir l’engagement des consommateurs alors que d’autres ne le font pas? Pourquoi les entreprises utilisent-elles différents outils de médias sociaux pour soutenir leurs initiatives d’engagement des consommateurs? Pourquoi est-ce que la portée (différentes phases du cycle de vie des produits) des initiatives d’engagement des consommateurs varie entre les PME? Quels sont les aboutissements potentiels pour une organisation qui met sur pied une initiative d’engagement des consommateurs? Dans le but de répondre à ces objectifs, la méthodologie employée est constituée de trois étapes distinctes. Premièrement, une revue systématique de la littérature a été exécutée afin de comprendre comment l’utilisation des médias sociaux dans le contexte de cycle de vie des produits a été étudiée. 78 articles ont répondu aux critères d’exclusion et ont été analysés afin de faire ressortir des résultats basés sur leur information bibliométrique et leur contenu. Deuxièmement, afin de délimiter l’écart entre les publications académiques et la réalité des PME, six entrevues semi-structurées ont été menées afin de comprendre comment ces entreprises utilisent les médias sociaux pour supporter différentes activités dans chaque phase du cycle de vie des produits. Troisièmement, cinq entrevues semi-structurées supplémentaires ont été menées afin d’obtenir une compréhension plus en profondeur de ce phénomène et ainsi générer de la théorie pour développer davantage le cadre conceptuel proposé. L'accent du cadre conceptuel est le degré d’engagement des consommateurs, qui comprend la portée (phases du cycle de vie des produits) de l’engagement des consommateurs et les technologies (outils de médias sociaux) utilisées pour soutenir ces initiatives. Deux antécédents ont été examinés, soient les motivateurs et les obstacles aux entreprises, puisqu’ils pourraient tous deux potentiellement affecter la portée et les outils de médias sociaux utilisés en soutient aux initiatives d’engagement des consommateurs. Finalement, les aboutissements potentiels à engager les consommateurs pour les PME qui mettent sur pied ce genre d’initiatives sont également examinés. Les entrevues semi-structurées étaient d’une durée d’environ 25 à 35 minutes. Une grille d’entrevue composée de 24 questions ouvertes a été utilisée afin d’orienter les entrevues et collecter des données. Cette grille a été développée en fonction de l’analyse et des résultats provenant de la revue systématique de la littérature. L’approche qualitative de ces entrevues a permis d’obtenir une compréhension en profondeur de l’utilisation des médias sociaux en support à l’engagement des consommateurs dans diverses activités du cycle de vie des produits des PME. Les principaux résultats de ce projet illustrent que ce domaine d’étude est relativement récent et illustrent une constante croissance dans l’intérêt de recherche pour ce sujet de recherche depuis 2008. Cependant, la plupart des recherches académiques mettent l'accent sur l’utilisation des médias sociaux en support aux activités d’innovation lors des phases du processus de développement de nouveaux produits, alors que les entreprises interviewées utilisent presque exclusivement les médias sociaux pour engager les consommateurs à des fins de promotion, service à la clientèle et développement d’affaires lors des dernières phases du cycle de vie des produits. Il est intéressant de noter que les entreprises interviewées ont identifié plusieurs bénéfices à utiliser les médias sociaux afin de surmonter certains désavantages mentionnés ci-dessus. Ces bénéfices potentiels illustrent l’importance pour ces PME de bénéficier de plus amples directives et recommandations afin d’effectivement implanter ces initiatives et de récolter ces bénéfices potentiels. Nos résultats nous ont permis de comprendre que les PME sont en retard sur les grandes entreprises et le milieu académique dans leur utilisation des médias sociaux pour engager les consommateurs dans diverses activités d’entreprises. Le cadre conceptuel proposé est un excellent outil permettant de mieux comprendre la réalité des PME et éventuellement de mieux les supporter dans leur implantation de divers médias sociaux et leurs efforts pour engager des consommateurs. Cependant, ce cadre conceptuel nécessite davantage de recherches afin de le développer davantage et l’améliorer. Cette recherche se différencie des autres recherches dans ce domaine en fournissant une vue globale de ce phénomène, soit une rigoureuse revue systématique de la littérature académique, ainsi qu’une analyse de la réalité pratique des PME. De cette analyse, un cadre conceptuel est proposé et sert de fondement pour les futurs chercheurs qui souhaitent développer de la théorie reliée à ce domaine d’étude.

The postmodern ultra-competitive global marketplace makes it difficult for companies to hold on to customers. This is especially true for industries that are driven by commodity products, and the South African fertilizer industry is not excluded from this statement. It is therefore important that companies not only operate to create loyal customers, but also increase and maintain a high level of engagement with their customers. This study measures customer engagement for a South African fertilizer company. In doing so, the study makes use, firstly, of a proposed customer engagement model, secondly, a customer engagement questionnaire and, thirdly, factor analysis as a statistical tool to identify the underlying construct embedded within the data. The results show that only five factors Trust, Involvement, Integrity, Repurchase and Loyalty are antecedents for customer engagement. These factors explain 76% of the variance. Furthermore, it is important to note that all the antecedents were regarded as important by the respondents, and all but one exceed the required 75% level of excellence. The data were tested for reliability and showed excellent reliability in excess of 0.90, as measured by Cronbach alpha. The main finding of the study is that a new model for customer engagement in the fertilizer industry is proposed. This model can be used by future researchers in the fertilizer industry, as well as other agriculture related industries. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The postmodern ultra-competitive global marketplace makes it difficult for companies to hold on to customers. This is especially true for industries that are driven by commodity products, and the South African fertilizer industry is not excluded from this statement. It is therefore important that companies not only operate to create loyal customers, but also increase and maintain a high level of engagement with their customers. This study measures customer engagement for a South African fertilizer company. In doing so, the study makes use, firstly, of a proposed customer engagement model, secondly, a customer engagement questionnaire and, thirdly, factor analysis as a statistical tool to identify the underlying construct embedded within the data. The results show that only five factors Trust, Involvement, Integrity, Repurchase and Loyalty are antecedents for customer engagement. These factors explain 76% of the variance. Furthermore, it is important to note that all the antecedents were regarded as important by the respondents, and all but one exceed the required 75% level of excellence. The data were tested for reliability and showed excellent reliability in excess of 0.90, as measured by Cronbach alpha. The main finding of the study is that a new model for customer engagement in the fertilizer industry is proposed. This model can be used by future researchers in the fertilizer industry, as well as other agriculture related industries. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The age of traditional marketing is beginning to end and the digital revolution will continueits journey. Today, most companies meet their business customers for the first time in a digitalenvironment and decision-makers stay longer more frequently in the digital world beforeinitiating contact with a company. Many argue that companies need to connect, collaborateand co-create with others to be able to succeed. Content marketing and value co-creation arejust some of the methodologies companies could adopt in order to succeed. Previous researchhas investigated value co-creation and partly content marketing, but these combined areashave not been previously researched together. Especially not from a business to businessperspective which this thesis has conducted. This study was initiated based on previousresearch, where a gap was found regarding these subjects. Therefore, the aim of this researchwas to study how value co-creation can be achieved through content marketing, from anenterprise perspective.This research was constructed by performing a multiple-case study on two Swedishcompanies, with two employees on each company. The data collection resulted in valuableinsights regarding the process of value co-creation and content marketing. The theoretical andempirical findings include similar views of the research areas, which are further presented inthe discussion chapter where the DARTT model has been used as a tool. Additionally, thisstudy proves it is possible to co-create value with a business's customers through contentmarketing and it also presents a general suggestion of how it can be achieved. Lastly, we hopeour thesis has the potential of acting as a base for further research, such as exploring the mosteffective digital platforms within content marketing from a business to business perspective,since it was not the purpose of this study to present that kind of insight. / Den digitala revolutionen kommer att fortsätta påverka dagens marknadsföring och dentraditionell marknadsföringen börjar att hamna i skymundan för de nya trenderna. Mångaföretag möter idag sina företagskunder för första gången i en digital miljö och flerbeslutsfattare än någonsin stannar kvar i den digitala världen innan de initierar kontakt medett företag. Många argumenterar även för att företag ska sammarbeta och samskapa med andraparter för att kunna nå framgång. Innehållsmarknadsföring och samskapande av värde ärnågra metodiker som företag kan anta för att kunna lyckas fortsätta attrahera kunder i endigital miljö. Tidigare forskning har undersökt samskapande av värde och även till viss delinnehållsmarknadsföring, men dessa områden har inte tidigare blivit undersökta tillsammans.Speciellt inte från ett business to business perspektiv som denna uppsats innehar. Dennastudie initierades på grund av tidigare forskningen, där ett gap hittades mellan dessa områden.Syftet med denna forskning är att studera hur samskapande av värde tillsammans med kundenkan bli utfört genom innehållsmarknadsföring, från ett företagsperspektiv.Denna studien är utförd med hjälp av en multipel fallstudie på två svenska företag, där tvåanställda har intervjuats på varje företag. Datainsamlingen resulterade i relevant insikt inomföretagens processer angående samskapande av värde och framtida kampanjer inominnehållsmarknadsföring. Både tidigare forskning och empirin inkluderar liknande perspektivinom forskningsområdena, vilket är presenterat i diskussionskapitlet där DARTT modellenhar används som ett verktyg. Denna studien bevisar att det är möjligt för ett företag attsamskapa värde med kunder genom innehållsmarknadsföring och den presenterar även ettgenerellt förslag på hur detta kan bli utfört. Slutligen hoppas vi att vår avhandling harmöjlighet att stå till grund för vidare forskning, exempelvis gällande vilka digitala plattformarsom är de mest effektiva i innehållsmarknadsföring från ett business to business perspektiv,eftersom detta inte var syftet med vår studie.

Given the tremendous impact of online reviews on consumer choice, responding to online word of mouth (WOM) has become an important channel for firms to engage the consumers. This thesis investigates how firms can proactively respond to online product reviews to engage customers and manage customer relationships. In Study One, based upon the data of hotel reviews on Tripadvisor.com, I propose that responding by firms differ in three aspects, namely frequency, speed, and the amount of information, and these metrics exert significant influence on subsequent consumes’ WOM engagement, hotel rankings, and votes of usefulness of the reviews. Moreover, in contrast to responding to positive reviews, responding to negative reviews greatly affects consumption decisions given the negativity bias among consumers. Thus, the subsequent two studies examine whether responding help to alleviate the detrimental impact of negative reviews. Drawing from the literature on crisis management, service failure recovery, Study Two posits that sellers’ responses to negative WOM can be categorized as defensive and accommodative. Further, whether accommodative or defensive responding is more effective depends upon the nature of NWOM, namely regular NWOM or product failure. Based on the results of a between-subject experiment, Study Two provides evidence for the asymmetric impact of accommodative versus defensive responding. When confronting regular NWOM, defensive response outperforms accommodative response or no response, whereas accommodative response is superior to defensive response or no response when coping with a service failure. Further, based on the attribution of negative reviews, a moderated mediation effect is found. To enhance the external validity and robustness of these findings, Study Three provides econometric evidence that the relative effectiveness of accommodative vs defensive response on subsequent consumers’ evaluation of their consumption experience. Upon analyzing the hotels’ responses on Tripadvisor.com, responding can be a double-edged sword in that it works only when seller takes the appropriate responding strategies. In particular, the higher proportion of accommodative responses (defensive responses) for product failure reviews (regular negative reviews), the higher the subsequent consumers’ satisfaction. However, responding can backfire when the proportion of defensive responses (accommodative responses) for product failure (regular negative reviews) is high. To recapitulate, this thesis identifies whether and how online responding influences consumer experiences on social media. These research findings can help firms formulate effective responding strategies to take advantage of social media’s unique ability to engage customers and improve consumer satisfaction and loyalty.