Abstract Social media is a marketing phenomenon that is growing very fast. Social media helps creating value for customers in broadcasting the advertising among social networks. Blog posts, videos, pictures, reviews and ratings all have a significant impact on marketing. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how companies can achieve customer loyalty and customer relationship management using social media marketing and if companies can target new customers by social media. An inductive research approach was used in the study. Semi-structured interviews were performed with interviewees from two companies. A survey questionnaire was answered by 100 social media users which were also customers of the companies. The findings show that there are certain constraints in social media such as risk of user information security when their information can be shared with the companies so that companies can do better marketing research. Word of mouth is spread on social media where new customers are targeted. Social media is providing new channels for support, advertisement and acting as a news feed tool to keep customers up to date about recent events and news. The company stated that no extra resources were required to market on social media.

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Detaljhandeln har förändrats i och med digitaliseringens framfart. Teknikens utveckling tillsammans med en större andel uppkopplade konsumenter innebär nya försäljnings- och marknadsföringskanaler för detaljhandlare. Detta har medfört att detaljhandelsföretag ställs inför krav av att integrera de olika kanalerna med varandra vilket inom forskningen benämns som en omnikanalstrategi. Syftet med studien har varit att, ur ett företagsperspektiv, undersöka hur svenska detaljhandelskedjor arbetar med att integrera digitala och fysiska försäljnings- och marknadsföringskanaler. Detta för att erhålla en bättre förståelse för fenomenet omnikanal och hur företag går tillväga för att integrera kanalerna med varandra. Studien ämnar bidra med kunskap kring hur företag kan skapa en enhetlig upplevelse mellan sina olika kanaler. I studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod tillämpats där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med detaljhandelsföretag som arbetar med omnikanaler. De företag som medverkade i studien var Cervera, Elgiganten, Gina Tricot, Kappahl, Kicks, Lyko, Netonnet och Royal Design. Resultatet av studien påvisar flera aspekter gällande hur detaljhandelsföretag kan integrera de digitala och fysiska försäljnings- och marknadsföringskanaler med varandra samt dess utmaningar och möjligheter. En modell har även tagits fram, vilken består av fyra gemensamma grundläggande steg gällande att skapa en enhetlig upplevelse mellan kanalerna. De fyra stegen som identifierats är: nulägesanalys, identifiering av kundresan, skapa konsensus samt integrera system. / The retail industry has changed with the advance of the digitalization. The development of new technology and consumers who are continuously connected online implicate new sales and marketing channels for retailers. This imply that retail companies face the requirement of integrating the different channels with each other, which in research is called an omni-channel strategy. The purpose of the study has been, from a management perspective, to investigate how Swedish retail chains work to integrate both digital and physical sales and marketing channels. This to obtain a better understanding of the phenomenon omni-channel and how companies integrate the channels. The study aims to provide knowledge for how companies can create a unitary experience between their different channels. The study applied a qualitative research method in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with Swedish retail chain companies that has an omni channel strategy. The companies that participated in the study were: Cervera, Elgiganten, Gina Tricot, Kappahl, Kicks, Lyko, Netonnet and Royal Design. The results of the study show several aspects regarding how retail companies can connect their digital and physical sales and marketing channels with each other but also which challenges and opportunities there is. A model has been developed showing four common basic steps to create a unitary experience between the channels. The four steps are: status rapport, customer journey identification, creating consensus and integrating systems.

The industrial marketing strategy in many industries has been largely influenced by the coming of digital marketing over the past decade. The trends are changing from the traditional to a digital era and companies are being forced by this digitalization shift. The manufacturing and marketing consultant industry is no exception. Since previous research has often been towards SMEs as a whole instead of specific industries. The research gap that the authors would like to investigate is brand equity development through digital marketing among two B2B SME industries, manufacturing and marketing consulting firms in Sweden. Moreover, the authors used a series of research methods to collect primary data and secondary data, as well as a computer-assisted coding software used for qualitative data analysis and coupled with benchmarking analysis for the secondary data analysis. Theories of brand equity and digital marketing ( marketing funnel and digital channels) are connected to the empirical findings of digital communication and business relationship to uncover what differentiates manufacturers from marketing consultants in brand equity building through digital marketing channels. The manufacturing industry has gained knowledge over the last few years when it comes to branding and digital marketing but is still split over the subject because of no clear direct benefits. They also lack the motivation that would have given them access to this knowledge, but somehow they have started outsourcing. Overall it seems that the manufacturing industry is working hard to become more digital. Lastly, a proposed model is recommended by the authors through the findings from both industries.